Hampin Around

Our last nights in Palolem were nice, as the Goa tradition goes we bought fireworks and sent them off before we took the bus to Hampi (which is much further from the ocean than I ever thought I would get during this trip). The 10 hour busride wasn't too bad, allthough Josh and I had to share a narrow bed and I felt like a middleaged woman as my bodytemperature swung from boiling to freezing throughout the night. We've now been in the historic town of Hampi for a few nights, don't ask me what it's historic for though. It is extremely different from Goa here, very calm and quiet (almost like rehab as I have only had half a Kingfisher since arriving), not sure they've heard of the invention of the chair as every restaurant just has mattresses laid out on the floor which is cozy. We've rented bikes and also done some Rickshaw-sightseeing seeing the Hampi sights, watched the sunset from the top of the Hannuman temple, where we were attacked by the monkeys who basically run the place. The landscape in Hampi is absolutly breathtaking, at some point in my life I expect to see something and think "Wow, now I've seen everything" but every time I do something completly unique and different shows up. The small town is surround by mountainous piles of boulders in every direction as far as the eye can see, I wish I could upload some pictures, but (as my hilarious uncle clearly pointed out) this is unfortunately not possible due to lack of camera. I guess you could just Google (product placement) it and see what I'm talking about. The four of us will probably stay in Hampi for a few more days then head south again, rumours flourishing at the moment suggest that the next stage of the trip may be completed using two wheels in the form of a bicycle, I guess you'll just have read this space to find out...

Doh!

The inevitable has now happened; last night was the night of the Headphone Party which was actually quite good. We had quite a few beers and drinks before and suddenly the idea didn’t seem as mental. At the end of the night Josh and I had lost our key, so Josh stayed in the shack of three Swedish guys (Yeah we don’t hangout with anyone from outside of our home country, our guesthouse complex I think has about 80% Swedes now, and should soon be considered a colony) we’ve met, and I slept in the hammock outside our shack. I remember having my wallet and camera before falling asleep, and putting them on my porch, but when I awoke all that was left was my Swedish tobacco “snus.” The wallet didn’t have too much money in it and doesn't bother me whatsoever, however the camera had about 200 pictures taken which I don’t have any longer. And the most annoying part is that I had decided I was going to upload the pictures today as I have found an internet place with a fast connection. I guess I should be happy for the small things, like the fact that my “snus” isn’t gone and that miraculously I haven’t lost one pair of flipflops since Thailand. Also I’m going to take the wise advice I got from an Irishman I met (read following in an Irish accent to make it seem more genius) “I guess you’ll just have to use your eyes now then!” Otherwise things are still as fantastic in Palolem, soaking up the sun, watching football and we’ve even found a quiz-night. On Tuesday night Joshua, the two Swedish sisters (Miriam and Isabelle) and I are taking a bus inland for about 9 hours to the town of Hampi, which is supposed to have some nice temples and stuff, we’ll see how long we find that interesting and then probably head south to more beaches in Kerala.

Life in Autopilot

Since last not much has happened, still in Palolem and life is very easy at the moment. A bit of day time trekking to "Monkey Island" and nearby beaches which are paradise like and completely empty followed by beers and football at night. We usually eat breakfast and lunch at our guesthouse "Brendons" with some incredibly cute puppies and their not so cute mother called "Puppy-Moma." Palolem is a bit strange in one sense for being a beach with mostly young people, because they've put a silence curfew at midnight. Of course this doesn’t mean people go to sleep but has sparked a concept which I've never found before "headphone parties." Basically they give you exactly what it says on the tin, completely quiet parties with loads of idiots dancing to different songs. The headphone parties I've attended have had a choice of three channels in the headphones which you rent, two channels pumping the local "Goa Trance" and one offering something more relaxed like Barry White or Lionel Richie. On Saturday they’re having a big “Silent Noise” party on the beach with laser-shows and fireworks, so we’ve decided that we’re going to check it out and this time go all in and hopefully we'll all look like a bunch of real c*nts! Which should be nice!

Paulolem

We stayed in Anjuna for a total of three nights, it wasn't really our cup of tea (or whatever those guys drink to forget) Nothing wrong with it in general just a bit too hippie. We took a 2 hour long taxi ride south, and ended up in Palolem. Now we're talking, no families, not too many obnoxious Russians, a handful of friendly hippies but most of all a truly amazing beach, we've ended up in paradise. Palolem beach is located in a horseshoe formed bay, and on the beach they have allowed nothing but palm trees and bungalows on stilts. We're not ON the beach per say, but from our bed we are lulled to sleep by the waves crashing in on the beach. The shacks are very basic and sloppily built, with huge gaps between every floorboard and cracks in the plywood walls but it all adds too the charm, (just this morning we were woken by a cat who had managed to squeeze in under the door, but we like him as he keeps the rats away.) We've also met two sisters from Stockholm, Miriam and Isabelle, who as it turns out (of course, Sweden is too small) I have mutual friends with. We've spent our days so far with some mountain trekking in flip-flops looking for monkeys, which we actually managed to see and relaxing on the beach. Isn’t it ironic (more ironic then anything Alanis Morrisette mentions in her song) I go to Africa and swim in the Indian Ocean, but when I go to India I swim in the Arabian Sea… how queer! Josh and I also went on a "lake cruise" which was actually a swamp cruise, seeing loads of kingfishers (the bird not the beer) and herons and then we fished for crabs, catching some pretty big ones, all in the cruise went on for about 3 hours (basically we paid a man to do his job.) It was interesting but could have been about two hours and 45 minutes shorter. All in all though Palolem is great, and at the moment we have no plans on leaving. Who knows I might end up here for life… or a week.

