Pet Update - 2 New Additions!!!

Little Sam Shoulders Has A New Friend
It appears that I now have 2 lizards living in my room, not 1. This confirms, as many of you hypothesized, that the noise he was making was a mating call. Very romantic.

Little Sam Shoulders and his new friend.




An Uninvited Guest
A small goat was outside my room hiding among the bikes from the security guards, who chase animals away from the hostels with sticks. He was very cute, so I took some pictures and edged closer so I could pet him. He was very afraid at first, but he warmed up quickly.




I turn around and go back to my room to read. Next thing I know, the little guy is trotting in to my bedroom like he owns the place.



He puts his head in my bag, climbs under my bed, goes in to my closet, and I am pretty sure he would have jumped on to my bed if it were not for the mosquito net.





We hung out for awhile, and then we decided to take some 'family photos.' I wanted to take normal smiling photos, but he had other plans.




First, he wanted a serious photo, because c'mon this is IIT, one of India's most prestigious universities. I agreed.



Then things got a little crazier. We decided to do a 'surprised' photo. I don't think we did too good of a job with this one.



Then we did an angry yelling face. I was not that intense, but he was going wild.



Then he asked me to kiss him.



He hung out in my room for awhile as I read, but when I went to bed I had to kick him out. I wanted him to stay, but I didn't want to close the door while he was in my room and have the IIT people think I am kidnapping their goat. I could imagine the repercussions:

Job Interview 1 Year From Now
Potential Employer: So, I see you did a research project at IIT last summer, how did that turn out?
Me: Well, I never actually finished the research. I had to leave before I finished.
Potential Employer: Leave? Why would you do that?
Me: I was accused of trying to kidnap a goat.






In the end, the goat would not leave and I physically had to carry him out of the room. He spent the night sleeping against my door until the security guard chased him away in the morning. I am pretty sure he will be back tonight and I have to figure out a name for him. Suggestions are welcome. Anyone have good name ideas?

Little Sam Shoulders

There is a 6 inch long lizard that seems to be living in my room. I have named him Little Sam Shoulders. I see him a few times a day, usually scurrying across the wall towards the light. He eats bugs, and I hate bugs, so I am happy to share the room with him.

The only problem is he makes a loud chirping sound, almost like a bird, when he cannot get outside. After I saw the monster spider and a snake, I put a sheet under the crack in my back door to keep large bugs and snakes out. Little Sam Shoulders will go up to the sheet in the door crack or next to the closed window and he will make a chirping sound. It is a little startling when he does this late at night in the pitch black room.


His usual spot by the light.



On the move.



Chirping by the window.



Sam Shoulders - The awesome guy I named little Sam Shoulders after.

IIT Guwahati Campus

IIT Guwahati is located outside the city of Guwahati, which is in the north-East Indian state of Assam. The city itself is nondescript and dirty. Guwahati also has frequent bombings and kidnappings by the separatist group ULFA. Needless to say, I don't plan on spending a whole lot of time in the city.

The IIT campus is across the Brahmaputra River from Guwahati and is much more peaceful. I am staying in the graduate student hostel. It is similar to a U.S. dorm except that all of the hallways and stairways are outside. Overall, it is a nice environment and I have befriended a bunch of guys in my hostel. My office is air conditioned and pleasant, aside from the giant spider that lurks outside the door.

Below are some photos from IIT Guwahati:


My hostel.



My room.




View out front door of my room.



View from my room's back porch.






A few stray dogs by another hostel.



Lake.



Academic building where my office is located.

Gigantic Spider

I have finally made it to IIT Guwahati and am now beginning my research. The place is nice, and I will post more information and photos later. More urgently, I have just had a run in with the biggest spider I think I have seen in my entire life (zoos included). It was literally the size of a dinner plate. And thick. I bet he weighed 5 pounds.

I was leaving the lab to go to the bathroom and in the outdoor corridor I saw something big and black out of the corner of my eye. I turn and see this monster spider running down the wall next to me, lodging himself between me and the bathroom. He didn't seem afraid. I was afraid. At this point I decided to use a different bathroom. My heart is still pounding. I didn't have my camera, but if I see him again I will try to take a picture.

