Jeffrey’s Journey

When I was working, there used to be this ancient lady who I had to periodically come into contact with for my work. She resembled Jar Jar from Star Wars and had a nasty attitude. Anyway, when it was time to skip outta her office or hang up the phone with her, she used to always crackle “Bye for now!” and I’d anticipated it with dread.

I’m going to stop writing for the rest of my trip. I’ve written many things in a journal and I plan to update everything once I have time and a sound computer that doesn’t cost any dollars/rupees/baht/riel/dong to update on. But more importantly, I want to finish writing when I have more of a perspective as well when I want to write. I just haven’t felt like updating the last few days… I feel lazy. For the few who’s followed my trip up till’ now, I promise to update and write about everything I’ve skipped or neglected to write about later if you are still there to read. I’ll also probably load photos when I find a computer with good speed. Recently, I haven’t been updating and I just feel so behind I’ve decided to do it later. But I’ll probably update at least once before I go back home…

If I’ve disappointed anyone I want to sincerely apologize and tell them that I have appreciated anyone who took the time to follow along the last few months. Thank you!

But until then, “bye for now.”

The Taj Mahal is a monument built out of a man’s love for a woman. It’s the most famous monument of love in the world. I read that it’s been described as “a teardrop on the face of eternity.”

I spent a morning watching the sunrise at the Taj Mahal with Shiho, a girl from Japan who I met amid the chaos on the train to Agra. And after having spent a morning at the Taj and a few days with Shiho, I think she’s by far the more amazing of the two.

She speaks Japanese, Hindi, English, and a little bit of Chinese. She seems like the typical polite and humble Japanese girl, but she’s got a streak of wild-as-the-wind gypsy spirit in her. She shuns the typical materialistic things that most girls I know are in love with, she loves to eat, she loves to travel. She’s a vicious bargainer. There’s nothing typical about her. And I think she’s beautiful.

We spent our time mostly speaking in English, but sometimes we spoke in Chinese and the little Japanese I knew.

As the English would say, I fancy her.

Updated July 2, 2008:

I apologize but I really left out a lot in this entry. The way Shiho and I met was amazing and it truly is proof that lightening can strike at any moment, even at a dirty, rat-infested train station. A few days after this entry, Shiho and I traveled to Bangkok where we had some incredible nights together. We then flew to Taipei where we spent a night above the world on top of the tallest building in the world. About a year later, I went to Japan and was glad I got the chance to see her again. The time I spent with Shiho was special and filled with incredible moments and attempting to record them just didn’t seem right at the time. It’s only a year and a half later, and in retrospect, that I can bring myself to put a little blurb about so much that I left out. 

I arrived yesterday and was immediately greeted by a cow outside the airport. On the plane ride, the Indian man beside me, in his broken Indian accented-English, complained that my pronunciation of the English language was unclear and asked if I knew how to speak English after having a 1 minute conversation with him…

Delhi hasn’t been so bad. I don’t have culture shock and I am not uncomfortable. There’s lots of people trying to trick tourists in the area I’m staying at, but I’ve seen most of the scams… they just attempt a lot more frequently than any place I’ve been. They tried to scam me 4 times today and it’s sad that the bad ones make it almost impossible to trust the people on the street, an experience I usually seek out. And this includes the kids, who are capable of lying through their teeth and have the most sophisticated routine of lies I’ve ever seen.

I feel like I’m coming down with the flu. I’ve had really bad headache since coming here… tomorrow I will head for the Taj.

So how is Delhi…

Picture a snow globe… but in place of snow, add dirt and mud. Take out the snowman and add lunatic rickshaw drivers that are probably the most persistent touts anywhere, like magnetic windup toys to your every move. Sprinkle some trash in there, as well as a few cows in the busiest streets of the city. Oh, don’t forget the cow pies too. Then add a few Indian men with accents all yelling “Hello my friend! Hello Sir! Come into my shop, take look!”