Follow the Sun

Still in Goa, still at the beach, still as white as paper.  Ive been very good about slathering on the sunscreen and staying under the umbrellas at the beach.

I spent all last week in Candolim where I met several travellers and one very nice taxi driver.  If you’re looking for a nice, relaxing time…go to Candolim, it’s very quiet and stay at Tropicano Beach Resort.  It’s a nice little place with courtyard rooms around a garden and less than 5 minutes walk to the beach. To be honest I’m so relaxed I’m not even sure if there is anything to write.

Last week my new friend Nicky, the taxi driver, took me on a tour around this part of the state.  We went to an old church where a saint’s body rests (Frances Xavier), to a couple of Hindu temples and an organic spice plantation where I had a taste of the cashew finny (aka rocket fuel).

I was my usual cynical self inside the church, but once we got to the temples I started to become a bit overwhelmed.  Before you could even enter the temples you had to cleanse your feet.  Seeing these people practicing their faith that pre-dates the written word just got to me.  At the second temple, dedicated to Vishnu, I started to cry.  I suppose it was because, when it comes to religion, I’ve rejected everything that I’ve been brought up on, it just doesn’t make sense to me.  But the energy of these temples were powerful and it got to me. 

…….

Today I moved to Anjuna where the hippies left over from the sixites are trying to hold on to the past and the new hippes are trying to recapture something they’ve never known. 

Oh yeah, and it’s as hot a blue blazes here.

Just one of the interesting things that I’ve seen in India so far is how they wrap packages to be mailed.  First they tape it all up, not in a box, just whatever the bundle is that you’re shipping and then wrap that in newspaper and tape that together.  Next they wrap the whole package in linen and sew up the edges.  The final step is for the packager to wax seal the corner seams.

 I have pictures of that and I know I’ve been promising them for a while now, but please continue to be patient.

I spent all last week in Hyderabad, a very large city, hanging out with a guy from Ireland.  It was nice to have the company and to be able to share the expenses of autorickshaw rides and such…especially when the sightseeing you want to see is a good distance away.

What I found interesting about hanging out with a man is that I ceased to exist for the most part.  Anytime we would ask for directions or go into a restaraunt, all communication would be directed at him.  At breakfast yesterday the waiter wouldn’t even look in my direction and almost didn’t take my order.  I was completly invisible.  Only problem was that my traveling companion’s pronunciation was horrible so he had to keep directing the attention to me so that whoever we were talking to could understand us.

 I’m now in Goa…the beach resort town…where hippies have been gathering since they started traveling to India.  I plan on resting here for a bit.  I caught a bit of a cold in Hyderabad (congestion, fever) that I think may have to do with all of the air pollution.  So where better to recover than at the beach?

Well, it’s been a little over a week now and I’ve been hestitating to update this blog.  Why?  Because I’ve been cranky as hell.  At first I thought it was because I was failing as a traveler.  I was getting so pissed off at how often I’d been cheated…couldn’t stand being stared at one more time…the smells are noxious in some places…getting peeked in on while showering…finding someone sleeping in my berth on an overnight train ride…having to say no at every turn…Mumbai and Nasik have to go down as the most polluted cities I’ve ever visited in my life.  Aurangabad saw some street urchins trying to steal the sunglasses off of my face and an unscrupulous hotel propietor. 

So now for the good…the lovely ladies at the sari shop in Nasik, Mr. Nasir in Aurangabad (best autorickshaw ride around), the trains, finding out that it can take up to 7 months to produce a hand woven silk sari, the people of Hyderabad, the rock cut caves (I’ll have pictures up soon, hopefully) that for the most part took 150 years to produce (at least in Ellora), the many nice people I’ve met along the way…and figuring out that my crankyness is not due to failing as a traveler but is a combonation of culture shock, jetlag, PMS, and a cold that finally hit.