It's Hippie Time

After writing last we eventually got to the delayed wedding reception, an amazing event at a big outdoor resort with small waterfalls and palm trees everywhere, I made a quick seatcount and estimated around 600 guests. Apart from the wedding we've been checking out what Baga Beach has to offer, it turns out they offer loads of Russians with too much money and white trash Brits with tattoos all over (I don't think I've seen one single British man without The Three Lions scarred into some part of his body) so we've mostly relaxed with beers on the beach. India has to main brands of beer, Kingfisher who's slogan is "The King Of Good Times" and Cobra who have counterattacked with "Why have a good time when you can have a great time." However we have opted for just having a good time as having a great time apparently means drinking sweet urine. Also Goa has its own special liquor called Feni, it also comes in two types; one made from Cashew nuts and one made from the sap of a coconutpalm-tree, drinking it straight was quite horrible but mixing it with the local Limca soda is actually quite nice. Of course we managed to see the fantastic football match on Sunday, when my team United thumped Joshua’s team Chelsea 3-0! After staying in Baga Beach for about six days we felt we needed a change of scenery, so yesterday morning we took a 20 minute taxi ride northwards to the close by beach of Anjuna. Anjuna is surprisingly different from Baga despite the short trip, more hippie backpackers, not as many families, dodgy electricity which can disappear for hours on end and also the beaches are not quite as nice as Baga, with cowpats every here and there and a more rocky kind of beach, but you can't have your cake and eat it I guess. We haven't decided how long we're staying yet, but will probably travel southwards sooner rather than later to check out new beaches, I'll write more when I have more information.

Going to Go to Goa

... Ok, I've allready arrived, but that pun of a title was way to clever and witty to leave out of this genius blog. I think I could probably get a job writing puns for "The Sun." The train ride from Mumbai down to Goa was very smooth, no delays no hassle just plain enjoyment, I say those British build one hell of a railway, God bless the queen! Goa is really nice, so far we've seen mostly the beach and bars located on the beach, but the old town is supposed to have some really nice colonial buildings from when this part of India was Portuguese. Last night we went to meet our mutual friend Sean, who has his roots in Goa. His cousin is getting married today so last night was some form of traditional rituals. It started with some fireworks from the balcony, then as it was a catholic occasion, we all stood up and recited "The Lord's Prayer" or as some call it "Our Father" I was stumped after those first two words, and stood silently trying not to draw attention by moving my lips slightly, after this everybody attending the party walked up, one by one and poured coconut-milk on the groom and his two best men (one of them being Sean.) Later on at the party I was sitting underneath the shrine of Jesus, when all of a sudden i felt my arm getting quite warm, as I was in conversation with a woman at the party I didn't want to be rude and interrupt, so I ignored it for a while, then realised the candle wax from the catholic shrine was pouring down my arm, the commotion that followed made me the local celebrity for the next few minutes, with people telling me how I had been blessed by the Lord, however this felt like it could only be punishment for not knowing his prayer. After this we went out for a nice dinner with Sean's family and then home for some sleep. As I said the wedding is today, Joshua and I aren't attending the actual ceremony but will be joining in for the reception afterwards, so I have to go home and get ready for that now, shit we should probably find a present, but what can one find in a tourist area like this, maybe they can start their new life with matching beachtowels or why not a beach-tennis set for the honeymoon... we'll see if we find anything more suiting...

Quick Bombay Update

After writing last time we went to The Leopold (where you can still see clear evidence of last months events, with bullet holes priding many of the walls and windows inside) for a few beers and and a bite. Beware of the Crispy Spicy Chicken if you ever visit, delicious but oh so spicy, and I think I found out this morning what Johnny Cash was singing about in "Ring Of Fire." Today we've just been buming about, took a walk on the beach, which was quite nice but the water is so poluted I feel sorry for whoever takes a swim there. Now we've just been to the movies, saw Madagaskar 2, I managed to get some sleep whilst watching it, which I never think is good review for a film. Also we've bought a train ticket to Goa. The train leaves late tomorrow night, and takes us to the beaches midday tuesday. I'm really looking forward to getting some tan, as the sun seems to have a hard time squeezing through the heavy smog. Now it's back out for a few more beers and I'll write more when I've arrived in Goa.

