Wanderlust Heaven!

My reverie was interrupted this past week by a couple things. First, outside events. Stockmarkets around the world plunged on the back of some pretty crappy economic news and weakening confidence. To some it appeared to be the end of the world; to me it appeared to be the unwinding of yet another giddy 6-7 year period fueled by military spending, consumer debt, and dumb calls by institutions who should know better. See the 1980s/Reagan Presidency for a similar experience. That said, I don’t think it’s the end of the world…but it might be a bad 1-2 year stretch. Richard at Bean Me Up has been torturing me – inadvertently, I hope – during breakfast each day with a gleeful recounting of the previous day’s mayhem. He’s a bit of a doomsayer…and a bit of a know-it-all too. Not the healthiest combination. He is well-read and fairly savvy about what’s going on out there, but he also falls into the trap of feeling quite confident that he knows the way through the thickets.

In any event, it all feels very far away to me as I chill here in Goa. I’ve probably doubled my money in the past 4 years…and now that markets are down 15-20% or so, I would be an ingrate to complain (of course, I do complain a bit). And I have enough in cash to take care of my needs for a couple more years, so I don’t need to liquidate any holdings in the near-term. It all feels like funny money at this point…but I do realize that I need to keep an eye on things and will do so.

Other outside events: I had to take care of a few bookings related to my upcoming April trip to the States. I’ll be attending my 15th business school reunion in Virginia mid-month, and that of course entails event registration, flights, car rental, hotel and various other annoyances. Some can be handled on the Internet, others require phone calls. I’m actually on the Reunion Committee, despite my distance from the place. My role is entirely that of the funny man, drawing on my old role of Deviations (Humor) Editor at the Darden News. I was asked to take an existing reunion survey template and spice it up. I think I did a solid job of that. The existing survey had ridiculous questions about car ownership and other consumerist touchstones – I got rid of those and made the thing contemporary, with questions about the presidential race, global warming, international experience, and so forth. Let’s see how it goes.

I also will be spending a week and a half up in Boston, so made the usual appointments there – doctor, accountant, candlestick maker. While I like to moan about the hassles involved with setting these things up, it’s actually a snap. Years ago in Goa, you had to go to a Portuguese café and wait in life to use the area’s single IDD connection…now I just use my mobile and the cost isn’t too bad. Last night I called up my storage room facility near Boston and extended my rental for another year – the call cost was about a buck. Not bad, but I am looking forward to the day when all telcos are out of biz and calls are free. Let us pray…

My mail drop came in yesterday from Boston. Tons of magazines, lots of pre-approved credit card and magazine subscription offers, a few holiday cards, and a new credit card I had applied for from one of the airlines. They’ve been bugging me for years, and I finally gave in. It’s the usual deal – you spend, you get frequent flier miles. I applied for the personal card, but they contacted me and asked me if I instead wanted the small business card. I had indicated on the application that I am an independent contractor/small biz owner…more or less the truth. The small biz card has more features, and costs less, so I uh-huhed my way through the 4-5 basic questions they asked and now I’ve got the small biz card. I guess that the global credit crunch hasn’t stopped the credit card outfits from continuing to hunt for new game…but I imagine they’re being slightly more careful these days.

Second event of note this past week: the visit of Alan and Janine, the British couple I first met in Puerto Galera, RP last March. Eager readers will recall that our paths crossed again, entirely randomnly, in Coron, RP a few months later, and then we had a drunken rendezvous in Bangkok in October, before I flew to India. When we parted in Bangkok, after many Singha beers and a couple buckets of Sangsom whiskey, Al & Janine were still working out their subsequent destinations. They decided to spend a few months in India…not sure if my tales of the place influenced their decision. They got here about 6 weeks ago, and after seeing Delhi and the Taj, took a 2-3 day train ride down to Trivandrum in the south. They’ve spent time in a couple ashrams, and then worked their way up here to Goa, where they’re soon to spend 5 days in the Himalayan Iyengar Yoga program up in Arambol.

I can’t say I’ve met many ‘new people’ I’ve stayed in touch with since I started these travels – Al & Janine, Mark & Carolyn from Phonsavan in Laos, Bettina in Manila, and just a handful more. I do feel pretty full up with friends already, so my bar is set high; add that to my streak of misanthropy (you can call it an unwillingness to suffer fools glady, if you like) and that comprises my filter on personal relations. Al & Janine are much more friendly, and I think also more perceptive (or less jaded?). I recall reading some of their blog posts and learning a few things I should have known but didn’t – for instance, some Asian men let one of their fingernails grow long to show they don’t work in the fields. I’ve often seen the long fingernail, but never asked why. I think Al & Janine are curious and make an effort to figure things out.

Al & Janine are traveling as I am – pretty much making it up as they go along, staying for long stretches in places they enjoy, and letting experiences wash over them. They’ve also spent chunks of time doing volunteer work, something I occasionally express an interest in doing, but never get around to. We email quite often, at least once a week, and it was kind of funny doing that as they worked their way north from Trivandrum. Now they were in Varkala, after that in Periyar, then in Kochi, now in Mangalore, then in Gokarna. I got an ‘imminent arrival’ email from them when they reached Gokarna, and a couple days later they showed up at Bean Me Up. Excellent.

