Observations so far

- All the food is fantastically amazing. I order a random different dish everytime with no idea of what's in it and it always kicks ass. 
- Delhi autorickshaw drivers can all go die. They are total scum and make Chinese cab drivers look like professional limo drivers. 
- Mumbai is a hectic city.  There's nothing like it. Way overpriced "Posh" places built directly on top or across the street from horribly rough slums. Unlike china, the government can't sweep the crap under the rug.  It's a wanna-be LA meets Shanghai price discrepancy meets favela. 
- Taj Mahal is momentous. Truly a world wonder.  Mr Rajiv at Sai Hotel was an amazing host. Heading to the othe side of the river in agra is straight proper India. SLUMDOG!
- India trains can be the seventh layer of hell, especially when they are 2-3 hours delayed and you are stuck on them or waiting for them in a shithole train station.  Never ride in an overnight sleeper class cabin to save a few bucks. Still, despite the terrible cleanliness and cramped quarters, passengers are more civilized than Chinese peasants. 
- New Delhi is much more beautiful than Mumbai. Relatively well paved roads and actual sidewalks are highlights. 
- There are about an even number of really nice, good, honest helpful people and complete scam artists scheming for you to give them money for total bullshit. I've never felt better in my life about not giving people money and having them whine about it. It's turned into a game of "who can out-fuck each other more" at this point. 
- Chinese babies = split pants...Indian babies = no pants
-Indian men really enjoy holding each others hands everywhere. Apparently this is also true in Iran. Makes Florida Betas look heterosexual! You guys need to step your game up!
- Indian women can be loathsomely slow. Their clothing is horrendously inefficient for any logistical movements
- The "India smells" come and go...but when they come, they come hard
- Couchsurfing has been great, with chan being an awesome host in Mumbai and Isabel a great travel partner in Agra
- Being able to talk cricket earns respect. Being able to play "street-cricket" earns you a crowd of onlookers

I'm currently 6.5 hours into a "6 hour train ride" that was already delayed an hour before we boarded and will still take another hour to reach our destination. Guess this is par for the course. Hopefully in a few hours I will be arriving at a yoga ashram for 28 days of non-insane India. 

I'm worried that my train ride back to Delhi after these 28 days will completely negate the entire experience!!! Must upgrade ticket! Oh shut here come the smells again...must be dead bodies.

Taj headstand!

Spitting

I'm not gonna lie, I am a big spitter. I love to spit. Whether I'm brushing my teeth, taking a shower, going for a run, riding my bike in the cold, playing baseball, or any other situation that requires it, I am all about spitting (and occasionally snot-rocketing)

That being said, I'm a very very VERY courteous spitter/snot-rocketeer.

The same cannot be said for Chinese or Indians. However, I think I prefer Chinese spitting - at least they provide a warning hock.

Yes, everyone who's ever been to china is extremely familiar with the 5 second performance that takes place any time a chinese person (equally male or female) decides it's time to let loose some mucus. It's about a 3-4 second "hocking" process, followed by the projection of spit out of their mouth. It is fully disgusting and they never make any attempt to silence the spit nor do they use any discretion on the spit location. No thoughts of spitting into bushes or gutters, just let loose wherever they are physically facing at that moment in time. More than once, I've been a victim of a side-projection bicycle spit as I flew past they're slowpoke asses.

In India, the spitting is a lot less frequent, but when they spit, they spit to win. These Lugees are freaking HUGE! You could feed a small child for a week with the amount of calories within an Indian spit. And just like the Chinese, the direction of trot spits is with complete oblivion to anything/anyone around them. However, THEY GIVE ZERO ADVANCED WARNING. That's right, no hock! All of a sudden you'll see a rainstorm out of nowhere and before you know it, the Indian dude has disappeared. Truly silent but deadly.

So pick your poison...I for one would go with the warning siren..but at the end of the day, we're all stepping in Asian saliva.

Sent from my iPhone

And It begins

Off to a good start

Ive had this card for 5 years...this is the first time It's gotten me any access to a lounge for free. Legit

Don't call it a comeback

It's been about 4 years since I officially sat down to write a blog post.

