April 15th, 2011-
Brenna got her appetite back! Happy days! Goodbye, stomach bug.
This is Lion Man. He’s found us almost every day that we’ve been in McLeod Ganj and told us about his “show.” This was the third time that he asked us to come (cost: Rs.100, about $2.40). He was such a nice and enthusiastic guy that today we decided to oblige him. The show was later that night.
There was a show of a different kind going on: active construction in the hotel restaurant where we ate breakfast. This has been a theme in India. People will grind metal or cut railings or do other remodeling in the middle of a busy restaurant. This poor guy on the left got a big dust cloud shot into his meal before the workers transitioned into (the below featured) noisy hammering.
(As Brenna pointed out: At restaurants in India, you only pay for the food. Lack of flies, lack of noise, waiter service, drinking water, and any other “normal” amenities are not part of the deal.)
Luckily we did find a decent restaurant (by paying more money!) on a rooftop. Check out the my massive chicken tandoori.
The following shot is reminiscent of my steak post from Bariloche, Argentina. If that steak was reason #1 for not being vegetarian anymore, this is #2.
Later we went to the Lion Man show at a nice rooftop restaurant.
I’d buy a Sprite from her.
Lion Man started his show, half an hour late, by recounting the story of how (at age 15) and another group of refugees had snuck out of Tibet in 1998. At this point, I had quite a bit of compassion and patience for the guy.
Then he prepared to sing his first song. Unfortunately he cracked up, laughing to himself, within 5 seconds of attempting to begin. And then he did that over—and over—and over again. He couldn’t get started for roughly 15 minutes. The small crowd was supportive, and he finally started singing.
He then progressed into a very slow dance, culminating in the act of spinning in a circle for literally 10 minutes.
By the time the power cut out, it was 8pm. We’d been there two hours and our patience had worn thin. We bailed at the intermission. Thanks Lion Man, you tried.