Grand Voyages, Great Lies

Goa is a haven in India, mainly for the reason that as women we can kinda get away with wearing tank tops and shorts in lots of places, even the Indian women here wear jeans, tight t-shirts and carry western handbags.

Each place i see here gets more and more beautiful. Palolem was very much like a holiday village but with a nice relaxed atmosphere, nice places to stay, eat and smoke sheesa. from Palolem we caught about 4 buses, the journey was fairly easy compared to previous ones even though this time each ride was only between 30min and an hours. strangely when we alighted at Panji- the capital of Goa we were searching for the bus to Mapsua which is further north. after only several seconds walking to the crowd an urgent bus conductor from about20ft away tells us we want to get on his bus…..where is it going we inquire…Mapsua….how did he know? possibly he predicted as young white tourists we were headed for Anjuna….or he just wanted to get us on his bus….you see here most bus drivers and conductors must be on speed. they yell the destination of their vehicle repeatedly in a rolling rythmn till it no longer makes any sense, the gesture with their hands and bang on the side of the bus to tell the driver to wait whilethey usher you on before you even have chance to work out wether this bus is going in the right direction….with them yelling Mapsua Mapsua Maspa Mapeu Mallsu lsuudam’. You must be as fast and alert as them to co-ordinate your journey. the benefit of all this rushed aggressive encouragement to board a vehicle means that transfers and there for the journey time is reduced….providing you get on the right bus.

My advice for catching buses in india? dose us on coffee before a journey with many transfers, forget all British queuing customs, indians dont queue, dont take any information given to you as word, even from conductors, help desks or your lonely planet, somewhere there will always be another piece of information to contradict it and in most cases their will always be a second option of transport, route or fair.

So here we are in little Vagator a 5mintue moped ride from anjuna- both are eqaully small villages but complete with beach, shops, resturants bars and one or two clubs. a moped is essential though you will bearly use any petrol unless like us you venture to the hill top portgueguse fort in Chapora for wonderous views, or you drive back innto mad mapsua to catch a bus to river side old Goa with its towering baslica and churches.

Old Goa isn’t that pretty unless you count its cleanliess on the main boulevards. it has the importance and the cut of a colonial town with the large european buildings, but in my eyes the beauty was in large rusty boats on the river, seen from the bus ride annd the jetty. they added yet more colour to the patch work of trees and water dotted with portuguese style house riddled with cracks and vines and intricate iron gates. this style of house and buildings dominate much of goa and differentiate the state i have seen so farr from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu ( see a state map of India)

Here in Goa like in Gokarna you will find tourists and indians alike drinking kingfisher beer for breakfast and lighting a joint on the beach. it is lush with vegetation yet bright and sparkling from the sun reflected from the large stretches of river leading to the ocean. it does rain here in mad torrential storms preceded by gusts of ominous wind and power cuts.

The people we have met; Indian,Swedish, British , American, Dutch and German all wished me happy birthday at the stroke of midnight on the 16th, we celebrated Moris’s birthday ( a guy from Amsterdam) till 12am then the wreath off flowers was passed to my neck briefly between shots of tequila and dancing in the rain…then i handed them back to Morris as long as he promised to detached a large orange flower and put it in my hair so i could ‘more elegantly’ in the rain while Kate was spun round to hideously wonderful pop songs. birthday wished were sung in 3 languages and the tequila bill rose as photographic evidence of our crowd at the beach top bar was collected. I’m usually such a birthday scrooge, but it seemed like id been celebrating having a birthday in India for the past two weeks.

And their armed with insanity. We arrived in Goa on Saturday to find Palolem Beach in good spirits. Full of holiday makers and backpackers passing through this little beach side village is full of restaurants serving everything from taccos to masala to organic vegtables…..and the little general stores are stocked with tinned tuna, baked beans, coco pops but most importantly MARTMITE… i was going to request having some sent over from england.

Many many a British person are staying here…such a contrast from spying a westerner on the streets of Mysore and becoming excited. Here you can pass by without a second glace, though with bars galore a good conversatiojn about Yorkshire, Devon or Surrey is easy to come by. As is cheap alcohol. decent wine and resonably priced sheesha.

The shops here sell clothes unlike any Ive seen in India so far, a large variety for varying prices…and some displaying various chain shop names of back home. Gorge, Monsoon and H+M to name a few. Despite this there are plenty pieces of floaty silk and novelty t-shirts to be bought, aswell as many a gorgeous bed spread and handcrafted ornaments.

