Hampi

I love overnight trains. I save on accommodation, it's comfortable, you get to meet normal Indian people who can actually afford sleeper class ticket, you can chat with them and eat with them. They would always offer you whatever they're eating. They're usually pretty happy, will always help you with luggage, stations, will wake you up if necessary. But more importantly you go far during the night without spending all the day moving around. But for some reason I can't sleep when the train is not moving ... maybe because I'm impatient, or maybe because the rocking motion helps me sleep. I arrived in Hampi completely sleep deprived, got the worst and the most expensive room and felt like a zombie for the rest of the day. I couldn't go to sleep because I had to find out good accommodation and a popular spot that every tuk-tuk driver would know so that I could write an email to Andy (from Varkala) who would be arriving the next day.
Finally a cheap place to do laundry. South America was so cheap, they were charging about 80 cents per kilo, here they charge from 30 - $1 per item!! In Hampi it was 10 cents, so I just handed my entire suitcase in for a wash. It wasn't much cleaner when I got it back. My pants still had mud stuck to them, and my shorts and Adidas t-shirt magically disappeared :(
The whole time after Madurai I was on my own in completely non touristic places, and I missed some human interaction. I went for breakfast to the most packed cafe so that I could meet someone. Apparently I wasn't the only one missing talking. Maria, the girl on the next table started talking to me the second I sat down. I ordered tea, but when I put honey in it, it was overflowing with ants. I didn't look at the honey bottle which was half honey/half ants. Maria said that the black ones are ok, they do no harm, it's the red ones that have some acid in it ... oooooh, ok... well if black ones are ok, I'll guess I'll add some protein to my diet! Naaaaaahh :))
Maria is from Germany, but lived in Indonesia for a while. She built a house there, said it was beautiful, relaxing, like a paradise. Then a lot of her friends started to come for vacation and her house was always full of guests. Her neighbours got jealous because they thought that she opened a hotel and was charging people, and look how much money she's making, meanwhile she didn't charge anybody anything. They started accusing her that she's dealing drugs, it got worse and worse, and one day she just took the next flight out, since having drugs in possession (which they could've hid anywhere in her bike or a house) in Indonesia means death sentence.
I have no idea why we met at 8am in the morning for breakfast, since I still didn't accumulate enough hours of sleep from the night before. I usually work with averages. If I sleep 4 hours one night, I need at least 12 hours the next night, so it would average out to 8 hours/night :) In the morning Maria brought James a funny British guy who would say fantastic, amazing, smashing, intriguing, and thrilling to any small phrase.
- It was a pretty good tea we had at the train station the other day
- Wow! brilliant !!
James was late a few times, just by a few minutes, but Maria was joking that he's the girl of the pack, that we're always waiting for him. I'm German, I'm never late! She said.... But then every time we met, she would always set up a range. "Let's meet for dinner between 7 - 8". Why between 7 - 8? Who sets up time like that? What if I get there at 7, and then I have to wait for another hour for her to show up? It took me a few times to make sure that she will arrive there at 7. I don't understand that logic at all ... but then it hit me: Germans are never late, so instead of being late, they just make up this huge range to accommodate for their "perfection".
Maria decided to have bong lassi for breakfast (lassi mixed with marijuana), and she peered pressured James to share it with her. Hampi is a holy city, so no alcohol is allowed, as pretty much in most places in India. They actually went as far as having dry states. But in touristic places they would serve beer in a tea pot, and marijuana mixed with lassi, and would have funny names on the menu. Bong lassi was called lassi.com. What you have to look out for are the prices. If a regular lassi costs 20-30 rps, and lassi.com costs 300, then you know you hit the target. Peer pressure doesn't work on me, and I only had a small sip. Man it was strong! Ok to share this cup between 5-6 people, but not between 2! At first they had a lot of energy, and couldn't sit still. We decided to rent bicycles to cycle around Hampi. We made it to the nearest temple which was a 2 minute ride. Climbed inside, and they crashed to sleep for 5 hours. I didn't mind it at all, because my sleep accounting was not yet in order. Their happiness and over-hyper-activeness turned into exhaustion and paranoia (when James thought that the temple would collapse on us, and that the police would suddenly find them and put them to Indian jail). They started feeling extremely sick and were barely able to move. James said that 4 days later he still felt it. Their munchies came just in time for me to meet Andy in the restaurant. I couldn't help but laugh when Maria ordered tomato soup, and chapati, and french fries and oh, don't forget the double burger!! :)
Andy came !!! YEEIII :))
We went to the town temple where the temple blessing elephant shook Andy's hand. The temple was called “sri sri sri virupaksha”. “Sri” means something like “respect to”. There are a lot of names of restaurants/ tour companies/buses that are called Sri/Shree Krishna (god’s name)… another example is Sri Lanka (respect to Lanka (king’s name)). We were laughing. It’s triple respect as in: re-re-re-spect! Temple’s in the house!!! :))
 Then went to the nearby ruins for the amazing sunset views. I think this is the best sunset I've seen in a while, and definitely the best sunset pictures! This is where James got scammed by the local police for drinking in a holy city. James is a nice guy. Him and a few more guys took 1 beer each to the ruins to watch the sunset. The police fined them 1000 rps each!!!! Poor tourists ... or poor James. It should never cost this much, and you can ALWAYS get away with not paying. The police is very lazy, and they would've gotten away with 100 rps fine in total if you demand to be taken to the police station and pay the fine properly. This means that they have to walk, miss the opportunity of "fining" someone else, fill out forms, and actually not get any money out of it. They would accept any amount if you know that it's the case.
In the morning met James and Robert for breakfast. Robert is 20 years old, and came to Hampi to volunteer for 4 months with the kids teaching them English. I would’ve loved to do something similar and actually get close to Indian people instead of just seeing one side of them, which is usually not that good.
They didn't have change in the restaurant, gave me more money and asked that I'll give them 55 rps later! 55 rps??!! That's a lot of money! I've never encountered that in India before. Change is always a problem in India, since the ATMs always give either 500s of even worse 1000s out, and nobody ever has any change. The best bets are hotels, expensive restaurants, and train stations. Sometimes I would walk with a 500 ruppee note for days and wouldn't be able to change it anywhere. We came back to the restaurant for dinner, next breakfast/lunch, and I still didn't have 55 rps to give them. They haven't said a word. Very surprising!
We then went for the walk to the other side of the river. On the map it looked like 6kms, in reality it was more than 20! We left in the morning and came back at 9 at night! There is a big problem with Lonely Plants maps. Things look close, but end up being almost always twice the distance. I think India is so big, it just doesn't fit on the map :)
Everybody we met on the way run up to us. Hi, your name? Your country? That's all they want to know, or that's all the English they know, and it's usually as far as the conversation goes. Sometimes it's so bad, you say it 100 times a day. Sometimes I don't even look at them, keep walking ... Yana ... Canada. But then I feel bad, it's not their fault that they're hundredth person to ask me that in a day, and not the first one, or even the tenth one, when I still have the energy to sound enthusiastic or friendly. Everybody's taking our pictures, or if they don't have a camera, their pictures on our camera (which at the end of the day we delete ... they're just way too many). I don't think even if I'll stumble across a famous person on the street, I would say anything to him/her. Let them have their peace and quiet, they deserve it!
I'm not irritated by their sneaky pictures as much, I just put my hand in front of my face and look down.
There were no restaurants in the area and we ended up in some local bar where the ground is filled with broken bottles and the locals are driving away on their bikes drunk. They don't have coke, or don't want to pay for coke, so instead of drinking rum and coke, they drink rum and water. They had some snacks to go with their drinks and that's what we had for lunch, which was not good and over spicy. We didn't have anything to wash it down with. We ordered sprite, and they said yes it's coming. It wasn't coming for a while. We saw the guy running around. "Is the sprite coming?" - Yes, yes. And then we don't see him again. What does that mean? It means that they don't have sprite and they're now too embarrassed to say that they don't have it, even though they can have fanta or coke or pepsi, and they would rather disappear than admit their mistake.
Also "I don't know" doesn't exist in Indian language. When you ask for directions, they would rather send you somewhere rather than say "I don't know". I already learned how to differentiate between the two. When they just point somewhere, it means they don't know, if they point and say something like 2nd left or give a landmark, then it's a sure bet. They would also say "yes"/"no" if they don't know. That could be annoying at times.
- Can I have sunny side up eggs please?
- Yes, yes!
All the orders come, my eggs don't come ... GRRR ...
- Are my eggs coming?
- What eggs?
-----
They sold whole walnuts at the shop. I'm not sure if we wanted any, but I asked them if they have a nutcracker.
- Yes
We later decided that we do want walnuts. We waited until all the Indians were served that were now in front of us. Finally it came our turn.
- Can we have nuts and a nutcracker?
- We don't have a nutcracker
... but I already knew it. I somehow learned to differentiate when their yes means an actual yes ... just like a head wobble.
570 steps up to the hanuman (monkey god) temple. At the bottom we bought a bag on bananas to feed to the monkeys on the top, but were almost attacked by a huge monkey on the bottom who saw the bag and was sure it was all for him. We would've given up if it wasn't for the brave local with the stick who came running and yelling at it and waving the stick up in the air.
On the top there were lots of monkeys. I'm scared of monkeys because I know what they can do. They can be cute and fuzzy until they want something from you, then they're gonna gang up on you and scratch your eyes out. Although they are my favourite animals just because how smart and human like they are. At first Andy was throwing the bananas to them, but then the locals said just to hold the banana in his hand, and the monkey would come by, stand on his feet and calmly take it from the hand. Or he would hold it up, and they would jump to get it :)
We were getting late for the last boat across the river, but when we got to the bottom, we were offered a tuk-tuk for 300 rps for 6 kms!! Hampi is a very touristic place very near Goa. So stupid tourists come for a vacation and do a quick jump to Hampi, and pay these prices because they just don't know any better. Tuk-tuk should cost 10 rps per kilometer. We told them that we're even ok with paying 100. They didn't barge, and we didn't either. They told us that we'll miss the last boat across the river unless we take a tuk-tuk, but according to LP we already missed it. We couldn't pay even if we wanted to. If we allow them to use us, they would use the next tourists as well. It's the principle of backpackers "inc". Sometimes I wouldn't even pay 5 rps extra. Just because I'm white, it's not a reason for me to be ripped off! I met a lot of backpackers who wouldn't give in as well... "Pay it forward"!!!
They were desperate for the money, and kept driving by our side trying to negotiate. But our theory goes like this: if the price it too high in the beginning, no further negotiations are possible even if you give us a fair price. They have to learn their lesson not to be greedy! They actually did get down to 100, but we declined. We had no idea how to cross the river. The guys being all macho wanted to cross the river in complete darkness with day packs and cameras/iPods/phones and we heard that they're crocodiles in there! No thank you, I'm not crossing, I'd rather pay $2 and stay in the accommodations on this side of the river and will cross in the morning with the boat.
