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!!
https://picasaweb.google.com/100036016632387453128/Varkala

Udupi and Cochin

In Udupi I went to a hotel that the girls recommended to me. This hotel is so posh! It has marble columns, a bell boy, it's sparkling clean, has an aquarium in the lobby, a bunch of staff working, I couldn't believe that the room there can be so cheap! Oh, and it even has an elevator!!! My first elevator ride in India to the 3rd floor :) They helped me with the luggage, and gave me a real key which you then plug into the wall and the electricity goes on! wow!! Top class! The room had towel, soap, phone, closet, $8! I went to eat in hotel's restaurant. The decor and food was amazing! Everything had carved wood, nice wallpaper, Victorian style walls, carpets, and furniture, and the food was half the price! Everybody speaks perfect English! Another great thing about the hotel is that you pay for 24 hours, which is the best idea anybody ever came up with!!
I came to this city because the Lonely Planet recommended it. There is some important temple in it. In the morning, I went to the temple, and it was really nothing interesting. A lot of people praying, lighting candles, putting dots on their foreheads, kneeling or even fully lying down on the floor near their idols, buying oil and flowers, circling them around their head, and giving the donations to the holy people, and just walk in circles around any columns, touch them/the stairs, and kiss their hands. I secretly took pictures :) People donating lots of money, and considering how much they make, the donations are surprising! Religion is an excellent way of collecting money!
I wasn't too impressed by the temple, but I was glad that I went into the city. I was the only tourist, and non touristic cities are fun! There is no hassle, there is no bargaining, people are generally much more friendly, and everything is super cheap!
By 11am, I already saw the temple, used the internet and had breakfast. I still had time to do a return trip to Murudeshwar and back before the 24 hour checkout, and still make it to Mangalore, but decided against it. I took my luggage, asked for directions to the bus station. 1 minute from the hotel, I stopped to recheck my directions. Where is the bus station? I need a bus to Mangalore. "Mangalore, Mangalore!!" I turn around, a bus was just passing on the street and collecting more people! Lucky me !! :))
The bus driver was crazy, pretty much like all Indian drivers. With his hand 90% of the time on the horn, and mostly on the other side of the road.
The same story in Mangalore, not knowing what to do ... Bus/Train/Location? First decided on the bus, then at the bus stop, changed my mind and took a tuk-tuk to the train which left in half an hour. Thought to go to the beach, and bought a ticket for 80 cents. On the train, I always talk to people, asking what to do, where to go, recommendations. The girls told me that there is no beach in the town where I'm going to ... hm ... confusing ... What now? (Later I discovered that there is a beach, it's 7kms away from the city). But actually I'm happy that I didn't go, because it's off the beaten track beach, and it means that there are not that many tourists. Some would love it, I would hate it :) It usually makes for interesting stories, but I think I had enough interesting stories in the last few weeks.
The girls (Indian) were super helpful, wrote me a huge list of things to see. I have the list, but I won't go to any of the places :) I've asked them if they travelled a lot around India, and they mentioned maybe 4 places each. Of course if you've seen only 4 places in your life, all of them would be a "must go to" places ... not for me though, but thanks for the advice :) At least I initiated conversations between them, and by the end of the ride they were quite good friends :)
The minute I crossed into the state of Kerela, something very interesting happened! First of all, most people are actually friendly, second of all, there are advertisements everywhere for colleges, courses, summer fun computer courses, everybody's carrying backpacks and reading books! Unbelievable! Although, I'm yet to see an Indian reading a novel.
LP - In 1957 Kerela democratically elected a communist government - the first in the world to do so. Kerela has been labeled the most socially advanced state in India. Land reform and a focus on infrastructure, health and education have played a large part in Kerela's success. The literacy rate of 91% is one of the highest of any developing nations. The infant mortality rate is 1/5 of the national average, life expectancy stands at 73 years, 10 years higher than the rest of the country.
