GCIRC Day 0 -The Mandovi Express

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Writing this on the train from Thivim to Mumbai:

There is no starving on the Mandovi Express. Not if you have a few rupees on hand, anyway. Wallahs in a seemingly endless procession come down the aisle, selling too many things to mention them all – chicken lollipops, chai, byriani, omelets(?) sandwiches, lassies, and on and on. My first Indian train meal was a chicken egg roll, which is an odd sounding name, I only just realized. Regardless of the silly name, it tasted fine to me:

The wallahs have voices which seem custom made to cut through the din of fans, stiff breezes, babies crying and the ever rocking train as it rolls over the tracks, through tunnels, sometimes sounding incredibly violent, though you would never know it, the train rocks gently throughout. I have to imagine a wallah who gets laryngitis would not keep his job long, as their voice is as valuable to them as Lebron James values each of his legs. They often work closely behind their fellows, so when you are not trying to pick out specific words you recognize, these repetitive calls can sound very similar to monk chanting.

“bonniewatahlasseeechickehlolipop!” Repeat.

If you want something from one of these men, you have to listen closely and be quick to get his attention. Once I decided I really wanted a Pepsi, it took a full hour and at least three missed opportunities to finally get the soft-drink wallah’s attention.

I had heard rumors of the horrid smells one will encounter while riding an Indian train, and I am here to confirm that I have encountered some truly putrid smells, one seemed to resemble rotting chicken, fish and eggs all together with a faint burning chemical smell I associate with burning trash. Not all smells are foul though, when everyone orders lunch, the compartment fills with the smell of curry and chicken byriani. There’s not much to look at on the top bunk in sleeper class, which is forcing me to enjoy all the weird quirks that my ears and nose are encountering. So far I am enjoying this experience immensely.

It’s hard not to think that I have forgotten something, despite having (or maybe because I) packed so light. So far, I haven’t figured out what that might be. Ever the worrier, I continue to wait for that shoe to drop ever vigilant.

I have the address of a hotel near the train station where others from the trip will be staying. Troy and I will likely find something more budget for the night, but we are somewhat winging it once we roll off the train around 10pm. We have almost all day tomorrow to spend in Mumbai, the first train of the trip doesn’t depart until 8pm. Not at all sure how we will spend our time tomorrow. Today, we spent a fair chunk of it napping:

Traveling around India with as little as possible.

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Circumnavigating India is going to be a challenge, possibly more than I can conceive of at this point. Still, I have a masochistic streak in me where I immediately want to make things harder on myself than is reasonable. How small could I make my pack while still being able to take video, photos, blog, and get by without being so smelly I get thrown bodily off of a moving train? For me, it was the size of a man-purse (Or murse, if you prefer). Check out my gear below:

1- Murse - Bought for US$20 in Arambol. In the states this would be an $80 bag, minimally. For a man-purse, it’s pretty manly. I think Indiana Jones would be proud of my choice.

2- Book: “Mindfulness with Breathing” – received for free at the end of my meditation retreat. Something tells me I am going to need to brush up on being mindful on this trip. And breathing, can’t forget to breathe. You would be surprised how often I catch myself not breathing.

3- iPhone 4, headphones, charger – This is the whole reason I can go on this trip without bringing a laptop. It shoots HD video, takes some great pictures (It seems custom made to take spectacular photos of the sky) and with 1.7 gigs of data left on my phone plan (as of this writing), plus a combination of the wordpress app, evernote, tumblr app and reel director (video editing app) I hope to really test the power of my iPhone 4 as a mobile content-creating device. I might fail miserably, but if I succeed I will do victory cartwheels.

4- Glasses Case – Because you know, I have glasses.

5- Sketchbook, pens – The stuff I want to use most, but will likely be used the least of all this stuff. I hope I remember to draw! I used to be quite good at it I think…

6- Wallet, money, Passport – Self explanatory, I hope

7- 80 Baby wipes- I am forgoing a roll of toilet paper and bringing these along. They will double as TP and a quick and dirty way to get clean in a pinch. It will be interesting to see how long 80 will last.

8- Waterproof bag – On load from Troy, I will put dirty clothing in there to keep it away from the clean stuff.

9- Extension cord- I expect outlets will be prime real estate, and with this, I can turn one plu into as many as five, four, which I think is pretty damn helpful YOU’RE WELCOME FELLOW TRAIN RIDERS.

10 – Playing cards – I think these are essential but I only really know how to play blackjack, so I will hope others on the train will know how to play games that won’t turn me into a gambler.

11 – Pink string with screw – Sounds weird, I know, but this was given to me at Burning Man by someone who saw me working my camera and thought I could use this to help stabilize the camera I was holding. And it worked! So I bring this to help Troy test out the video on his 5D, and it also can help me with my iPhone vids if I rig it up correctly.

12- Toiletries! – Including hand sanitizer, cortisone, toothpaste, tooth brush, floss, bug spray (DEEEEEET!), deodorant and shaving stuff.

13 – Leatherman folding knife – Because… well I don’t know. Certainly not self-defense, as I would surely stab myself bringing it out. Let’s call it my apple cutting device.

