Introduction

I will be traveling to India (with brief stays in Thailand en route) starting the day after Thanksgiving. In the past, I sent out daily emails to an unwieldy number of recipients. The list was so big that I had to break up the emails into batches to get them through foreign ISPs. It was a hassle, so I'm blogging my trip this time. The blog format also will allow you, the reader, to vent your anger at me in real time, for all to read. So, it should be more fun this time.

Some might wonder why I'd want to spend my time blogging when I'm on vacation, but not those who have received my emails from previous trips. The primary purpose of this blog is to give my friends confidence that I have not yet been mugged, arrested, kidnapped, hospitalized, or murdered. I have a tendency to get myself in dangerous situations when I travel because I try to stray far from the beaten path. And I usually have no idea where I'm going and can never speak the local language. While I have never been kidnapped or murdered, I've been mugged quite a few times. And I've stared at the wrong end of a gun more times than I'd like. I've even been knocked unconscious with an AK-47 rifle by an angry Thai man. And that was after being mugged by someone else.

I've never been arrested abroad, but I was once detained by the New Zealand Customs authorities (and an Australian adviser) on suspicion of methamphetamine smuggling. It turns out that the baggage handlers were running a smuggling ring by placing drugs in luggage after the security checks and removing them before the security checks at the destination airport. They used my bag, and I failed a drug screening because of it. It made for a rather scary but humane interrogation. They had me so scared and confused that there was no way I could ever pull off a lie. Fortunately, I was completely innocent, and that's what they were convinced of after 3 hours of discussion. But the reader should understand that humane interrogation is very effective. If you ever have to face it, tell the truth. It's easier that way.

This trip should be a little safer than normal, though. For most of the trip, I will be traveling with my friend Tamding Wangyall, of the Mundgod refugee camp in India. Yes, Tamding is a Tibetan refugee. Tamding isn't exactly a bodyguard, but he will make my trip safer nonetheless. The reason is that I have far more concern for the safety of Tamding than I have for my own safety. So I won't stray as far from the beaten path as I normally would. Tamding also provides me with good language skills, which will be very helpful in the linguistic Disneyland of India. Of the Indo-European language family, Tamding can speak English, Hindi, and Nepali. He can also speak Tibetan (Sino-Tibetan family) and Kannada (Dravidian family). With such a wide array of linguistic capability, Tamding can communicate with about 60% of the Indian population. My capabilities (English and extremely poor German), will allow me to communicate with 4% of the Indian population. But many of the people I really need to talk with will know English. Hotel employees, travel agents, security agents, and transportation officials all speak English. Taxi drivers, of course, never speak English (nor do they know where they're going). But taxi drivers don't always speak English here in America, so I'm used to that.

This blog will mainly talk about my personal experiences in travel, but I will also include discussions about history, linguistics, religion, politics, and foreign policy. For the most part, my discussions of these subjects will be limited to relaying the opinions of the Indian people, but I will offer my own opinions as well. Given the current situation in Pakistan, the Indian people will certainly have a lot to say on the political and foreign policy fronts. And I've found that the Indian people are quite aggressive about making their opinions known to Westerners. They seem to think that the fate of the quarter of the world's population that lives in South Asia is somehow relevant. They are right, of course, but Americans generally don't see it that way. And that's what really pisses them off. Suffice it to say that my political discussions with Indians have tended to be spirited. And that's good thing. The Indian people deserve a voice, and I will provide it.

On the religion front, I should probably declare my allegiances so everyone knows where I stand. I was raised as an Atheist, but converted to Christianity for two years in high school due to peer pressure. Two years was more than enough to become disillusioned, and I began a long journey of religious study. I've read most of the major religious texts (Bible, Quran, Bhagavad Gita, Book of Mormon, Tao Te Ching, Pali Canon Nikayas, etc.), so I'm pretty well versed in religious theory. And I've come into close contact with many religions in my travels. But I'm not a religious scholar, so please understand that my knowledge may not be as deep as it should be. So where do I stand? I would classify myself as "Buddhist by Default." I don't really buy into Buddhism completely, but I do believe in reincarnation, and I don't believe in God. So there really is nowhere else for me to go, is there? I would add that I am sympathetic to the Hindu concept of the Brahman. If there is a God, that's how I envision Him. And I do see a lot of value in the teachings of Abraham, Moses, Lao Tsu, Confucius, Jesus, and Mohammad. But I find the Buddha's teachings to be the most compelling, mostly because of his thoughts on consciousness and the nature of suffering. So that's where I stand. And I will do my best to give all religions a fair treatment. And in India, we will encounter a wide variety of religious thought. So it should be fun.

Previous readers of my travel posts will notice a new feature: paragraphs! That's right, I'm giving up my Jack Kerouac ways and will actually divide up my thoughts into organized paragraphs. In fact, I will even divide up long posts into separate, smaller posts (this post excepted, of course).