Saturday, May 12, 2007

Still In Mumbai

I tried to buy a train ticket to Hyderabad today, but all of the A/C sleepers were booked. It's a 16 hour ride and I'm not interested in dealing with the 115 degree heat (and that's not a dry heat) without A/C. Yesterday did go well for a brief moment. I checked out Kneseeth Eliyahod Synagogue, which is painted sky blue. As I walked in, the guard stopped me.
"Can I go in?"
"Are you Jewish?" Was his reply.
"Yes."
"Where are you from?"
"America."

That seemed enough to convince him that I was Jewish for some reason. The inside is not tremendously nice, though the inner sanctuary has it's charm. The guard, who I presume is not Jewish for some reason, told me that their are 4,500 Jews in Mumbai. That may seem like a lot, but compared to the 15 million people in the city, it's a very small percentage. When David Sassoon fled Baghdad in the late 19th century, he brought a contingent of Baghdadi Jews with him and eventually built himself a financial empire.

Then everything went downhill from there. A guy started talking to me, no problem until I realized that he was attempting to trick me into hiring him as a tour guide. From the guide that I have, I know some of his information was wrong. But I got lost because of him. Then I went to the Supermarket and downed some milky yogurt. That was one of the stupidest things I've ever down in my life. I got traveller's diarrohea (which I don't recommend) and spent the whole night pissing out of my ass and throwing up. Luckily I slept well diuring the afternoon, but I haven't eaten much since I got here. I forgot to bring toilet paper, so I was wiping my scraped asshole with hand santizing wipes, which burned. I didn't have the loving friendship of Steve and Kristen either like I did in Vermont.

So I'm a little cloudy headed now, a little hungry, and scared to death to eat anything that isn't snack food. But I'll be alright.

No comments: