Next Stop New Delhi

Well its 9:30pm and on my way to Delhi. We boarded the train yesterday at 4:15pm so I've been on the train for around 29 hours. My bro and I have passing the time playing cards and planning out the rest of our trip. Thinking and reading. The book I bought with "Eiger Dreams" has been very entertaining and inspiring.

Leaving Hampi

Last evening in Hampi. Its been really nice here. We found a good restaurant for breakfast and wen there every morning. Spent our days looking for good rocks to climb and exploring temples. Watched sunset for the last 3 nights from the highest points around. Yesterday we took a round bamboo boat across the river and hiked up to Hunaman Temple. Amazing view of the sunset. When we got back to the boats it was dark. The ride back was very peaceful looking up at the stars and floating in between huge rocks on either side in a round boat constructed of bamboo and canvas. Today we took our time visited some more temples bought some stuff at the markets in the afternoon we scrambled up a high point near the cow god. We layed up there until the sunset. The view was amazing. Tomorrow we are getting packed up early and going back to Hospet to catch a train to Hubli then catch a train to Delhi.

Hampi Express

We made it to Hampi. We are finally on our own. Ended up sitting around in Hyderabad for a few days with Lanka and his film crew waiting to get train tickets. Lanka put Ben and I in his film as a trumpet player and keyboarder in a band. We caught a night train and arrived here early Sunday. Its beautiful here. The ancient ruins are amazing, the landscape and natural structures of rocks are awesome. We found a nice cheap hotel with a cool roof top view for $8 a night. We rented motorbikes and explored the area. We climbed some rocks, took pictures, met some locals and toured a sugar plantation. We cruised out to one of the far temples and watched the sunset. After we decided to cruise back to hospet and get some cash from the ATM in Hospet because we were running low and we had the motorbikes for a few more hours. It was about a 16km from where we were and getting dark pretty fast. Our little motorbikes lights didn't work which made for an interesting ride. We finally made it to Hospet only to find out that the ATM machines were out of service. We turned around and cruised back in the pitch dark. Every once in a while we were able to follow a vehicle which helped light the road. We made it back safely. We are staying in Hampi till Thursday then catching a train to Delhi. We already have our tickets confirmed. Looking forward to relaxing in Hampi.

Vijayawada

My Dads friend Lanka picked us up from Joel's on Saturday night and we made the trek from Hyderabad to Vijayawada. We arrived at Lanka's late that night. We woke up in the morning and took a warm shower and enjoyed a big breakfast. Lanka owns a school that is also a home to many orphans in the area, its a very nice place. Lanka had church service that morning at his place and asked us to share something. I was a little nervous thinking I didn't have much to share but once I got up there I felt pretty comforatble. I shared Proverbs 3:3-7 and a little bit about myself. The kids where amazing their worship and hapiness.

After luch I was relaxing on the balcony where we were staying watching the kids play cricket. They saw I was watching and waved me down. I went down and they all surrounded me. After playing name games, and racing a few times they began to play with my camera. They were fascinated with being able to see their pictures on the screen. These kids are cool.

Hyderabad

On Wednesday we took a plane from Goa to Hyderabad. We got connected with a family through some people my dad knows. They are extremely generous and have made us fell more then welcome in their home. We spent a lot of time walking around the neighborhoood and relaxing. We went to the Charminar and the Salar Jung Museum. I like Hyderabad a lot more then Mumbia. Its not quite as crazy. Ben and I made some friends at the grocery store. The employees were all very friendly and curious about America.

Tonight we head out to Vijaywada to visit some more of my dad's friends. We will stay there until Tuesday or Wednesday then plan on coming back to Hyderabad and my dad will head back to the U.S.. Then Ben and I will be on our own. Still not exactly sure what we are going to do. The time already seems to be going fast. So far quite the adventure. I forward to what lies ahead next.

Goa, India

The train ride took about 16hrs plus another 1 hr taxi ride to the Intercontinental Resort. In the morning we went to the breakfast buffet at the hotel. The hotel is very nice and has a private golf course, beach and a bunch of other amenities. After breakfast we relaxed on the beach for a swim. Later in the afternoon my brother and I rented motorcycles and cruised to Palolem beach. The beach was amazing. It was lined with all sorts of restaurants, beach huts. We walked along the beach for a while then cruised back and picked up Pa then went to a restaurant on the beach and ordered a wood stove pizza and watched the sunset. After we went back to the hotel and relaxed int the spa. Ben and I decided to cruise back to the Palolem to use the internet cafe. It wrote to my friends back home and called my friend Matt who is in Mongolia with skype. We met a guy from Israel who bought a Royal Enfeild and cruised around India for 5 months. As we started on our way back Ben realized he had a flat tire. We couldn't find a pump so we eneded up leaving the bike on the beach.

Well so far India's pretty amazing. Goa is beautiful and so different from any place I've been. We are staying one more night then heading further south. Ben and I are thinking about coming back to Palolem and staying there a few more days then catching a plane to Agra then trying to get into Nepal.

Mumbia, India

Mumbia India is nothing like I expected. It is so different from everything I've ever seen. It is so big and chaotic more people then I've ever seen. We stayed in a very expensive 5 star hotel, which we received at an extremely good rate because of our connection to the Crown Plaza. Friday night after we settled into our room we went out for a late night walk on the streets. The people gave us quite the attention being from America. Many of them would smile and come up and introduce themselves and shake hands and they acted like it was such an honor. Others would just stare. We ended up going to an Opera which is an Indian style club got some Kingfisher and listened to some singers.

Saturday morning we went for a long walk in search of some breakfast. We walked through blocks and blocks of houses made from wood crates and sheets. People washing their clothes in sewage. Mass poverty. It seems as if there is no order here, nice buildings right next to slums. We found a resturant with good prices and food. After breakfast we me Hasan a taxi driver that offered to drive us all around Mumbia for 1200 rs. We took him up on the offer. Spent the next 6 hours driving all over the big city. He was a nice driver but had the intention of driving us to several stores and shops to buy stuff at. It was a good way to see the city in one day. After we had luch at the same place around 3 the walked back to the hotel and relaxed in the pool and spa.

We bought our train tickets to Goa and leave at 5:30am this morning. We had Hasan drive us to the train station. He told us that it is the largest train station in Asia which would make it the largest in the world. As we were waiting for the train we met another travelor going to Goa. As we were loading I ran into some complications. Turns out my ticket was booked different and I was put on the wait list. It ended up not making the cut so I didn't have a seat. I spent 15 minutes running around trying to find my name on the list outside of the train cars. I was getting help from a guy who told me the only way I would get down there was to take a bus by myself and meet my dad and brother down there. We finally convinced him that I would just share my seat with my dad. Which really wasn't a problem because it was a sleeper. So now I'm on the Mandovi Express heading to Goa. Should get there in about 12 hours.

Off to India

Well I'm sitting in the airport in Newark N.J. at Jake's Coffee in front of a big window overlooking the airport runway. I'm finally going to India. Ben and Pa should arrive shortly. Then we will board the plane to India, a 14 hour flight.

Everything wrapped up nice, I had a good final day at PTC. It felt so good to walk out of that place. So for the next 5 weeks I'm completely free from everything and get to make a new chapter in my life. I got together with Andy last night and climbed then went to Mickey's Dinner, it was a nice send off. I said all my goodbyes to everyone close. Part of me thinks I should be nervous but I'm not at all and just excited to see what happens.