I decided to continue to Cochin, although the problem is, I don't have a proper ticket! The girls assured me though that in general class and especially in women's wagon, they rarely check for tickets, and yeii, they never did! Although karma has its ways. There are 2 stations in Cochin, I needed to get off the 2nd one, well guess what? The train never stopped at the 2nd one! It's an express train and it stops at like every 3rd station! Grrr ... it was already 12am, and I've been on the road for 13 hours already. The train passed next station, and the station after that. Then it stopped, and it didn't even look like a station, at 1:30am, it finally arrived somewhere where there are people. I got off, and took the next train back to Cochin, it was 2am, and I was sure that there won't be anybody checking for tickets at that time. General class at night is fun, people are sleeping on the luggage shelves, on floors, on newspapers, towels, 3 on one seat. It's like a mine field to navigate between all that mess. Got to Cochin at 3:30 in the morning, and went to look for a hotel at the train station, alone, in the dark. It's NEVER a good idea!!! Most of the hotels were closed, the ones that were open, were full, and I stopped at some expansive, dirty, tiny-sh room for the same price as the palace of Udupi ... oh well, what can you do?!? Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
In the morning ... ok, the afternoon, I got a rickshaw to the center of Cochin. The owner of the hotel helped me with the price, and told me that it's $4. $4!!! This is outrageous price!!! But after going for an hour(!), I felt like leaving him a tip :) Cochin is a cute, small, touristic town that's filled with Indian tourists, elder people and of course backpackers. The lonely planet goes on and on about it's colonial heritage, but what interested me more were the Chinese fishing nets. These huge nets take 4 people to operate. Sometimes they're built right in the middle of water, and use weights (rocks) system to lower the net into the water. All the nets sell their catch right there, and you can buy anything you want, bring it to a restaurant, and they'll cook it for you :)
Kerela is famous with the men wearing the skirt thingis, and I was obsessed with taking way too many pictures :)
I found a very nice cafe that served french toast with whole wheat/grain bread, with wild honey, and so much fruits that they were falling off the plate. OMG so good!! I couldn't wait till next morning to have my favourite breakfast again and again and again :))
Next day had to wake up at 7 to go for the famous Kerela backwater boat trip. But Sherrif got me hypnotized and I put my alarm clock for 6:30 to do my daily morning stretching/push-ups/abs routine! Could you imagine that? Now that I write it, I even can't imagine that!! :))
The boat trip was excellent. There are backwater man made canals used for irrigation and transportation. It's still used right now and not only for tourists :) It's green, peaceful, operated by two men at the front and the back pushing long bamboo sticks into the ground and walking along the platform while steering it and pushing it forward. It would've been very quiet too if it weren't for the noisy Indian group :) We made a few stops on the way. One was a factory that produced powder from the shells. The locals would collect oysters, sell them at the market, and then would sell the empty shells to that company. It would heat it, and the shell would become a white powder which is used for making chalk, white paint, put into cement to make it stronger. We then saw how rope is being made. Coconuts are softened in the water, then the hair inside of it is taken out, dried, and if you take a small portion of it and start twisting it, the other hairs would get attached and be made into a rope. Now the women have a twisting machine and a bunch of coconut hair in their bag. They attach a small piece to the rotating bolt, and walk backwards. That's it! Rope is done! Fold it in half and twist it and you can't tear it with all the power that you've got!
We stopped for lunch and had thali from a banana leaf :)) Then we transferred to small canoes, but that wasn't as relaxing. The canals went through very populated area with houses and roads nearby, and my feeling of "lost in the jungle" had gone :) We stopped at a spice plantation, and saw how things that we eat or buy in the box actually grow. Peppercorns grow on trees, cinnamon is a bark of a tree, and trees leaves are bay leaves. On the way back, kids were running along the boat and asking not for money or sweets ... for pens!!!! Am I in a different country? Did I cross an invisible border?? Checked the map, nope, still in India!!!
