First, to everyone who heard about the earthquake here and was concerned for my safety, my apologies for not letting you know I was ok. I haven't been keeping up with the news here (sometimes its hard to get an English language newspaper) and didn't even know the earthquake had occured until people started inquiring about my current status (alive/dead/clueless). I'm alive and well and (mostly) clueless, just to let you know. The only problem's I'm running into (or away from) are potholes and spicy omlettes (that don't contain eggs) for breakfast.

I'm on the coast just north of Mangalore in the state of Karnataka. The day before yesterday, I met 2 other bikers, Carl and Lara from the UK, and we've been riding together since then. Yesterday we rode in a paceline to cover some distance quickly, and did 40km in 1.5 hours. Screaming! It made me realize just how much I miss group riding. Especially on bikes that weigh less then 80 pounds. Tomorrow I head to the post office to fill up a box with assorted useless (read: heavy) crap to send back to the US. I contacted DHL here, but because so much stuff goes missing in the postal process they won't insure the packages they send! I guess I can understand it, considering that the employees are routinely handling packages that could conceivably be worth a couple of month's salary to them, or more!

I recently took a break in the most idyllic surroundings: a small guesthouse tucked in amongst the palm trees just 100 yards from the beach, in a little religious center called Gokarn. Nothing to do but wander the beaches (all 4 of them), read, eat, and shop for fresh papayas, pineapples, and bananas in the little stands on the streets. It was a tough routine to keep up, lemme tell ya. The place was fairly well visited by tourists, but hadn't lost its charm yet (at least according to my eyes, though I'm sure some of the locals could feel differently). I spend a full day there building a kite, trying to put my fiberglass mosquito net poles to some good use - (the damn thing actually attracts mosquitos and then funnels them into the gaps under the netting, I swear. I look like a measles epidemic and feel all woozy sometimes from loss of blood.) Went to a cloth supply shop and picked out some fabric, then headed to a tailors to get em to cut and sew it into the shape I wanted. The first dude didn't speak any English and, when I showed him the framework in the shape of a cross, he flatly refused and stormed off, infuriated that (I soon realized) this damn tourist would try to get him to make a Christian religious item! (I almost chased him down the street, I was so frustrated...) The next guy understood what I wanted, but refused to make it and wouldn't explain why when pressed (???). Finally I wised up and, instead of asking to get a kite sewn, I just told the next tailor what cuts and stitches I wanted him to make. The end result wasn't pretty and it was too heavy to rise more than 20 ft off the ground, but it was fun getting it done! Picked up some lighter material later on, and I'll try my hand at this again at the next beach stop! At any rate, 2 days of sun and the beach turned into 3 and then into 6 before I could finally drag myself away and get back on the road. Aah, I miss that place already...

At the moment, we (Carl, Lara, and myself) are in Udupi, a little city north of Mangalore. Just biding some time, we went to the circus (!) tonight. We heard about it from a local while on the road, and were understandably intrigued at the prospect of what a real Indian circus would be like, especially since the whole country can seem like a bit of a circus at times! Maybe what the Indians will consider strange and wonderful enough to pay to see is the sight of logic, reason, and efficiency in action. (No cynicism here, really...) We rode past the big top on the way into town - nothing that gave us a clue about the contents, although the posters depicted lots of performing dogs. I couldn't wait! Getting there, we paid our $1.25 for front row seats, and spent the next 2.5 hours gaping not so much the splendor of what we saw, as at the spectacle of it all. It feels hard to describe now that it's over: sort of Letterman's Stupid Pet Tricks (x 10) meets David Lynch meets, well, India! We witnessed dancing dogs, parrots, camels, and elephants among others; women in scandalously (by Indian standards - these were Nepalese performers, we found out later) skimpy outfits did bike tricks (our favorite part, of course); midget clowns; roaring motorcycles in a spherical cage; the elderly male spectator who got so scared by the clowns fake-throwing stuff at him, he fell over backwards. And then proceeded to charge into the ring after the clown, yelling at him! So, basically the same as modern India: normal looking, but only on the surface. Like I said, its hard to describe.

Do I sometimes sound a little too eager to be somewhere else? Perhaps I am a little. I've gotta admit, India can wear you down after a while. I take time off to relax (obviously, as evidenced by 6 days on the beach), but the daily little frustrations can get old. The amount of English spoken around here lulls me into believing I have the conveniences and efficiency of the west available to me here, but its a false sensation. Finding information, other than "which direction is such-n-such town", can be a pain. I think Indians are very sensitive about seeming ignorant - if you ask a question and they don't have the answer, you're more likely to get an incorrect one rather than an "I don't know" or shrug. And god forbid you should volunteer an answer - its agreed to instantly. I've gotten in the habit of asking the question and then not saying a word until I get a response. And then verifying the answer with someone else. If I'm inquiring about something important (plane tickets, etc), this verification becomes critical! Needless to say I have little problem cross-examining folks under those circumstances anymore, yet I still find myself occasionally being led astray.

I'll start heading inland tomorrow into the hill country and cooler temps. About 1/2 the time here, the sun is partially hidden behind scattered haze (is there such a thing?), but when it pops out it really blazes. Especially when you're taking antibiotics to prevent malaria - they can cause sun sensitivity! Not the best thing when you're traveling by bike... But the tan is once again coming along nicely, after the Christmas break. The time has flown here and I'm already making plans for leaving. I have a plane ticket from Madras on the east coast to Bangkok on Feb 8th. Five weeks in this country isn't enough time to view a single state, let alone the whole place. Hell, 5 months wouldn't be enough time. But I've had a nice taste of India, at least.

So, all the best to everyone. Hope there aren't any earthquakes/etc going on in the US - if so, lemme know, cause I doubt I'll hear about them otherwise!

Shot of the beach in Gokarn