We reach the river, it's dark and there is no living soul in sight. We yell "heeellllloooo", and after a few minutes heard a "heeeelllooo" from the other side. The small round shaped bamboo boat thingi was coming to the rescue. We knew that he would give us a crazy price because he have no other choice but to take his boat. And it was a very slippery situation trying to negotiate when we knew that he could just paddle back to the other side and we would be stuck. That's where principles do not work well at all :)
At the guest house they promised us electricity 24 hours, maybe with 10 minute outages, which seemed reasonable. But this night it went off for 2 hours! I couldn't sleep at all. I was covering myself with a wet towel to cool off a bit, and also somehow I managed to get a bottle of water at 2:30 in the morning. It's all about stupid room construction. It's actually quite nice outside, but the rooms are boiling hot. If they would put 2 windows on both sides, there would be a breeze and an outside temperature.
Hampi is gorgeous. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in the world. The scenery is magical and almost unreal with thousands of giant boulders somehow lying on top of each other for miles and miles. (LP) Hampi was once Vijayanagar's capital in 1336, which grew into one of the largest Hindu empires in Indian history. By the 16th century, it was a thriving metropolis of about 500,000 people, with busy bazarrs dabbling in international commerce, brimming with precious stones and merchants from faraway lands.
Hundreds of temples that are scattered everywhere around the region add a fairytale feel to the place. I have no idea how it's so unknown to the world, I don't think places like that exist anywhere else!
The problem with it though is that the locals started using the structures of the temples to build their houses/stores! … in the world heritage site!! UNESCO started destroying some of the houses, and promised to bulldoze all houses which are not cleared out, so now locals started to take down all the valuable pieces of their houses like roofs and doors and moving somewhere else. The town of Hampi is half in ancient ruins and half in modern ruins. Walking in some parts is like walking in a war zone.
We rented scooters for the day. They were ok, though the steering was misaligned, they had problems starting, and oh, the breaks didn't really work. We drove around the whole day from temples to temples, exploring them all. We saw so much, queen's bath, elephant enclosures, cart, wedding temple, and 100s of other temples, statues, holy men bathing and chanting in the water. Absolutely beautiful!
It felt like the whole day I was just saying: Lets go here, lets go there, lets have a coconut, take a break. It occurred to me that no one really objected. At one moment I decided that I won't say anything for the suggestion of the next place to see. We get out of the temple, I'm quiet. Everybody else is quiet. We stand in silence for a few minutes. "Where do you want to go ?" finally someone says. I pretend I don't hear. We are not moving ... I don't understand why doesn't it bother anybody? After maybe 10 minutes of indecisiveness, I get back into my role. I'm wondering ... am I a natural leader or people don't want to make decisions for others, or people in general just don't want to think at all?
In Hampi my bag tore, and I had a hole in my jeans. I gave them to a tailor without asking for the price first. I wonder what's gonna happen when I'll come to pick them up? I come to the tailor, she shows me everything, then she shows me the jeans, I fixed it here, and a bit here, and here and here ... oh, oh I think! I ask her how much. She says that I should give her how much I think is a good price. I hate when they do it. I usually give them how much I think and they start yelling at me that it's not enough. And it's not because I gave them not enough, is because it's a technique they use to get more money out of tourists. I tell her that she should give me a fair price ... she thought for a bit and told me 50 ($1). I was in shock and gave her 100 for excellent job and honesty!
Next day we went for a walk on the river to a small lake. We had to jump over boulders (which I love!) except that my shoes are slippery, and it's not that I don't trust myself, I don't trust the shoes. I would stand there, look at the next rock, make a little whine sound, and would have 3 pairs of hands helping me :) Once we were at the bottom, and had to go to the next set of rocks, and I was literary flown to the top.
The lake was cool, it was just for us. We had to go through a little cave to go in and out. There was water very deep to swim in some parts, at other parts the rocks would be a few cms from the surface where we could chill in right in the middle of the lake. There was also fish that would nib at us, and occasionally one of us would scream like a girl (and it wasn't me :) ) when the fish would suddenly mistake a toe for a worm :)
The whole day we sat in the restaurant, sat in the sun, in the shade, in the lake and at 8pm I'm so exhausted I couldn't keep my eyes open.
Hampi is great! It's sad to say goodbye, but great adventures await!

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Mysore & Bangalore

Went for a walk. As usual one guy started to talk to me and as usual I ignored him. He kept following me telling me that he's not a rickshaw driver (they always use the same phrases in different cities ... can't they come up with something original??) and started telling me where to go what to see. I said that I don't need any help, I'm just walking around. He smiled at me with him toothless smile, and kept helping me. I don't need any help, thank you very much! Guys in India do not help anybody. Either they want money, or to take you to their shop, or to try and have sex with you. That's guys in the weird age of about 17 to 30 when they're still unmarried virgins, and their hormones shoot through the roof. He wouldn't get away from me, I kept walking in my direction and he kept following me. All I did was say aha to all his commentary without hearing much of what is being said. Finally he said that he has a shop where he sells aurvedic oils. I'm not interested. He said that my ego is too big. I said that it's not big, I don't want to talk to him, I don't need any help, and I don't want to go to his store. He started to blame me that we white girls treat them like shit, and what we think we're so much better than them on and on and on ... Aha! Finally I reached a market, said goodbye and went inside. He asked me what's going on, am I not going to his shop? I said no, I'm going to this market and started walking. I heard something like fuck, fucking, ass ... I did make a right decision of not talking to him. I've been too long in India now to learn not to talk to Indian men!
In the market, I peaked inside. All seems to be normal, sellers selling fruits and lots of flowers for their gods. I took a deep breath and started walking along one alley. The second I put my foot in the alley, madam, madam, look, look here, flowers, colors, flowers, flowers, flowers??!!! I walked less than 50 meters and run out the small side exit to the street. It was less than a 20 second walk and inside I was boiling. I wonder how long it will be till all the water boils out? Will I get more understanding or will I just explode?
In the evening it started to rain. I hid in a small shop that doesn't really sell much. There are a lot of stores like that where you can buy 1 or maybe 2 things. What's the point of it? I asked the owner if the business is doing well ... he said not so much. Maybe he should buy more inventory. I read a newspaper, and came across 2 interesting articles. In one, a Muslim father sues his daughter’s Hindu bf's family. The couple went for a trip and the father filed a police claim that his daughter was abducted. When the court dismissed his claim, the father exclaimed "Oh god, see what has happened!", the judge said "God will look after everyone". Big enough to hit the news! It's a little bit understandable though, because when British gave India independence in 1947… “the muslim party wanted a separate state and Indian party campaigned for a greater India. British couldn't bring two sides together and a civil war emerged with Hindus and Muslim being slaughtered. More and more violence happened and a decision was made to divide the country. The division was extremely tricky and some areas were clearly muslim or Hindu, but most of areas were mixed. The resulting bloodshed was far worse than anticipated. Trains full of muslims fleeing westward, were held up and slaughtered by Hindu mobs. Hindus fleeing to the east suffered the same fate at Muslim hands. By the time chaos had run its course, more than 10 million people had changed sides and at least 1 million had been killed” (LP).
Hindus and Muslims are still in conflict till present day. I heard on numerous occasions that in a state of Gujarat, Muslims bombed a train of Hindu holy man, in response the government(!) gave order to local population to freely shoot and kill any muslims they saw on the street for 3 days! I love religion. It brings so much peace and happiness. It's like it's not enough all the separations that are inevitable such as countries, race, gender, color, let’s throw religion into the mix as well so that everybody could hate everybody else.
Going back to the newspaper, the next article was from Los Angeles where they came up with dogTV, so that your dog will be entertained, relaxed and stimulated for 8 hours, while the owners are at work.
Mysore is big, and a taking a tour was a good idea. A whole day tour from 8am to 9pm was $3 so why not? This time I was relaxed. Learning from a previous tour that most of the time it takes to wait for people to get on the bus. I took my book, and was happy. The French girl who was on the tour wasn't as relaxed as me, and swore she would never take a tour again. The “organization” is just not an Indian word unless it's used in a phrase "organized chaos" which I read in a book, and it's exactly what I think of India. The guide said that it's 500 entry to all the sights, and we should give money to him now. I said that I want to pay for everything myself, but he said that this way we'll get a group discount. Well, we didn't get any discount, had to wait until he gets all the tickets, and at the end everything added up to 400! Not only that, at every entrance he tried to get money from us for that entrance. You give me 100; But we already gave you 500; oh, ok, ok. Like that every time!
The art gallery was very nice, but the French girl didn't like ... she's from Paris, it's understandable.
Next was the zoo. It was a very nice zoo, very big, very clean, not too many people, looked after animals, and a huge variety of them too. We were given 1.5 hours to see it all. First half we looked around, 2nd half we were constantly looking at the watch and running towards the exit.
Saw a temple ... another temple ... yeeiii !! :S
The royal palace was beautiful. We took a useless (but free) audiotour. We didn't have passport or enough money to give as a deposit, which was $20. I tried to convince him to take my Ray Ban sunglasses which worth $200, but I guess he thought nobody would be that crazy to pay so much for sunglasses. Every time I'm more and more convinced that palaces are more beautiful on the outside than on the inside. In the court yard a little girl came running towards me and offered me her hand to shake. I'm in my usual zone "No!", she run away. I have to differentiate between cute kids who want to shake your hand ask for your name and country, and dirty kids who ask for your name and country and then for some rupees. My chilled out mood of Munnar has been long gone. The girl clung up to her mother. Matilda (the French girl), said "look you made her cry". I felt bad, and outstretched my arms to her. She run up to me. I picked her up. Asked her a bunch of questions, played with her hair and dress, and let her go. We walked off ... Gosh, I really don't like kids I tell Matilda. She started laughing at me ... for sure it didn't seem like it while you were playing with her. Well, I had to compensate for making her cry!
Matilda wanted to explore the palace more and told our guide that she won't be coming back, but 1 hour proved to be enough. We come to our guide. He looks at us and starts trembling.
- Where is your bag?
- On the bus
- You're staying on the trip?
- Yes
- Oh no, no, no, no, no
He covered his face with his hands shaking from side to side "no, no, no, no, no, no, no"... "ok, no problem!"
What??? :))) We just transferred to another bus, where they had to squeeze people in for us to sit. Never a problem in India, people always seem to find space, and even if there isn't any space, others will squeeze in without any complaining or show off discomfort.
Saw a temple ... another temple ... yeeiii !!
Went to gardens which were very pretty. Lots of Bollywood video clips are made there. There are fountains, and dancing fountains and lights. Very nice! I was pleasantly surprised. In this part of India, they compensate cheap entrances by expansive camera charges. I just kept on walking with my camera hanging off my shoulder. They were screaming at me, camera ticket, camera ticket. I said "no camera" and walked passed them. I had to wait for Matilda to pay for hers. Common, she was travelling quite a lot, I don't understand what got into her. I don't mind paying camera charges when I'll actually take pictures. But now it was already getting dark, so what do I have to pay for?
