India: Food, Flies, and the Dead.

Well there's a dramatic title if ever I saw one.  

We continue driving toward Jaipur, and eventually stop at one of those typical tourist bus rest stops for a bite to eat.  The driver insists that the food is good.

Sure enough, there are a bunch of whiteys from tour buses eating in there, and the meals are rather expensive (250 rupees plus per dish). Even a bottle of water is 60 rupees (the going rate for tourists on the street is around 15 rupees).  So we wait until the driver has finished his meal in his little segregated employee area, and then ask to be taken further down the road to somewhere else.

We pick a random food stop a short way down the road, and get two curries, a pile of chapatis, and a bucket of lassi for only 60 rupees.

And all the complimentary flies you could possibly want.  (I'm not kidding.)

Further down the road we come across one of India's shocking statistics - it's high road toll.

It wasn't the first road accident I saw, nor was it the last - but it was definitely the one that looked the most like giant novelty spaghetti.
A woman fell off the back of a motorcycle and went under the wheels of a truck.  She was split completely in two pieces and lay in the middle of the road - one half head, shoulder and arm, the other... well - the rest of her.  We actually just missed witnessing the accident, but saw the guy on the motorbike screech to a stop and look back in shock.  It's not a pretty sight but we can't look away as we slowly drive by...

I present you this picture of lunch to take your mind off it.

The "chef" and his dad chillin'

This cool mofo strolled up and was eager to show off his little dagger.

Another different accident.  A reasonably normal sight on the roads here....

Vietnam: Sapa (Part 4) - A Little Bit of Everything

This morning we visited the village which is located pretty much right in Sapa (just down the hill on a dirt track).  This one is somehow less spectacular than everything I saw on the previous day though - it's a shame as this is all that the majority of people who visit this area will get to see.

Not Impressed.

By this.

Actually, it's still pretty damn cool (in a hot and sweaty kinda way) to wander around the area taking in the landscape and surrounding mountains.  We're also right next to the highest peak in Indochina called Fansipan and it's 3,142m high (10,308ft).  I think Fansipan means "Guess is tall because cannot see top through cloud".

Rambo Woz Here

Early in the afternoon we head back down the winding mountain road to Lau Cai to return our bikes.  Halfway down the mountain we turn a corner and almost run into the back of a small traffic jam.  A motorbike lies half crushed in the middle of the road, and a policeman is taking photos.  We weave through the wreckage but I don't see any bodies - the victim has already been taken away.  It's hard to tell how serious the damage was - but I don't think they would have taken them away so soon if they had died.  It looked like the bike had collied with a car going round a blind corner - it's not unusual for vehicles to overtake other cars and trucks while going round blind bends here.  That's where generous use of the horn comes in handy.  It's how you shout out "EVERYBODY - I EXIST SO WATCH OUT!!".

Schrödinger's cat disagrees.

Back in Lau Cai and it's time to return the bikes but I'll be having none of it.  I want another drive so I spend the next 20 minutes roaming around Lau Cai.  It's interesting how when on foot the motorbike traffic looks quite insane and chaotic, but when you're in amongst it all makes sense.  Just go with the flow of the river of bikes.

Humongous's ProTip: If you encounter any road warriors, kill them and steal their gasoline.

We stop in at a guest house to freshen up and have a bit of a rest, then head out for dinner and some nasty looking apple rice wine.

Looks Legit.

One bottle of rice wine later and it's time to catch the train back to Hanoi.  This time the air-con is working, and it gets freakin' cold during the night.  I must say though - this time I managed to get some sleep - I think I prefer being a bit cold to being extremely hot.  The wine probably helped a bit too.
Halfway through the journey the heavy rain starts pouring on the roof of the carriage, and is peppered with bright lighting flashes and rumbling thunder.  I feel very satisfied and cozy couped up in my rattly train, winding through the hills in the heavy storm.



More Vietnam pics here and here.

Vietnam: Perfume Pagoda (Part 2) and an Accident

Although I am a Manly Man, I had already been convinced by the tour guide to purchase a one-way ticket on the cable-car so I caught it back down the mountain instead of walking.

It's quite possibly the most exciting cable-car I have ever been in.  To picture what it was like, combine the following ingredients:

1.  Vietnam safety standards
2.  Cable-car speed set to Turbo
3.  4 large wasps buzzing around in the cab
4.  Tiny openable windows that aren't big enough for the wasps to find and escape

Ha ha the joke is on you!  There are no safety standards.

Needless to say - I didn't have too much time to relax and enjoy the view but it was actually better than walking as you can see quite far across the mountain range on the way down,  and you get to see the pagoda trail from above snaking it's way upward.

The view only makes them angrier -
wasps are afraid of heights because they have small wings.  

Once back at the bottom, we take a quick peek at the nifty old temple there complete with badass warrior statues before hopping back on the boat for a leisurely ride back to the minivan.

They burn one incense stick for every wasp victim of the month.

Partway along the trip back to Hanoi, we come to a sudden halt.  One car ahead of us there is a crowd of motorcyclists blocking the road in the middle of the village we are passing through.  It seems like we won't be moving for a while so we get out to investigate.

In the middle of the road lie two motorbikes, and two bodies.  A middle aged and an elderly woman have had a collision.  One of them seems to be alive but bloody and somebody is watching over them intently - the other one is motionless and drenched in blood, and nobody seems to be giving them any attention.  After a couple of minutes an arm moves so they're both still alive for now.

Nobody is allowed to move the accident victims until the police arrive to see what happened.  Eventually some policemen arrive, and the women are hastily lifted onto the back of motorbikes, perched between two people and whisked off to what I hope will be a hospital.  Hopefully they didn't have any spinal or neck injuries or it could be permanent the way they were handled like that.

Kind of like Tom Green - Not funny.

ProTip:  Don't get involved in an accident in Vietnam - it could take a quite while to get medical attention, and they won't touch you until the police arrive.





More photos can be viewed here on Flickr