Esfahan

 

Look at that bloody leg room! This is a VIP coach, the seats recline a good deal, there is infinite leg room (so much that it's hard to annoy the person in front of you by kicking their seat), they feed you snacks (lumps of sugar they call biscuits/juice), and other awesome shit. 300kms cost me $3.30. HOW is that a VIABLE BUSINESS???? Well it must be. Australia we are doing something wrong.

 

The bloke next to me conked out pretty hard and slept the whole way, respect man. How do you do that? Took me about 17minutes to adjust my inflatable neck pillow whose design needs revision (It squeezes the sides of your neck cutting off blood to your brain - unnecessary feature). He conked out pretty well but only after an exchange of some farsi. I'm getting better, can say quite a few things including but not limited to

• hello
• how are you
• excuse me/sorry/thanks/goodbye
• how much is it?
• my hovercraft is full of eels! (unfortunately I have not come across a situation where this is appropriate but I can't wait for one cuz that would mean that 1. I would have a hovercraft and 2. eel sashimi)

 

 

I went walkies and came across this giganticnormous (sic) ...open space thing, called Naqsh-e Jahan Imam Square. It's actually rectangular 512m x 163m. The book says "this immense space is the second-largest square on earth". IT'S NOT SQUARE (But I know what you mean book). Apparently only Tiananmen Sq in China is bigger. They used to play polo here (Iran invented polo apparently).

 

... Anyway it's beautiful. There are mosques on 3 sides, you can see one in the picture below. That long wall stretches down and under each little arch is a shop selling handicrafts. It's like that on all four sides creating a magnificent enclosure where families sit and picnic in the middle near the pools and fountains. Around the outside there are horse-drawn carriages where you pay the owner to 1. sit in his carriage 2. whip the horse so it goes round in rectangles in the summer heat. It's cruel and mean and there are probably some group of people who would complain and sign petitions against it but it makes for a very picturesque scene. The photo below actually had a horse go across the frame, you can see a ghostly shadow of it to the left.

 

 

 

As I took this photo some guy with a surgical mask on (first sign that buzzed my weirdo-alert-alarm W.A.A.) said something something "CHINNE" which means "Chinese". So I responded and said "Na Chinne, manaz Australia hastam". And then he took that as an invitation to come up to my face and start mouthing off complete paragraphs of farsi and when I didn't respond he would just stare at me blankly. Why doesn't the phrasebook have PISS OFF FFS I"M TAKING A PHOTO. So here's the photo.

 

 

 

In Australia, these are pests. In India, they're native. In Iran, they're pets. That's a life lesson in so many ways but I don't want to get too philosophiccooliciiclaal.

 

 

This area is famous for miniatures ceramics/pottery/stuff. If you look from far, they look absolutely beautiful and detailed.

 

But when you look closely...the charm wears off. Am I an asshole? They want a lot of money for these things.

 

 

 

More pictures of Esfahan tomorrow as I do more exploring.

 

I forgot to mention previously, back in Shiraz, I saw people selling really expensive grass cuttings/mulch. If I knew it was worth so much I wouldn't have dumped all of mine in the public park across the road. You can even see gum leaves in the middle at the bottom. See the blue bag has the umbrella sign meaning don't water it otherwise grass will start growing again.

 

 

Ok laters.

 

One night in Yazd

The bus from Shiraz to Yazd was pretty uneventful, besides the woman at the back vomiting audibly followed by the guy in front yelling and gesturing about the bus being too hot. It was bloody too hot, and if I knew more farsi I would yell and gesture as well. It's not the same if you are gesturing and yelling in English and you're the only Asian on a bus full of Iranians. Pick your battles! Mind you the journey was ridiculously cheap, $2 for 400kms or so. I don't even know how they make a profit from such journeys.

 

Yazd is a dry and dusty town known for its ages-ago history, mud-brick houses, qanats which are water cooling towers that rise into the sky and are dug deep into the ground, desserts, and it being a dry and dusty town which I will mention again for emphasis. There are also some beautiful grand mosques which glow charmingly as the sun runs out of juice.

 

 

 

 

During the day they don't look as cool but you can see the nice work they did on the tiles.

