How to quit your job and travel around the world

What she's really been doing

I fear yesterday's post might have given people the wrong impression about what I have been doing with my time while traveling. So to straighten things out, I'll share with you my reading list. Before I left for travel I posted a query on the Lonely Planet forum asking for book recommendations. I took none of them. Instead here are the books I read while traveling and all I highly recommend, except for the ones I abandoned after 100 pages. As rule I don't finish books I don't like.

Read and recommend

*Atonement - Ian McEwan
Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert (recommend maybe too strong a word, but it was a good beach read)
Kafka at the Shore - Haruki Murakami
The Autobiography of Mahatama Ghandi - MG
Arthur and George - Julian Barnes
Catfish and Mandala - Andrew Pham
A Million Little Pieces - James Frey
Are You Experienced? - William Sutcliffe
May You Be The Mother of a Hundred Sons - Elisabeth Bumiller
*The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
Amsterdam - Ian McEwan
*The History of Love - Nicole Krauss
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (in progress now)

*My favorites of the list. I cried in equal parts - yes, I am a person who does cry when reading - with both Small Things and Atonement. Atonement might have a slight edge, though the end of Small Things is the greatest gift an author can give a reader. Read them both.

Abandoned

The Year of Yes - I can't remember the annoying author's name. Don't waste time or money on this one.
Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts. Eek! Nine hundred pages of adolescent martial arts feats in the slums of Bombay. That's 400 rupees I'll never get back. Don't let the LP fool you into buying this one!
Snow - Orhan Pamuk. Sigh. I wanted to read it and like it. But it was so boring and far removed from tropical Asia.

The God of Small Things If you have spent any amount of time traveling in a third world country you've most likely used the Lonely Planet. You will know that they love to tell you little insider factoids, like, for example, Indian beer contains glycerol that you can eliminate by dunking the open beer upside down in a glass of water. Some oily glycerol substance will float away and you have yourself a fresh cold non-glycerolic brew. Anyway, in the spirit of those small things, I've come up with a few small things of my own that only a trained traveler could fill you in on! For me personally they are simple pleasures really. For you, perhaps mere observations. But for traveling in South Asia, it's called life. 1. Dog balls If you live in the states (and you probably are, since you're my friend and you are reading this), think about the last time you saw a dog who had balls? That's right! Five years ago when you went to visit your cousin in the country! And if you think you saw them on a city dog, don't be fooled - those are prosethetics, designed to stablize the brooding male dog's ego. However, when you come to South Asia, be prepared for a dog ball explosion! (And dog tits too, Romulus and Remus would have had a field day.) They come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes are so shiny they can reflect the sunshine. 2. Nose picking Now we all know how relaxing a good recreational nose pick can be. But we've been groomed to think that a) we shouldn't indulge or b) maybe only in the privacy of home (or the car). Well, pickers, here's your chance to dig in and let the world know that your sinuses are a veritable treasure trove. Everyone's doing it - your rickshaw driver, your waiter, the nice old lady who is someone's grandma. There's absolutly no need to be ashamed - it's dusty here and lord knows what kind of boogers need to be evacuated. They always tell you to get as 'local' as you can - here's your chance. 3. To Do Lists Traveling has a way of giving you time to come up with future projects that you may or may not ever accomplish when you get home: Make chai everyday. Do more yoga. Go blond. Name dog Shelley Winters. Buy Dog. Give Shelley Winters prosthetic balls. Go ahead and make your list as grandiose as you like because when you get home, you're going to be broke and depressed anyway. Let's face it, that real list - find job, pay off credit card, go to dentist - just ain't the same thing. 4. Farting Like standing next to open sewage isn't the best alibi ever? 'Nuf said, let her rip.

Left: Making contact with locals.


Just two days in Jaipur and moving tonight by night train to Udaipur - 'The Most Romantic City in India' according to the Lonely Planet. Today we had a good tour of the Amber Fort - a pretty amazing fort/palace/concubine residence that's near Jaipur. Built like a honeycomb, you could get lost in there for hours. And then the boys that relentlessly try and sell you postcards would find you and you would have to promise to buy their postcards to find your way out. And the same 10-year-old boy would try and chat you up. Argh. Well, we didn't get lost and that didn't happen. But it could! SO be warned! Then had a look around the City Palace, the highlight of which was the kooky 16th century astronomical sundial garden - full of them in all shapes and sizes (that astronomists still use) and also the only 100 percent pashmina carpet was quite beautiful. But enough about the sights - what about me! Well, for the record, I had my best palak paneer (spinach and unfermented cheese) to date last night - it's become MY dish and bellweather of good eating for me. And it's made the list for Proclamtions of Things to Cook When I Get Home.

AND I am starting to get warm fuzzy feelings about India now that I am in my last week. In Dehli, I walked by a legless man pedalling some homemade contraption with his hands - he had on a white shirt and turban, and wasn't exactly begging but close. But as he pedaled by, he made a hugely exagerated eyebrow wink (twice) and smiled at me. And you know I was a little flattered that The Man With No Legs still thought maybe he had a chance. (OMG, is this how is starts in India? You've been traveling so long all alone that you begin to start BEING flattered by homeless, legless men flirting with you? And next thing you know, you're dating a rickshaw driver and writing testimonials in his little tourist notebook about his 'great energy'? And then you're wearing a sari and calling yourself Suri? Get me out!!!!)

And you guys are in for a treat tomorrow! You'll just have to log in and see.