Bangkok, Thailand: Hitting the road today to head out for Thailand. I am very glad I decided to spend two weeks in India rather than the one I had originally planned. Especially considering that I got sick during this week, the extra time worked out quite nicely. The travel to Bangkok was relatively uneventful: 4 hr cab ride from Agra to New Delhi airport, 3 hours of sitting in the airport, 4.5 hr flight (delayed), and taxi to hotel. Clearly, the defining feature of Bangkok is going to be the heat and humidity. Temperatures for the week I am here are all highs of 94 – 97 F and lows of 84 – 82 F with high humidity throughout. I have a new found respect for my friend Dak who grew up here.

I was reading one of the economics blogs I follow on a regular basis today, and, oddly enough, there was a post about traveling to India. There were two things that struck me in the article – one I agreed with and one I disagreed with. The one I agreed with was, “Overrated: Famous monuments and attractions in India. Underrated: India itself as a monument or attraction.” I am not agreeing so much with the “overrated” portion of that, as much as I am agreeing with the second part. Walking the streets and traveling the countryside of India is such a different experience compared to anywhere else. What you see, hear and smell is totally unlike anything you will find anywhere else.

Which gets to where I disagreed strongly with the writeup. The second point was to find a large, western hotel to stay at. This is what I did the first time I came to India for work. I stayed at a huge ITC hotel in Chennai that was totally walled off from the streets. I did hire a car for the day and get out and see a few things, but, for the most part, my view of India was through a car window. This time I stayed in apartments or small hotels. I went through neighborhoods I never would have gone to before and walked down alleys to get to hidden markets. If you ever come to India (which I strongly recommend), get out of the bubble of tourist hotels and busses, and into the streets.

Finally, a couple of odds and ends thoughts on India:

• Cows: I know I’ve mentioned them before, but they really are everywhere. As someone who grew up saying “cows” every time we saw them out the window (it’s a midwest thing, I can’t explain it – may as well ask me not to say “ope” when I bump into something), I am still fascinated whenever I see them. I even had one push me out of the way on the sidewalk with his head. In considering who has the right of way between you and a cow, it’s the cow.
• Dogs: As much as there were cats everywhere in Morocco, there are more dogs in India. Surprisingly, they are not skinny, sad looking dogs. Many of them actually appeared a bit plump. And, they would appear every where – in the median of the road or sleeping on top of a car.

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• Traffic: Traffic in India is simply mind boggling. People in the US complain about Boston drivers. Boston is amateur hour compared to any city in India. You can count on at least 1.5 or 2.0 cars per lane of road. And don’t let a little thing like a one-way street deter you from where you want to go – just drive the wrong direction on the shoulder, everyone else will understand.
• Friendliness: Everywhere I went in India, people were eager to interact with me. I stopped telling the stories about getting approached for selfies / pictures, because there were just too many of them. It didn’t matter where I was or what I was doing, as I walked down the street there would be someone who wanted to talk, get a picture, or just say hello.
• Cricket: Unlike other countries, here a large empty field and a group of boys does not mean a soccer match. Here it means cricket. In Agra especially, anywhere there was a large field there would be groups of young men or boys milling about, and always a couple of them with sticks or actual cricket bats hitting rocks or balls for the others to field.

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