Mmmumbai

Our last night in Doha was allright, quite quiet we went to the old souqe which was interesting, ate some lamb liver and kidneys drank extremely sweet tea and smoked some apple flavoured waterpipe. The day after was rather grey, so we tried to kill the hours we had as best we could before flying to Mumbai. Allthough the plane arrived 45 minutes early we didn't arrive until around half past three in the morning. We found an airport "security guard" who told us there was no idea going into Colaba (The most popular area of Mumbai for tourists) so late at night and told us to take a taxi to a nearby hotel instead. We followed his advice and of course we had been had, but were to tired to care. The Hotel was almost the same price as the one in Qatar allthough the differences couldn't be more obvious, rotting walls, staff sleeping in the staircases, fair enough the small room had a colour T.V, but the only colour it could show was red! We tried to fall asleep but as the hotel was situated right next to a railroad crossing this became quite hard. Eventually we got some shut-eye and in the morning decided to make our way to Colaba by commuters train. A friendly local helped us find our way and even payed for our rickshaw as we didn't have any small change for the driver. We took a rickshaw to the train station and stood in queue for about thirty minutes to buy a ticket, meanwhile small children flocked around us nealing and touching our feet, begging for money, getting shooed of by other indians in the line. Finally we got our ticket and got on the train, it was jam packed with people, first we almost got onto the women's carriage, but finally squeezed into a men's wagon, it turned out to be first class allthough it couldn't have disguised itself any better. At the next station we were thrown off and had to run to another carriage, jumping on with our backpacks whilst the train had started moving. When the train stopped at Churchgate Station we took a taxi which took us to Colaba. Mumbai really has it's contrasts and coming here from a well off country like Qatar make the contrasts even stronger. Entire families sleep on the side of the highway, dogs run around everywhere, beggars are grabbing at you constantly and every now and then a cow shows up out of nowhere, all of this mixed with shantytowns and english colonial buildings which look to have been airlifted straight out of London. Since the terrorist attacks a month ago, security has apparently tightened up, armed guards walk the streets and metal detectors guard all the main tourist areas. After a lot of walking and haggling we found a room at the Hotel Regal Plaza (Sound fancy?.. it really isn't!) right down the road from the popular tourist hangout "The Leopold Cafe" (one of the main targets for the terrorists during last months attacks.) We had a nice Tikka Masala for lunch today and a few Kingfisher beers, which tasted amazingly good after spending two days in the dry city Doha. We haven't decided how long we're staying in the city before heading for the beaches of Goa south of Mumbai but I will write when I know more. Now I think it's time for some more Kingfishers, tata for now!

Happy New Qatar Year!

So me and Joshua arrived last evening in the capital of Qatar, Doha without any major mishaps, allthough Joshua's backpack went missing for an hour at the baggageclaim. We came to our hotel and to our surprise it was amazingly posh, our "suite" has two televisions one in the livingroom and one the dubble-bedroom, a bathroom with one showercabinet, one bathtub a toilet and of course the mandatory muslim bidet. We decided to start celebrating the new year by drinking some of the chinese rice-spirit I got from my cousin for Christmas, only to find that Allah had punished me for bringing alcohol to an Islam country, the bottle had leaked all over my clothes. The smell was quite putrid and the taste was if possibly even worse. We both had one sip, felt sick for 30 minutes and threw the rest away, Thanks Nina! After this I found a shirt and a pair of pants that didn't stink of booze and we went to see if we could find some place who would serve us alcohol. We found the pianobar at the Movenpick hotel. It was the equivalent of 450 SEK just to get in, and a beer inside cost us 100. We decided not to drink more than two beers and the complimentary glass of champagne and then waited impatiently for the clock to strike twelve. The atmosphere inside was quite sad, like a really boring cruise or a tragic weddingparty, but we stuck it out shook hands with a few people then went for a midnight walk instead. Doha is a very strange place, 80 % is a giant construction site, and the rest is fancy skyskrapers built in blue mirrored glass. Everybody drives a nice car wearing white pyjamas except for the "local" workers who are all imported from India, Pakistan or East Asia. Today we have been walking around for 3 hours looking for food, which proved much harder than it sounds, you really need a car to get around this town. We went in to the Musuem of Islamic Art which was quite interesting... just kidding it was very dull! Then we continued our hunt for food. Eventually we found "The City Center" which is huge mall with and iceskating rink and loads of fancy shops and of course KFC, which was to be our "exotic" lunch. Now we're going to take a cup of coffee and then take a taxi back to our hotel as walking around for three hours in flipflops was rather painful. Tonight we can hopefully find some local food at the Old Souq (Marketplace.) Next time I write I will hopefully be in Mumbai where we can hopefully drink some beer and eat something without spending a fortune.