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Topic: Ian goes to India

William Hooper
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1879
From: Mobile, AL USA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-24-2004 06:21 AM

No word from Ian in two days!

I wonder if the Indians attacked his train!

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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!

Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 06-24-2004 10:50 AM

Reread Ian's last post William. No internet cafes were he's going in Tibet. We'll probably hear from him again in a couple of weeks.

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Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1714
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-24-2004 10:59 AM

Tibet, China:

We left Kathmandu at 7:00 AM this morning and drove through verdant fields with rice paddys and corn. The hills grew higher and higher as we drove down the valley. Later we took a turn and started up a new valley. The pavement ended and we started driving up a dirt road. We drove for 4-hours. We stopped at a Nepali truck stop which concisited of one room. They fed all 30 of us in 10-minutes. The food was good too.

Then we arrived at the border to Tibet and China. First we handed over our passports to the agent handling us and went to a tea shop. After 1.5 hours we were able to go to the border. We had to wait 2-hours behind all the other pilgrams trying to cross. Then we had our health check. There was only one agent checked all 300 people. Then we climbed the hill and found our Landcruisers. We drove up the hill to the customs check point and waited in line another 2-hours for the one customs guy to check in all 300 people. All in all it took 6-hours to cross the border.

Just as the sun was setting we drive up an increadable gorge with hundreds of 30-foot waterfalls. The first town clung to the side of the hill precariously. We drive 2-hours up the gorge on 4-wheel drive road at first gear speeds. We arrived in this one horse town at 10 PM and now we await our dinner. I'd just assume eat Chinese noodles but the tour cooks all its own food. But hey, I found an Internet cafe so there you are.

We are being put up in dorms and its heads to feet tonight. Payal just informed me that she got a single room. The country side is unbelieveable. Tomorrow we get to the Tibet plateau. Right now I am at 10,000 feet and feeling fine. One lady has already barfed so it's not looking good.

I'll sign off for now. Some lady was grilling meat up the road.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 06-24-2004 05:51 PM

FREE TIBET! Did you see Richard Gere there? I think we should bomb Tibet out of existence so Richard Gere stops whining.

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Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1714
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-24-2004 10:25 PM

Nailam Tibet:

I got fed up waiting for the sherpas to cook Indian food so I went out and had noodles and pork at some small 3-table restaurant. The Indian contingent was agast. The Tibetan cook hauled me down in to the kitchen (a squat before the gas ring affair) and assured me he could cook anything I wanted. I assured him I would eat his cooking. They had dinner at 1:00 AM instead of just going out at 10:00 PM when we arrived. The Indians travel with all their own food. I don't take any food with me because I want to taste the local cooking.

One woman threw up from altitude sickness. Were at 10,000 feet. I feel fine. The group leader had to rearange the bedding arangements 3-times. The bed was comfortable and the quilts warm but not clean. I just couldn't sleep in a room with 7-Indians and an unlocked door. Also the bathroom arangment is rudimentary at best. I'm told I have seen my last western toilet for 14-days. I'll be alright camping, but the squat toilet doesn't do it for me.

The Indians are cold and bundled in all their cold weather gear. I'm just wearing a jacket and I'm fine. I take comfort that the Sherpas are dressed just like me.

There is a tea house under our dorm and they started up the bad Chinese pop tunes really loud around 3:00 AM. I actually got out of bed, went outside, downstairs and told them to shut up. They did too for about 2-minutes.

Were just being served breakfast at 11:00 AM after I got out of bed at 6:00 AM. Payal and I have gone on two walks and now we await leaving this town. This is supossed to be the last town on the route so there might not be anymore Internet, but I have said that before.

I'd like to haul Joe's skinney ass to Tibet and leave him here. The people smile, they all point to me and laugh at how large I am.

Today we aren't going far, We are going about 20 kilometers and setting up camp. The hotel is too expensive at $4 per night per person. I paid 12-cents for Internet hour and 20-cents for noodles.

