India!

Wow. I've been wanting to come here for years. Really. Top of my list. And now I'm here. It's been interesting so far (will get to that in my next post). But I also happen to be in with the crappiest traveling companions ever.

Main offenders: a chain-smoking Danish couple who (1) light up in the middle of the group in enclosed spaces and (2) even lit up on a boat on the Ganges, after which they threw their butts in the river (ditto at the crematorium). These are bad, bad people. To make matters worse, the husband even went so far as to pick a fight with a rickshaw driver, asking him if he was a "homo.". Please send them back to Denmark and never, ever let them leave their town again.

While they are the worst of the worst, honorable mentions are due to (1) a pair of Iranian-Canadian sisters who appear to be mildly retarded, criminally cheap (they skip both lunch and dinner because they aren't included in the price of the tour) and horrifyingly tactless, e.g., all but forcing a local guide to "confess" to being lower caste, (2) a younger Canadian with a bad habit of screaming at locals (and the friend she's traveling with) whenever things don't go her way and (3) a humorless middle-aged Danish woman whose only passions appears to be for waking before dawn, and who shuns anyone who criticizes the chain smokers (I am pleased to say that she has developed a well-deserved case of Delhi belly).

Mercifully, all is not terrible. I immediately struck up a friendship with a 20 year old boy from London who loves Buffy, America's Next Top Model, Project Runway and Veronica Mars. We have a great time making fun of all of the awful people on the trip. Also quite good: a British couple originally from the Caribbean (a sculptor and a retired professor) who are at once intelligent, personable and good for a laugh (with, not at). Finally, and American psychologist in her early 60s has proved fun (likes gossip and America's Next Top Model) and interesting (not just because of her insights, but because she has 3 adopted children: one black, one white and one Korean). With the four of them to talk with, things could be much worse.

Next (much-delayed) post: my first week in India.