The End is Nigh

March 4th.  Only 6 days left in our trip.  I think I can speak for the both of us when I say we are ready for that plane home.  We're ready to see family and friends, and feel the comforts of home after 5 long months of travel.  We miss you and we'll see you soon!

1/3/10
"Happy Holi shit!  A festival of color gone haywire.  Dye is everywhere.  In my hair, mouth, eyes, ears, nails, anywhere!  I think the dye is oil based.  Probably motor oil.  It's got a similar sheen.  Starts green, ends purple." 
The hotel guys said people get crazy (drunk) down on the streets, and advised us to stay at the hotel.  Not particularly interested in eating dye, we obliged and watched from our seven story hotel as processions began.  Children littered the rooftops with buckets, balloons, squirt guns, and worst of all, deadly precision.  Relentless in their attacks, they pelted neighbor kids, and occasionally preyed on unknowing tourists down below.  We were safe in our tower.  But safety grew old, and in its place, a sense of restless adventure was born.  We had no dye, and neither did the hotel guys.  I asked, and they said all the shops were closed.  But what went in one ear went straight out the other.  There was no way I was going to miss out on this one.  So I took to the streets.
Paranoia.  I was walking through a maze.  The walls were three stories high.  The streets, four feet wide.  Distant screaming rang in my ears, but all around me was silence.  Water bottle in hand, I persevered.  My weaponry was weak, but I was quick on my feet.  All I needed was a little bit of dye and I might make it back.  The corridor ended in a turn.  I heard mumurs ahead.  They couldn't have seen me, impossible.  The murmurs grew into voices.  My body grew tense.   I gripped my bottle and was ready to spring.  Steps.  Two of them. I don't think they're kids, but I'm not about to let my guard down.  I creep forward until they turn the corner.  Defensless.  Just some old men.  Clean too.  I must be in a safe area.  I let my guard down some and continue forward.  As I passed the men a balloon came from nowhere.  I swung my hips and narrowly dodged it.  No such luck for the man behind me.  I saw where it came from.  A small square, if I run fast enough I might make it.  Left or right?  Another balloon.  Left!  In a full sprint I rounded the corner and saw five kids waiting for me.  I was too fast, the barrage was a failure.  I kept running looking side to side only to see closed shops.  Suddenly I felt cold.  My left side ached.  I put my hand to my stomach and felt it wet.  Looking down, I saw that they didn't fail... they got me.  Bastards!  I've been purpled!  Soon I found dye.  Now those kids won't be so lucky.
"I was out on the street, trekking back to the hotel.  I turned the corner and caught the eye of a kid.  He yelled.  Four more came from behind cover.  I ran."  This time they were ready.  "All five were pelting me as I fought back.  They grabbed my shirt and pulled.  I began to worry about not making it back.  I desperately squirted the kids, but they clung tighter.  The pulling got harder. More kids came, more dye.  I chose one kid and relentlessly dumped dye on him, he gave.  That was it, my escape."
I sprayed in full circles, tearing away from their clutches.  Suddenly I was free.  I turned and ran, continuing my sprays.  I rounded the corner and was there.  The hotel. I made it.  I climbed the seven flights, dye in hand and returned a hero.  Now, it was time for my revenge.

"We're on the roof, we used the high ground to dump buckets and spray with water bottles.  People didn't appreciate it.  I did."

In the end, "our safe haven" turned into an all out battle field.  The guys from the hotel pulled out the buckets, hoses, water bottles and dye.  It wasn't pretty, but it sure as hell was fun.

Happy Holi shit.

Love,
Josh