Pune, India

We rode the train three hours to visit our Houston - turned San Francisco - turned Pune friend who was working a six month stint in India.  Luxury train ... yeah, that just means air conditioned.  We quickly learned that Indian travel is hindered by two major elements: 1) near impossibility of purchasing a cell phone SIM card (oddly, you need a cell phone to buy train tickets) and 2) difficulty in purchasing train travel because they are totally booked weeks in advance and even if tickets were available, you need an Indian credit card to pay (along with the before mentioned cell phone).  Not sure how other tourists get around this complexity but we (thankfully!) found a savior who was able to work magic, securing us both SIM card and train tickets (sworn to secrecy on our stealthy methods).

In Pune, we rode rickshaws (a motorcycle type taxi that seats three passengers) and gorged on phenomenal food (so tasty and we can’t get over the prices!)... will add information on the blog’s Food tab.  Special thanks to Pauravi for letting us crash, totally overloading our stomachs, hooking us up with black market cell and train tickets, and laughing until we cried about: Pune’s Osha “meditation” center aka tourist brothel; Ken’s previous successes with his wingmen Binu and Roop - ‘cuz brown men give you “wings;” our inability to get back to the hotel because of Pune’s circuitous roads causing us to hitch a ride with a random bank executive; and reflecting on Pauravi’s historic incompetence using utensils only to notice she accidentally dipped her entire hand in the chutney (aka India’s silverware).

We’ve only been here three days so we can’t reach conclusions just yet.  We heard so much about “rising India” (practically every other article in the Economist) but our initial impression was that, while definitely improving there is still a huge gap - governance and other - before India will rise to a superpower (along with China of course).  As the growing middle class migrates to the cities, fresh with their ubiquitous cell phones (but oddly lacking WIFI) and expanding private sector, there is limited freedom to question a corrupt government and such intense poverty that we still cannot process it.  We’re off to the north - what will this crazy land have in store for us next?