Jan. 7 The long road to Surat, India

Jan. 7 - The long road to Surat, India

Our driver arrived at 10 am to take us on the 5 hour ride to Surat. We were in a decent SUV with AC and it was mostly clean. On route we saw so many amazing things. Along the highways in Mumbai people have dug into the soil and created dug out squat homes. The roofs are slats of metal and they are about the size of the average backyard shed (except that our sheds are much more sturdy!). As we got farther out onto the highways, we saw the size of the squat homes increase to the size of a master bedroom (housing whole families). We saw true tent cities. The tents were made of tarps and were in the middle of nowhere. Seriously. I'm not sure how these people got water let alone food??? The land was dry and desert like. The trees and bushes didn't have leaves or any greenery unless they were near bodies of water. There were scattered rivers along the way. The rivers were brown and filled with fishing boats, people bathing and garbage.

Our car was weaving within inches off the other vehicles on the road. Once we went between 2 trucks that had overhanging cargo, so basically there was a little "box" of space the exact size of our SUV that we zipped through at 100 km/hr....I think Michael and I flinched a lot during our ride! lol...

The car would honk and flash it's headlights at every vehicle to tell them that we were behind them and then force them to give us the right of way. Apparently the road etiquette is that you have to turn off your headlights when coming around a corner so you don't blind on coming vehicles. I wonder though how the other vehicle is supposed to know you're coming?? Somehow...it all works...

I think that drivers in Richmond try to drive like this. lol. Our theory is that both cars need to cooperate and understand road rules for the crazy driving to work - therefore, that is why it doesn't work in Canada and asian people are known as "bad" drivers. It's not us, it's the other car that doesn't understand us right?!

I have two photos of the "hospitals" along the way. Ew. They looked like someone had dropped a bomb on them and then they propped them up again with bamboo sticks. But in all fairness, they were larger buildings compared to the lean-to homes. And having a clinic is better than not having one at all I suppose.

One comment I about the people here that make them unique from other asians is that the lower castes don't seem to guard their skin from the sun like other asians do. In Vietnam women went to extremes to cover up every since inch of their skin from the sun (since they don't use sublock). The working class are pretty dark brown/ black. I have to roll my eyes though that when women are "advertised" for marriage, a desirable term to describe them is as "fair".

On another note, our hotel is kind far away from downtown. I feel a bit isolated because I can't just walk to any stores at my leisure. I would have to take a autorickshaw and actually know what my destination is before going. In other words. No wandering. Plus, I've already sent an email about how "wandering" is absolutely not an option because it's not safe. I mentioned before and I'll say it again. Michael gets driven 30 mins to work and he's seen some bad things. His car pinned 3 women up against a wall turning a corner, and last night he saw a dead man on the road. Some truck had flattend his rickshaw and people were simply driving around his body. Nobody stopped!!! On a lighter note, they have this really funny way of calling for a car. The usher guy at the front has this micro phone and he says "autorickshaw to the Gateway, Autorickshaw!!" and it booms overhead in speakers around the hotel. Within moments, some random rickshaw will pull up. That would never fly in Vancouver! Can you imagine having that system to get a taxi?
I've got to surrender the laptop to Michael so he can go to work. Later!