Catching eels in the stream

School books balance perfectly who needs a backpack!

I've played too long and this is what I'm facing.

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2003-09-04 - Royal Birdia National Park (Day 142)

Noam and I are up earlier then Gal so we take our coffee outside on the porch. Noam apparently not one to mince words says, "It seems you don't like Israelis." I gulp down that mouthful of coffee and look at him. It is an awkward moment, but if he is going to be so direct, I guess I will be too and we'll see what happens.

So far my experiences with Israelis have been pretty negative especially Manali and Leh where I've seen instance after instance of Israelis being completely condescending to the locals, dressing in very inappropriate clothes; for the Israeli girls that clutter Manali for example the dress code is bra-less tank tops, and having party after party filled with drugs and loud music. While none of that is particularly astonishing in itself, taken in the context of the cultural norms of where we are, it is very offensive. Clothing for example is very conservative. Men for example even in the heat wear long sleeves and never wear shorts. The only difference generally being wandering holy men. Women are also very conservative dressing head to toe and of course, there is the Islamic areas where the norm is the extreme burka. To have the bare shirted Israeli men, or women with no bras in this environment is simply disrespectful to the environment one is in, essentially some else's house. The Israeli drug scene is of course well known with the chance of finding an Israeli here without hash or marijuana about as common as seeing Mercedes Benz's in Ladakh. (not one in 3 months there.) While the Indians and Napalis are also common hash smokers for example, its done quietly, in the home and never out in public and seldom talked about. In Leh, for example I was in a restaurant with the table next to me getting very loudly stoned over lunch. Simply rude. Of course, the most offensive to me is the condescending rudeness that I have seen Israeli after Israeli talk to the locals, arguing about prices and service in a tone that in the US would, without question, have one decked before the second sentence.

Noam is still listening so I go on as this has been a generalization, I pull in yesterday's experience - we rode into the hotel the previous day and in 15 minutes both of them were dressed only in boxer shorts, the full amplifier & speakers stereo which Gal travels with was cranked and they were out on the porch in full view of the 5 young mothers who were also sharing the hotel with us. We had also had an experience at a gas station the day before where there was an instant argument as Gal thought he had been cheated 20 rupees (US$ 0.20) by the attendant.

I ended saying this had been what I had personally seen on the trip and I found much of it offensive and was drawing a very negative impression of Israelis from these experiences. However, since I personally did not know anyone from Israel and had not traveled with any, I thought I should join with them and see for myself what conclusions I should draw about the country and people.

Now I must first give credit in saying that Noam listened to about 20 minutes of experiences, which for the most part were condemnations of his countrymen and culture in thoughtful silence. While I am sure he wasn't pleased, I don't think he took it personally.

Israel is a very tough country; we are surrounded by cultures who hate us and where you could be killed any particular day on the street. We have spent the last two years in very difficult military service and have done many things that are horrible. To come to India is to forget all of that, to live in peace, let the hair grow and relax. We come here to get away from the difficulty of life in Israel and just want to have fun.

That I understand, but I question him on its appropriateness in this country, as many of these actions are offensive to the Indians and Nepalis. For example, would you do the same things in the US or talk to Americans the way you talk to Indians? (Noam has lived in the US). No, he agreed, he wouldn't. Well what about in Israel? No.

Thus, you have why I have formed a negative opinion of Israeli's while being here. However, there is a clause to that. During my time with Noam & Gal, they were extremely friendly and courteous to both me and to everyone we met on the road. In most cases much friendlier then I was to the people we met and bringing smiles all around. I also have to be the first to admit that it was soon clear that Gal was going to get the best price in hotels and I didn't even bother entering as if the proprietor saw an American the price was going to be higher then if it was just a group of Israelis. I stayed outside and them Noam and Gal do all the negotiating which for my friends from Taiwan I'm sure will be unbelievable as I have a reputation for driving a hard bargain...but in this case, these guys were much tougher then I. Noam and Gal were fun to ride with and I missed seeing them go in Kathmandu - but unfortunately that may have been a sign of the problem itself. On the first night in Tree-tops, I had been very happy to have Dire Straits played loud and kicking back with the feet up and watching the rain as well. It was very easy for me to accept and I quickly forgot about the fact that we were playing blaring music across a hotel. The actions that I found offensive are only offensive if viewed in context of the location, none of them would be out of the ordinary in Ft. Lauderdale during Spring Break for example, and it's easy to forget where one is in a group. On of the English women I met on this trip commented on Israelis by saying that individually she'd never met one she didn't like, but put them in a group they are extremely annoying as they forget where they are. Fortunately, breakfast came at this point and we were able to leave this conversation where it was.

The three of us head into the national park boundary area, which was supposed to have an alligator pond and museum. It was a thoroughly depressing place like the lowest of quality zoos with just a few alligators and those looking thoroughly unhappy. I was ready to leave in 5 minutes though Gal and Noam were going to walk about the park itself a bit so I headed back to the bike and drove back toward the little villages in the area.

I should mention that on the road from the main highway the day before we had seen so many friendly people on the way smiling and waving that I was sure there would be some good pictures to be had on the way. The only problem on the drive through the village is that the kids were just TOO friendly! The young boys would run out to touch the bike as I was riding and I was scared to death I would end up hitting one of them or catching them on the luggage racks but fortunately, nothing bad happened. Gal had the solution to this in that he had an incredibly loud "ooohga" horn in addition to his main horn and sounding that was usually enough to scare anyone out of the way.

I road along all the way back to the river crossing when I looked at the sky and felt like I'd just seen the fuse of a bomb lit beside me. It was fixing to rain and rain HARD and I was almost 12 kilometers from the hotel. I had taken almost two hours to go those 12 kilometers as the road was potholed dirt still muddy from the rains and there was so much to see. The day before we'd averaged about 15-20km/hour riding in to the hotel but now the race was on as if I was slow I was going to be soaked (which would have been ok for me but I didn't have the waterproof bag for the camera equipments) and on the way back I flew. I went through one mud slip where my bike went down the day before while traveling only 15 km/hour at 30km/hr and the whole rest of the way about 50km. The clouds were coming from my left, I was watching them grow to be completely black, and sprinkles started coming. The 15-minute ride left me breathless and the adrenalin pumping but 10 seconds after I rode into the hotel and put my bike under the shed the rain let loose like I've almost never seen. I finally have a definition in my mind for "monsoon rain" and this was it - and better, I had cheated these clouds of drenching me!

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