"sorry, i'm kind of a big person"

so yesterday was the longest day in history. well, perhaps i am exaggerating. but close. i was up early to catch my 9:30am bus. picked up some lunch to take with me. thought i might have the 2 seat section to myself on the bus (though i must have been delusional or still in some sort of pre-caffeine absorbtion haze - this is india after all), but my seat mate was an young, indian, nun-in-training. she was nice and we chatted a little bit during the trip.

so we sat. for a long time. and more and more people get on the bus every 10 minutes or so. sometimes we stop, for no apparent reason. we're never sure how long we have when we do stop, the driver says nothing to anyone. at some point a family gets on and there are no seats. so they're standing in the aisle, looked like a grandmother, mother, and 2 daughters. so the grandmother indicates that she wants us to scooch in so she can sit on the edge of our seat. so the american in me says (silently) "no flippin' way, i paid for this seat, i'm sitting on it by myself". but then i think okay, this is india, it's about the experience, blah blah blah. and the girl i'm sitting with moves closer to the window.

so i try to move over. and now there's about an inch of free space for her to sit. let me tell you about these seats - they are *just* the width of my arse. when i'm standing, not when i'm sitting down and it spreads out. "sorry, i'm kind of a big person" i say. anyway, she sits on the floor.

i actually had a bit of an epiphany on the bus about why india is so dirty. people just chuck rubbish everywhere. out the windows of buses. this is normal, perhaps even expected. while i put all my garbage back in my bag everyone else pushes it out the window.

we eventually arrive at our destination and i am pooped. i decided to treat myself a little bit and get a room with tv. so i go to this place from my book, ask for a single with a tv. right away the guy is trying to get me to go for a bigger room. what do you want to watch? he says. single rooms have bad tv's, double rooms, have lots of channels. so they show me both. and i take the single, even though he's tried to offer me a deal on the double room. and the tv was fine. in fact i had the star movie channel. so i got some food and a beer and sat in my room watching tv. a lovely evening.

actually, i'm annoyed. when i got into my room i noticed that my right foot looked like a sausage and was very swollen. and i thought maybe it was from the toe ring, it had pinched or something.... so i took it off and now i can't get it back on. (it's kind of a coil shape, but i can't seem to reform it).

well today i'm in hampi, staying at a guesthouse with a nice courtyard in the middle. i've seen my first elephant. i'm off to get some lunch.