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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!

Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 06-24-2004 11:01 PM

10,000' isn't too bad. Your having some light airplane flying experience has probably got you used to it. The higher altitudes should be interesting. I'm sure you'll let us know how it goes.

Yes, please drop Joe off up there. Anywhere is fine. Even in my broke financial state, I'll buy his passage on Yeti Airlines (DHC-6-300 Twin Otters [thumbsup]

) or Royal Nepal Airlines and their world famous Yeti Service . [beer]

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Pravin Ratnam
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 844
From: Atlanta, GA,USA
Registered: Sep 2002

posted 06-25-2004 12:26 AM

Who is Payal? Just curious as we read your reports, we keep hearing about her all the time, that it makes one want to put her in context of your narration. And since when did indians not want to eat out? My relatives in Hyderabad all liked to eat out all the time. Maybe it's the ridiculous prices in bombay.

Any crazy Maoist rebel sightings?

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 06-25-2004 12:55 AM

quote: Private Ryan
Who is Payal?

Paypal is a method of making payments over the internet. It is commonly used on eBay auctions.

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Richard Hamilton
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1341
From: Evansville, Indiana
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 06-26-2004 08:30 PM

Ian,

I am in Changchun for the next 2 months. Maybe we can get together for a beer [beer]

In the local bars here it seems that Budweiser is the most popular and pretty cheap for an import (15 RMB). On the map I looked at, Tibet is only a few inches away! Actually, It's a few hours farther north-east than Beijing. We could meet half way.

Have a good trip, and enjoy. It is very interesting here and the people seem very nice and sincere.

Rick

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William Hooper
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1879
From: Mobile, AL USA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-09-2004 01:18 AM

Still no word from Ian!
I wonder if he got scalped by the Indians!
Or burned at the stake!

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Ky Boyd
Hey I'm #23

Posts: 314
From: Santa Rosa, CA, USA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-10-2004 07:44 PM

Ian is alive and well in India. We heard from him on Wednesday, July 7th and I'll post the text of that e-mail here:

quote:

Wednesday, July 7th, Kathmandu Nepal:

It's the Kings 58th birthday!

I'm back from Tibet, China. We made it!

I hear that the Rialto had a smashing success with F9/11.

I'll write more in depth when I have time to organize my thoughts, but I
just wanted to write and say that we had fun, we had struggle and as the
Budddist's say we overcame suffering.

We drove for 5-days on 4x4 dirt tracks. This is what passes for the major
East/West highway in Tibet. We stayed one night in a guest house in China and that was enough to make me love camping. We camped for 12 out of 14 days. Our tour leader "Vineeta" is one of the great ladies of the earth. I fell imediatly in love. Too bad she is happily married to one of the top climbers of India. She and Payal hit it off as well, which is good since they are cousins.

Ok that was strange, the email system has made typing difficult.

Payal, is Payal Doctor, who worked for Ian and I first as a floor staff member and then as a manager. She also worked at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco for about a year as a projectionist. She's great and we miss having her here at the Rialto to crack the whip. Some of the staff was scared of her, a fact that Ian and I always loved.

I'm sure he'll be posting lengthy descriptions of all the details of the trip soon.

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Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1714
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-14-2004 07:44 PM

Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Delhi:

We planned our last part of the trip in India to be all 5-star. Payal’s relatives were very nervous about their 26-year-old daughter going to Delhi alone with a single man. So they made her plan out the trip in detail with a travel agent. As a result we stayed at the Taj group of hotels and got a car and driver.

We arrived late in Delhi from Kathmandu and took a Tata Idica cab to the hotel. Each of had a single room as was befitting. The next morning we couldn’t find our car and driver so we walked around Conaught Circus which is a huge shopping arcade built by the British. When we returned to the hotel we found our car and driver who had been sent the wrong hotel. Are car for the trip was a Suzuki Esteem which is actually a luxury car in India. We had lunch at a Kabob shop and hit the road for Agra. Since we got such a late start we took the rest of the day to reach Agra.