I've done some pretty awesome stuff in those 4 years. It's all well documented throughout my facebook photo albums & videos, but only my most hardcore stalker friends (my favorite ones) bother to check through all that. I think Facebook "blogging" is a great archive, but doesn't yet have the simple comb-thru accessibility as blogger. Plus nobody reads Facebook notes.

Therefore, with my upcoming trip to India, I'm going to jump back on the blogging train. This will be a trip unlike any that I have ever done before. Usually I'm all about combining fast-paced exploring and hard-core local partying. While the first week in Mumbai, Delhi, and Agra will follow this tried and true formula, the following 2 months will be an entirely new experience.

There will be a lot of yoga, a lot of vegetarian-ism, a lot of Himalaya trekking, and a lot of introspection.

I fully realize that the above sentence more or less labels me as an incredibly gay liberal hippy. And while I admit that there are certainly many things that I have done in my life that are aligned with being a gay liberal hippy, please take the time to admire my full body of work and realize that I spend plenty of time as an extremely straight ultra-conservative badass as well.

Anyways, the trip starts June 5th and you can expect plenty of cool stories, cultural complaints, and half naked pictures as I do my best to document the journey.

-tgribbs

Race Results

12/05/2010: Shanghai Marathon (26.2 Miles)
 Time: 4:08:21 (Only trained for half, partied all night before)
Place: 1517/????(Overall)
  Bib: 189

11/14/2009: Tom Walker Half Marathon (13.1 Miles)
 Time: 1:46:12 (Rolled my ankle on a pinecone at mile 2)
Place: 59/226(Overall)
  Bib: 1140

3/29/2009: Tri-Gator Super Sprint (250 meter swim, 4.5mi bike, 1.2mi run)
 Time: 31:09
Place: 9/183(Overall)
  Bib: 7

5/18/2008: Florida Ironman 70.3 (1.2m swim, 56m bike, 13.1m run)
 Swim: 38:31
   T1: 2:50
 Bike: 2:30:09
   T2: 2:32
  Run: 2:00:26
 Time: 5:14:26
Place: 307/1995(Overall) 41/152(Age Group)
  Bib: 1220

04/12/2008: Escape from Ft. Desoto Triathlon (1/2m swim, 10m bike, 4m run)
 Swim: 14:03
   T1: 2:50
 Bike: 23:58
   T2: 1:05
  Run: 24:40
 Time: 1:06:34
Place: 31/854(Overall) 4/45(Age Group)
  Bib: 106

03/16/2008: Waldo Triathlon (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run)
 Swim: 13:23 (short, obviously)
   T1: 2:54
 Bike: 1:08:17
   T2: :56
  Run: 45:01
 Time: 2:10:31
Place: 1/11(Overall)
  Bib: 159

2/24/2008: Five Points of Life Gainesville Half Marathon (13.1 Miles)
 Time: 01:37:40
 Pace: 7:27 min/mile
Place: 38/510
  Bib: 1214

2/10/2008: Gasparilla Half Marathon (13.1 Miles)
 Time: 01:31:47
 Pace: 7:00 min/mile
Place: 95/2299
  Bib: 16055

1/13/2008: Disneyworld Marathon (26.2 Miles)
 Time: 03:31:35
 Pace: 8:04 min/mile
Place: 362/12964
  Bib: 334

11/03/2007: Florida Ironman (2.4m swim, 112m bike, 26.2m run)
 Swim: 1:02:48
   T1: 3:48
 Bike: 4:58:27
   T2: 3:01
  Run: 4:15:26
 Time: 10:23:28
Place: 267/2277(Overall) 8/51(Age Group)
  Bib: 217

10/27/2007: Suncoast Triathlon (1/3m swim, 10.3m bike, 3.1m run)
 Swim: 9:40
   T1: 1:33
 Bike: 25:35
   T2: :57
  Run: 21:08
 Time: 58:50
Place: 9/404(Overall) 1/12(Age Group)
  Bib: 27

9/23/2007: Escape to Miami Triathlon (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run)
 Swim: 29:23
   T1: 1:39
 Bike: 1:07:11
   T2: 1:27
  Run: 50:25
 Time: 2:30:05
Place: 40/800(Overall) 7/48(Age Group)
  Bib: 673