 

 

I went for a walk as the guidebook suggests, and got lost as the guidebook didn't suggest but did say was a likely possibility. I think that has a lot to do with the writers realising their directions are shit.

 

 

 

 

In the maze of tunnels I came across a room with jail-like bars at the front. I stuck my camera in and took this photo. It was actually ten shades darker but I'm so pro with my cam that it turned out madness. I wonder what happened to the person who once worked here. Did he die? Retire? Discover motorbikes? Last suggestion most likely (You mean I don't have to pedal!?!?!).

 

 

 

I don't know why the door here is so charred. Maybe they had a house fire, maybe they smoke...A LOT. Snoop dawg? Hahahahahah....I'm hungry.

 

 

 

A removalist truck. I'm so glad there wasn't any pathetic pun on the side about two men and a truck. And what a beautiful truck it is, I can just imagine it in the movie Cars, look at that bonnet, it almost wants to start talking!

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Unfinished project
• started 3 years ago and been kept in the dry since then. No rust
• needs minor body work
• needs new front window (30 bux from wreckers been quoted)
• various bits and bobs, have 5 milkcrates of spares (useless junk that is for a totally different car)
• first to see will buy
• turns heads

 

 

Well after walking around the city for a few hours, I was pretty bored of it. The only real attractions are the mosques, the walk, and a nearby town which I couldn't be bothered seeing. So I ditched Yazd and headed for Esfahan which is meant to be hectic electric. We'll soon find out...

 

 

Persepolololopoplopoloipis

Today I went to Persepolis, a site whose name also refers to the 125sq km city which once was but is now not. The palace of Persepolis which I explored, once stood tall and proud and was built to showcase the success of the Achaemenid Empire. All was going well until some bloke named Alexander the Great came and burnt the place down for kicks. Persepolis apparently was covered under sand and dust for bloody ages, only discovered again in 1930. That's kinda like finding a $50note in your old jacket pocket. I'm not too big on history nor do I know much, but I sat on top of the hill and just was in awe at how they built this thing back in thousands-of-years-ago (10BC and 553BC makes no difference to me, they're both beyond the grasp of the human mind and only serve for record purposes). These pillars holding the roofs were huge, with beautiful carving and masonry craft. I don't know how they lifted these things up without a nice crane....

 

 

Apparently the steps were built to allow for men in robes to ascend. So they made them half as high and twice as long as normal steps you encounter. So for men not-in-robes its pretty annoying as you try one step at a time and you look like penguin so you do two steps at a time and you look like a flamingo. Then they covered the stairs with timber to preserve them but they don't mark the edge of each step with anything. So when you walk down you can't really see where the edge is and all the lines plays this illusion on your eyes and you start to feel faint, nauseous, and hospitalisation is likely.

 

This is what it looks like going down the steps. OH&S NIGHTMARE

 

 

 

Entry to Persepolis was 15 000 tomens ($5US). In the guidebook it says it is well worth visiting Naqsh-e Rostam as well because it's close by, and it only costs 30c. Well guidebook you have failed to retrospectively update yourself for the new dual-pricing, because that monument is also now 15 000t. It's definitely not worth it because there is literally only 1 thing to see which is a rock-wall feature. At a cost of $5 to see a 10second site, that works out to be $1800/hour which is up there with the most expensive of experiences. Ahem. Persepolis works out to be about $2.50/hour (takes 2 hours) so that is definitely some value in that. What I'm an orphan ok!!!

 

This is what you get for $5. Do you know how much sugarcane juice you can get in India for $5???!?!

 

 

 

Went homebound after that. I remember in the car on the way back how beautiful Iranian highways are. They are perfectly paved and very well maintained. There are also point-to-point speed cameras as well as mobile cameras. Oh and there are fake police cars (emptied out car shells painted white and blue with sirens) just to keep you on edge. Yep, in Iran, they enforce the speed limit just as they do in Sydney, Melbourne, or other major developed cities. Trucks also have to stop every 100kms and show police their speed logs as well. Interesting!

 

Tomorrow I head north-east for Yazd by bus.

 

Goodbye!

 

 

Ps pics are low quality because my net is crap.

