Wanderlust Heaven!

Not long after polishing off last week’s entry, I heard about a beach party at the infamous Curly’s, on Anjuna Beach. I was at Bean Me Up, about to have dinner, when Lisa told me about the party. And it was a very slow night at BMU, so she let a few staff take off and join the party. I was torn…had yoga the next morning, but did feel like joining the lads and blowing off some steam. The steam arose largely from my being the dunce of the yoga class…while it’s not a competitive session, I do feel intensely self-conscious and inadequate when standing or sitting next to some of my class’s flexibabes, who are pretzel-like in their poses. My solution? Sulk for a while, then drink heavily. So far, it’s kept me sane…

Curly’s was well into it by the time I got there. Parked relatively far away, to avoid late-night traffic jams. It was very crowded…DJ was spinning and the dance floor was heaving with all the flotsam and jetsam of Goa. A seemingly pregnant woman (I hope not, but…) was prancing around next to a Jesus-like figure sporting only a towel…and next to him was a woman wearing a large arm cast. Nice – I wouldn’t have had it any other way. The air was redolent with all manner of resins and sweat. Tried to locate the BMU crew, lead by headwaiter Bini, but couldn’t see ‘em. Finally, at a break in the action, I simply yelled out ‘Bini!’ and sure enough, he came right up and high-fived me. I was back amongst familiar faces.

With Bini was Umesh the bartender and Surendra the dishwasher. They’ve all been at BMU for some time, I knew them all from last season. All good guys. Surendra in particular is an absolute riot…he speaks about 5 words of English, yet now wants to be called ‘Jack.’ Not too sure why, but he likes that name and I think it’s hilarious. Now, whenever I see him at BMU, I yell ‘Jack!’ and he grins widely. It’s one form of connecting, I suppose…

Left there after a couple hours, and rode home. It was a cold evening, the weather continues to be mild here. Lisa rang me up and told me she left a blanket outside my room – nice of her. There is a personal touch here at BMU which is generally lacking in other establishments. Might be due to my friendship with Lisa and Richard, but it’s beyond that – they run a tight yet friendly ship and I think hospitality comes naturally to them. It sure doesn’t to me.

Went to yoga class the next morning. Good class, but my hamstrings are tight as hell, probably from running, and I’m caught in a vicious cycle wherein I try to stretch them out in yoga class, then they’re sore and it’s difficult to go running at night…but I try to do so anyway, and that doesn’t help me in yoga class the next day. I had to take a day off from running (and yoga class, a different day) to let my body calm down and return to center.

Gaby, our yoga instructor, is a cool Aussie who’s been in Goa forever. She and Lisa know each other well – Lisa turned me on to Gaby, yet another good recommendation from Lisa. I continue to wonder what sort of yoga is best for me, given my ‘hot nature’ (in ayurvedic terms I am a ‘pitta-dosha,’ my constitution is fiery). Ashtanga yoga, what I’m practicing now with Gaby et al, is demanding and intense, and might be too much for my joints, which have been conditioned by years of running. A more gentle/restorative yoga might be better for me, but for the next few weeks I’ll stick with Ashtanga and see how I feel. I did like Gaby’s preamble to class the other day – she advised us to clean our bowels and noses before class, as it’s difficult to practice with a full lower intenstine and a clogged nose. I tend to start my days doing so…and perhaps this is one area in which I’m near or at the head of our class!!

Gaby told us there’s no class one full moon days. I have yet to ask her why, but I think it’s kind of cool regardless. Maybe she’s a witch and has some dark arts to conduct those nights?

Speaking of hidden talents, one of my yoga classmates is apparently the Goan state boxing champ (female division). I’m not that surprised, come to think of it – we practice (for now) in a boxing studio, and this chick looks tough. She has feet that look (tragically) like mine, and fairly hairy legs. I wouldn’t have messed with her before, and now won’t for sure.

