Lions, Tigers, and Elephants, oh my

To my loyal followers and commenter's; and loyal lurkers - I know you're out there.

Take a look at your fingers and toes. Wiggle them around. Yummy aren't they? It think tigers think so also.

Remember the carnival ride at the local county fair? The fair where you wondered how many times the Ferris wheel had been set up and how many bolts were missing? Then that scary carnie guy would say "keep your arms and legs in until the ride is over." Yeah, no shit Sherlock.

Well, I will be venturing into a park where you'd be a dumb ass to even attempt poking your finger out the window. Remember the SF zoo? The tigers that escaped and tracked down exactly the jackass that taunted it and threw stuff at it? And then ate that kid?

For my final India stop I figured why not take Shrikant's advice - it's been pretty spot-on so far, almost like he lived here before, or something like that - and am heading waaay, waaay, waaay deep into the inner reaches of wild, wild Corbett Tiger Reserve. According to Sanjeev Mehta (Mohan), of Mohan's Adventure Travels, the tiger sighting have been pretty good right now. Right on! That's Hot!

Tigers. Not in a cage. Not in a zoo. Just tigers being tigers doing whatever tigers do. Hopefully not gnawing off my arm. But that's what tigers can do. Omnivores. No, opportunivores.

I depart on the 7th at 7, more on channel 7. This will be a 6 to 7 hour jeep ride. Then day one (the 8th) is two half-day safari-lets. We go into two separate parts of the park - just to see what's there. Day two (the 9th) is, ta-da, two more half-day safari-lets.

I hired a tour guide. Why? Trying to plan Corbett myself was making me pull my coconut fir off my head. Just calling the hotels and guest houses was comedy - I'd call and ask, "DO YOU HAVE ACCOMMODATION FOR ONE PERSON ON SATURDAY?" I hear back, "WHAT, HELLO?" Then click. This would happen 3, 4, 5 times over 2 days. I finally realized, hire a professional - they are only a credit card away! Who knows when I'll be back in these here parts?

In the evening of the 9th I bust a move to the Ramnagar train station for the 2140 pm train, overnight to Delhi. That silly train arrives at an hilarious time on the 10th at 0430 am. One taxi ride (probably cost 5,000 rupees) to my hotel near the Delhi Int'l Aeroport. Then it's check-out at vampire time - and uphill from there.

What's cool about my aeroplane ride? I leave at 0340 am on Wed 11th. I arrive SFO 1000 am on Wed 11th. In total, my flight will take 6 hours and 20 minutes - hear it's a vicious tail wind.

Squeezing my India experience to the max. Must run like a Swiss watch. Professionals.