 

In Iran

I don't know what perceptions people have of Iran and her people, but you could not possibly know much at all until you have set foot in this country. The only real clues come from other people's blogs/articles, and even then we fall short of a true understanding. Shiraz, a city in the southern of Iran, is my first landing point and I'm surprised how developed and modern it is. But even for me or anyone to be surprised that it is modern, is to raise the question 'What were we expecting and why?'. I don't know what I was expecting, I guess if I'm surprised it's quite modern then I was expecting something that isn't.

 

Shiraz, and I can only speak for this city at this point, has a well developed and functioning CBD. Roads are well paved and populated, foot paths the same. There are endless shops and arcades selling anything you can imagine, arranged into zones much like Singapore and much unlike Sydney. If you want to buy women's shoes, there's an entire street dedicated to it and the choice will spoil all but the most wealthy. The same sort of layout applies to most products, like things are clustered together. Some shops I liked seeing were ones dedicated to the repair of certain things, such as blenders, vacuums, fans, speakers; common appliances which in Australia we prefer to throw out than repair. I also saw a shop that sold only sewing machines - I can't remember ever seeing one of those anywhere else. There was also a man with a little stall that repaired or sold parts for hair clippers. Back home, if you wanted to fix something it usually required an obscure dive into the third or fourth page of a google search result; and really lets face it - anything past the first page and you're getting pretty desperate!

 

Other cool things I saw:

• There is a dedicated bus lane in the middle of the road, it is well used and serviced
• on the side of the roads there are huge gaping channels for rainwater to flow, but there hasn't been any rain in three years. At least they're ready for the monsoons unlike India where you need a dingy every time it rains.
• there is a dedicated team of hard-working street cleaners who are always sweeping or mopping. They don't take lunch breaks at half-past-every-hour unlike some municipalities I know of
• There are many many banks here, kind of like India where you have Bank [Insert Word]
• There are bubblers by the roadside, with clean chilled water free for consumption. The water tastes a bit mineral-rich here, but is otherwise quite safe to drink
• There were few beggars but they still exist, they beg in Farsi, the official language of Iran
• I saw a lot of book shops, that says that there is clearly quite a demand for books. That says a lot about an area, a lot. I think I saw one bookshop in all of Delhi's main bazar strip and adjacent alleys.

 

From my observations and in my humblest opinion, Iranians are ridiculously good looking. The men are all models and the women the same. I would take photos to illustrate the point but women generally shy away from cameras and I haven't been here long enough to know the limitations of photo-pervalism. Just take my word for it that even with their head partially covered by scarves, event the most illiterate of men will start penning poems in hope of courtship. I asked a local about their thoughts on this and they agreed with my thoughts, but added that Iranian women are highest in the world for nose-jobs apparently (the local was a member of the CouchSurfing community I met with). And despite all the beautiful women, I didn't see any heckling or wolf-whistling from men. That's something you see quite often back home and it really pisses me off. Maybe it does happen here, at night, on the weekend, in another place, I don't know. In my 6 hours walking the streets today I didn't see anything close to harassment.

The men are also quite often very well groomed and dressed, and with my 5 o'clock shadow (or perhaps 5 week...) I felt embarrassed that I had not done more before stepping out of the hotel. Overall I felt a real sense of pride in their appearance. It's a complete surprise to what I was expecting (yea expectations are wrong!).

 

Here are some pics which I can't post much of because the net here is pathetic (1 snail per minute aka 1SPM).

Poor frame composition, but whatever.

 

 

For the riding readership, there are heaps of these "Honda"s around here, I mean HEAPS. They are singles, but not actually Hondas. The crank cases are stamped with Li-Fan or KM CO (Kimco Korea I think?). They go alright, and sometimes you see real young kids blasting through the roads on them, 2 or 3 up. Some have these ridiculous wind-breakers on them that go the height of their head and then over to cover up to their back also, from the sun I believe. The use of the horn in Iran is very rare... thank fucking heavens.

 

 

This little girl was sitting on this bike's tank, but when I asked for a photo she went all shy and curled up to daddy. Daddy was happy to pose on his mean-machine 125 CDI (haven't seen bigger than 125 yet, don't think I will). The taxi in the background is not the only taxis which operate. Pretty much any car on the street (any) is a private taxi. You stand on the road and they'll slow down and honk, you yell out where you're going and they'll pick you up if it suits. Sure will solve the taxi shortage in Sydney!