Just a quick note to say that i’ve arrived.  I’ve been in Mumbai for almost 2 days and tomorrow I leave for Nasik.

Mumbai is everything you’ve ever heard about it…and I don’t want to go into all of the cliches that have already been written elsewhere. 

 Later, after I’ve had some distance and time to think it over I’ll go into more detail…don’t worry though, all is well and I couldn’t be happier 🙂  I just still can’t believe that I’m actually here!  After 3 years of seriously thinking and planning, I’m sitting at an internet “cafe” in Mumbai, India!!

The anticipation is almost too much! I leave 3 weeks from tomorrow and am finally knee deep in planning some sort of route and looking into what that route would entail. For the longest time I couldn’t decide if I wanted to head north or south afer I left Mumbai but after reading about Sikkim I decided to go north and make my way over there. There is just so much to see and do in India. I don’t want this to be a marathon journey where I rush about trying to get in as much as possible in the time frame alloted…I want to take my time to get to know a place, but there are so many areas that I want to see and experience…6 months does not seem that long.

Tomorrow I go in for the last of my vaccinations and this weekend my family and I are flying up to WI to visit my sister’s famliy.

So…I went to get the anti-malarials filled this evening, well tried to anyway. According to BC/BS they will cover the cost of treating malaria, but not the prevention. In order to get them to cover the cost I have to get malaria first. So basically it seems that they’re hoping everyone will be too scared of getting malaria that they’ll pay out of pocket for the meds (in my case over $1000) in order to prevent the contraction of the disease and if they do that they won’t get malaria so BC/BS doesn’t have to pay a dime in treatment. Nice scam. Oh, and did I mention that the side effects include disturbed sleep, nightmares, depression and in rare cases hallucinations and suicidal thoughts? And I have to pay for that?

Update: The Doctor decided to put me on doxycyclene instead of the Lariam and Malarone…so now I just have to worry about bad sunburns…I’m a fair-skinned redhead, I think I have the sun issues under control at this point in my life.

My ticket is booked!!!!! I’m leaving Oct. 16th for Mumbai. I was able to get a cheapish oneway on Delta, so bonus->skymiles! Now I just need to finally solidify the whole banking question.

Finally went in for the first of 3 visits to the travel clinic. Hep A & B, Japanese Encephalitis, Meningitus, Polio, Typhoid, & Rabies. Now, I know there are a lot of people who decide against rabies and JE, but I tend to lean towards caution when it comes to my health. I don’t want my trip ruined by catching some nasty illness that could have been prevented. Of course they certainly do cost an arm and a leg.

After looking at my budget and travel costs it looks like I won’t be able to make it as far as I’d like, so this is no longer an RTW. More than likely I’ll just be traveling around India and SEA, which suits me just fine anyway…hell, as long as I’m on the road I’ll be happy. Still looks as though I’ll be leaving mid-October. I’m sending off for my Indian visa tomorrow and will be buying my plane ticket shortly after that.

My first entry to my new travel blog…so exciting! Ok, not as exciting as it will be.

I’ve yet to buy my plane ticket but the plan is to get a one way ticket to India and then see how long the money and I last (one of us will give out before the other). I’d like to make my way to Nepal, Tibet, SEA, Bali, New Zealand, Japan, China, Mongolia to Russia…and then who knows.

All I’ve ever wanted to do is travel. While I was in college I kept telling myself ‘when I graduate I’ll travel.’ Well, graduation came and went and all I did was move to a different city. It’s a great city and I had a really good job with lots of vacation days but paying rent and bills got in the way. I was able to visit Paris, Ireland and Jamaica while living there. 2 months ago I moved back home to Georgia after living in Chicago for the past 6 years and While I’m stuck in the ‘burbs I will be putting the finishing touches on the big adventure.

Of course, I won’t be resting in the ‘burbs for too long. I’m leaving in a few days to stay in some friends’ tee pee for a month while I participate in a yoga teacher training.

See ya when I get back!