Arrival

The plane trip was boring, but the trip was broken up in Thailand with a night in the fancy airport hotel. As I walked into the room I remember thinking "I am so far away from anything that I know ...." I turned the tv and the channel was set to BBC. They were having a program about small town USA politics. The small town was Asheville, NC. My previous (for 30 years) hometown. How far was far? Was anything far?
There was an element of humor in this whole trip.
In the trio trip to India the previous year, we had the same experience. In walking down the hill in very southern India, (Kanyakumari) we were joking that we were extremely removed from all that we knew. We turned the corner and there was "Dirty Dancing" being shown at a local restaurant. Filmed very close to Asheville. We were "gob smacked." Once again India was making fools of us.
So another example that my idea of truth was something I couldn't believe in, here in India.
I didn't even know what I was searching for.
Finally landed in the Varanasi airport. Took a taxi to the only hotel I knew. Passing jeeps with bodies wrapped in glittering cloths on the roof. Huge heat. Huge noise. Huge confusion. And the thought that I had really screwed up.