 

 

 

Took this photo from the pedestrian overpass.

 

 

 

Currency. Clockwise from top left: 5000, 20 000, 100 000, 500 000. Unit is Iranian Rial (IRR). $1US - 30 000 IRR. All prices are specified in Tomens however, which means you drop the last zero. Therefore $1US - 3000 tomens. Bloody confusing and you often find yourself shortchanging the seller.

 

 

Prices (in tomens)

• cup of 'juice' which is really 10% fruit juice + water + lots of sugar - 1500 (50 cents)
• apple flavoured 'beer' / cider from the hotel bar, likely higher that average (non-alcoholic) - 2000
• bottle of coconut juice - 4500
• hot dog (very long one) - 6000
• entry into a pretty shit botanic garden - 15 000. This is pretty expensive because the government recently reintroduced dual pricing (tourists pay higher than locals). Should be 5000 normally, or less.
• lunch at a traditional Iranian style restaurant, where you sit elevated on carpets and take your shoes off. Really relaxed style which I love. Oh yea, the price - 12 000

 

Tomorrow I'm going to Persepolis, which used to be the capital of the world apparently. Should be awesome. I'll keep you posted.

 

Behind enemy lines

I made it into Iran. Roads and people have something in common, they are very good looking ! More to come...

Iranian Visa

I finally have in my hand, the elusive Iranian visa. In hindsight I would do it differently. The visa process for Iran can either be quite simple or quite hard. The methods to get one are:

1. VoA: Visa on Arrival. This is open to Australians and most countries except Americans because they're all spies who want to tap into phone records and steal your brain cells. You book your hotel, book your ticket, rock-up to a main Iranian airport and apply for a visa which will be issued for 14 days. It can be renewed on the 13th/14th day for another 14. Generally there should be no problem going about it this way as long as you don't stir any suspicions. There are rumours (at most) that some people have been flatly denied without reason, so most books/articles recommend you apply for a visa in advance through an embassy.
2. Embassy visa. Fill in forms, apply through your local embassy. This can take 2 weeks in best cases and 6 weeks sometimes. It's generally quite reliable, just slow. If you choose this route definitely use a Platinum mail service or document courier. You don't want your passport lost and falling into the hands of terrorists or aliens etc.
3. The third and most commonly recommended way is to apply for a visa "code" which is basically pre-approval by the Iranian government to say they will issue you with a visa. You apply through an Iranian tour agency who applies to the government on your behalf. You are then issued with the code (a 6 digit number) which you take to your nearest embassy and can have your visa issued on the spot, same day, or within a few days depending on what mood the guy at the counter is in. Doing it via this third method is meant to be the easiest but can cost more, as you pay the tour agency and then the embassy.

India

So What is India Like?

I can't speak for the whole of India as I've only stayed in Delhi, Manali, Leh, and some remote areas. Delhi is pretty hectic, lots of people everywhere. It has a charm about it that many people can love but it certainly can scare away a lot of people who aren't accustomed to or afraid of it's grit. The rich and poor are often side by side. Manali and Leh are a lot more laid back, with a high tourist population but lower population overall.

 

 

Is it Safe?

It is generally quite safe, even for lone female travellers which Ive \see many of. I've only witnessed one act of aggression but otherwise there is very little violence. Your biggest threats are getting ripped off. Everyone wants your money on the street and they will hail you from every direction to buy their wares, both shop owners and 'touts'.

 

 

How do you handle the touts?

For the uninitiated (which was me a few weeks ago) they will prey on you and smell your innocence. I saw many travellers walking from the station to their hostel, backpacks fresh on their backs, being hounded by a variety of touts. Many were extremely frustrated and most made the mistake of engaging in conversation. Unfortunately, anyone who wants to talk to you wants your money. Very rarely people genuinely just want to talk to you but it is very difficult to discern who these people are and once again, it is very rare. 99% of the time a tout will begin a conversation with "hello sir/what are you looking for/can I help/I've been looking for you/money change" or a greeting in what they think is your native tongue (100% of Indians thought I was 100% Japanese, I now think I am possibly 50% Japanese and I'll be asking my mother some questions when I get back).

