the rickshaw to nowhere (and other highlights...)

Since I am the only one of our fearless group of travelers left in India, I thought I would recap some of the highlights of our trip. Khanh and Virginia will no doubt have their own favorite memories to add to the list. But here, in no particular order, is my own top ten...

1. Me & VA getting hit with water balloons (me in the ass, her in the face) by some punk kid as our big "Welcome to India!" on the first night in Delhi.

2. Khanh getting mobbed by a pack of kids all wanting his autograph at the Virupaksha temple in Hampi. (A close second is Khanh getting mobbed by a bunch of kids wanting to hug him at a village in Munnar, but I don't have photographic evidence of that one.)

3. Getting the complete runaround from three different people at the Delhi train station, who all claimed that our tickets weren't valid, until VA got so annoyed that she yelled at the last guy and he magically "approved" our tickets.

4. "Oh no! I smell ghee!" -- exclaimed by me in the evening on our houseboat after our spectacular chef Kevin (yes, Kevin...we think it's a fake name) had already made us a four course lunch, tea and fried bananas and we were stuffed to the brim. A few minutes later Kevin appeared with a plate of fried shrimp.....which, of course, we couldn't resist.

5. The delightful Swiss tourists, a mother & son, who we met at our hotel in Munnar, and met up with again in Cochin on Match Day for dinner. The mom, Franca, even got a beer with us before we went to check our match results.

6. The incredible cardamom tea at the random roadside stall in Thekkady that our safari guide took us to on the way to the Periyar Wildlife Reserve. (We made him stop there on the way back too.)

7. The rickshaw to nowhere which we took from Commercial St. in Bangalore to Residency Rd. in search of spicy biriyani. It turned out that our rickshaw driver took us to the wrong place, and when we got to the right place the restaurant wasn't even there any more.

8. Changing into pajamas on the upper berths of the 2-tier A/C overnight train while VA & I held up blankets for each other to get some privacy and Khanh yelled the safe word in case the conductor came by to check our tickets.

9. Cafe Coffee Day -- our trusty refuge from the hectic chaos of India. A soothing escape to the familiar world of overpriced beverages, yuppie teenagers, cookie-cutter coffee house furniture, and the ever-present Akon.

10. Cramming in two day visits to both my grandmother's houses, along with the obligatory visits to 14 different relatives and family friends in the past four days. I've had enough tea & biscuits to last a lifetime.

Ammu