While we were walking and talking, 1 guy was walking beside us with his ear almost at my mouth. "May I help you?" I asked. He said he wanted to hear what language we're speaking. Doesn't he know that it's rude to listen to somebody else's conversations?
We were very hassled by the kids to buy something. Madam, eat, food, food, his hand with the palm up, food, food. I looked at him and he was chubby. I don't give money to beggars, hope he'll have better luck with someone else. Another one selling postcards. Please madam madam madam, I need for school, please take, almost crying x 100 times in a never ending loop. We walk off, he comes with us repeating the same sentence without any breaks in between with super speed and a very whiny voice. The locals beside us just stood there. It continued for 5 minutes until I asked one of the locals to shoo him away. One hand gesture with mahalahabahala yell, and the kid was off. Next time I will time how long it will take them to go away if I'll just ignore him. After a while he came back with the same broken record of a whine. I imitated him, he looked at me and walked away.
At night I did reiki. This time it was super cool, I did all the 7 chakras, and tried to concentrate on my 3rd eye because I was eager again to see the color, I didn't :( But I did manage to stop my thoughts. I was noticing what I was thinking and it was "Ok, relax now, breath, stop thinking", Oh damn it, I'm talking, not not thinking, let’s try again "do not think, do not think" ... I'm talking again!!! But I did manage to see and feel emptiness, although I was still humming something. I was concentrating so much that I was forgetting to breathe. It was a very nice experience. Then when I lied to sleep, and I couldn't sleep cause I had too much energy, I would feel that me and my body are separate, I could observe it from outside, nothing needed to move, to be scratched, I was perfectly comfortable. Then there was some laser vision that drew a shape of a sand watch with green laser color which started spinning extremely fast, and while it was spinning it was growing bigger and bigger, and then my body was jerking on its own. Pretty cool stuff!! :))
In the morning went to a Tibetan colony. India gave land to Tibetan refuges in 1959 after Chinese invasion. There are posters everywhere "Thank you incredible India for generous support towards Tibetan causes". The settlement was a nice change from the rest of India where everything was tidy and clean and not broken. There were monks everywhere with maroon and yellow robes. I went inside one monastery, it was extremely beautiful with three 18 meter high golden plated status. 1 of Buddha, and 2 I already forgot who. I went inside the temple and read a book, but every time I lifted my eyes up, I was again and again and again mesmerized by its sight. I couldn't believe the beauty of it, and if it weren't for the noisy gangs of Indian tourists, I would've been in heaven.
I remember on the tuk-tuk drive we passed a lake, which seemed as a nice place to spend a few hours. It was really hot, and I wasn't sure in which direction to go. I didn't have much water left, and I was walking for a long long time. I thought I'm gonna get a sun stroke. I don't think I made a right turn at some junction and was walking maybe for an hour under a blazing sun before giving up on the lake idea and taking a tuk-tuk to the bus station. The tuk-tuk turned around and we drove all the way from where I started walking :(( I was devastated ... all this effort for nothing. I started being philosophical, forget about an hour spent walking in the wrong direction ... what about life choices that we make. How long do we stay at a destructive relationship, a bad job, making wrong life choices, going in a wrong direction before realizing what we're doing and turning back. It must be hard to realize that the further we are in a wrong way, the further we have to go back, just to start at zero again. How many people turn around???
At the bus station 1 guy asked me where I go. I usually rely on local information, otherwise there is no way of knowing anything. The problem is choosing the right candidate for my questions. This wasn't a candidate, and I made a mistake of telling him Mysore. He then didn't get away from me. He was coming back and back, pointing me to the right bus. I thanked him but continued sitting and reading a book, I wasn't ready yet for another hectic bus ride, I needed to get my senses back together after the walk. He didn't board the bus until I did. He kept me a seat and told me to sit beside him, I really didn't want to, I wanted to be left alone at peace, and he looked suspicious to me anyway. I reluctantly sat, but continued to read the book and to ignore him. Thank god a middle aged man shooed him off, since for a single man and a single woman to sit next to each other is almost forbidden. He was standing behind me in a packed bus, talking and talking and talking, I wasn't listening, and wasn't replying to him. He kept on talking. I heard him make a phone call and saying "Mysore" ... this can't be good. The book I was reading was in Russian, at some point a finger was jammed into the pages with some question, I slapped his hand hard and told him to move away. He was saying a lot of "ok-ok" phrases, very popular in here, which doesn't really mean anything. He finally said that he gets of here "ok-ok?". I kept on reading. He didn't go to Mysore as he said, I didn't really know what he wanted from me. Really annoying!
I'm thinking a lot these days. I can't change this place, this culture of 1.2 billion people. I try to change things, and I try to tell people what I think. But how can you fight something that is?? Especially as an outsider?
Again I notice more and more that there are no women outside, especially walking. If there are women, they are usually either travelling somewhere (very small amount) or selling some fruits/veggies. I was walking for hours in the city, and after getting tired of constant stares, I put my head down, and was looking into the ground, a habit that still stays me with. It keeps my nerves in a better shape. I got a little headache from my sunglasses, and hung them on my shirt. One old man, short, traditionally dressed, was walking towards me, and grumbling something. Once he got near me, he started spitting on me. What's going on?? I have long pants on, covered t-shirt, I look down and the sunglasses went a little bit too low and about 1 cm of my cleavage was showing ... oh the drama!
And now for the famous head wobble. Every Indian wobbles his head probably 90% of his waking life. At first I was very confused by this concept. The different meanings I found throughout my journey are: yes/no/maybe/it's nice/no thank you/you're welcome/I like it/I don't know what you're talking about/aha. So pretty much it means everything and nothing at all. What I think it means is just an acknowledgement of what you said was being heard.
In the restaurant one evening, an Indian family sat at my table. As usual they initiate conversation, they want to know my good name (or sweet name), everybody's name is "good" in India. Where I come from, why I came to India, how long I stay here, and what I think of India. After a few minutes I was invited to stay at their house. I didn't really want to, but how do I say "no"? An idea kicked in!! I wobbled my head and got away with it :) I was so happy with myself, I managed to generate a response without giving an answer :)
Went to Bangalore especially to see the aerospace museum … I'm such a girl!! :)
I asked a tuk-tuk driver to take me to a specific hotel. He stopped at some other hotel, and said it was the cheapest one for $16/night. Take me to the other hotel I said. But madam, this is the cheapest hotel you'll find. It's good, family oriented.
- Take me to the hotel in the book
- But madam, this is a good one, go take a look
- Take me to my hotel
- But mad...
- Start driving
- Madam, this hote...
- Stop talking, start driving!
I must have said "Take me to my hotel" at least 10 times. I'm learning not to give up! Hopefully it will become useful in real life, although I'm not sure if my defense will kick in unless I'll have an annoying tuk-tuk driver to combat.
"My" hotel was perfect. It was nice, modern, clean with excellent service at the reception, well minus 1 guy. It was in a very good location, and for $10. I had to wait an hour until someone checked out, because single rooms are unheard of in India, who in their right mind travels on his own? My computer's battery was dying and I asked the guy at the reception to plug it in. He said no. Look at all these cables, and they will go from a reception desk all the way to me. No madam, I'm very very sorry, but it's impossible! I got so angry! In my mind I thought, maybe your country wouldn't be such a shithole if not everything would be impossible!!!!!
Overall I've been to 3 different internet places. All have the same rules that you need passport info to use the internet. Some require an actual passport, some would do with a photocopy, and some would just let you write the number which I remember by heart. Same things, different rules. We all live in the walls that we build ourselves!
It took me an hour to get a train ticket with only 3 people in the line. Why do things in here take so long??
And on I went for a day of adventure. I only had 2 days in Bagalore and tons to see. I was taking tuk-tuks all the time, which was a bit uncomfortable since the maps in LP on different areas weren't connected, and I had no idea where I am and how far places between each other are. I overpaid by a lot these days, but at least I got to see everything.
Went to a sultan's palace which was very boring and really not worth at all. Nearby was a temple. I'm not too excited by temples anymore, but this time there was a 10 year marriage ceremony which was fun. They took 2 gods which symbolize man and woman, carried them all over the temple, put holy water on them, some flowers, walked around with the fire. Then took offering plates, and put some flowers, powder, fruits on a plate. Put them on, took them off, put them on, took them off. Then made people pray to bananas and coconuts, repeat some chants while constantly ringing a bell. The holy men didn't look too holy, they stood there bored with their hands crossed, looking somewhere to the side and chanting and chanting.
Then I took a bus to see 2 more temples. It's never possible to get lost on the bus, absolutely everybody will look after you, ask where you're going, and will make sure that you get there. In the Ganesh temple, the Ganesh was huge and fat, and with so many flowers around him that you couldn't see him at all. Nandi (Shiva's bull) temple was a bit better, and you could actually take pictures in there. Bangalore is a modern city, and pretty big on steakhouses. How could I miss such an opportunity? I went to the most recommended steakhouse. The meat was good, but they put too much black pepper on it, and I spent a lot of time scrubbing it off. Nevertheless it was great to eat steak in the middle of India where you say "Holy cow" as the juices tingle your taste buds :)
The center of Bangalore is very modern. It's one of the Indian software capitals, and you would see posh modern buildings on one side with men dressed in business suits caring suitcases and iPhones, and garbage rotting on the other side of the road. I went to a very nice coffee house, where I had one of the best coffees ever. It was packed, and I was sitting there people watching. One girl caught my attention. She wore tights, tight t-shirt that showed a cleavage, ballet shoes, modern short(!) haircut (Indians are very proud of their long hair), and she was smoking! I got so excited, I almost asked the permission to take her picture :)
There were different coffee facts written on the walls of the cafe. One of them was "Turkey passed a law that a woman can divorce her husband if he doesn't provide her with cup a coffee each day".
I then went to a technology museum and a very expensive mall that's full of Rolex, Luis Vitton, Armani brands. Beautiful mall, no customers :( I wished I had a date with me in Bangalore. The restaurants were extremely beautiful! 5 star decor and atmosphere with the most expensive dishes going for $10 ... if even.
Was a bit disappointed by aerospace museum because I wanted to see space shuttles, but there were mainly planes :( Although MIG was on display and a heat shield for a satellite. Except the models, there were mostly pictures of different presidents who came to see India's space program. See ... we can be important too!
pix are here: https://picasaweb.google.com/100036016632387453128/MysoreBangalore

Madurai, Kodaicannal and Ooty

Met an Austrian guy on the bus station to Madurai. I took a motion sickness pill, and was sleepy all the way while listening yet again to Jeff's oxygen theory and trading strategies.
At the hotel, we booked 2 rooms. Jeff's social awkwardness reappeared when he wanted a room for himself, and I ended up sharing a room (i.e. a bed) with someone who I just met 4 hours ago!