Payal wanted to stop a couple of temples along the way. On the highway I saw a man walking a bear. There were camel carts, tractor carts, Tata lorries, and very few private cars. Road rules in India are different than America. That dashed line in the middle of the road is for driving down. This keeps your options open. Drive up behind some lorries and then honk your horn. This is alright as all trucks in India have “Horn Please” or “Horn Pleeze” or “Blow Horn” written on the back. “Use Dipper at Night.” It’s also aright to drive the hood of your car under the truck!

At our first stop we tried to find the Hare Krishna temple. It’s huge but well hidden in a small market town with confusing streets. I was just trying to not get stepped on by a Camel. This town is where Krishna was a boy. Our next stop was in the town where Krishna was born. We saw the jail cell in which he was born. (India tip: Just bring sandals. Shoes are too hot and you’re always taking off your shoes to go in to different places. Also toughen up your feet, red sandstone can fry an egg in this heat.)

We made it Agra where the manager of the Taj View hotel met us at the door and with a drink gently broke the news that they had over booked and were sending us to a different hotel. But dinner was on him.

The next morning we got a guide and went to the Taj Mahal. Payal could pay Rs20 because she is Indian, as a westerner I got to pay Rs750. So she got in for fifty cents and I got to pay $15! This was true to a lesser extent at ever site we visited. But what are you going to do, fly halfway around the world and then say no? Next we visited the Fort in Agra. A “Fort” is actually a Castle where the king lives. These Castles are bigger and more elaborate than anything I have seen in England. This is from an era where India was ruled by Mugals from Iran who were Islamic.

After the tour and lunch we were taken to the marble shop where we were given a demonstration on how they do the inlay work. I went a little nuts and made big purchase.

We headed back to the hotel so I cold go soak my head in the swimming pool.
The next day we headed out for Jaipur. The air-conditioning wasn’t working in the car. Then we overheated in the bazaar. The company sent another car, an Ambassador. With this we went to the next fort. Our car showed up after lunch and we continued on to Jaipur. Along the way I saw 19 men with dancing bears. There is actually a movement to ban these people and release the bears. I saw hundreds of Camel carts. We almost crashed into what looked like a moose, but is a big antelope in India. Then when we got to Jaipur there were the elephants!

The big things to buy in Jaipur are block printed fabrics and hand knotted rugs. They rolled out a silk on silk rug that I fell in love with. But at $7,000 first price I couldn’t even think of buying it. Even if I had knocked the price in half it was too much.

The monsoon hadn’t hit central India yet. The temperature was around 37 degrees which is about 95+. I could only go out about two hours at a time before I melted.

Delhi was a bit of a disappointment so I won’t detail it here. I’m not sure there is any city of 12 million people I can fall in love with.

I’m in the Silver Kris lounge at the Singapore airport awaiting my flight to Hong Kong and San Francisco. I’ll be back home soon.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 07-14-2004 08:51 PM

The Taj Mahal is racist! We should bomb it.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 07-14-2004 09:08 PM

You didn't try any chilled monkey brains or snake surprise???

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Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1714
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-14-2004 11:23 PM

Changi Airport in Singapore is the greatest airport in the world. [thumbsup]

It's a shopping mall better than anything we have in the US. There are digital cameras that aren't in the American market yet. You can by a car stereo at the music shop including a whole surround sound system for your apartment.

I saw a movie in the cinema lounge. (video) [dlp]

I took a shower between flights.

I could have taken a city tour right from the airport.

There is a sunflower garden on the roof with views of aircraft taking off.

There are two Koi ponds in the departure lounge.

Internet access is free and available.

I have to go, I am going to eat some seafood salad before catching my flight to Hong Kong. I only hope the Hong Kong airport is as good. [beer]

The Dehli airport sucks much ass! [thumbsdown]

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