I have found the best way to get by is to totally ignore them, walk in a relaxed pace don't rush, act like you could not give a shit about what they have to say or sell. Do not shake anyone's hand (sometimes they will extend it right into you), do not say hello, do not say "no thanks" as this will just open a conversation and they will follow you. You can give them the slightest shake of the head or wave of the hand to show you are extremely disinterested, ie of course if you are disinterested. If you make eye contact, show interest in the slightest, or engage in conversation, it will take you a very long time to reach your destination. All the above of course, is without the need to be rude. There's also no need to be polite and say no thanks even if this may seem rude. It isn't.

 

 

What Should I Lookout For?

Generally, nobody will steal from your pocket but they will happily rip you off in the most cunning way. I had the laundry lady try to short change me 100 rupees and then act stupid when I raised a brow. Even when I took out a calculator she looked surprised at the maths. I had a little kid at a fruit stand try to leave out a few guavas from the bag when transferring them from the scales. After I gave him a funny look he put them back in. He also tried to put in the rotten guavas and sell me those. In a remote area Doc Hillbilly (a riding buddy) was shortchanged after the lady folded a 20 note in half to make it look like 2 notes. Check all change during all transactions.

The first sim I bought in Delhi never got credited with what I paid for, I couldn't find the shop again to complain. I think back now and realise the shop owner wasn't being courteous when he asked me what my plans were, he was finding out whether I'd be in town to follow up on his rorts. Keep that in mind. My second sim stopped working the next night but I managed to get partial refund after I went back to the shop and put garlic crusher through the guys eye (just joking it was actually a bottle opener).

Most common of all though is dual pricing, where tourists get a different price to the locals. It's kind of a fact of life but not everyone does it. Rickshaw drivers will often double the rate of a journey, although some are honest. A two kilometre journey should only cost about 50-60 rupees on the meter. Ask for the price before getting into rickshaw, always. Sometimes a driver will say you can pay 'as you like', don't do it and agree beforehand. If they are overcharging you, don't even bother negotiating as there are another 5 rickshaws 2m down the road. Walk away and don't look back. In some areas you can't avoid getting ripped off, but you can negotiate how much by. At some junctions they operate together and all agree on a fixed higher price for tourists. You can negotiate the rate down 30-40% but still won't get the local rate, that's just life. Once you're in the rickshaw they'll insist on taking you to their own destination, usually a shop from which they earn a commission from. You must insist bluntly that you don't want it, repeatedly. I found this happens less often in busier areas and more often in the smaller areas like Karol Bagh, which is just a few stops away from New Delhi.

 

What Do Things Cost ?

• 2L bottle of water - 25-30 rupees ($1AU - 55)
• an egg omelette sandwich at street vendor - 25
• a kilo of bananas - 50
• a kilo of fresh picked guavas - 60-80
• a kilo of very ripe borderline decaying guavas - 10
• a glass of sugarcane juice - 10
• serving of tandoori chicken, coke, and naan bread at a decent restaurant - 300
• Pizza at average restaurant - 180
• plate of fried rice / noodles at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant - 20/40 half/full
• toilet roll - 25
• hostel with double bed, aircon, wifi, private room, shower and toilet - 820/night @ Hotel The Spot
• ATM fee - 200-300 or sometimes 2-3% of withdrawal amount (most ATMs have a 10 000 per transaction limit)
• One hour with high-class escort - WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?!?!

 

 

Other notes

• use major ATMs to withdraw cash and pay by cash. Paying by card in some small places leaves you open to card swiping/fraud
• carry big notes in a separate compartment (500 rupees / $10 is a big note). Keep your 10/20 notes and coins o,2too big for some vendors as most things don't cost much.
• If you wish to ignore a beggar, ignore them properly, otherwise be discrete if you give them something
• always ask for price before placing an order or buying anything, always. Don't take a little innocent kid's face to mean he won't rip you off.
• don't be afraid to explore the city and walk off the main roads
• avoid eating anything that's made using the town water supply or street water. They readily wash utensils and plates in buckets of dirty water.

 

Overall, enjoy the chaos of India but keep your wits about you.

Taj Mahal.