In what may be a heaven for holiday makers and sunworshipers the weather as been moody. Lovely grey skys and humid air..occasional long angry bouts of rain. Weve spent the time here relaxing and getting our selves sorted. We have a big adventure to ahead to Rajastan via Bophal so we’ve spent exciting times over coffee discussing places we are going to head for in the next months and the best routes to take. Such afternoons were spent by eating out in the evening then heading to a bar for cheap portwine or cocktails and chats. Card games and snooker were involved….the card games mainly consisting of sticking cards on our foreheads with water. The sprints to the beachside bars….surprisingly some of which are 24hrs…and a late late night dip in the ocean.

Were gona move up further north to Anjuna soon…..a couple of days or similar fair I’m predicting, but with more to see around the area od Old Goa on our way to the train station. We can hire bicycles and motor bikes again and visit some hectic night markets.

If this blog has sounded at all dishearted don’t be fooled, im having a fabulous time. but illness stuck again last night, leaving me writhing in pain from an earache and a fever….mixed with dehydration (my tongue has returned to white) despite my efforts of drinking 4-6litres a day…and the lack of sweating due to the absence of sun. tuh….

To leave you with the thoughts of moody skys filled with palm trees we can view from our overly pink balcony….we can gaze down towards the beach but due to the foliage we can only catch a glimpse of what we found out to be a very salty sea. We are sharing a large room with friends we made at Sadhana though one left this morning for Rajastan and one returns home in 2weeks. We hope to meet up with Merav after we too have visited Rajastan and venture to Varanasi. This is going to be a very werid experiecne so Ive been warned, with bodies carried through the streets hundreds of times daily to be burnt. From Varanasi it has been decided that I shall go straight to Nepal and stay in Kathmandu for Christmas and New Year!!!! This was never part of the plan but Im sooo excited to visit the Himalayas and see Everest….I love the freedom.

The small world got even smaller on the day we wereleaving mysore, having run in to a friend from the forest in an obscure internet cafe we failed to meet him and another friend outside the palace that night for the magical light up. but the nxt day after passing a chi stall near sed cafe (id left my memory stick there, we saw another westerner crosing to a chai stop, she remained us of the friend from the forest who was staying in mysore so we curiously peeped in the chai shop and once again were re-aquainted with tom ( the westerner turned out to be his friend from back home) after a chat about plans- we iformed him of our trip to gokarna-we went our seperate wways, only to bump into him a third time when he wlked into the resturant we had frequanted in the city, after our meal we said our last…and what i asume will be our last goodbye,,,but who knows.

The bus journey to gokarna departed at 9ama dn we were informed it would take no longwer then 9hrs to reach gokarna (includng a small transfer)…..a young indian man sat next to me on the bus and kindly made me aware that i would not be able to sleep on the journey,….not only because he insisted to poke me and engage me in conversation everytime i was difting off,,,but mainly because the roads were very bad. WE might aswell of been on a/ roller coaster, constant bumping fo r atleast 6hrs….it was difficultto stay seated, and also quite painful as the seats had plastic arms.

After 3hrs the young man asure me that if i was not confortable ( how could i be?) i could put my head on his lap. it wouldbnt be wrong he insited it wud just be like i was his sister. i didnt turn my head his way till he vacated the bus.

The rocky journey to our transfer stop in fact too about 15hrs,  but luckyl s the sun rose i was rewared with views of low lying mist on rice fields and later a misty lake topped with a glaring  yolk like orange sun. we were dropped off in what seemed like an abandaned bus stop. thankfull with the drive of only a sheer determined traveller i gathered my tattered mind and went in search of a rickshaw. i asked for a bus stop with a ride to gokarna, i understood he would take us to one. he took us to a corner of a dusty main road where we vacted and kate ill withered with our rucksacks againts a tree. i persisted to ask for transport to gokarnaa nd as a bus pulled up we had a ride to kumpta…where from we would hve to get another bus to gokarna…i felt like writing to our travel agent and informing him he had been mised informed about this journey, arriving in kumpta hauled ouver to the information desk and managed to get a short answer about a bus leaving for gokarna at 11am, wed been on the road 14hrs (was just breifly interupted from my typing on the beach by a fellowe traveler hula hooping with fire to the sound of drums and the waves brushing on the shore)

When asked which stand the bus would leave from the ridiculously unfriendly bus depot chief replied ‘anywhere anywhere’ helpful, infact most bus conductors, depot workers,drivers seem to think they have some excuse to be extremely rude and have power over all, here clealry to quote a previous blog  the customer is not god

(another interuption to watch a fire poi display but accomplice of previous fire hula hooping girl…..who then again took over the poi and out did the previous with a latino sexy style fire poi dance….then joined by a man with a doubled ended stick of fire- turned it in cartwheel so fast it hurt the eyes….i learn there from corsica.)