14- Windbreaker – I don’t get to use this much, but I understand it gets cold up north. Bring it on, cold! I’m a Vermonter!

15 – Two extra t-shirts, extra shorts – Mark will be providing us with another t-shirt on arrival, bringing my shirt count to four. I’m totally set.

16 – Extra pants – Again, with the cold thing. And also, you can’t go into most temples with shorts on. At least, not without looking like a jerk.

17 – Bicycle hat – The same nice, snug warm one I used during the Tough Guy race. I love this thing and have been lugging it all over Asia with no chance to use it. The only reason it wasn’t tossed before now is because it takes up so little space.

18- Mico fiber towel – Small, quick drying, super absorbant. Let’s hope I actually bathe once in awhile so this gets used.

19- Bungee cords – Because… I don’t know on this one either. Maybe I can string them together to make a clothes drying line?

20- Smug, self important travel scarf – Because who can really take you seriously if you don’t have the most common scarf anyone has ever seen ever? I needed the style injection.

21- Um… - I didn’t mean to have the “boxers or brief’s” conversation over the internet, but you know, full disclosure. I am a boxer-briefs guy, honestly. I haven’t gone full-on briefs since the age of say, 12. The need for a great deal of underwear that could pack up small forced me to change temporarily for this trip. I haven’t even tried them on yet. They are there for a simple purpose: Be worn for two or three days, then GO AWAY FOREVER. I mean, I can’t imagine being a convert back to the tight side, but who knows. Expect a progress report on this at some point though, because I know how much you all want to hear about my underwear.

That’s the whole shebang! It packed up nice and neatly, with room for a snack and a small bottle of “Royal Stag” whiskey.

This could end in calamity. I have high expectations for the iPhone. Not being able to find an outlet, not getting any sort of signal in certain areas are just two hurdles I will encounter. It will be an exciting experiment, trying to keep everyone up to date with what I do as I do it,

Troy did a rundown of his gear as well, not to mention taking the photo you see above (Thanks Troy!) read about his gear here.

All the way around India by train

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When plotting our travels through Asia, I remarked at how I would be missing the Tough Guy race this year. To compensate, Christine and I looked around for other challenges in the area that might be comparable. We found several rickshaw races, mostly all booked by that point, and had given up on finding anything worthwhile when our friend Troy at FOGGOdessey sent us a message on Facebook – a group of people from the UK were headed on a trip all the way around India by train. After a conversation so brief it may have gone something like:

“Okay, yes. That.”

“Okay.”

We roped Troy in, and it was on. And by “on” I mean, I bought my India Rail pass, then promptly neglected to read up on the event in any serious way.

Not until we arrived in Goa did I start to read through the blog, messages I had received from the organizer Mark which I had previously only skimmed.

Then I started to panic a little.

The itinerary is intense. I will be sleeping on a train every night but two, there are ferries, early morning taxi rides and what seems like Mad dashes from one train to another. Certain parts of the course that we had expected to be open are shut down due to strikes. Certain parts are big question marks until the time we arrive. 12,000km+ around the seventh largest country in the world.

The family is not coming along for this, nor should they, and yes, I am torn about leaving them for more than half a month. I try to keep in perspective that I am luckier than most dads. I get to spend every day with my family, and have for years now, but taking the 13 days away to do the meditation retreat was extremely hard, and this will likely be just as hard. Ultimately, I try to remember that I come home from these crazy activities feeling invigorated, alive, and full of appreciation for Christine and Cole, and that without doing these occasionally, I start to take things for granted without realizing it.

Hours before I will find myself in Mumbai, waiting to take that first train, I am excited. I am a train person, an appreciation I have because of a Grandfather who loved trains. For Toughguy, I spent the week before the event zipping all over the UK by train, and loved the experience. The only thing missing last year was an overnight train. Now I get about 15 of them. I’m sure 15 will be enough.

Starting the new year in silence

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UPDATE: The retreat was fantastic! To read the first part of my thoughts on it, head over here. I will be putting together another post about it here at Drewgilbert.com as soon as is reasonably possible. You can continue reading now….
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As I write this, I am sitting on an 11 hour bus ride that will take me from Bangkok to Surat Thani. Behind me, endless chatter in French is all I can hear, but I have been focused on this ten month old little boy, slung to his mother in a baby bjorn, and my heart aches a little, because this is not my son.

Cole is in Bali, with his mother.  She wanted (and quite frankly deserved) to kick back someplace extra nice in the month of January while dad does his annual oddball adventure.

Last year around this time, I took a week to travel through the UK on my way to doing the Toughguy Race. This year, I am doing something that will likely be even harder on me. Ten days in a silent meditation retreat. Ten days of meditating while sitting, walking, or doing yoga or chores, all without speaking a word.

I go into this not really knowing what to expect, other than it will be incredibly hard. Hard to sleep on a concrete slab with a wooden pillow, hard to only have two meals each day, hard to wake up every morning at 4:30AM, hard to not speak for ten straight days.