Sunday was TM (Taj Mahal) day. If you're planning on going to see the TM it's best you take the Shatabdi express from New Delhi which leaves 0615 and takes about two hours and costs about 800 rupees 1 way, 1st class aircon seated. I was a disorganised traveller and had my passport caught up in the Iranian visa system so I paid for a private taxi and tour guide instead which included return taxi from my hotel, a guide for the day, VIP entry to TM, Agra Fort, and some other garden I can't remember the name of, all fuel and toll costs, and lunch.

If you choose to drive there, you'll go via the Yamuna expressway which is new whizz bang amaze roads by Indian standards. The road itself is quite new, but you can't escape that you are still in India. Every few kms you'll see men peeing openly on the side of the road, livestock grazing on the divider, kids sitting on the barrier staring at traffic go by, and farms all along the way. When I stopped at a rest-stop I was gazing upwards and looking at the steel beams which support the roofs, and noticed all the welds were horrible and the steel plates had been cut by hand with an oxy torch. That's kinda like cutting a slice of cheese with a blunt axe. I guess TII( This Is India) where you only do what you need to and nothing more.

If you pay the general admin entry then you have to join the long ass queue with all the NIPs (Non-important people) and doing that in the Indian sun is likely to darken your skin a few shades and/or give you melanomas which nobody really wants. Entry costs to the TM and other thingies is 750 rupees for foreigners (locals pay 20, thanks for nothing). Besides the main monuments in Agra there is pretty much nothing else to do there, so it is definitely a day trip. Beware of all the 'touts' (aka annoying humans) trying to sell you their photography/wares.

Anyway, once there, its kinda beautiful and majestic. Well actually it truly is. The TM was built by a bloke named Shah Jahan (whose full name is A'la Azad Abul Muzaffar Shahab ud-Din Mohammad Khurram) in memory of his wife who died giving birth to her billionth child. Pretty sweet huh? The detailing on the marble work is bloody amazing and it took 20 000 workers 22 years to complete. I couldn't find any official stats on how many people died in the process; probably a lot considering OH&S was a 21st century thing. There's a big emphasis on symmetry with everything lining up on both sides quite well. The 4 towers on each corner are leaning slightly outwards, the guide said this is "clever engineering" because if it ever falls it will not fall on the main building. I'm still confused about whether we should consider that clever or incomplete engineering.

 

Humans ruin every photo! I couldn't push them all out of the way so I had to settle for this.

 

 

My guide took this photo and told me to jump, he didn't time the shot very well. I'm just waiting for the rockets to fire out of my butt and I fly away.

 

 

It was stifling hot and humid, the sun has an aggression about it around here, especially as it reflects off the white marble. I really wanted to stand with my hands down but I thought I'd be a good sport and look like a tourist.

 

 

This was pretty cool, reminds me of microscopic photography of cells/ deep sea creatures.

 

 

These were carved out from single pieces of red sandstone, without CNC machines man. It was all done by hand. Madness!!

 

 

Great place to get married or have a nap.

 

 

These adorable kids wanted to take a photo with the foreigner (they're all laughing that I had to pay 750rupees and they got in for free, being under 15).

 

 

Guide: do this, point that way.

Me: ok, here.

Guide: *click*

 

 

These mini-squirrel like creatures are so cute. My dog would love to eat one.

 

 

All in all a great day, TM is a beautiful monument that would be truly beautiful at dusk or dawn. I'm usually not too big on monuments but this was pretty cool. I loved the attention to detail in the inlay and marble work and the overall structure truly deserves its status as a wonder of the world. I'd highly recommend others see it but best to do so in the cooler times.

 

Untitled

It rained today, the temperamental monsoon type rain where it's not really possible to stay dry in. I took shelter near at a lassi shop and then bought a mango lassi, complete with salmonella ice. The guy then let me sit inside his shop while I drank it. I know many people who would vomit before they would even consider sitting on that stool.

 

He weighs his portions on a scale, I think it's a quality control thing. This guy is going places.

 

After drinking my lassi I really pondered whether I would get Delhi Belhi again, because I was ticking all the right boxes

[ x ] dirty shop

[ x ] ice in drink

[ x ] town water supply

[ x ] not cooked

[ x ] possibly contains unpasteurised milk

Whatever. I refuse to submit to salmonella. I will conquer you one day!!!