Within an hour of their arrival, we were drunk on cheap cashew feni. We sat down for dinner and the belly-dancing show on that night at BMU…and had a bottle of red wine. Then some Kingfisher beer. Then other stuff. Janine was not feeling well – a traveler’s bug, most likely, and she went off to bed. Wisely, Al and I hopped on my motorbike to go play pool. I overshot the road, and while U-turning a cop came out of the darkness and accosted us. I tried to get my paperwork out of the boot but nearly dumped the bike on my leg. The cop accused us of being drunk – Al and I fervently denied it. I eventually produced the papers and the cop waved us on. He had us dead to rights, but probably figured that we weren’t drunk and/or scared enough to cough up some rupees.

We met up with Lisa and a gang of other BMU-ers at the Primrose Bar. Got a working pool table and tried to play a game. Our aim was predictably off and we quit. Drove down to the freak ghetto of Chapora, where I’d last been with Curt in early January, and settled down to some more Kingfishers and other stuff. Chatted for a long while before the bar closed down, forcing us to retreat to BMU and it’s pleasant ‘chillout zone,’ where we spent another hour or so. I recall Al asking me about life plans and other hard questions – I believe my responses were of the ‘err…’ variety.

The next day was a complete write-off. I awoke feeling grim…then vomited and spent the rest of the day holding my head and moping around. I primarily blame the feni, but then again adding the wine might have done it. And Janine’s bug might have gotten in there too, not sure. Anyway, the three of us were a bit of a mess all day Monday, and it wasn’t till mid-week that we were in fighting form. Thinking back to our last meeting in Bangkok, with the Sangsom whiskey and a brutal day-after, this was eminently predictable. Three friends meet in a fresh destination, loaded up with months’ worth of travel stories and adventures, share them over drinks/etc., and the next thing we know we need our stomachs pumped. I wonder where the next spot will be?

On Tuesday we were finally ambulatory, so drove up to Arambol to help find Al & Janine some lodging for their upcoming yoga course there. Didn’t find anything, but had a pleasant day wandering around the headland, having a greasy lunch, and a cold beer on the beach. We then went to see Prem Joshua & Band play in Mandrem. The show was good – 90% the same as the Hilltop show, but entertaining nonetheless. Al & Janine had a good time, from all accounts. On Wednesday I took ‘em over to the Anjuna Market so they could experience the essence of Goa, or something like that. Al & Janine were good guests across the board – not demanding, full of stories and great humor, and easy-going. And not pregnant either…

Friend Umang joined us for dinner that night at the Bean. He was in good form…with plenty of his usual over-the-top slogans about yoga (“it’s the best gift you can give yourself” – of course, Umang doesn’t practice yoga) and other topics. After dosing ourselves a bit, I was in my usual impetuous/skeptical mode and proceeded to skewer Umang’s various positions, to the evident amusement of Al (and I think Janine as well), who has seen bursts of my inner cranky/misanthropic self and seems to find it amusing. To his credit, Umang takes my ribbing in stride and laughs along with the rest of us…my irritable outbursts seem ‘witty’ to him and every insult I hurl at him is ju-jitsued back to me with a compliment. Rather disarming, to be honest.

Al & Janine moved up on Arambol/Mandrem on Thursday, still without lodging but they’ll find something. We promised to stay in touch and perhaps meet up in Arambol after their yoga course. I’m sure our paths will cross again quite soon, and probably quite often given past experience…and I’m happy about that.

I got my mail package soon afterward and went to work plowing through it.

What else from this past week? I went to Nine Bar with Lisa one night…there was supposed to be a well-known DJ there, but that wasn’t the case. We stayed for a bit anyway, dancing around. I mostly watched others there…some dancing, some not. When there’s music around, even if it isn’t great, I always find myself moving…you might not call it dancing per se, but I do feel the music in me. And I’ve noticed that many (most?) other people do not, or at least handle it in a sedate fashion. Most people just sit or stand there motionless. I don’t want to say that I can’t understand that…we all have our own musical preferences and there are certainly some tunes that leave me cold. But I do prefer to be around people (women) who ‘get into the groove’ and like to move to the music. In other words, participants in a sense and not merely an audience. Does that make sense?

Later that night I got out my iPod, inspired by the music at Nine Bar I suppose, and put on Lyle Mays’s first, eponymous album. Mays is/was Pat Metheny’s keyboard player and this album is superb. I don’t have his later stuff but want to pick it up soon. I first saw Mays play at Tufts during Spring Fling, when my friend Jarv and I were absolutely flying. We sat down in the auditorium and saw the show…and it centered us immediately. Mays’s music is elegant and soaring, and to this day I remember that 3 minutes and 40 seconds (give or take a few) into the 7th track on his first album I once experienced an epiphany which I’m still trying to recreate.

Have started to think ahead to my travels after my April U.S. trip. Latest thinking: don’t head straight to Nepal, instead go from Hong Kong through Beijing up to Mongolia, spend some time there, then head to western China and Tibet. From there, go to the Central Asian Silk Route hotspots – Samarkhand, Bukhara, etc., and eventually get down to Kathmandu. That sounds like a solid plan to me, now I just have to make it happen. Any input is of course welcome…

Looked into setting up paid advertising on my blogsite, but the host company BootsnAll already has Google’s AdSense on it (naturally – that underpins their free hosting of my blog). So I’ll just have to rely on your kind donations, dear readers…

Took a late-night motorbike ride after dinner the other night. Passed a beautiful old Portuguese church…there was some sort of party going on next door, might have been related to the church or something entirely distinct. It was a Thursday night, not the usual night for a wedding. Anyway, there were people dancing and a loud track from Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ was cranking away. I thought it a bizarre scene – old church, Goan merrymakers, Pink Floyd. A little bit of everything all together in one place. Just as I like it. Over and out.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2008 at 12:57 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.