Category: India

Mumbai, India 2.0

Last time we left India I’m not sure either of us thought we’d be back. But something about the country makes it both difficult to stay and hard to not come back. Franklin compared it to camping: after a while you just want a shower and a clean bed, but then as time goes by… you…
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Taj Mahal, Agra, India

I didn’t want to go to the Taj Mahal. I figured I’d seen it – in books and movies, on tourism posters, again and again. In DeLillo’s White Noise, there’s this trope about “America’s Most Photographed Barn,” which is a completely unremarkable barn in the Midwest that becomes famous for the stream of tourists who are…
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New Delhi, India

When we stepped off the plane in New Delhi onto one of those plane-to-tarmac ladders that make you feel like The Beatles, we immediately celebrated the temperature outside. Hell yes!! This is an environment suitable to human life! Finally! Since I’d left the cold of Zurich, I basically hadn’t ever been not sweaty. New Delhi…
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Kochi, Kerala, India

When we arrived in Kochi, in the region of Kerala, after the most heinous bus ride any of us had ever taken—a sleeper bus improperly named; gripping the rails of our bunks as the driver drifted that sumbitch; sleep impossible despite heavy sedatives—we were eager to get some rest. But did we? No. We went…
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Hampi, India

The overnight bus from Goa to Hampi was miserable (but not as bad as our second one would be). It’s not that it’s all that uncomfortable in the bunk, it’s just impossible to sleep when it feels like you’re on a Mars landing mission with a drunk driver. Alas, we made it to Hampi in…
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Benaulim, Goa, India

I hadn’t heard of Benaulim, but Sascha was there, so we finished up in Anjuna and made our way. The lovely Phoebe “Bum’s on Show” Spey joined us on the journey south. Goa is something like India’s California coastline—the region forms a long strip along the west coast; it’s sunny and hot all the time;…
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Anjuna, Goa, India

During the first month of my trip, before Vince arrived[1], I spent almost a week in a small town in northern Goa called Anjuna. Famous for its party scene, of which I saw no evidence during my stay, Anjuna is a past-prime hippy haunt that now acts as a sort of quiet retreat from the…
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Elephanta Island

An hour boat ride out from the Gateway of India in Mumbai, Elephanta Island is a popular place to take a day trip. Surprisingly, though, our boat, which made Catalina Express look like the Titanic, was mostly full of Indian folks; apparently it’s a popular little day trip for locals as well as tourists. It’s…
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Seeing Mumbai

The few short days we spent in Mumbai were enough to appreciate getting out of the traffic jam that it is, but not enough to really see the whole place. Aside from the tourist spots, how else do you really “see” a huge city like this? I feel sort of the same way about LA. We…
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Santa Cruz, Mumbai, India

When I arrived in Mumbai, Franklin greeted me at the airport with open arms. Our friend’s mom owns a small apartment in an area called Santa Cruz that she so graciously offered to lend us indefinitely, so we hopped in a tuk-tuk for what would be the first of many of these strenuous cardiac exercises….
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