….to continue with our desperate journey to gokarna, after much asking and seeking at the bus depot in kumpta we found the right bus and reach gokarna.Since spending one night in namste cafe on Om beach and meeting our other friends from the forest we moved to dolphin cafe which costs a price that is almost a noon shadow of the tarrif at namaste. equivilent of 60pence a night.

So we are here and are resting our tattered feet for a few days in a paradise that we feel we earnt after the bones we bruised getting here. the beach is quite with a nice sprinkleing of fellow travellers, who outside dolphin cafe in the dark of the beach with the unseen arabian sea stroking the sand are playing amazing mixes of european music via gutair drum and maracas.As trechurous as the journey was travelling by local bus in india is one  of the best insights one can have. filled with old woen, men, bussiness suits and school children your hear what i can only translate through tone retrospectivley as complaints, spitting,mobile order and giggling.. you also see the morning, noon or evening wanderings,chores and games as you pass through villages and are rewarded with spectacular views.

On our last night in Mysore (we were lucky enough to be there on a saturday) we visited the palace, saturdays are speacial as the palace and grounds are lit with thousands of golden glowing bulbs, making it look like something from a fairytale or an overly expensive palace using alot of electricty. I would not like to be the person looking for the faulty bulbs. I would however…love to take a sling shot or pellet gun there for some target pra ctice….I wont though. The guards have bigger guns for one.

Afterwards we went to Hotel Pooja’s ‘Infinte’ a roof top bar and resturant with gorgeous views excellent service and good food (indian,chinese,international) and drinks…wonderful fruity cocktails…we felt strange being in a place so posh after our budget traveling but the prices were very fair and the atmosphere relaxed.

It was just what we needed after a busy day running round after banks and travel agents. The latter was fine, it just took a while to come across one, but when we did we had this brilliant man, with a very direct and intense attitude (in a friendly/helpful and funny way) We are booked on a bus to somewhere near Gokarna tonite, then we have to get a local bus to Om beach, where we are stayin atop a hill with a view of the ocean. A place called Namaste cafe. I cant wait.

We stayed in Hotel Dasharath last night. I experience my first lot of hot water in over a month this morning!…..a tartan quilt is luxury after government buses and sheets with bugs in at the Dasaprakash! Also when your on the road the little things make you very happy…tartan for one… marmite for two ( i have sighted chicken flavoured bovril but no marmite as yet)

I has a angsty stress as i discovered that my visa card had stopped working…not good…when i eventually got through to the bank I discovered it had been blocked for a security measure…tuh! But nice to know im safe……the card was unblocked and let me pay for cocktails last night (Infinate had chip and pin!) so lets hope i can unblock it today so i can buy some reading material for our trip to a lake :>

You’ll here from me next if I find time to drag my self off the beach to check email…

We have only slept here two nights and I surprised myself by saying to Kate that I feel at home!

-actually just as i am writing this in an internet cafe a guy we met at sadhana forest just walked in and shocked us…he’s staying in the hotle opposite this place)

 So to continue,  arriving in mysore was easy enough- we have met several very friendly rickshaw drivers who seem more then delighted to give us tours- and for small prices…while we embraced that for a trip up to Chamundi Hill…we were adiment to keep explore the rest of Mysore for ourselves.

Chamundi Hill stands around 3700ft above Mysore, so on the way up ( in what must of been the slowest rickshaw in the world) we had some lovely views- places of interest pointed out by our lovely guide, with whom we oblieged to pictures with later. The temple at the top of the hill is devoted to a hindu godess who defeated a Bull demon. Names escape me at this moment, but the temple was intricatly carved, clean and packed with people givving offerings of money fruit and such things, a busy, squashed and enthralling sight.

We descended the 1000 steps from the temple- though more worshipers were climbing them for the next round of offerings- A breif stop was made after 400 steps to admire the black statue of the bull demon then we continued to the bottom to meet our rickshaw.

The hill adventure itself didnt take place until the afternoon, morning time we had experienced the zoo. I hadnt been to a zoo in years, and an indian zoo i wrongly asumed would be dirty, dingey and poorly constructed. Wonderfully I was very very wrong. Mysore zoo was lovely and we had a bri;lliant time walking round. We no doubt were also part of the attraction for indian visitors as around every corner we were asked if we would be in a photo with them….’ can i click with you once?’ ….’madam madam photo,…just one…please?’

