The 45 minute assault...

Don't worry only my nose, ears, and eyes have been assaulted; I'm fine.  But I think my nose suffered most.

After a great night's sleep and a lovely breakfast (with to die-for coffee) France and I went for an exploratory walk.  In 45 minutes we:

• dodged numerous piles of dog feces
• almost got ran over twice (ok that was just me)
• got politely kicked out of some "arcade"we thought looked promise-ingly  like a shopping mall,
• yelled at in the most polite way by a motorcycle driver (excuse ME!!)
• learned how to cross the street--follow a local very closely and resist the urge to grab their shirt for security
• learned also that the horn is apparently connected to the accelerator in Indian cars
• and turned away from one particular road by a police officer, who gave us the best head bobble so far.  I love the yes bobble.  "Go back this way?"  Bobble bobble.  To my Western eyes it looks a little bit like sarcasm, kind of like "well if you know what's good for you...you can but...well...bobble bobble."

So obediently we turned around back to the busy street we tried to escape and found our way down another side street.  It's the garbage and crumbling streets that's the most disorientating.  The smell is something else, and worst when you're walking upwind; I had to cover my mouth at one point and felt rude doing so.  The English everywhere has really surprised me, too.  I'm used to not understanding the signage, etc. when travelling but 90% of everything is in English, including the TV channels.

Back at the hotel we gladly walk back into our cool hotel room and simultaneously start at the window cleaner splayed spread eagle across our window.  "The final assault...!" I say as we both burst out laughing.