On the plus side, this huge spider makes the cockroaches and lizards in my hostel's bathroom insignificant.

Home @ 15000 Feet

I mentioned in the Leh-Manali highway post that our keys were driven away with at a high altitude camp site. This place was a a small camp site where truckers and tourists can stop to get something to eat.

When we got stuck at this place, I was told the news while eating soup sold to me by a woman who lived and sold food out of a giant white tent. She overheard the news and I think she felt sorry for me. I think she felt sorry for me because I was clueless white guy in a sea of Indians. Or it could be because of my ridiculous attire (mis matched, thick wool socks with flip flops, fly in pants broken) lead her to believe believe I was mentally handicapped, or at least really confused. Either way, she told me I could stay with her and her family in their giant white tent house as long as I like. I ended up staying just a few hours, but I appreciated the sentiment very much. Here are some photos of my would-be home:

The Camp Site.






The home.


My bed.


My foster mother.

Vashist & Whiskey With Indian Tourists

While in Manali I took a day trip to Vashist. Vashist is a small, pretty village, known for its hot springs, across the valley from Manali. Once in Vashist, I hiked to the nearby waterfall.

Photos of the walk to Vashist







The waterfall, which had an upper and lower part, was beautiful. At the upper part I was approached by a holy man who talked to me for awhile before aggressively trying to sell me marijuana. At this point I headed to the lower part where I came upon half a dozen Indian men swimming in their underwear. After taking some pictures (of the waterfall, not the men) I headed back to the village.

Photos of the waterfall







On the way back to the village I chatted with the Indian guys, who were college-aged tourists from a suburb of Delhi. When they offered me a ride to Manali I obliged.

Upon arriving in Manali I mentioned I was heading back to old Manali for dinner and a beer, and they said I was welcome to join them for food and drink. The rest of the night went a little different then expected. Instead of eating and getting a beer at a restaurant we ended up sitting in a circle on their bed, talking about women, eating spicy chicken and drinking cheap Indian whiskey mixed with water.

The night ended with the guys walking me back to Old Manali where I hospitably invited them in to my guest house room where we shared a few beers and looked at pictures of my friends and family. Friends and family should be pleased (or scared) to know that a few of the guys took photos of my photos on their camera phones and thus many of you will forever be saved on some random Indian guys' phones.

Photos of the debauchery

Leh - Manali Highway

Earlier this week I took a 20-hour jeep ride from Leh to Manali. Their were 10 people (I was the only non-Indian) in a jeep that was made for 7, so it was uncomfortable. Despite, the discomcomfort, or perhaps because of it, it was a ride I will never forgot. The scenery was stunning, and the road was terrifying. The road was rarely more then 1 lane wide and was on the edge of a mountain atleast 75% of the time. This does not stop drivers from passing each other, driving fast, and speeding around blind turns.

Highlights (and lowlights) of the trip include:

1 - Singing Hotel California with the non-English speaking driver (who somehow knew, and loved Hotel California) at 4am, while the sun rose, as passed over the 2nd highest motorable pass on earth.

2 - The drivers friend driving off with our keys and stranding us at a desolate high-altitude camp site. We were told we would likely be stranded their for 2 days. This is the amount of time it takes for the guy to get to Manali, hand off the keys, and have someone else bring them back.

3 - Learning how to hot wire and Indian jeep so that we could continue on from the desolate high-altitude camp site.

4 - Taking care of business (pooping) above a rocky ledge so that people could not see me. As soon as I assumed the position I hear a deafening noise and am suddenly feet away from a thundering herd of tibetan antelope, or chiru (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_antelope) . No pictures because of my compromising position, but the sight was really amazing.

5 - The jeep breaking down just 40 km outside of Manali. Tinkering with it for a few hours before finnally getting it working.

Below is a link to photos from the highway. Most were taken from the moving jeep.

http://picasaweb.google.com/dproyer/LehManaliHighway