On the eve of my flight to Bali, I feel compelled to put India to bed in a blog sense - yet I feel as if I have barely scratched the surface in my sparse literary attempts here on the blog. Not only have I become a poor e-mail correspondent (as all my friends can corroborate), it seems I have become a poor blogger too (and yet a rabid facebook-er and Flickr-er: I put it down to a poor attention span from too much net-time)...

In order to try to encompass all of my experiences in a not-too-wordy manner, I've decided to make a list. So, here goes....

Things I have done and seen since I left Tokyo on July 15th 2007:

Hated Jaipur but loved the Amber Fort. Adored Pushkar and would have loved to stay there longer. Absolutely loved Jodhpur, the blue city. Thought Jaisalmer, the desert fort, was very very special but we were both very sick there so it took on a kind of surreal quality. Found Udaipur the perfect place to just chill and recover. I guess water does that. Agra made me want to leave India but I didn't want to leave the Taj Mahal. Delhi made me feel different things every time I went out. Mostly tense.

Witnessed far too much naked genitalia-action of both sexes and all ages, and way too many urinary/bowel actions in progress.

Had 2 bouts of diarrhea, neither of them as bad as the first time I was in India, luckily, and neither of them lasting more than 3 days. Got to know the contours of my bottom far better than I ever dreamed I would, and gained a new appreciation for toilet paper that I never had before.

Projectile vomited on 2 separate occasions, once in a Delhi Metro station where I dignifiedly managed to splash vomit onto my clothing, shoes, daypack straps and necklace at a time when I had no water bottle and just a little cotton hanky to clean up. Fortunately, the only witness was a young Indian groover who ran away in disgust as I watched him go in shock.

Caught a head-cold in Delhi the night before I flew out - due, I'm sure to the ridiculously over-zealous air-conditioning habits of Delhi restaurant, shop and metro managers.

Ridden on 5 trains, over 40 hours; 3 long-distance buses, over 20 hours; 2 planes, over 11 hours; 14 metro trains; countless auto-rickshaws and bike rickshaws and a handful of taxi's - mostly where airports are involved....

Lost my faith in humanity and then had it redeemed on an almost daily basis.
Taken hundreds of photos that I am actually really proud of (out of the 2542 of them), even if they aren't all so original.

Thought a lot about the future - yet haven't been able to make any decisions. Indecisive twat that I am, I have it too good in Tokyo.

Done many things that have scared me and been really proud of myself afterwards.

Vowed never to ride a running camel again.

Lost a lot of weight and had virtually no appetite for weeks.

Lost my temper on countless occasions (taught Ryosuke the entertaining phrase: "There's no need to lose your temper") and almost hit one auto-rickshaw driver for refusing to take us to the usual entrance of Majnu Ka Tila unless we paid 10 rupees more than we agreed (this was while we were loaded up with our packs). Instead of paying I stormed off with Ryosuke and packs in tow and stomped the extra 5 minutes to our hotel on foot.

Got into the habit of getting places to put my uneaten food into a bag so I could give it to the beggars on my way back to my hotel. They would accept it either wordlessly or with a prayer-greeting.

Got asked for money countless times every day. Got very good at not looking at such people - making eye contact with them guarantees trouble and impassioned pleas. Regardless, I felt compelled to give money on a daily basis.

Paid to take occasional portrait photos of street people and happily paid buskers in most places as they were at least doing something to earn their money instead of falling into the apathetic tourist-hassling beggars that can really irritate and depress travellers.

Revisited an old dream of having my own guest-house by a beach somewhere, with its own restaurant and bar and occasional live entertainment.

Got to know Ryosuke really well. Watched him projectile vomit over and over, sat outside the bathroom when he had the runs, took care of him when he couldn't get out of bed, eventually got used to the initially unbearably slow pace at which he made decisions about anything from menu items to clothing purchases, had some long serious discussions, moments of terseness and of hilarity, and very many comfortable silences, and even slept with him in double beds almost every night. We were the odd couple on the backpackers route, The "Claytons" couple: the couple you have when you're not really a couple. I miss him, like a cool and comfy old cardigan.
Got 4 fillings and an x-ray at a Delhi dentist for 3200 rupees - about ¥9 000, or $90AUD.

Got two tailor-made wool-blend, silk-lined suits made up, for a total of 9000 rupees - about ¥29 000, or $290. They are magnificent quality and I can't wait to wear them to work. One of them is cut from a navy pin-stripe, the other a lovely tan speckled thing. Yum. Luthra's at 15, Janpath Market. Ph 2332 8378.

Spent ¥99 656 (about $1 000) in total over 24.5 days in India, spending a daily average of ¥4 067 (about $40 and actually, the daily average was much lower than that but I did some last minute shopping) - staying at mid-range to budget places and eating anytime, anywhere our hearts desired. This total doesn't count airfares into the country... Cheap, huh.

Stayed in an alcohol free zone in Delhi and found it very boring in the evenings as it was so far from the centre of the city. But the jolliness of the Tibetans more than made up for that each day.

Donned my philanthropic hat and bought a computer for Tenzin Phenthok and her brother, Tenzin Sonam for their university studies (that figure is not counted in the tally above) and a mobile phone for Phenthok.

Got really sick of the way Indians just drop their rubbish/trash where they stand, even if it's plastic. The filth and smell everywhere is over-whelming and depressing. But that said, out of the cities, India is simply beautiful.

Saw incredible human deformities and sad wretches that will haunt me for a long time to come.

Saw a dead human body being carried by the road side by 4 men. But saw way more of them last time I was in India, in Varanasi, so it didn't really shock me. I liked the way everyone stopped what they were doing to stop and make a short prayer at the passing parade - even people on the other side of the busy 4 lane road.

Photographed hunger strikers who were on their 32nd day of fasting, but had to try three times before I could actually do it, and even then, it was only after a nod of approval from one of them and I was weepy the whole time I was there. Gads, such a softie I am.

Decided that while the Tibetan situation seems hopeless, as long as the Tibetan community stays committed and continues to plan actions intelligently there may be a slim chance that the Chinese will - eventually -back out of Tibet - the Olympics could be just the things that helps because the international community will have the forum to put more pressure on them.

Decided that I will never fly Air India again after appalling service on both legs so far - including mis-informing Ryosuke of his re-scheduled flight return so that when he turned up he had already missed his flight, and then they could only offer to fly him to Osaka, not Tokyo!

Decided that it'll be a long time - if ever - before I come back to India.

Did a little dance of joy when I walked in to the shiny happy brand new and very clean Bangkok airport with all its happy smiley staff!

I fly into Bali tomorrow night, which just happens to be my little brothers birthday (Happy Birthday Davey). Did I mention that while I was in Udaipur and Agre, he and Elissa went to Nagoya for the weekend? He won a free trip there on a radio station! They had a great time, and Dave said he felt like quite the Japan pro - even helping out some helpless Aussie tourists who had no idea how to get around. Anyways, over the next few weeks I plan to do a lot of reading, walking, swimming, snorkelling, eating great fruit, chilling, photographing and not much else. Internet access will be sparse, which is a good thing.

See ya in a couple of weeks!