 

I walked down further to the gritty street shops for more food. You don't really see the tourists eating here because they're usually at the TripAdvisor-approved restaurants, nothing wrong with that. I found a place selling "Singapuri" noodles and fried rice plates for 20rupees (40c) for a half plate. I purchased and consumed. While I was there a man approached me and showed me his deformed foot and open wound on his forearm. I really don't know what to think of these situations. With all respect to the man's suffering, I could see he was using this as a confrontational tool to instil guilt and induce a donation. There are many ethical dilemmas I think about when I see these things

1. Is it right or wrong that he uses this tactic? I mean is it truly, on the grander scheme of things, right or wrong for a man who suffers to do what it takes to make money? Consider that my impressions were that the wounds, although open and gaping, didn't appear (IMO) to be infected at all. They did appear to have previously been well dressed, dry, and on the mend. There didn't appear to be a need for immediate medical attention or costs.
2. Is it right or wrong to totally ignore this man and refuse giving him anything? What will he really do with the money?
3. At which point do we decide compassion is required and just? And why does compassion even need to be considered and deliberated on?

There are many times I have seen others, individuals, groups, organisations, participate in what I think is 'misplaced empathy' where they believe that the assistance they are giving is contributing to the greater good in some way but in fact the consequences for their actions linger long after they have gone. This is how I see direct donations to individuals in need, it's like the old saying about teaching a man to fish or giving him a fish. If we ever feel the need to give to the needy I think such donations and resources are much better placed into the hands of well established organisations whose mission it is to build upon the infrastructure of society.

 

Unfortunately, your dollars may never reach those faces you see on the street and have the same immediate and direct impact as a hand-to-hand donation would. But long term the benefits will be much more rewarding. In some ways, tourist dollars spent buying goods from lowest level street sellers can put something back. And that's something you'll notice about Delhi/India, every young guy out here is making a living buying and reselling things at a profit, especially little food stands. These guys run their own business starting with a capital base of a few dollars, the cost of a few eggs, a loaf of bread, and a gas bench top and they've got their own omelette sandwich business. And I've got lots of respect for that, because I've never run my own business before, apparently I need at least $50 000 to start. Ha!

 

After dinner I walked back to the hostel but was halted by a raging torrential puddle that nobody dared to cross. Having 10 rupees left in my pocket I gave it to a rickshaw to take me across. Halfway through the 17m journey I was overtaken by a cow. It just casually walked by faster than the traffic allowed me to move. This isn't even funny. I don't know what I paid 10 rupees for now. It's humooliating!!

 

 

Mr Lassi.

 

Rain reigns

About to go to dinner and water starts coming from the sky. What is this phenomena .?!?

 

Lucky I bought a kilo of bananas for $1. Bananas are a great thing, invented circa 1500AD by genetic agricultural scientist Wilhelm Steinkopf who intended to create a fruit which was

• Able to be consumed cleanly and easily single handedly while driving a tractor
• Easily portable with a protective outer husk (now known as the peel)
• Easily consumed without the use of extra tools, knives, or machinery
• Able to fit into pant line to double up as pretend guns and the husk used as booby traps against infidels

And what a fantastic job he did at that. Other competing scientists came up with the durian, coconut, and orange, all of which are messy, disgusting, or prohibitively heavy. You can't pack a durian in your rucksack for a nice day trip for example. Nor can you eat a coconut while talking on the phone and driving stick. And let's not get started on prickly pears...thank goodness for these guys.

 

Vampires

Last night I went out for dinner, but before that I went for a stroll. My hostel is on the Main Bazar strip, quite a few tourists. So I turned down some alleyways to induce disorientation. It worked. Saw some locals crowding around something bright flashy and noisy. Naturally I was drawn to bright flashes also so I joined them. They were all crowding around this TV watching a movie. The plot concerned a murderer, a lawyer, a vampire, and a beautiful woman. I think we are running out of things to make movies about so we are now just going through the script archives and randomly combining pages from different scripts together. They were amused that I would want to watch a movie with them. It's FREE television of course I'm down for that.

 

I still haven't figured out if I love or hate this city.