Madurai is very hot, and already a few times I feel like I'm getting a heat attack. It's a term I made up, but I guess people who feel claustrophobic would experience something like that. I just feel that I don't have enough air and water, and I'm going to collapse. It gets worse at nights when the electricity goes off and the fan stops working. Usually I wake up right away in a sometimes small dark room (haha ... the electricity went off now ... it must have read my blog :) ) shining my phone at the fan hoping it would start spinning again. We usually close the windows so that the mosquitoes won't fly in. It's pitch black dark and it's very VERY hot!! I feel like I'm going to die!!
In the evening we went to a very nice roof top restaurant with a city view and a breeze. The service was excellent. You would call them, or tell them to bring something, and would come running (literary!)
In the morning Jeff didn't go to the temple ... don't know, maybe because of me.
It was 1 of the 5 recommended temples in Lonely Planet. My theory is still correct. You've seen one, you've seen them all! And besides, it was way too colorful for me, like in a Disney land. There was an elephant blessing people for money. They would put the money in his trunk, and he would put the trunk on the head and on the offering plate, and give the money to his keeper. Poor elephant! He should be in the jungle, not chained to the temple "blessing" people.
The locals wanted us to take pictures of them on OUR camera! Weird ...
Some store was "nice" enough for us to keep our shoes in. Of course when we came back, they tried every selling technique on us. The shop was of course very nice, and most of nice shops would ship your purchases ... but I can't afford it on my backpacking budget and I told him that I don't have a home to put it in. Right away he stopped with his sales pitch and sympathized with me. Oh yes madam, you have to have a home first. I felt good coming out of the shop alive :) A few moments later, I didn't feel so good anymore ... I don't have a home :(
One woman on the street was following us asking for money and food for her baby. No, no, no, no! We stopped to have juice, just as we started walking, there she is again. No, no, no, no! Don't have babies if you can't afford them! Easier said than done in here as I'm sure most of them just get raped. Go away I yelled! She went away! It seems like "Go away" is my favorite phrase now. If people disagree with you in here, they would never talk to you and say why or why not, right away they start yelling at you. I think if you just reason with them, or tell them no, it's not good enough, as in, it's not something that they're used to, and they don't take you seriously. To take you seriously, you either have to yell at them or slap them, something that I'm not really good at doing.
Jeff wanted to go East and I wanted to go North. I love travelling with him, and I tried to persuade him to go north for a bit with me, and then East. He said no, and that it was fun travelling with me anyway. What does it mean "anyway"?
I asked a bunch of people what time do the buses go to Kodaicannal, and got a bunch of different responses. Well, I thought, if I get different responses, then my chances are pretty good. Besides, if there is no direct bus, there are always hops that you can do. It might take a bit longer, but at least you're not tied to a schedule of a direct bus, but might leave only once or twice a day. At the bus station locals usually help around by asking you where you're going if they see that you look confused, and directing you to the right bus. I don't usually look confused, but it might take me a few seconds to find some information desk, a worker or a normal looking local to ask for info. One guy asked me, pointed me to the bus that was 30 meters away, I said thanks, then he lead me to the bus, said that I can take my luggage with me ... nooooo ... I didn't know that! took me to some seat, put his hand out, and asked for 10 rps. No, I said, go away!
On the bus to Kodaicannal met a modern Indian guy who doesn't want to get married :) He said that life should be lived to the fullest, and everybody is an individual as opposed to a couple. That was very nice to hear for a change. He's 24, and he also wants to study Phd. He has a 2 year degree, and Phd only takes 1 year! WTH? Either they're too easy in there, or way too hard in Canada! He's 24 and already he's a manger in a bank.
Kodaicannal is a hill station, and thus is a very popular destination for locals. I arrived on Friday, on a hill station, and a holiday weekend! Very lucky for me, as most of the hotels were booked, and the ones that weren't were super expensive :( I ended up paying $28 for a room that doesn't even have a shower head! :( I asked the driver about hostels, but 2 were full, and in the other one there were 95% men. He said that I'm like a sister to him, and he wouldn't let me stay there :)) How cute :)
I like Kodaicannal. There isn't much hassle or cheating, everybody is friendly and there are a bunch of homemade chocolate stores! ... although not very good ones :) and everything is natural and organic. It has "No plastic bags" policy, and everything is served in bags made out of newspapers. There is an international school in there, and it's nice to finally hear people speaking good English, dressing up in jeans and have a hair style trying to look cool :)
In the evening, in this overpriced hotel, the electricity was off most of the time, but it doesn't surprise or irritate me anymore, I just calmly find a torch in my bag and light that up. In South America I used a torch to hike in the dark, in here, I use it in rooms when there is a power cut. Then I couldn't fall asleep because the mouse tried to eat my bananas. I put them higher on the shelf, but he even reached there. It was a war between the mouse and me. I finally got up and put them in the closet, and shone a torch to see the mouse climb up my suitcase onto the shelves and trying to open the doors of the closet :) He finally realized that no bananas today for him. But he took his revenge when the bed shook whenever he run beneath it. At 6:30am wake up call, and not a knock on the door, but a long and loud bbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzz sound. I yelled for them to leave me alone, that I'm sleeping, but they buzzed 2 more times. Why why why??? I asked when I checked out why were they buzzing and not letting me sleep. He said that my friends came to pick me up! What friends?? Didn't he see yesterday that I came with a taxi, and the taxi driver helped me negotiate a cheaper room price??!! And made sure that I'm ok and comfortable before leaving?? It's not the first time it's happening in hotels when they wake you up because they think that you're someone else. How hard is it to keep track of your guests??
In the morning I checked into the hostel which must be the best hostel ever! The rate was $7/night, which is expensive for the hostel, but not expensive for in season + holiday weekend rate. I gave him $20 for a deposit because I didn't have any change. It also had the best location of all the locations on the hill. Tucked away on a small alley, away from the street honking, and built right on the edge on a cliff, offering a vast vista of the view below.
I went for what I thought would be a relaxing 6 km walk. No, it wasn't relaxing at all. First of all I started noticing that outside the men to women ratio is about 99 to 1. Second of all, due to it being a holiday weekend, all the locals passed in their cars with their heads out of the window beeping, screaming, laughing, shouting inappropriate comments ... grrr !!! When I was younger I wanted to be famous, now I thank god I'm not, and if you want to feel like one, you should definitely do a short crash test in India to see if you'll like it! On the way I stopped at a green valley, which should be renamed as a white valley since I could see past my nose. I bought a boiled corn, and finished about a third before a big alpha male monkey was coming at me, I tried to move away, but it started to growl :(( I gave up the corn :( People around were funny when the monkeys came, they just screamed like they're on fire, threw everything they had in their arms high in the air and bumped into everything on the way while running away :)
When I reached the pillar rocks I was disappointed. There are too many shops, too many people/buses/cars, and still white. The clouds separated a little bit, but it still wasn't an impressive sight. People were standing next to me to take pictures, I tried telling them that it's not nice to do it behind my back, there were 100s of cameras in my face.
I didn't want to walk all the way back. I asked if there are buses, but it wasn't possible. Last bus already left. What about this one, I pointed to the bus. Not possible, this is a tourist bus. But I'm a tourist! I went to the driver and asked him if I could join for the ride back to town. Of course it's possible! Everything is if you just try. While waiting for it, I bought eucalyptus oil. The whole area is overgrown with eucalyptus tree. It's good for coughs and cold. Best way is to put a few drops in the boiling water and to inhale the steam. I smelled it, and it smells just like halls. Except what I bought is 100% pure ($2) :) On the bus, everybody was smiling at me, pointing and laughing, offering me their seat, food, making sure I was comfortable, and of course taking pictures, but here I just sat and smiled at the camera ... what else could I do??
Then I went to botanical garden which was way overcrowded. People were taking so many pictures of the flowers, and it wasn't even pretty. I guess it's pretty in India, because there are no gardens, and there are no flowers growing around. Everywhere there are signs "Do not pick the flowers". I think there are more signs than flowers themselves. Look, a lonely rose - wow, a lily wooooow!
I took a bicycle to ride around the lake. I can prove that whoever invented math is wrong! 20/2 = 20!! I only took it for half an hour, gave him 10, and he said it's 20 minimum. Why can't they ever say the rules beforehand?? In Munnar I bought a coconut. It was 20, but he gave me a big one, and after I finished it, he said it's 30 because it's big. Well, I didn't ask for big! If he would've told me that it's 30, I wouldn't have gotten it! Anyway, I took the bicycle for another round to prove that math IS correct! ... and because I had nothing better to do anyways :))
On the street a father (I guess), put something in a bag, and gave it to his 1.5 year old child to deliver it somewhere. So this child was barely walking, going from side to side, tripping and falling on a small sidewalk surrounded by 100s of people, cars, bicycles, dogs and cows.
In a hostel, the group on Indian tourists still didn't move away, and I chatted with them for 10 minutes. They bombarded me with questions, mostly about Canada and about our lifestyle, and before they went I was invited to stay at their house for as long as I'd liked. It's so nice. Women in India are very hospitable ... well, men sometimes too, but usually when they're already married. They were shocked that I'm travelling by myself and said that they would never get out of their house on their own. They've only been to Delhi, and here, and even here (a small town), they're scared because they don't know anybody, where to do, or what to do. I told them to read info online, ask taxi drivers for directions, go to a tourist information center, or just wonder around and see what interesting you could stumble upon. Naaaahhh ... too scary for them :)
I was a bit hungry, but not really in the mood for food yet. I ordered something strange looking on the street. Pretty much it's a "dish" made out of a bunch of stuff. Cornflakes, spicy thingis, more spicy thingies, peas, tomatoes, onions, beetroot, coriander, steamed peanuts, green mango, zucchini, all mixed together with squeezed lemon and any spices that you want. It was soooo good ! When you try a lot of unknown things and they're mostly very good, you realize that a world is not such a scary place!
In the evening I watched a movie "man on the wire". It's a documentary about a guy who put a wire between the twin towers of New York and walked it back and forth. But it's not about walking it, it's about all the years of preparation and planning and practicing, and about being determined and reaching your dreams. He's very good at walking the wire. He can walk it when his friends are shaking it, with his eyes closed, backwards, juggling, and while I watched it, I missed being really really good at something. I used to be very good in circus, in karate, dancing, in school, biology, math, physics, but now I'm not sure what I'm really good at ... maybe it's travelling?? I can with relative ease plan a route that will be logical, find a place, negotiate more or less a fair price, get info quickly, find my way around, find the right buses/trains, alter my decision on the spot if the situation is not correct, make friends ... I don't know ... does that count?
At night it was freezing. In Madurai I was wishing to sleep in a bath full of ice, here I wished for another blanket! Even though it was cold, I had to continue with my reiki practice, and got my hands out of the sleeping bag and 4 blankets which I had on top of me. I'm really happy that I made myself do it, because at cold I could've actually felt the heat generated by my hands. The air was cold, I was freezing, but my hands were boiling hot! I had great concentration on that day, and decided to try and do remote reiki (level 2), on someone in Toronto who's neck hurts. A few days later I asked him ... "Did your neck started to feel better a few days ago?" - "It's funny that you ask" !!! Hmmmm ... coincidence or something freaky?!?!? I have to tell you, that I really have no idea what I'm doing!