Next week classes shift to a custom-built shala (studio) right on Vagator Beach. Of course, I’ll be in Vietnam next week. Which is perfectly OK…I’ll bring my mat to Saigon, and anyway my lady friend there is a yoga teacher so she can keep me honest.

My new resistance cord came in the mail. It’s made by Gaiam, a ‘lifestyle company,’ whatever that means. McDonald’s is a lifestyle company too, no? Anyway…my new cord is better than my old one, which had moving parts and required assembly. The new one is fully integrated and is ready to use straight out of the box. Now I can get my upper body muscles back in shape…my old cord broke a few weeks ago, and I’ve missed the damned thing.

Finally got my Vietnam visa. Maria at Connexions (the travel agent) didn’t call me once with a status update, so I went by there every other day for 2 weeks till it was concluded. At one point I thought, perhaps I won’t go by and she’ll eventually call me. But after 3 days, no call, so I reverted to form. Lisa at BMU told me that Maria (and other Goans in the service biz) won’t spend the 1 rupee for the local call. Incredible. In India you’d best be prepared to slog through the simplest of tasks. I miss Laos and Cambodia, where you can almost get a visa by clapping your hands 3 times. Might be a business opportunity in consolidating the visa application process online, as it’s done for Oz.

I told Maria that I had been concerned I wouldn’t get the visa. She said she had also been worried. Oh, yeah? Maria displaying concern is akin to the Buddha’s visage whilst meditating – you could have fooled me. Anyway, she did come through, albeit for the price of US$130 or so. It’s just money…

Along with the resistance cord, my mail drop included a few letters. One was from the US Internal Revenue Service, a much-feared beast. Apparently on a recent submission I hadn’t signed a form – the Foreign Bank Report form. So I had to sign the new letter and send that back to the States. Hopefully it will get there…the Indian post office doesn’t have the best rep. I also received a small package from my healthcare insurer, Blue Cross, informing me that my rates will rise 20% next month and thereafter. Torture. That prompted me to call Blue Cross and switch to a cheaper plan. Making the call was not fun, given that payphones here won’t connect to US toll-free #s, necessitating a Skype call which may or may not be of decent quality. My call was OK, but I had to speak with 3 different people to 1) set up a new policy and 2) junk my old one. Is there any vendor out there which understands that people (even me) are busy and prefer to have a single point of contact?

Further torture – they insist on sending snail mail, so my welcome package and first bill will come to Newton, whereupon my family will need to FedEx it quickly to me in Goa, so that I can somehow take care of the first bill in time. That might be tricky…I really need to switch to auto-withdrawal as I had it with my old policy. Dealing with these sorts of things from abroad is not fun.

It’s Thanksgiving time in the States, which means that waistlines expand (even further) and hopefully the wallets will come out. The stock market has crapped out in the past couple months and it looks to be a rocky ride. Many thanks to Ameriquest and other mortgage loan pushers who aggressively solicited and approved people with shitty credit and low incomes and put them in houses they couldn’t afford. Ameriquest is now entering Chapter 11 (or 7), I believe – good. Thanks also to those feeble-minded consumers who fell for it, or instigated their own downfall. I really hate to read the newspapers over here and see Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hanging out and crowing over the weakening US economy (and socio-political position) and the falling dollar. That absolutely gives me the shits. I can live with a stock market downturn…I have more of a problem with global psychos holding forth on new world orders. I guess I am patriotic after all.

Am getting ready to go to Saigon on Sunday. Bought the woman a silk sari at Anjuna Market – that should be well-received. Visa is in hand…as are loads of magazines, useful because I have serious layovers on both ends of my trip. Will be gone 8-9 days in all, including a night in Mumbai. Ugh. Finding a decent hotel room there might be a task equal to obtaining a Vietnamese visa in India. Just when you think you’ve got it made, there’s always something waiting round the corner. At least Saigon should be fun, and errand-free. Will I have to eat my words? Wait till next week to find out!

Over and out – the Gentle Dragon.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 22nd, 2007 at 2:34 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.