India, just like i pictured it! The words chaotic and bustling are massive understatements. Sensory overload is the norm. Yet there is grace and some kind of pattern in the way my auto-rickshaw weaves and darts through the fume-spewing traffic - motorbikes, foot and cycle rickshaws, Tata trucks and Ambassador cars (vintage 1950s style that look like bowler hats on wheels). Had to restrain myself from pointing when I saw my first bullock cart on the road....at 2am. And my first pack of genuine feral dogs wandering the streets. Cow-drawn carts, naked holy men and wild dogs - wow, i'm in India now! (he he )

Every available surface appears to be covered with lettering in one of a dozen languages....and everyone speaks English, at least to some degree. They would much rather you address them in English than *Hindi*, Gods forbid! (Hindi being the language of the North. It's just like America, they don't like the Yankees....)

This afternoon i had a massive South Indian lunch of rice patties, sambar, coconut chutney, spicy Rasa soup, etc. with rice pudding dessert all for 1.50 US, which i was assured was way overpriced. I think I like it here....and haven't seen one mosquito yet. But I still won't leave my anti bacterial hand gel at home.