eating, sleeping and haggling...

FIRST OF ALL!!!

I finally figured out how to send a link to my photo albums so here they are (for India only, my Thailand ones are not appropriate for all viewers :0)

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=222469&id=511320343&l=103b9

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=217429&id=511320343&l=84388

So I am in Pushkar which is in Rajastan not far from Udaipur where I wrote my last entry and its pretty okay... Its nice here but the locals are VERY VERY pushy and trying to scheme and scam you and every oppurtunity. It has really tried my patience and damaged my trust. I have met up with one of my best friends in the whole wide world Natahna and we are having a grand ol time.

So far we havent done much except eat and a TINY bit of shopping and then a HUGE amount of eating. The food here is fantastic and the restaurants all have a very special and unique ambience.

This is supposed to be a holy city but so far we havent seen much holyness. One of the biggest scams here is when you are walking into the main road someone will give you a flower and then their friend will grab you as soon as you walk into the city saying that the flower is "holy and must go to the holy lake" they will show you to the lake and show you the proper procedure for putting it in the water and then try and charge you money. Talk about exploiting your religion for money. VERY disturbing. Obviously that has jaded our view on the whole thing.

Tomorrow we shall ride camels into the dusty sand dunes of Rajhastan and we are VERY excited about that. Its going to be like lawrence of arabia only with less swords... Stay tuned for more updates!

cow eats book, young beachdweller indignant...

So its been two weeks in India and so far here is a quick round up of some important things i have learned.

• No one wants to just talk to you. They want your money or your commission (99% of the time)
• Compassion and patience go much farther than anger and rudeness
• Problems ran away from will always find you
• I have some of the most wonderful people in the world to call my friends and family
• Just because you buy a train ticket does not necessarily mean you have a seat on a train in India
• Apple pie in India will give you Diarrhoea
• If you feed a cow in India it will not leave you alone and may try to eat your book...

I was minding my own business today when a lovely indian gentleman asked if I would like a cinnamon bun or a croissant. Heck yes i did! I paid the man and gave him a generous 10 rupee tip for his keen sense of what foods i may wish to snack on. Returning to the last 30 pages of the epic 1000 page Indian odyssey that is Shantaram a shadow loomed over me. Assuming it was the man trying to sell me another tasty snack i told him that one was enough. The shadow persisted so i rose my head to see a bulbous bovine head staring back at me. I smiled at it and thought to myself 'only in India' and gave the cow a piece of my bun. It failed to see it (cows are worshipped here but i think not for their intelligence) so i forced it into its mouth. I was immediately covered in cow goo. I went to wash my hands in the ocean finishing the last piece of the delicious pastry when i heard a crowd laughing. Turning to see what was so funny i was a bit disappointed to see the laughs were at my expense... The ingrate was chewing on my book which was undoubtedly scented delightfully with cinnamon...

I rushed over, pulled the book from his mouth and beseeched him to move on. This encouraged further laughing. Eventually i encouraged the cow to leave me be but not before a thick globule of sandy drool landed squarely on my iPod.

BAHHHH, oh well i saw a similar situation later on with a young lady but the cow was eating her sarong...

Going to Mumbai tonight, ready to take that city on for a second time. After that i think i shall move on to udaipur. Hope all is well!

So now that i have been here for a week and a bit I have a more informed oppinion of this country. I love Indias carefree and easy going pace but find it to be extremely frustrating when it comes to getting around. Arie and I the other day tried to get from Kollem to Goa (because he had to fly out on the 14th) and there was absolutely NO WAY we could do it. There are no direct busses, flights were full, train was full, the only way we could do it would be to rent a private car and a driver for around $300 CAD. It was just stupid. We got really frustrated with that.

We ended up taking a combination of trains, taxis, rikshaws and busses. It was totally mental. At multiple times on the trip we cursed Indias name and some of its people. It took us 3 days to do something that should have taken 12 hours. One of our busses was going 200 kiolemeters and it took 8 and a half hours, and it was completely packed the entire time.

Needless to say i'm happy to be back in Goa for a bit. I'm trying to meet up with my friend Natahna up north but its difficult because you kind of have to book ahead with the trains and i certainly am not very good at making plans like that. I'm much more the day of kind of guy.

The backwaters in Kerala were amazing!!!! We were on the boat for almost two days and we took it really easy. There wasnt much to do on their except listen to music, drink and eat and watch the beautiful scenery roll by, its a great way to see all the rice fields and farmlands and the beautiful backwaters. It was amazing, almost as good as my yacht cruise in Thailand.

So I'm back in Goa and I'm just going to chill here for a while. Internet in India is so far shit so i wont be posting any pictures for a while.

BYE!!!

I was only in Mumbai for a about 5 hours and it was shocking, awe inspiring, beautiful and horrible all at the same time. The beauty of India is so unmistakable but its not in its squeaky clean sandy beaches or in its festering metropolises, its in the eyes and the hearts of its people.

Indian people are so kind and so helpful its almost unnerving, even when they are trying to rip you off they are treating you like an equal, like a long lost friend. I am glad that i got out of Mumbai because I didn't want to ruin the city for myself and it would have been WAAAAYYYY too much to handle as my first experience in India.

I am currently on beautiful Palolem beach in Goa, India and it is absolutely paradise. Yesterday with two full meals, many beers and a bottle of whisky i only spent around $15 CAD. CRAZY!!!!

Life here is truly my idea of paradise. The food is amazing, the beer is cold and cheap, my room is clean and bug free and has a fan, the water is warm and clear, sand is like silk between your toes... Truly amazing

Soooo i dont have much of a plan but what i've got for right now is my friend Arie and I are going to hang out in Goa for a few days then go see the Keralan backwaters, do some houseboating maybe some wildlife watching then i have to say goodbye to him cuz hes going back to London then i think i will fly to the Andaman islands and spent some time there then fly to Delhi or somewhere else up north and start seeing that part of India, pretty vague plan but my plans always are.

Anyways... i really havent done anything that interesting in the last few weeks so i dont have much to say either than i'm having a great time, i'm in great company and i'm happy to call India my home for the next few months.

LOVE!!!!! danny