CC: Kalpetta, India

I think this may be the closest I’ll ever come to being some sort of celebrity. There’s few enough western travelers in the south of India to begin with, but it seems like I’ve hit a spot that very few of us make it to.

I've yet to take a bus trip without having a random person squeeze in next to me and tell me the story of their life, initiate a philosophical conversation, tell me about all of their children, or start talking about movies once their line of questioning reveals the fact that I’ve ‘completed my studies in filim’. Apparently I look like Harry Potter.

Usually though I just have to go through the standard ‘What your name? Where you from?’ with every person that I see before they shake my hand and walk away (giggling as often as not). The strangest thing was the jeep ride home the other day when we had to wave back to at least 20 or 30 groups of people on the way. I felt like the queen.

Maybe all of this will help me to discover what it's like to be Orlando Bloom

CC: Mamallapuram, India

Alright, so I'm not really sure how I'm gonna operate this blog thing while I'm away. I'm sure you don't want to hear all the tedious details of where I've been and what it's like and what I'm doing next. And even if you did, I can't give away all my best stories online! So I think I'm probably just gonna be putting up some random thoughts and situations whenever I feel the urge without trying to give you a blow by blow of everything that I've been doing. That way I won't feel any obligation to keep up to date or anything, and you'll be spared from reading a lot of filler to get to anything interesting. Like you're doing right now.
So anyway, here's one I wrote last week but never got around to posting.

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In a strange reversal of the natural order of things, it seems that my pants have turned out to be too sexy for me. I knew that I probably should have bought a more comfortable pair. What I didn’t know is that in the tropical climate of Southern India, pants as tight as the ones I’d brought are a one way ticket to heat rash. It didn’t help either that I’d managed to rip the crotch open two days ago while climbing to the top of a cave, chasing monkeys.

One of the monkeys in question

It was a bittersweet moment yesterday when India lost the privilege of gazing upon my finely formed lower appendages in their natural form-fitting habitat as I donned that same style of pants worn by every Indian man I’ve seen so far. My legs couldn’t help but rejoice though.

The ruin of my former pants

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In other news, if you missed my screening of An Adventurer Is You or just loved it so much that you need to see it again, I have good news for you! You can now buy it online on the Kingdom of Loathing Store. Check it out!
http://store.asymmetric.net/

CC: On the Road at Last

I'm going to be honest, I pretty much just started this entry as an excuse to post this photo of our friend Daniel from my farewell party.



But I may as well take this opportunity to thank everyone for coming by to visit this week and sending me all their well wishes. I'll make sure to keep you all updated on the latest happenings here on the blog. I'm really going to miss all of you when I'm gone, especially after such an excellent couple of weeks. But my nervousness has finally given way to excitement and I can't wait to take off tomorrow afternoon! But if you'll excuse my brevity, I really have a lot of packing to do and hopefully even a little bit of sleeping. Talk to you from India!