 Hilariously in our chirpy mood fresh from the bird area we obliedged to 9/10 of them. So we no doubt will be all over indian facebook by now…brilliant. The photo taking didnt distract us from the main attraction for us…Tigers. We could of sat and watched them for hours. Thankfully they had a fairly large area in which to roam, though they could only roam indiviualy so they would attack or eat each other. This ment when they werent outside they were in pens… which didnt look all that entertaining…..Then again they do get all their food handed to them on a plate rather then having to hunt….would u rather be waited on hand and foot or go out and track then kill your own rats?

We’ve moved hotels here due to a full booking tonight at our first hotel - Dasaprakash…..which quiet frankly is bottom on the list of places we’ve stayed so far…now we infact have a ‘delux’ room at hotel Dasharath. It is actually luxury for us and cheaper then the larger Dasaprakash…and by the looks of it a whole lot cleaner too.

This morning after consulting the map weve abolished our plans to go to Hampi for the moment. Were going to hit Gokarna first for some beach fun…one more night here first. Its halloween so were going to hit the palace ce soir to see it all lit up and pretty..it is actually magnificant just as it is, then either we shall meet up with the friends weve just bumped into or go to the resturant bar we were at last night. We treated ourselves to some wine last night….well worth it, thought it cannot be a regular purchase at ***ruppees a bottle….we also sampled the hotest thai chicken known to man….the devil as Kate called it.

The Moving Streets of Bangalore

   At 10m in Pondicherry we presented our case to the bus depot manager.  The case was we didnt have a printed ticket due to the failure of a the printer in an internet cafe… but we did have a reservation checked by phone and we had paid by card….his solution was, after many head wobbles and taking some information, to write a little note to the head office…then issue us with boarding cards…hoorah now we were reassured that we would be vacating Pondicherry on a bus bound for  Bangalore.

before boarding we ventured into a cheap looking bar full of local men drinking beer. the curious stares didnt bother me or make me feel unconfortable…gosh two white women drinking beer and smoking! we were going to look odd anywhere purely because we were western so i wasnt going to pay extorionet prices in a hotel for that to happen anyway. plus the bar was right next to the bus depot so i convinced kate to stride up the stairs behind me an we ordered two beers. the waiter asked me for a cigarette- i gave him the paper nd tabacco but hilariously he brought it back to us.. the only women in the bar and curiously white at that…him and his friend had had several minutes crouched over with concentrated looks trying to roll the tabacco and sadly failed. this left me and kate in chuckles after i had returned a rolled cigarette to him. We no longer felt we were too young or western to be in such a place. As Brits to be fair we were probably the most experienced drinkers in there…but sensibly stuck to one beer before boarding the sleeper bus. A screaming baby and several near falls from our bunks later we arrived in Bangalore.

A 5am rickshaw to the HSR complex ( i still don’t fully know what the abbrivation stands for, just that its a development of houses and shops out side of the city centre) ran us into trouble as finding the guesthouse wasnt as easy as we had thought. We eventually found the right building thanks to the persistant rickshaw driver but with no signage of  hosteli started for the first time to question Hostel world, the website we mainly relied upon to find us decent well priced hostels/guest houses. After accidently ringing on nd waking the neighbours we persisted to ring the bell to the door they had stired us towards. Thankfuklly we managed to wake the receptionist/chef/cleaner who turns out to be quite a decent guy.

worried at first that we may have selected a hostel in the middle of nowhere (despite the seemlying central description on hostle world) after a sleep and a nicley cooked breakfast we went exploring the area. we were provided wth a map from the kindly chef- who it turns out is a cartographer as well…though his maps arent in the same league as his coffee.

we found we werent 5mintues from a few bus stops, resturants, cafes, beauty palours, chemists, nurseries, juice bars and interent cafes. Infact everything we could want. After some lush pinapple juice we were determined to visit the main bus depot and the BDA shopping complex. I am in need of a camera and Kate, a watch. Much walking of the crazy street system later wwe concluded that the map while useful wasnt intirely accurate and we became confused with the apparently logical numberings of cross streets, main streets and side streets which introduced us to lettering in the system. There is 17^th cross, 27^th main but then 17^th cross B, C ect…just when u think you have a grasp of the street system in this newly built and fairly high class area of town 17^th main will jump to 26^th main…we rickshawed to the BDA complex and found a mix of shops in what looked like a beaten down precinct. A scatteriing of pricey technology, jewleery and quiet designer clothes stalls, mixed with cheap hardware stores and mini super markets. It felt like a shopping centre that hadnt quite taken off yet or one near to closing down. All the upper levels were devoid of shops.

