Notes from the road

Wow, India sure makes a fast impression. People. people everywhere. The place certainly has the feel of a third-world country.

Immediately upon exiting the airplane, a smoky haze is evident in the air. I wondered whether there had been a fire in the airport, but I'm assured this is all normal. It turns out all of Delhi is the same way. I feel like I should be wearing a gas mask. So much for all those years of not smoking.

Ten minutes into the car ride and I've seen two men urinating in public, about ten dogs, and a big-ass cow. No lanes on the highways, or at least no regard for the markings that do exist. Cars somehow flock together like a packed herd of scared elephants.

A tiny tent village on the side of the road, people walking in the middle of the street with reckless abandon, constant car horns, bicycles almost everywhere I look.

And then I see it, holy crap -- a monkey, running wild! And damn if there aren't more, too. No seriously, there are freaking monkeys running around. On the ground, atop buildings, pretty much everywhere you'd expect a monkey not to be.

Driving from Agra to Jaipur now. There are animals all over the freaking place, almost more than people. Mostly cows, but a few sheep and goats, buffalo, and an occasional elephant. Massive boars are kept in towns sometimes because they consume some of the trash randomly strewn about. Note to self the virtues of this possible alternative to cleaning my apartment...