Madeleine’s Travel Blog

Saturday, December 12th 2009

The power just went out, causing a stop to our footage reviewing. Sprawled on our respective beds, we have a half hour before snack time. It is Day 2 at Shanti Bhavan, 4 days since we left Vancouver, and we’ve only just had a full night’s sleep.

A harmonica sounds softly. Its bluesy tones are vaguely reminiscent of that of a down and out jailbird from years ago. Mike says as much, causing the harmonica to be put down in general laughter as Greg takes a break from his new favourite pastime. Somewhere in the room, our fourth roommate lies hiding. A good half hour was spent by both guys attempting to catch him upon our initial arrival – Mike having taken a particularly prejudiced dislike – but the efforts proved futile. The 4-inch salamander, and semi-accepted perma-roommate, now rejoices under the name of ‘Leonard’.

All has been going well so far, though I hate to jinx anything. It hasn’t been hurdle-less, and the flight here was a complete gong show. I’d accepted that my replacement travel agent was not as good as my last one, but when we had to de-plane in Korea I was ready to write a vicious email. By that point we’d had a stopover in San Francisco, had been informed that our baggage was going straight through to Bangalore (even though we’d originally been told we’d get it for our day-layover in Singapore) and were in the process of convincing the Korean customs agent that the maple syrup Greg had bought at an exorbitant price at the Vancouver airport had indeed made it’s way safely through the San Francisco airport and that no we really did not wish for it to be sent as checked luggage through to Banglore – the three original litres already re-destined in our previously checked luggage should be sufficient. We seem to have made our case with sufficient conviction - 3 flights and nearly 24 hours of travel time from leaving Vancouver, we were able to snag Greg’s replacement maple syrup from the baggage carousel in Singapore.

We cabbed to our hotel, and checked in – local time 2:00 am. Did I mention that the original flight plan had included a two-night stay in Singapore, rather than an ungodly hour arrival and 18-hour layover? Or that I’d had to find a hotel myself, as the ever-helpful travel agent had discovered that she couldn’t find anything handy and perhaps I should look for myself at hotels.ca? Anyway. We ended up at the newest outlet of a decent-seeming chain. My thinking was that I’d ease the guys into traveling first, then gradually make our way into cheaper, closer-quarter-style accommodations with such deficiencies as cold-water showers and communal bathrooms.

The rooms I’d found online for our trip beginning looked to be simple, clean, and in possession of both windows and bathrooms. What the website neglected to mention however, though perhaps a mere architectural detail in their minds, caused a bit of a shock for us. The bathroom walls were made of glass. 1/2” thick, transparent glass. There was light frosting over the bottom half, but that was in large part ineffectual. The view from the bedroom to bathroom was quite clear – clearer in fact, than the view from the inside out. This last was established by the guys, who were sharing a double room. It seems their bonding started a lot more quickly than originally planned, and being who they are, this apparently deserved a photographic record. ‘Mike taking a shower in Singapore’ will forever remain a beautifully PG-frosted recollection of our first night away. I was thankful for my single room.