we crossed the road and passed some road by stalls that in my mind looked much more intresting and found a terrace cafe which by its décor and custom appeared to be wheree the cool rich kids hung out to buy expensive coffee drinks and smoke sheesha. on our way back during much confusion and disorentation due to the streets( by now we had concluded that they were akin to the moving stair cases described in harry potter) we stooped at a supermarket and bought facial scrub – my skin was in tatters after the sweat and dirt of sadhana, non organic toothpaste that doesnt taste like mould…it is in fact colgate and cost only 33ruppees, and some other small luxeries to make us feel more human.

despite the choice of some western food and more expensive resturants we dined cheaply and very satisfyingly at a stall cooking parrota – a swirled kind of bready pancake served with spicy chutneys.

the next morning- wednesday we venture into bangalore, after much confusion with the buses at the stop nearest to us we rickshaw to the main bus depot in the HSR layout where we are told we can get a big10 bus to M.G. rd, the main shopping road in bangalore. after waiting on a corner and  seeing only buses marked 500 in regular consession i, un sure that the bus depot manager had even motioned to this particular coorner opt for a rickshaw, luckily it wasnt as expensive as we thought it would be.

we are quite lucky with our accomadation. at first we though we were in the middle of no where, but thiss new development complex has a life of its own outside the city and it perfect for the stop off and relax we want while planning our tripto mysore.

what we saw of bangalore seemed to be just another big city and indian city ofcourse with colourful and mish mashed delights round every corner though im not sure all would apprieciate them as much s my essy eye. lots of colleges and universitys, a few great malls, the first which we entered reminded us so much of being in a kendals back home (somewhere we would never shop) that we left within 5min. Kate got her watch for what seems like a gd price and i got a really gd camera for what seems like a gd price back home. Most food and shops where either expensive by our indian standards or extremely cheap.

i rebelled againts kates expensive watch purchase….which only actually equated to around 3 pounds and bought a super cheap one for 60 ruppees, about 80p. ets just say mine makes a fun piece of jewlery. the simplicity of the bus depot in the centre was a relief. we managed to quickly locate the stand we needed to get to mysore (with buses every 5 minutes) and the bus we needed to get back to the HSR layout. This aided by the help of the easily found inquiry desk. The men outside the inquiry reception seemed adiment we wanted to go to either pondicherry or goa. they were hard out of luck.

funnily when i wqs calling up hostels from an initernet cafe near M.G. road we were quizzed as to where we were from, information we dont mind divulging. A fellow internet user overheard and introduced himself. He had lived and worked in manchester, in wythenshaw, working for the NHS….I should of gotten his name, would have been typical if he had worked in the same departmnt as my mum! After all when we arrived at Sadhana one of the first people we met was an architect from Bury who lived not far from preswitch!. tuh! small world.m in Pondicherry we presented our case to the bus depot manager.  The case was we didnt have a printed ticket due to the failure of a the printer in an internet cafe… but we did have a reservation checked by phone and we had paid by card….his solution was, after many head wobbles and taking some information, to write a little note to the head office…then issue us with boarding cards…hoorah now we were reassured that we would be vacating Pondicherry on a bus bound for  Bangalore.

before boarding we ventured into a cheap looking bar full of local men drinking beer. the curious stares didnt bother me or make me feel unconfortable…gosh two white women drinking beer and smoking! we were going to look odd anywhere purely because we were western so i wasnt going to pay extorionet prices in a hotel for that to happen anyway. plus the bar was right next to the bus depot so i convinced kate to stride up the stairs behind me an we ordered two beers. the waiter asked me for a cigarette- i gave him the paper nd tabacco but hilariously he brought it back to us.. the only women in the bar and curiously white at that…him and his friend had had several minutes crouched over with concentrated looks trying to roll the tabacco and sadly failed. this left me and kate in chuckles after i had returned a rolled cigarette to him. we no longer felt we were too young or western to be in such a place. as brits to be fair we were probably the most eperience drinkers in there…but sensibly stuck to one beer before boarding the sleeper bus. A screaming baby and several near falls from our bunks later we arrived in bangalore.