In the morning the air cleared, and the view from the front lawn was just unbelievable! It was crystal clear, and Kodaicannal was above clouds! There are tours and trips to climb steep mountains for days on end to see something like that, and here it was free, and I just had to get out of my room! I went to book an overnight bus, but it was full. I already stayed 3 days too long in here, there isn't much to do, but with a view like that, and international crowd, I didn't mind at all. I booked the bus for the next day, and a tour of the surrounding area for the morning/afternood, just so I'll have something to do. I randomly walked around the town. I was looking at buildings, scenery, cars, restaurants, but every time I looked up, 90% of the people around me would be looking at me. I got in terms with it. I thought about it, and if suddenly in the middle of downtown Toronto there would be a native Indian with a loin cloth, bow and arrows with a human scull as a necklace, he would get quite a few stares too!
What I love about some places is that in the middle of all the garbage, cows, broken buildings/roads, so much honking that you wish you were deaf, there would be oasis right in the middle of it all in the form of dominos pizza or a coffee chain "coffee day". Whenever I miss something western, want the best coffee ever or want to escape the hassle or the terrible heat, I would go there. These places are so clean it's unbelievable, they have ACs stacked one next to another, colorful clean menu, and staff that speaks good English and wears clean uniforms. As you've noticed "clean" means a lot in here, as in most places when you touch something you immediately want to take a shower. These places would also play western popular music, and sometimes I would sit there for hours remembering that once upon a time there was good music playing on radio :)
People are very nice in this town. The guy at coffee day went patiently with me through the entire menu explaining what each item is made out of. Why can't they put the ingredients on the menu, I have no idea ... I just have to choose if I like "Ice Eskimo" or "Tropical island" based on how it sounds. At the hostel the owner was explaining me all the directions and all the things to see around, and in the bus agency, the guy tried to come up with all sorts of ways to get me to my next destination when the bus was full ... when I couldn't book it, they offered me chai and suggested I would take a sightseeing bus the next day so I won't be bored. India is always an extreme between clean and dirty, rich and poor, sweet and spicy, bustards and people who would go out of their way to help you ... Whenever I am so furious about something, the next minute, I would be surprised by random act of kindness from complete strangers.
I didn't want to see anything else in town this day, since the view was clear, and I figured that nothing would be better than just sitting on the front lawn on the hostel and looking around. I took a book, but couldn't read much, I couldn't take my eyes of the scenery below. It was so beautiful that I almost started to cry.
It's funny how language/rituals/phrases differ from region to region. In here they use "only" incorrectly, and everybody's talking like this: "The bus will wait 2 minutes walk only", "We'll return to town at 3:30 only", "leave your shoes here only" ...
In the hostel I paid for 1 night, he said $4 (strange, he told me $7 at first), then when I couldn't get the bus out and stayed for another night, I give him $4, he says it's $6. Why $6 I ask, yesterday was $4. "Oh, it's because you gave me $20, and I didn't have any change, so I took only $4" ... I give him $6 without arguing. I already understood that the only thing that makes sense in India is that nothing makes sense at all.
On the bus to Ooty (another hill station), I actually was asleep most of the time. Covering myself with sweater and sleeping bag on the top, then waking up and taking everything off when we reached the bottom and wearing everything back again when it was reaching the top. Again Ooty was overpriced. I started feeling bad a bit nauseous and dizzy. The asymmetrical bed design and crooked TV didn't help my dizziness at all. I slept till 1pm, didn't get out of bed till 5, walked around for 2 hours and went back to bed. I didn't eat anything that day, and wasn't hungry at all. I didn't feel like doing anything in the city and got the bus out the next morning.
I waited for my bus to Wayanad which was supposed to be one the most beautiful places in Kerela. Usually at the bus station, the buses stand for some time, and you can easily find it, get a seat, go to washroom, buy some snacks for the ride it's a very peaceful procedure. Well not on this bus. I guess maybe because there are only 2 buses that go there a day, once it started to get into the station, a mob on locals were running with it, holding onto the doors, or trying to climb it on the move. People were shoving themselves in, while not allowing anybody to get out. I was looking at this chaos, and at my suitcase, and figured no way I could board this bus safely without being stomped to death. I waited until everybody got in, and there were no free seats left. I really didn't feel like standing for 4 hours and decided to skip Wayanad and go to my next destination Madurai .... oooops Mysore ... fwweeeef that was a close one!!

pix are here: https://picasaweb.google.com/100036016632387453128/MaduraiKodaicannal

Periyar and Munnar

Jeff and I went to Periyar national park. I warned Jeff that we shouldn't have breakfast because we're going on the bus, and he thanked me later. The problem with buses is that there is no washroom, and you have no idea if you'll have any reaction to food, so every time I go on buses I'm both hungry and dehydrated. I took a motion sickness pill just in time, because our driver was crazy driving to the top of the mountain, with his hand constantly on the horn, practically driving on the other side of the road. We were flying left and right, and at some point we were airborne. In Toronto I had calluses from rock-climbing, here I have them from trying to hang on in the buses!
Periyar is a very nice town, green, full of guest houses, we left our bags in one of them, and were searching for something that we both would like. It's cool because we have the same budget and same taste, same mindset, so finding/doing something that we both like is never a problem. We're also both very good negotiators, and bringing a price down from 1000 to 700 was a piece of cake, especially when we back each other up :) Our budget is about $8/day for a hotel, and we decided instead of splitting $8 (so we each pay $4), we would get a super room for $16. And super room we got! Huge, sparkling clean room with a sofa, table and a very nice balcony overlooking a sanctuary, I couldn't get enough of the view. We were hanging from the cocoon chairs and chatting until it got so dark, that we couldn't see anything at all.
I was craving honey/lemon/ginger tea (I started loving it while I was sick in Varkala), and we went for a walk. It being a good Friday didn't help at all. All the restaurants were closed, and we pretty much did huge, pointless circle around town. Finally one restaurant was open, but their honey/lemon/ginger tea resembled a warm water with a drop of lemon flavour :( When we paid we said that the tea didn't have any honey or lemon or ginger in it, and received 50% discount :)
The room had 1 king bed (awkward when you travel with a male FRIEND), but anyway, we went to sleep under the blanket!! Since I did a reiki course, one of the things to do is to practice reiki for 3 weeks for minimum 15 minutes each day. I started doing it on myself. While being in the middle of it, Jeff jumps up. "Hey Yana, are you doing reiki on yourself??" - Yes, I am! He said that he could feel energy flowing in his body, and in the same spots where I was doing it on myself! SUPER COOL! Now, if you think that I believe in reiki ... no I don't. I am very skeptical! Some people say that it only works because you believe in it, but it works on me (and Jeff), and neither of us believes in it!! What's weird though is that when I was little (9-10 years old), and my grandma had headaches, I would hover my hand over her forehead and soon her headache would be gone. It worked every time, and also I would gather the energy around her head in a ball, and throw it out! Nobody told me to do it, nobody taught me that, I had no idea where it came from. But now 20 years later I'm learning the exact form of art that I somehow instinctively already knew!
We slept for 12 hours and for the first time in a long time woke up without all the bed being wet from our own sweat.
We took a tuk-tuk for a few hours to tour around. Went to a tea plantation, where nobody was working :( They come back to the same spot only once in every 15 days, that's when the leaves had a chance to grow back again. We were told that 1 woman collects around 100 kgs of tea leaves every day. We drove to a tea factory which was closed :( I was upset. We asked the driver if it would be open due to the Easter weekend, and he assured us that it was, and it's the only working factory in the whole area which allows tourists inside. But we had other things to see, and didn't want that to ruin our mood. We went to a spice plantation, and then spontaneously decided to ride an elephant. I love elephants! And riding one was a blast. It's so comfortable, I think the most comfortable animal for transportation. It moves very slowly and elegantly. I always tried to pet it somehow, and to touch his head, back, ears, trunk, lie on its head so that I could see down his trunk :)) It was sooo much fun! We both enjoyed it way too much. But too bad that I forgot my camera and Jeff's didn't take very good pictures. I tried to take pictures standing next to it, but I was pretty scared, because it just can wrap you around with his trunk and throw you away. The guide was constantly monitoring and ordering it to keep his trunk down while I was posing next to it :) What a beautiful animal !! By far my favourite :))
In the evening ate at a very beautiful restaurant called coconut garden. It only had 5 tables in total spread out in the huge garden. The menu was amazing with amazing pictures, and almost all the menu items had chocolate added to them somehow. Like mutton in chocolate/coconut/ginger sauce !!! But the food wasn't good at all :( And it was overpriced, and even though I had mosquito coils all around me, I must have killed at least 20 mosquitoes during our meal.
In the morning, woke up at 6 to go for a hike in the park. I think the most interesting thing we've seen outside the park, and these were monkeys with a bunch of baby monkeys who looked like they were just born. Some of them were still wet, and they looked awkward and wrinkly just as new born babies do :) Inside we got a drunk guide, and pretty much saw butterflies, green spiders, 3 deer from far far a way ... a cow ... uuummm :) and we heard a growl! I hoped it was a tiger, but the guide said it was a bison. Didn't sound like a bison to me! I will think it was a tiger :)
We feel asleep for 3 hour nap. I don't know what's going on, we just sleep and sleep and never get enough. Jeff said thank god that I'm there, otherwise he'd think that he was sick or something.
In the afternoon went to a boat ride in a manmade lake. We had a big boat, and they put life jackets on us, and didn't allow to stand up (we were on the 3rd isle from the edge). These Indians, they always make up rules as they go. ALWAYS! They don't make sense at all. I always make up my rules, and say no! In Varkala while I was sitting on the sand, feeling the waves at my feet, the lifeguards told me to move away because their shift is over!! I asked them if they think I'm gonna drown in 2 cm of water!?! I always challenge them, and ask "Why not?" ... they usually don't have an answer, or they say "ok, ok" ... it's not like I asked for their permission!
I didn't like the life jackets, felt chocked by it, and still managed to stand up :) It was very relaxing and green but misty, we saw a herd of bisons, but that's about it. I don't think Periyar should be recommended by lonely planet at all. Could be that the author saw 20 wild elephants and got super excited by it, but otherwise, I don't see a reason at all.
In the morning we got a bus to Munnar. Such a beautiful bus ride. We got an excellent driver as well, who was driving slowly and carefully, only beeping on necessary corners. The scenery was astounding, huge valleys dropping at least a km down right at the wheels of the bus. Me and Jeff were screaming when the bus was coming to a blind corner with a space for pretty much 1 car. When we were approaching, it started to rain heavily. We were told that yesterday was the first rain. Mansoon is coming!! We got an annoying rickshaw driver who did everything to get us into his rickshaw for a very cheap ride to the hotel. I was wondering why ... I got it, he tried to sell us rickshaw day tours which are so popular in Munnar. He tried to push us to pick a time for next day, but all we could think about was sleeping in. Besides, I wouldn't go for him anyway, I don't like pushy people. Again, I got the benefit of travelling in a couple, we got a huge top floor room, with only 1 room on the whole floor, with a view on the nearby tea hill.
Munnar is stunning! I feel so peaceful in it. In the morning we took a tuk-tuk tour to the surrounding country side. Pretty much everybody in Munnar works in the tea plantations. Kumar, the driver, told us about this place. It has 36 villages, 36 hospitals/schools, 36 temples I ask? No, we have much more temples than that :) Lots of social activities. Before the land belonged to the British, but now local TATA company bought it, and it's in partnership with the workers. 2/3rds of the area though could be planted with tea bushes is not touched and protected in its natural form. Tata gives workers free houses, electricity, water, schools, hospitals. If a couple is married, they're given a piece of land for a garden. It's all natural, there are no chemicals, no pollution, all area is organic. I fell in love with Munnar and Tata right away! Munnar is not for sale Kumar told us. Foreigners want to buy land, but only allowed to within a certain distance from Munnar. The workers work normal days from 8 - 5 with a bunch of breaks, and have to collect minimum 25 kgs of tea/day. Most collect much much more than that, and are getting paid accordingly. There are yearly bonuses as well. Kumar said that average salary is 175 rps/day. Which is a lot! Considering that everything is for free!
I'm in such a better mood in here, and I feel hypnotized. Everywhere there are signs "Munnar, as close to heaven as it gets", and I certainly feel like I'm in one. I guess because people have such a good lifestyle in here that everybody is super friendly, telling us hello when they pass on the bikes. Even the expression on their faces is relaxed, peaceful and kind. Went to a tea factory museum. They showed us the super simple process of making tea. The tea leaves are put on the conveyer belt, then it goes through 3 cutting machines that cuts the leaves into almost a powder form. The mushy stuff goes into fermentation for an hour, then it's dried. Then the conveyer belt jumps and there is static electricity which separates fiber from the rest. And that's it. It's sorted through different filters ... Taaaa-daaa !!! The end!
When we got back to the hotel, the owner said that our room door was open, but he saw that we're not inside and closed it. My heart sank, I imagined all of my electronics being stolen :( But we got into the room, and my laptop was still happily charging :)
In the evening did reiki on Jeff. When I got to his head, I felt like I was moving from side to side, like he was shaking his head back and forth, I kept concentrating because I've never felt that before. When it was over, I asked him how it was, and he said when I did his head, he had shivers going through all his body ... coooooool :))
Slept for 12 hours again! We're just constantly tired! We asked the owner how to get to a waterfall, but got an answer that it's too far away, and the tuk-tuk would be a fortune! It's not far way at all, I think we paid 80 to get there. Never trust/ask anybody who's selling hiking tours how it's possible to do it on our own.
Of course we weren't allowed to walk in that area, but we got there, looked at the sign "Private road, no entry" and decided that that's the road we should walk on ... I mean, it only makes sense :) The walk was in the middle of a tea plantation, it was a beautiful clear day, accompanied by beautiful surroundings, tea plantations, valleys and mountains. We talked to the locals, they all smiled at us. At first we tried to hide behind the trees when we saw some people, but I can't enjoy like that, we'll just be polite and they'll let us through. Once we didn't know which way to go, asked somebody on the bike, he was smiling and laughing, telling us that we can't be here, it's a restricted area, but then just as friendly was telling us the road we should take. The road out of the plantation was going through a waterfall, and then a hill. It was so hot, and it looked steep! What do you do if you're not me. You start walking up! What do you do if you're me. You start asking everybody around how to get to the top, and apparently there are jeeps that go there. Just as we walked out, a jeep was coming. It was so comfy, not like a tuk-tuk where you can feel every rock, this one actually has suspension! Midway we drove across a couple who sat at a cafe with us, and who decided to walk up (somebody who's not like me :) ), we also stayed at the same hotel strip, and the jeep dropped them off a minute walk from the road, I felt like walking nowhere, and asked them to drop us off right at the road. This is India, the bus, or anything that moves, will drop you off exactly as the spot where you would feel like walking from.
In the hotel we didn't have a shower head, the water was just coming out of the tap that was mounted half a meter from the floor, and I didn't learn to take bucket showers yet. I was looking and looking at this tap, and rinsing myself while sitting on the floor is ok, but what about my hair? I decided to lie on the floor and stick my head under the tap. It worked! :))
In the evening we went to a traditional Indian martial arts performance - Kerali. On the way there, got hassled again to take a tuk-tuk tour for the next day, we didn't need that, so we got offered marijuana instead ... we didn't need it either :) It was getting dark, and the mountains around turned into different shades of blue. I kept telling the driver to stop so I could take more and more pictures :) Of course we were told that there are no buses going to that place, but the whole way we were driving behind the bus :) Never trust/ask anybody who's driving a tuk-tuk if it's possible to get there on the bus!
The performance was unbelievable. It was a staged fight, but it was so real, with full power, using a bunch of different weapons, swords, daggers, shields, 3 on 1, a guy with 2 knives fighting against a guy with a piece of cloth as a defense. They were jumping and hitting the shields, sparks were flying everywhere, I was on the edge of my seat throughout the whole show. It was unbelievable! They all come out with scratches and cuts at the end of every evening. We had a chance to take pictures. Everybody looked so clumsy holding the weapons, but when I took them and posed, right away they asked me if I took martial arts before :) I miss it ... I really want to take a course, and after the performance I considered signing up for classes, but after being completely unable to get the price, and after they couldn't explain me a simple move, I decided against it. They were meant to punch me, and I would block their hand with a cross block, then separate my hands up and down, and twist the elbow such that they will bend forward. I blocked their punch with left hand on top, and couldn't separate it, it took them 3 times to show me, and I finally understood that it's the right arms that should go on top. If they can't explain that, how can I learn anything?? The conversation regarding the price went something like that:
Me: How much are the classes?
Him: How long you want to take them for?
Me: Just a few days
Him: Don't worry, you just come
Me: Come when?
Him: when do you want to come?
Me: Is tomorrow ok?
Him: Yes ok, ok
Me: What time?
Him: What time do you want to come?
Me: *&^%$%%^& Morning? Afternoon?
Him: Come any time
Me: So how much is 1 class?
Him: For you not a lot
Me: Not a lot for you and not a lot for me is different, how much is it approximately? 100? 500?
Him: No worries, you just come
Me: ... walking up the stairs

We got to experience something that books try to teach you about the power of belief and persistence. When you strongly believe in something, it will somehow happen one way or another ... even if you're wrong! A lot of things in Munnar had a number 6. 6pm, 6rps, 6kms ... it happened so much that I started to confuse everything, and we just ended up saying 6 to anything! :) We went somewhere, and they tried to charge us 80rps, but it's 6kms, so it should be 60rps. No, it's 8kms, - no it's 6!! We paid 60, but it was 8kms :)

Few notes about Jeff - brainwashing everybody about oxygen in blood and how that can cure cancer; Explaining everybody his trading strategies in a language that sounds Chinese to me ... and apparently not just me :)I say one thing, he replies completely something different. "My shoes are so comfortable" - yeah yeah yeah, those hills are so steep, that's why the roads are winding and are in bad condition, I guess that's why they don't have too many cars .... ummm ... right!; "I love this juice!" - yeah yeah yeah, the fruits are so cheap in here, they must grow them locally, that's another way for them to make money! ..... ummmm ... right! :)) But he's fun and funny, and we have similar interests in activities, hotel rates/sizes/locations, not being "by the book", and of course the chais and juices :)
He's super smart with his trading strategies, but can't do simple things like setting up the alarm clock, or ordering something of the menu. It would take him sometimes 5 seconds to react to something. I guess his CPU is overfilled with financial information that there is no more space left for ordinary life situations.
But I really like travelling with him :)

pix are here: https://picasaweb.google.com/100036016632387453128/PeriyarAndMunnar

Varkala

Lonely planet made an impression that Varkala is an overpriced town with crazy prices and one government run hostel hell knows where for cheap. I told my tuk-tuk driver to drive me there, and thank god it was full. I guess it was full of people who had lonely planets in their procession! I asked the driver to take me to a guest house, my budget is $6. He took me somewhere, I went upstairs to look at the room. Beautiful, clean room with king size bed, closet, and a balcony the size of the room, I almost yelled at him with "didn't you listen that my budget is $6???". I asked the owner how much is it, and he said $6!!!!! SOLD !!!! I couldn't believe it!!! It's end of season and all the guest houses are all almost empty, and pretty much it’s you who set the price for it. They rather make any money, than no money at all. There is a problem with guest houses, there is no common area, everybody is for himself ... how are you going to meet people?? I decided to solve this problem by sitting in the restaurant at a table that was close to another table where a guy was sitting alone as well. No point for two people on the beach to dine by themselves! I didn't have to wait long to initiate a conversation. He ordered a beer, and I guess the restaurant didn't have alcohol license. They served him a beer wrapped in a newspaper, placed next to his chair and gave him a flowery butterfly mug. I learned that I don't have to say anything smart at all, just have to say absolutely anything. If a person is not interested in talking, s/he will say something like "aha", and if yes, then any mistakes/goofiness on my part will be excused (guys ... it works for you as well!! :)) ). I told him "what a pretty beer mug you have there :)" and we continued talking till the morning. See, nothing smart is needed, just any “in the moment” comment would do :) His name is Andy, he has phd in biology, and he has done absolutely nothing with biology since then. He travelled the world for the last 20 years, living in Australia, UK, South Africa, Germany, Spain, working as a waiter, carpenter, restaurant manager, chef. He had dreadlocks for 10 years, and it was a very interesting combination of someone who's very smart, and who looks nothing like it :)
In the evening we went to a bar, I was very tired and sleepy, thought of going back, but then decided against it. If I want to meet people, I have to be out, and apparently, this is the place to be! I was absolutely right. Andy met 2 girls from the day before, they joined us, then some other guys who know the girls, then guys who know the guys, and there ended up being 12 of us! Most of us were hanging out together for the majority of my stay in Varkala.
One of the guys (Jeff) gave us all a psychological test to do. We had to draw some objects, and then he would interpret them. He told us to draw a cube, determine what it's made of, ladder, what it's made of, flowers, a horse, thinking of direction, size, domestic/wild and a storm. My results are: big ego, very private person, have a good and balanced network of friends with equal support in terms of giving and receiving. Have connection with lots of kids (I have no idea what he's talking about, I just love flowers!!! :)  ), I'm supporting my husband (which is domestic), and currently going through major challenges in my life! Hm ... sounds interesting. My question is, where am I going to find that many children????
There are many dogs in Varkala. During the day they're good and friendly, but during the night they turn into monsters and start to protect their territory which is everywhere they are, or everywhere they had a piss that day ... I guess :) I heard enough stories of them attacking people, and biting them, and I'm not ready to receive 150 shots against rabies in case they bite me! I got scared, and my guest house was far. Thank god Jeff was staying in the same guest house, and we walked back together, breaking big braches off of trees to protect us against the dogs. All that panic for nothing, there were none on the way. We were lucky! During my stay we got attacked twice though. Once right beside the guest house, there were about 10 of them sleeping, and we disturbed them, Jeff shooed them away with sticks. And the other time, on the beach, out of nowhere they started chasing us. Jeff threw his shoes at them, while I run away :) I really don't like dogs, and I have reasons for it!! Of course there are some small cute ones that hide under the table in the restaurants, and a few times I almost threw the table down the cliff when something started to lick my toes :)
Varkala is a very nice beach town situated on a red cliff with nothing but guest houses, shops and restaurants along the edge, all of them offering amazing views of the ocean and the beach below. The shop owners first bothered me with "come look my shop", but after a while they remembered me, or my bright pink shirt, and bothered me no more :) Of course I still had to bark at a few people, for example one jewelry sales man. He was showing me all the jewelry on the distance while I was having juice, I kept shaking my head in a "no" movement. 5 times, 6 times, he still didn't get it. He then got up and walked towards me, pulling yet another necklace from his pile of stuff. At that point I exploded with "I said no!" bark. He got scared and run away. He didn't bother me anymore from this day forward :) Speaking about juices, the juices here are sooooo amazing! There are any combinations that you can imagine! With such a variety of the best food I've ever had in India, restaurants, juices, I promised myself that every day I will try something that I never tried before. My craziest juice was a combination of carrot, apple, beetroot, ginger and coriander. At first it was scary to order something that you have no clue what it is, but one day I counted, and I ordered 6 different things, which were new to me, and they were all super delicious! :) Ok, if it was just me, but I brainwashed Andy and Jeff to do the same. Oh man, what were they ordering! The weirdest thing on the menu, you would be sure that they'll pick that one! And they would eat it too! If I don't like it, I'll just eat whatever they ordered from their plate, but if they don't like something, they have this macho feeling that's engraved in their macho brains telling them to finish it. Either that, or they're worried about all the starving children of Africa :)
Next day Andy and me agreed to meet at 1pm on the beach. I waited until 3, well, not really waited, I met other guys from the night before, then he showed up. He just woke up! Yep, that's the life in Varkala. You have no idea when you'll go to sleep, you'll have no idea when you'll wake up. This was the weirdest place ever. There would be nights when I'd drop dead for 12 hours, and other nights, wouldn't be able to fall asleep till 6. Why?? I have no clue! Neither does anybody else whose sleeping schedule got a life of its own.
My bikini is not suited for this beach at all. It's so wavy, and the waves are so strong that I had to readjust it every time the wave hit me. By the end, I had to throw the bikini away because so much sand got into it, and I couldn't get it out :(
People are so friendly in here ... I love Kerela! The owner of the guest house said that he's going to the market, and if I would like him to get something for me. Then while I was on the internet, he came and gave me grapes. It's so nice :) I missed hospitality :)
On the beach there were mostly backpackers, but the Indian gangs would still be making their rounds. Sometimes I would give them a look, turn around and cover my breasts with my arms as in giving them a hint that it's not OK to look at a woman as though she's a piece of meat! Andy was laughing, but I bet he wouldn’t be laughing if he was a girl!! I swear, if I’m not going to punch somebody out till the end of my stay in India, or throw their cellphone/camera into the ocean, they should mold me and worship me like one of their gods!!
On the beach I wanted to play a beach ball, but we didn't have any rackets :( I went around and found a person who had them. I asked if I can borrow them, he said that he's leaving soon, but we can play meanwhile. After 5 minutes, he approached us and wanted to know which guest house we stay in, so that we could keep the rackets, and he could come by later on to pick them up!!! WoW!!! My mood was definitely improving in Varkala!! :)
In the evening there was an open mic event in the bar. One popular singer was travelling around and gave us an all night performance. He quit his career to spend more time together with his wife :) How sweet :) He's from Ireland and for some reason most of the songs he sang were sad and I almost fell asleep. I thought people drink in Ireland so much that all the songs would be happy so that everybody could dance on the tables, but nope! Then some girl hit the stage. She was terrible. We all gave her a round of applause after the first song as an encouragement, but when she started singing another song we needed to come up with a strategy fast!!! We all convinced Andy to go sing something, as once, many years ago, he was in a band himself. He was shying away, saying that it was ages ago, and he could barely remember anything. But no way he could be worse than that girl, so we just pushed him onstage!! :)) He wasn't bad at all. I don't know what all this drama was all about :))
We then went to the back (police problems again), and continued singing there. It was a round sitting area, maybe a fire meant to be in the middle. There was no fire, but there was the famous singer back again, and about 60 people around. Would be cool when he started singing a song that everybody knew, and everybody would sing along. It would create a close community feeling :)
Later we went to another bar which played actually normal dance music, just the way I like it! I was so happy, I was dancing the night away. There was one Indian guy who worked there, he would do some crazy exaggerated moves and everybody would follow. Pointing a finger at the sky and stomping/waves/shaking of hands and head in sync/pelvic thrusts (ok, I skipped those ones)… it was so much fun! Jeff, Andy and I were playing a game where you have a bunch of faces and you have to guess which face your opponent has. The loser would go and dance on the stage for the entire song – by himself! I won twice, and saved myself the embarrassment. But it didn't look like Jeff and Andy thought it was a punishment, they continued dancing even when the song has finished :))
 I have no idea when I went to sleep, must have been late, cause I think the next day we met up for breakfast at 3! :))
Something very strange is going on in Varkala. I'm not sure what it is, but I can feel it in my bones, I just can't really pin point what it is!! After a few days of a very suspicious atmosphere, I got it!!! There are no cows in Varkala!!!! I have no idea where they are, maybe the dogs have chased them away, but seriously, this is my first cow-free town!! :))
Andy told me some extreme game that he was playing once. They would roll a dice and predetermine what each number means. As the game went on and the drinks were coming in, he ended up getting a scar, and some girl ended up getting a tattoo with Andy's name, made by him with some needle and a die from pen!! Ok, I'm not gonna go that wild, but I thought if I had a choice of places to go to, I could write all the names down, and then roll the dice :)
There were a few signs to do reiki. I have no idea what is reiki, but in one of them, the guy travelled all around the world healing people and is constantly on TV. According to my life theory that if something doesn't harm you, you have to try it at least once, I signed up for reiki! The guy was supposed to open my chakras (what's a chakra?), and that interested me enough :) It was an hour, I lied on the table, and he put his hands on my head, throat, stomach, knees and ankles. I had a coffee right before that, and my thoughts were racing. For some reason I was seeing cats, dogs, shirts and pants. The images were switching in my mind with incredible speed. Then he told me to concentrate on my third eye and tell him what color I see. Deep, luminous blue appeared out of nowhere, first it started as a dot, and then it grew bigger and bigger until all my forehead was covered in it. I was disappointed, I expected red. I did aura reading in Toronto, and I have a red aura, but this blue was just there, and didn't go away! I told him blue, and he said that my chakra is open (yeah right!), then he told me to concentrate on others, but I couldn't see any colors :(( It was cool, when I saw blue, I started breathing very heavily, like pre-climax breathing, I couldn't get enough air, there was too much energy! 1 hour was over, and I felt ripped off. What's the point of reiki? What is it anyway? But then I saw a picture of a man sitting in a lotus pose with all the chakras (energy centers) and colors drawn on it, and third eye is blue!!! :) He told me that I'm a very lucky person, I couldn't see the colors, but none of my chakras are blocked, I have a very strong voice, self esteem and motivation. I paid the money, but left unhappy. Next day I had 2 extra strong frappes, and I noticed that my thoughts weren't racing at all. I thought more and more about reiki. I thought about my racing thoughts and my heavy breathing, and the fact that I saw a color, and it was the right color that magically appeared out of nowhere. I told him that my knees and ankles hurt, he did reiki on them, and all evening I was very impressed by how almost lubricated they felt. I was disappointed at the session itself, but next day I was quite amazed!
Andy and me were looking for one massage center. There are like hundreds of them in here! How do you know which one to choose? Anyway, one was very cheap and very recommended. We were looking all over for it, but couldn't find it. When I went to reiki, there was a sign for that massage center! It must be a sign, we went there right away and made an appointment. It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't too good either. A lot of rubbing (they love to do it in aurvedic massages), but I could feel that they don't really know the body, they just do a bunch of moves that were taught to them. It was ok, so I didn't mind. But afterwards we were so relaxed, we couldn't talk or walk straight on the street, were constantly stumbling over each other :)
I got fed up by unprofessional aurvedic treatments, and decided to sign up for a 4 day treatment. One clinic (and the only one) was recommended in the lonely planet, and I gave it a go. The doctor actually examined me, asked me a bunch of questions: dry skin - no, memory problems - no, bad sleep - no, cracked heels - no, indigestion - no no no no no ... easily irritated? - only at Indian men! :)) Being a doctor runs in their family, and I could really feel the professionalism. He said that my neck is a little stiff, and they stretched me, it was so funny. I lied on the bed, and they tied a towel around my ankle and opposite hand and pulled in both directions :) Then switched. Then I sat, and he put his arm where my throat it, and pulled upwards :) I became so much more flexible after that :) I asked him a bunch of questions. My knees hurt - you just have to do yoga; sometimes I can't breathe, low blood pressure? - No problem, you just have to do yoga :)) He didn't try to sell me anything, but nevertheless I signed up for 10 treatments in 4 days. Aurvedic medicine pretty much means natural. There are no chemicals, and all the pills/oils are 100% herbal with no additives added. I did 4 massages, 4 rice ball thingis. All the herbs are blended into a mixture and almost brought to boil. Then there are 2 rice balls which are constantly interchanged and padded on the body. I assume because it's so hot, the pores open and the cells absorb anything that comes in. Then I got a very not nice treatment. First my sinuses got opened with herbal steam, and then some drops were put into my nose. It was disgusting, and I was spitting and spitting for an hour later. I was supposed to meet Andy for breakfast, but I came to his guest house and said that I can't go anywhere in this condition. He was laughing at me, said that I watered all the plants around his room :) I felt like a camel :) And another treatment was a very relaxing one when hot oil is being poured on the head. Aahhhh so nice :))
In the middle of my therapy, I got sick, really sick :(( I’ve been to India for 2 months now, and this is the 3rd time I’m getting sick. Stress does its thing! I went there in the morning. They looked at me, checked for fever, and right away gave me a bunch of pills, some green disgusting potion to drink, inhale some herbs. I felt better right away. They told me to come back again at 1 and at 4. I started feeling worse, then better, then worse, then better. They really took care of me, and I felt very warm by their hospitality. Next day they told me to come back at 1 and 4 again, but I skipped the 4pm, this potion was making me more sick than healthy :)) Or at least I think so. The woman who worked there, a few times had to hold the glass, so it will just go in, I couldn't handle it, and it was a whole glass! Ok, if it's something disgusting, then give it to me in a small quantity even if it’s more concentrated, but not a whole glass!!
Andy met a girl on the beach, she came here to do a 3 week yoga and aurvedic course. She asked Andy how much he's paying for his room, he said $3, she looked down at the sand. Andy tried to calm her, said that probably her room is so much better, and she has a whole resort feel to it ... she still kept looking at the sand. She recommended us some cafe, said it's the best of the best. We walked there, it took us forever to find it, it's in the middle of nowhere, and I didn't like it at all. She must have loved it, because it's the only cafe in the area! There you go, it proves once again that book nothing from abroad. Come to a place, find a nice spot, and book things locally at fraction of the price!
Varkala is filled with aurvedic clinics and yoga studios, almost every guest house offers something. And the evidence of it is seen everywhere. Everybody walks around in yoga cloths, carrying yoga mats. At sunset groups of people sit in a semi circle facing the sun meditating. Sometimes you would see people in the middle of a huge crowd, quietly with their eyes closed holding a pose, such as cat’s pose :)) (http://static6.depositphotos.com/1040130/565/i/950/depositphotos_5656557-Woman-back-bends-yoga---cat-pose.jpg). I remember one of my yoga teachers told us that yoga is not about being in a comfortable pose, it's about finding comfort and peace in any pose. I guess they were practicing this theory :)
It's getting hot, very very hot! So hot that sometimes I have to wake up 3 times a night to take a cold shower and lie under the fan, only then I'll be able to fall back asleep. Then I started hiding between 12 and 3pm, it's so hot it's unbearable, you can't think, you can't move, you sweat like crazy. Whoever thinks they love it when it's hot, think again!
Andy, Jeff and me went for a walk to a different beach, and once again got convinced that there is nothing better than our beach. There were cactuses growing on the way, and Jeff got excited by the fruits and went to pick them up. Andy had no idea about these fruits and went after him. I warned him, do NOT pick up these fruits, you'll feel the needles for days! Of course, nobody listened to me, and on they went to pick them up. Andy, the less experienced one, crushed the fruit, and put it near his mouth to eat it. He had needles stuck everywhere, in this arms, fingers, lips, tongue... I told you so!!! Nobody wants to learn from someone else's mistakes ...
It got windy, and I was scared to walk on the path, since the coconut palms are everywhere, and they could fall no problem. I was walking with my head up again and jumping from side to side. While we were eating at the restaurant, it started raining. You can’t believe how happy we were for this rain. Somebody must have done the rain dance :) It's my first rain in India and I was ecstatic! Probably so was the huge spider who ran across table where we were sitting!!! It was humongous, probably the size of a palm with green eyes. I flew to the other side of the restaurant, and refused to go back until the premises were cleared! I told them to give me a broom as my weapon, and I was sitting there like a witch ... although I think witches eat spiders, I'm not ready for that yet, but if it was fried, I would've felt much better :)
Jeff doesn't drink alcohol, or takes drugs, or has any other bad habits ... of course I found a few, but it doesn't matter :) We were in a bar, and ordered 2 mojitos, and 1 mojito without any alcohol. No alcohol? - No alcohol! 2 minutes later we were approached by another guy. You wanted 3 mojitos right? - No, 2 mojitos, 1 without alcohol. 2 minutes later, yet by another guy. You want 1 mojito without any alcohol?? - Yes, NO alcohol !! :)) We were laughing so hard. Jeff was thinking what they're thinking. Man, they really threw us a ball. I quit, this job is way too hard! :) Andy was laughing too. You look, now we get some cucumber juice, 3 mojitos with no alcohol. Did you order calamari with mint and lemon on the side?? :)) We were fooling around. We even said that we should charge them for bringing people in. Jeff would be the big man with the big wavy arms attracting people, like meduza gardona (he drinks so many juices and eats so much sweets that he's high on sugar all day long :) ), I would be a dancer, and Andy would play a guitar. We even named our band Mo-J and 2 mojitos :) Random? ... Yeah, I know! :) I guess you think about those things when you don't have to think how to blackmail your coworker in order to look better to the boss, and have some useless report to get done by Monday morning :)
Jeff has a bunch of IQ/memory/concentration/brain games on his phone. I was playing them all day long. People would be dancing in a bar, and I would be thinking about my brain tingling problem! Every time I did some brain age test, I got about 19/20 years old! Yeepiii ... and my IQ is at consistently 126. Actually I think it's 2 points higher than my last IQ test. Happy happy :))
Andy and me decided to leave Varkala on the same day. Ok Thursday - ok! No, maybe not Thursday, I think I'll stay here till Saturday - ok, saturday! That went on and on. He won, he left first. But he had friends waiting for him in Goa. I was set on leaving too, but after a super fun dancing night, and a number of cocktails that I couldn't even count (I think we tried all the cocktails on the menu, including a "salty dog" - and yes it tastes as awful as it sounds! I just tried it and spit it out, but Andy’s machismo kicked in again :)), I wasn't in any shape or form ready to get up early to go anywhere else. Why leave? Varkala is awesome! Of course it wasn't that awesome when Andy left, but nevertheless ... Varkala is Varkala, and you can't change it :) No wonder why people move to live here. I met quite a few who return here every year, or for half a year every year, or some live here for 6 years already.
Me and Jeff started hanging out more and more. I needed some time apart from all his life enriching theories though, but I hate doing nothing, and I decided to sign up for a reiki course! I had a master "Shaloo" living right in the guesthouse. She said she got into reiki when she got hepatitis (don't know which one), and after 2 years of lying in bed, with constant doctor visits, drugs and unending number of tests, one of her friends suggested that she should try reiki. 2 weeks later she was out of bed, and she's healthy to this day. It was a whole day course. She first told us the history of reiki. It started in Japan, some man went to mountain to meditate and to get enlightment (that's how all the stories start in here. It’s either a mountain or under a tree), after 3 weeks, he finally achieved it, came back down all healed and started to heal everybody that he saw. He later opened a school where only Japanese men were allowed to practice. One woman from Hawai wanted to learn this form, but was denied because first of all she's a woman, and second, she's a foreigner. She kept in touch with them, but to no luck. Then the 2nd world war started, and Japan was scared that this traditional healing will be lost forever, they then did teach it to her BECAUSE she is a foreigner ( I guess they didn’t know they’re gonna bomb Pearl Harbour yet), and so it continued on and on with now reiki being practiced worldwide. Explanation of reiki in a few words is channeling the energy of the universe through your body to someone/something else. You can heal yourself, others, animals, food, even machines, charge batteries and heal people on the distance (more advanced level). We first did reiki on ourselves with guided meditation, then she did initiation. I didn't feel anything. The other woman was telling us how she felt, like she couldn't move her arms, and she had hot streams of air passing through her ... I felt nothing :( We then did reiki on each other. That was cool. When I did it on her head, I felt like I was wobbling and could barely stand. When she did it on me, I got a headache (sometimes symptoms get worse during the session - called healing crisis), and on my feet I felt waves like she was rocking me back and forth. After whole day of reiki, in the evening half on my head unblocked, and in the morning I woke up practically healthy, with both sides of my head unblocked. I stopped coughing, got more energy, all the 9 yards :)
I started practicing reiki on Jeff. He said that a few weeks ago somebody did bad chiropractic session on him, and since then his lower back was bothering him. I did reiki on all of his back. Later he said that it was so cool, he saw a bunch of colors, and when I did his lower back, it was black (blocked), but the longer I held it, the more colors started to appear. Then he turned on his back and in the middle of the session, he got an erection :) Well, at least I know the energy went somewhere ;)
I stayed in Varkala a bit longer because in the temple there was a big festival, and I really wanted to see if for a long time. Everybody told me that the festival season is finished, and there you go, it's happening right at my doorstep. It was so-so, nothing spectacular. There were A LOT of people! There was a band playing, then men would wear huge wooden structure on their head and spin around. There were people dressed like gods. But what I was waiting for most were the elephants. Suddenly everybody became quiet and started to pray, I couldn't see anything. I held my camera high and took a picture, they were praying for the elephant! We went up the stairs to be in the middle of the action. There were 8 elephants in total, all dressed up. It's very funny to see that, because most of these elephants live on elephant farm, and took a 2 day journey to get there, but 1 of them lives in the temple. One day when I was in the temple, the elephant was chained in the back, and the locals were throwing sticks at it. There you go, you can do anything you want with a chained elephant, but once you put a golden head-dress on it, suddenly it becomes holy, and people bring their hands together in a prayer.
Speaking of a temple, we went in and there is a tree with hundreds of dolls hanging on it. They look at you with these eyes, like they just came out of a horror movie. We were having fun and taking pictures in the middle of them, as though being on some spooky doll planet, until we were almost kicked out. Especially me, when I sat in the middle of it all, on some god that I haven’t even noticed. (There you go, my place as a goddess is closer than I think :) ). We apologized and asked what are the dolls doing here. They said that women who have problems with children who cry at night or are sick or if they have troubles having children, bring the dolls here and tie them to the tree. I really hope if they get pregnant, the baby won’t be as scary as these dolls!!
We then went to a restaurant, and I told Jeff that I'm leaving tomorrow morning, and a change of scenery would be nice for him too (he's been in Varkala for 2 months now). He agreed, and my path aligned with his next destination anyway :)
After the restaurant my stomach was grumbling, I did reiki and it went away :)
It's interesting to notice how the locals don't know some words. I got into a very posh autorickshaw. The driver really "blinged" it up. Wow, I said, your autorickshaw is like a limo. - Like what? Or, I was sitting on the beach and the waves were coming from all the directions. I told the lifeguard who I was speaking with. It feels like in a Jacuzzi. - Like in what??
I wasn’t really speaking with the lifeguard, he was more speaking with me. I was sitting there, splashing in the waves, when the 2 of them were coming near and whistling and whistling for the people to get out. What are you whistling at? I asked. Those people are knee deep in the water!!!! – Oh, they’re not like you, they don’t know how to swim, and the waves are strong. He kept on talking to me, of course asked me if I have a bf. Of course I have a bf!!! He told me that he’s been looking for a gf for 5 years already, but all the women are taken. I was laughing inside. Varkala is not the first destination in India, and girls have gone through the sour experience of saying that they’re single. They’ve learned, and so have I! I told him that he might have a better luck with Indian girls. He said that he doesn’t like them. He’s dark, and they’re dark, and he loves white skin. Good luck buddy! But these locals are not stupid. They go to clubs, they see girls and guys coming there on their own, and end up kissing on the dance floor, or even worse, leave together to a room. This is NOT happening in India. You do not kiss girls unless you’re married to one, and even then… Arranged marriages are arranged for only purpose of business, not for love, so forget kissing or any other kind of emotional connection. They’re looking, and they’re learning. White girls are easy, of course they have a chance too!! No, you don’t have a chance! A normal girl would never go for a filthy, uneducated, dirty, paan smelling, teeth rotting, ill mannered, long/dirty finger nailed, burping, spitting, sexist Indian, no way in hell!!
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