5/20/2007: Florida Ironman 70.3 (1.2m swim, 56m bike, 13.1m run)
 Swim: 36:09
   T1: 4:33
 Bike: 2:34:28
   T2: 2:29
  Run: 1:49:41
 Time: 5:07:18
Place: 313/2048(Overall) 14/89(Age Group)
  Bib: 349

3/25/2007: Strawberry Fields Triathlon (.25m swim, 11.5m bike, 3m run)
 Swim: 10:14
   T1: 2:01
 Bike: 30:04
   T2: 1:10
  Run: 19:36
 Time: 1:03:05
Place: 35/449(Overall) 4/31(Age Group)
  Bib: 401

1/28/2007: ING Miami Marathon (26.2 Miles)
 Time: 03:29:48
 Pace: 8:00 min/mile
Place: 163/2539
  Bib: 1346

1/7/2007: Orange County Half Marathon (13.1 Miles)
 Time: 01:33:00
 Pace: 7:06 min/mile
Place: 130/6251
  Bib: 10836

10/08/2006: San Jose Rock N Roll Half Marathon (13.1 Miles)
 Time: 01:32:24
 Pace: 7:03 min/mile
Place: 248/8291
  Bib: 1390

9/24/2006: NIKE Run Hit Remix (5 Miles)
 Time: 35:26
 Pace: 7:05 min/mile
Place: 237/7737
  Bib: 1385

7/15/2006: Camp Pendleton Triathlon (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run)
 Swim: 29:52
 Bike: 1:13:10 (includes T1, T2)
  Run: 45:34
 Time: 2:28:36
Place: 87/689(Overall) 4/17(Age Group)
  Bib: 2025

7/9/2006: Carlsbad Triathlon (1K swim, 25K bike, 5K run)
 Swim: 18:22
 Bike: 49:15 (includes T1, T2)
  Run: 24:04
 Time: 1:31:41
Place: 151/773(Overall) 9/27(Age Group)
  Bib: 447


6/25/2006: Breath of Life Olympic Triathlon (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run)
 Swim: 27:17
   T1: 3:35
 Bike: 1:07:36
   T2: 1:46
  Run: 47:09
 Time: 2:27:19
Place: 71/385(Overall) 6/9(Age Group)
  Bib: 294

6/18/2006: Playa Del Run Huntington Beach (1K swim, 5K run)
 Swim: 16:44
Total: 40:59
Place: 48/122(Overall) 4/5(Age Group)
  Bib: 193


6/4/2006: San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon (26.2 Miles)
 Time: 03:28:19
 Pace: 7:57 min/mile
Place: 576/15771
  Bib: 2491

5/21/2006: Playa Del Run Santa Monica (1K swim, 5K run)
 Swim: 16:52
Total: 41:26
Place: 24/106(Overall) 2/5(Age Group)
  Bib: 168

3/19/2006: Los Angeles Marathon (26.2 Miles)
 Time: 03:31:50
 Pace: 8:04 min/mile
Place: 739/25256
  Bib: 998

2/5/2006: Pacific Shoreline Half Marathon (13.1 Miles)
 Time: 01:37:07
 Pace: 7:25 min/mile
Place: 317/5462
  Bib: 3714

1/8/2006: Orange County Half Marathon (13.1 Miles)
 Time: 01:42:01
 Pace: 7:47 min/mile
Place: 379/5105
  Bib: 10896

12/11/2005: Honolulu Marathon (26.2 Miles)
 Time: 03:35:24
 Pace: 8:13 min/mile
Place: 781/24265
  Bib: 7097

9/24/2005: NIKE Run Hit Wonder 10K (6.2 Miles)
 Time: 00:42:57
 Pace: 6:54.9 min/mile
Place: 204/5668
  Bib: 2366

8/14/2005: Americas Finest City Half Marathon (13.1 Miles)
 Time: 01:39:53
 Pace: 7:37 min/mile
Place: 554/5401
  Bib: 658

6/5/2005: San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon (26.2 Miles)
 Time: 03:51:16
 Pace: 8:50 min/mile
Place: 1993/20410
  Bib: 2717