A 5am rickshaw to the HSR complex ( i still don’t fully know what the abbrivation stands for, just that its a development of houses and shops out side of the city centre) ran us into trouble as finding the guesthouse wasnt as easy as we had thought. We eventually found the right building thanks to the persistant rickshaw driver but with no signage of  hosteli started for the first time to question Hostel world, the website we mainly relied upon to find us decent well priced hostels/guest houses. After accidently ringing on nd waking the neighbours we persisted to ring the bell to the door they had stired us towards. Thankfuklly we managed to wake the receptionist/chef/cleaner who turns out to be quite a decent guy.

worried at first that we may have selected a hostel in the middle of nowhere (despite the seemlying central description on hostle world) after a sleep and a nicley cooked breakfast we went exploring the area. we were provided wth a map from the kindly chef- who it turns out is a cartographer as well…though his maps arent in the same league as his coffee.

we found we werent 5mintues from a few bus stops, resturants, cafes, beauty palours, chemists, nurseries, juice bars and interent cafes. Infact everything we could want. After some lush pinapple juice we were determined to visit the main bus depot and the BDA shopping complex. I am in need of a camera and Kate, a watch. Much walking of the crazy street system later wwe concluded that the map while useful wasnt intirely accurate and we became confused with the apparently logical numberings of cross streets, main streets and side streets which introduced us to lettering in the system. There is 17^th cross, 27^th main but then 17^th cross B, C ect…just when u think you have a grasp of the street system in this newly built and fairly high class area of town 17^th main will jump to 26^th main…we rickshawed to the BDA complex and found a mix of shops in what looked like a beaten down precinct. A scatteriing of pricey technology, jewleery and quiet designer clothes stalls, mixed with cheap hardware stores and mini super markets. It felt like a shopping centre that hadnt quite taken off yet or one near to closing down. All the upper levels were devoid of shops.

We crossed the road and passed some road by stalls that in my mind looked much more intresting and found a terrace cafe which by its décor and custom appeared to be wheree the cool rich kids hung out to buy expensive coffee drinks and smoke sheesha. on our way back during much confusion and disorentation due to the streets( by now we had concluded that they were akin to the moving stair cases described in harry potter) we stooped at a supermarket and bought facial scrub – my skin was in tatters after the sweat and dirt of sadhana, non organic toothpaste that doesnt taste like mould…it is in fact colgate and cost only 33ruppees, and some other small luxeries to make us feel more human.

Despite the choice of some western food and more expensive resturants we dined cheaply and very satisfyingly at a stall cooking parrota – a swirled kind of bready pancake served with spicy chutneys.

The next morning- wednesday we venture into Bangalore centre, after much confusion with the buses at the stop nearest to us we rickshaw to the main bus depot in the HSR layout where we are told we can get a big10 bus to M.G. rd, the main shopping road in bangalore. after waiting on a corner and  seeing only buses marked 500 in regular consession I, un sure that the bus depot manager had even motioned to this particular coorner opt for a rickshaw, luckily it wasnt as expensive as we thought it would be.

We are quite lucky with our accomadation. at first we though we were in the middle of no where, but thiss new development complex has a life of its own outside the city and it perfect for the stop off and relax we want while planning our trip to mysore.

What we saw of bangalore seemed to be just another big city an indian city ofcourse with colourful and mish mashed delights round every corner though im not sure all would apprieciate them in the same messy way as I. Lots of colleges and universitys, a few great malls, the first which we entered reminded us so much of being in a kendals back home (somewhere we would never shop) that we left within 5min. Kate got her watch for what seems like a gd price and i got a really gd camera for what seems like a gd price back home. Most food and shops where either expensive by our indian standards or extremely cheap.

I rebelled againts kates expensive watch purchase….which only actually equated to around 3 pounds and bought a super cheap one for 60 ruppees, about 80p. ets just say mine makes a fun piece of jewlery. the simplicity of the bus depot in the centre was a relief. we managed to quickly locate the stand we needed to get to mysore (with buses every 5 minutes) and the bus we needed to get back to the HSR layout. This aided by the help of the easily found inquiry desk. The men outside the inquiry reception seemed adiment we wanted to go to either Pondicherry or Goa. They were hard out of luck.

Funnily when i was calling up hostels from an initernet cafe near M.G. road we were quizzed as to where we were from, information we dont mind divulging. A fellow internet user overheard and introduced himself. He had lived and worked in manchester, in wythenshaw, working for the NHS….I should of gotten his name, would have been typical if he had worked in the same department as my mum! After all when we arrived at Sadhana one of the first people we met was an architect from Bury who lived not far from preswitch!. tuh! small world.

…after a month a Sadhana Forest we are ready to get on the road. We have a bus ticket bound for Bangalore on monday and a hostel awaiting our arrival.

Last week we went on a 6 day impulsive excursion with two american guys we met at the lodge to Kodaikanal- 12hours ( 8 hours on the decent) south west and 7000ft up.  We took a semi-sleeper bus for around 5 pounds and the journey went smoothly…apart from an hours drop off waiting for a transfer we had no idea about. We were woken at 5am and scurried off the bus at a place which could of been anywhere….we were given chairs so it looked liked we were in for a wait, so we cracked open some peanut butter.

Climbing up the mountain road to Kodai actually took my breath away. Ive seen beautiful sights before but at 7am looking at the lush green forrested mountains above and below the snaking road, for a breif moment i actually didnt breathe. Waterfalls cascaded from the other side of the valley and clouds drifted just metres away blocking views momentarily.

We had considfered staying in Vattakanal so unpon arrival (after a breakfast of iddly and REAL dosa) we jumped in a taxi van and drove away from the entrance of the swish hotel we had been dropped infront of. As we drove bumpily down what i would later learn was Vattakanal Road, one of our american friends requested to stop at what he was almost certain was the small house of a man he had stayed with on a previous trip. Strangely/luckily since this man David didnt live there himself, he was at this house feeding his dogs he kept there…and even more strangely/luckily he remember our friend.

After a breif inspection of the house- 3 small stone rooms with a kitchen, bedroom with a double bed and a double fl0or materess, and a storage room- we were happy to stay foor the tiny price of 2pounds a night and the  sweet chai(tea) which the elderly indian man with a variation of a handlebar mustache made every two hours when we were home. On offering him some boiled egg one morning - he accepted politely- we learnt that normally he doesnt really eat breakfast , or lunch, he starts the day with grass and beedie follwed by chai and beedie every 2hours.

We walked the 3km to Kodaikanal and Green Valley View ( a valley not green but a mass of white cloud blocking EVERYTHING- you could of been at the end of the world) most days. Passing the trees, monkeys and endless stalls and shops selling oils, spices and chocolate - a novelty up in the cool mountanis with the promise upon purchase that it wouldnt melt for 40days. We in turn were passed by locals, taxis a few scattered tourists and clouds that brushed our faces.

The weather and enviroment was such a contrast from pondicherry and auroville. We were still in the same state of Tamil Nadu but we had replaces the flag like stripes of red earth, sparse but green trees and blue skies with lush green grass, dense trees and cooling white clouds. The evenings in our small stone dwelling reduced us to wrap up in wollen blankets agaainst the cold…and also the mystery biting creature- in our tired state we concluded it could of been the blanket. It was pretty sharp. Though the ridiculosity of the biting blanket and the awarness of teeth kept us awake with laughter and angst.

We ate a lot of iddly - rice flour balls served cold for breakfast with various sauces and cooked for ourselves - a rare change from the mass meals prepared at the lodge. The jounrney home ran smoothly…to smooth as we arrived in Pondy at 3am and were forced ( but lucky enough) to hail a rickshaw back to Sadhana. But we had the jounry down the mountains fresh in our mind. It had been noisy and colourful with the fire works of dwaili, and exciting and invigorating if you include the 5000 large fire crackers set off with out warning at our feet while waiting to board our return bus. We were bombarded with shells and force to take cover behind the wall we had been sitting on….maybe we should of moved when the indian men started to unroll a supisious long thin red strip over 4 metres long…passing right by us…..or even before that when they appeared with a large red box with warning signs on…..but we had done as the locals did and sit by…..idle and trying to fit in….the result was loss of hearing and bags covered with ash and shells…

Sunday, we decided to keep the adventurous spirit of the weekend and venture into Pondicherry. Catching the bus from thee side of the busy road- after a hot walk up the dirt track was simple, standing on the bus was not. We squeezed on and quickly became used to rubbing up very close against our fellow passengers- no issue and for 4 rupees, less then 5pence we were speed into the centre of Pondi. On the way we had  the journey entertainment. Signs and advertisements stating ‘123STD’  and ‘Customer is God’

Pondicherry will never be descirbed as a typical Indian city/town due to its French colonial past, but for my first view of city in India, it seemed just as it should be; busy, noisy,warmed and colourful. We explored the streets, visited the ashram and refreshed all of our five sense at Goubert market. We ate in a pure veg restaurant, sticking for once to our vegetarian diets at Sadhana. Then haggled for a rickshaw home.

Full moon Sunday evening meant after dinner we gathered fire wood and met at the mudpool for music and swimming. Squelching our feet into the soft warm mud beneath the cloudy murk of the water.