I do go into this with (hopefully not unreasonably) high hopes. As someone who has ADD and does not use medication to treat it, I have been wanting to incorporate meditation into my life for a couple of years now. When I have done meditation in the past, I felt it did help calm my endlessly racing (yet unproductive) mind, but I have lacked the discipline to make meditation something worth making extra time for. After ten days of it, I should know for sure one way or another if it is for me or not.

Another reason for me to hope is because my experience doing the master cleanse was immensely positive for me. Fasting for 23 days made me understand my relationship to food, and how, why and what I ate. I came out of it committed to not eating so much fast food, to appreciate and enjoy the process of making good food with fresh ingredients (As I write this I realize I backslid on this a little, maybe I need to do it again?). So I view this retreat as a master cleanse for the brain, a fast from being connected to technology and the world all of the time. Or maybe as a mental scrubbing clean, or bootcamp. What might I learn by starving the part of my brain that craves Facebook? Do I even want to know?

Of course I do.

Images taken from the International Dhamma Hermitage website.

The new best part of my day.

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Now that Cole is older and well past the swaddling point, the new hotness of cool things for first time dads to experience is smiling and/or laughing in the kid’s sleep. Considering how much time I spend with him, I don’t get this as often as I sort of expect. Maybe it’s something that will become more common over time. Either way, these moments when I get to insert myself into his dream a little and make him smile is pretty much the greatest thing since ever.

Click here if you are unable to see the video.

PS- A nerdy side note: This video was shot on my new iPhone 4, edited together very quickly with the ReelDirector App, and uploaded to Youtube directly from ReelDirector. Look for more of these in the near future, hopefully I can get more complicated with them and have them be slightly more interesting than a sleeping baby.

What does a world traveling dad look like?*

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I don’t have much by way of clothing as we have embarked on our most recent travels. If you see me, chances are you see me in something resembling the photo below:

When buying clothes for the trip, I tried to stick with tech material that would dry out easy if wet, in case I sweat, or had to wash my clothes by hand. The material is light and travels well. The overall kit includes:

1) A child – essential in order to make the label of “World Traveling Dad” accurate.

2) Baby Carrier – We decided that Cole had grown out of this one days after this picture was taken. Purchased at a second hand boutique shop for about $10. Not a Baby Bjorn, and sadly I don’t recall the brand name of this knock off.

3) Men’s Blood and Guts™ Superlight Long Sleeve Shirt, Columbia – I had no idea when I bought it that this was a fishing shirt, despite the words “Performance Fishing Gear” written clearly (though very tiny) on the back. $50.

4) Outdoor Research shorts – I thought $60 was a lot to spend on shorts, but these things have worked out extremely well for me. They are light, stylish, wash easily. Me gusta mucho.

5) OluKai Hiapo Flip-Flops – at $99.95, I don’t think I could have been convinced to buy these, but we capitalized on our REI dividend, bringing the cost to $50. Having said that, now that I have been wearing these almost exclusively for the last eight months, I am reconsidering my penny pinching standards. These things have taken a relentless beating and are still standing. They look great and are incredibly sturdy in their construction. I will keep people updated on how long these things last, as I plan on running these things into the ground.

6) Tamrac camera bag containing a Canon 7D (not to mention at least one spare diaper, wet wipes, a toy of some sort, etc) – I occasionally take some photos for the wife, but I really don’t have much of an eye at all for photography. For the most part, I am the sherpa for such gear, leaving the creative eye to my much better half.

7) Eco 1045 Glasses** - This company, and I am not making this up, will take your old frames if you mail them in and plant a tree in exchange. This upset me, only because I didn’t have frames to exchange to get my tree planted. *sheds a single tear*
Some sort of landmark, you know, to make the whole thing legit. In this case, Torre del Reloj, in the somewhat-too-muggy-for-me Cartagena, Colombia

*Okay, so it should probably read “What *this* world traveling dad looks like.” For instance, you might not be folically challenged the way I am. For that, just know that while you can’t feel my smoldering jealousy on our meeting, it’s there. I am judging you.

** You also might not be near sighted. Don’t tell me this though, as I will cut you, man.

The incredibly mobile kidlet

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Parents who brag about the developmental achievements of their children – do they exist anywhere but in bad Hollywood productions? Thankfully, I haven’t met these people (presuming they exist), because I would laugh openly in their faces as they bragged about how quickly their child crawled, walked, wrote cursive, what-have-you.

Our soon-to-be nine month old is crawling now, and I couldn’t possibly be more devastated at this development. I could see myself happily wiping this kid’s butt well past the point where I was getting odd looks from parents if it meant not having to worry that this little monkey would keep from hurling himself gleefully off of the bed.

Too late.

We have joked about shoving him bodily to the ground (while screaming loudly to scare him) should he be brazen enough to take steps on his own (It’s only a matter of time, he’s basically pulling himself up in an effort to get himself around faster). I haven’t officially taken that option off the table.

Babies are so easy! why do they make parents HAVE to think about child proofing their living space? I had naively thought I could avoid that. I still can, it just means being extra attentive. At the rate he is going, I am going to need to be UNBELIEVABLY attentive.