Leaving on a Jet Plane

Vacations are always nice. Relaxation, fun in the sun, rest, the whole nine yards. Well my trip is going to be a little different.

Tomorrow I embark on a little international jaunt over to India!

Part of me is excited. For two weeks I'll be immersed in a totally different culture, visit lots of relatives, eats tons of amazing food, savour some of the best fruit in the world, visit the Taj Mahal, and did I mention eat amazing food?

The other part of me knows what comes along with the territory. Insane heat and humidity, mosquitoes and insects that enjoy snacking on me, totally chaotic traffic, uncomfortable bedding, hoards of people, beggars everywhere, smog filled air in certain areas, and two days of travelling to get there.

TWO DAYS!

How is it two days? Well first consider, India is 12 and a half hours ahead of California time (Don't ask me where the half comes from. I always thought time zones were by whole hours?) The flight from LA to Malaysia is over 19 hours (19 FREAKING HOURS!). Suffice to say, I should be able to get quite a bit of reading done.

I last visited India about five years ago, and it was half enjoyable. Why only half? I was seriously eaten alive by the mosquitoes! I had no idea how ferocious they were. The town I was staying in apparently has some back-waters which are a breeding ground for mosquitoes. They attack while you sleep and will get to any area of exposed skin! It got so bad that I wore clothing all over while sleeping even though it was 90+ degrees!

Eventually, we bought an Air Conditioner and Mosquito net which more or less remedied the problem of getting too many more bites, but the existing bites I had itched like a mother. To give an idea of how many bites I had, consider that on my right arm and hand alone, I had over 40 separate mosquito bites!

This is not going to happen again! I'm stalking up on mosquito nets and bug spray this time!

On the way there, I'm spending a day in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I've spent a day there before, and there's quite a bit to see. I'm going to try and arrange a driver to chauffeur me around for a day.

Knowing me as well as I do, there's bound to be some good adventures on this trip. I'm planning on stopping into some internet cafe's so I should be able to post some updates while I'm gone.

Stay tuned!