Health is a big issue here with atleast one person suffering from some form of illness each day,living and working so closely with the earth and within close proximity with a lot of people can spread germs easily.plenty of water is required and and homeopathic remedies are popular on a daily basis, simple things like turmeric in water to improve the immune system

Back to work this week tired us slightly, me especially waking at 5am to mission around the huts to play harmonica accompanied by drums- with the aim of gently waking the rest of the volunteers. Tuesday evening, last nite, with my bike still needing to be fixed we walked up to koot road- the nearest strip of shops and road side eateries. I sampled the things i had been told so much about, chi, dosa and beedie The chi is the Indian tea made very milky and sweet- i swear this one was made with cream- but served in a small glass it was a small sweet treat which was welcomed after the lack of sugar and fat we get from our vegan diet. The dosa didnt impress me much, more of a small thick pancake- though i was told that the better dosa are thinner and crispier.

It was surreal again to be walking through the indian villages under a disapearing moon with a group of fun and interrestinf people from th lodge, with talk mainly of experiences traveling and the differences in how we live back home.

I have been organising the library here and wish i could bring half of it with me on the rest of my trip. Colourful books on topics from anthropology to enviromental issues and novels from the far east.  ……a sleep in the hammock with one of the books resting next to me …then when its cooler around 4am a dip in the pool will be very welcome…..

….friday was our last day of work before our weekend, it involed more bunding in the forest with the goal of ‘zero run off!’  and then some hard work in the sun for Swami the resisdant handy man who helps build and work the land. The some rubbish collectiong on the dirt track leading in to the forest, no jus ridding the place of awful plactic bags but glass and such like as villagers would later be walking down to our forest abode for the weekly film night.

A film called dark days was shown, about peopleliving below the subway in NY, ironic i thought to be watching a such a city based western documentry in a forest hut with lots of local indians and local aurovillians- who are mainly european.Usualy we would be watching a documentary about indian life back home in manchester.

We had the job of clearing dinner and washing the large pots in an equally large pum sink- larger then my bath so i made full use f the space and hoped right in as is customary at the lodge. Then an early night wa needed.

We had no wake up as it was a saturday but we rose early to shower and then i got on my oped and went speeding down the dirt road for a test drive which went awsomely.Driving with a passager however proved to be more challenging, so for our trip to the beach we rode with two others from the lodge and after much exploring through colourful indian villages and small slums we arrived at a beach which you acessed through a healing centre- then here we took our first dip in The Bay of Bengal.

Driving back I drove well enough, weaving round corners and and the crazy also beeping traffic of mopeds, vans and cows with a few goats and dogs thrown in for good measure. Then after stopping for some rice and having a few problems starting the bike we rode back to the lodge…though this involed a tricky dirt road and a dip in the mudpool.

…so here we are, sadhana forest, arriving yesterday was a bit weird as you can imagen, a differnet contury, different people, a different life. despite our flights been slightly mixed up and slightly delayed due to air india staff going on strike we arrived in chennai only an hour late and thankfully our taxi driver- arranged from auroville transport was still waiting, our name boaard in hand outside the terminal.

we opted fro a taxi due to the fact we were arriving at 3am and we were happy we did, finding a hostel at that time would of been hell im guessing. So we drove through chennai and down tamil nadu towards pondicherry, crazy roads, cows, plastic and colourful posters. I fell asleep befoore we reach the forest so kate woke me just as we were entering the forest. we were welcomed warmly and had a walk round before being showed our hut and joining the rest for breakfast, we didnt have to work that day due to our traveling tiredness ect. we lept through lunch but then joined again for dinner, after which there was an open stage evening, we’d been introduced to people in passing and had a few coversations so the preformances were small incited intoo their personalities and the ways in which they function within the group here. The real ‘getting to know’ people coversations happened during the shifts of work today however.
it helped that we were less tired and well rested after a pleasant nights sleep under our mossie nets, i actually slept better then i would at home…though thats not difficult!

we started work at 7am, making bunds in the forest- mounds of dirt in a lng path that would trap water on the higher ground for the trees to absorb. About 15 people are here for 3yrs on the project, making sure things run smoothly and having daily meetings about the running of the place. The hunts themselves seem bigger then our house back home.wooden slats covered with woven or straw mats on the floor, open sides with the high roofs slanting sharply down to almost meet, almost tease the floor. after the work in the forest and breakfast i helped prepare lunch- a vegan affiar ofcourse for 60odd people- consiting of dahl, lentils, marrow, aburgine, cabbage steam and mixed with mustard seed and finally rice. the food here is good and plentiful no one goes hungry and so far me and kate have struggled to finish our plates….thursday night  is going out night here so we plan to follow the crowd to auroville or somewhere near by.

Its humid and sticky despite the small shower of rain this morning which made finishing the work in the forest all the more invigourating. Working hard but now ultimatley relaxed…the best way to be in his heat….