All the air is still foggy :(( Damn that construction in Mumbai!!!! ;)))
Next day went to the beach. I thought that the beach was in a touristic area. An hour later when I got off a local bus in the middle of a local town with short short shorts, I got quite a few jaw dropped stares. Oooppsss ... ok, I agree ... my fault now! I can understand the Indians now. Sometimes when I spent too much time with the locals, or even not, but with people who alter their appearance for the benefit of the local culture, and then you see some backpacker with a too tight dress, or way too short shorts, or a huge cleavage, sometimes my jaw drops too. Imagine what would happen to a guy who never saw that in his life! Of course he'll think that all white women are whores ... can't blame them! I try to dress conservatively, but after looking at the mirror, or at other properly dressed backpackers, you just can't hide the shape of the body. You would still see the round shape of a butt and breasts and waist unless you wrap yourself 10 times with a sari that would hide absolutely everything there is too see or even imagine. I met a woman who has slept with an Egyptian and an Indian. At first she said they were looking all over her body, she couldn't understand why. They said that they thought that the white women were built differently!
I don't understand what this beach was doing in the lonely planet?? It was the worst beach I've ever seen! I haven't even taken one picture... very disappointing! There was no shade and the chairs and the umbrella were crazy prices. There were a few empty chairs, and I asked the woman lying beside if I can use them. Turns out they're from a resort (who would ever go to a resort in here?!?), and they're free. Yiepii :))
In the evening went to Katakali performance. It was very interesting. It's Kerelan style of acting, which doesn't involve speaking, and all the actions are done with either their special sign language and facial expressions. The make up and costumes are extraordinary. It takes an hour to put on a makeup. The audience is invited to watch that. So many colors, so precise, so pretty :) All the colors are natural. Black is coal, white is rice powder mixed with water, red and yellow are from some stones mixed with coconut oil. To make the eyes red, put some seed into an eye, and 2 minutes later, the eyes are red. In the beginning we watched different facial expressions of different feelings. It was hard to believe that the actor is actually not happy or sad or proud. He would smile and I would be smiling too, a second later, his face would be neutral. How he couldn't feel his own smile?? Then he showed us different words and phrases. They would be funny. A "go away" phrase wouldn't just be a point at "you" and then a whoooosh to the side. It would include stomping, angry face, some "I don't know" gestures of hands coming together and apart and only then a 3 times whooooosh to the side. I loved the introduction, but I felt like the play was very childish and actually couldn't wait for it to be over :)
Woke up early to go to a different city. I made a decision to move places early in the morning. Otherwise with a 4 hour move, I wouldn't be able to do anything where I am, and then it would be too late to do anything once I get somewhere else, and the whole day would just be a waste, and with frequent moves ... that's a lot of wasted days.
I bought a general class ticket, and when the train arrived, I walked all throughout the length of the train, and couldn't find general class seating. What can I do? I just walked into a sleeper class, and sat where there was most space. There was a 21 year old girl travelling with her father from Delhi. They've been on the train for over 2 days. She was going to Kerela to be a police woman. It was hard to understand her, her English wasn't that good, and sometimes she would start talking to me in Hindi despite all my attempts to convince her that I don't know any Hindi. She seems to be scared of everything. Scared of speaking English, scared of going anywhere on her own, her father is always with her, scared of going to the academy. She decided that she wanted to walk along the train ... ok, why? 2 girls walking on the train, it's fun! - Sure lets go. First she took 15 minutes to comb and braid her hair. I told her that she looks good with her hair spread, but she told me that she looks scary. I noticed that only girls wear their hair open. Once married, all women have their hair tied. I don't know ... maybe it's considered to be sexual as well. She took my hand while we were walking, and when we were sitting in front of each other, she would put both of her hands on my knees. That felt very uncomfortable! But that's the way they are in here. Men hug men, women hug women. You can't hug opposite gender, so might as well hug and hold hands with your friends. I wonder how many men here are gay?? She had one hand regular, and other hand with long nails and nail polish, I asked her why. She said that she does work with one hand and no work with other ... interesting.
Karma plays its role again. The inspector came to check the tickets. I gave him my ticket and he said that I'm sitting in the sleeper class, and my ticket is for general. I'm here illegally, so I'm gonna pay the difference plus a fine. Which came out to be 400 rps. 400 rps??? I'm not paying that!! I told him that I looked all over the train for the general class, couldn't find it, and besides, I'm sitting on a seat of a girl, so we're sharing a seat, and I asked her if I could seat here, and she agreed, so I'm not taking any extra space, besides, the wagon is almost empty. He started writing me the ticket, and I told him to show me a document where the fines are written. He showed me a document that he's an inspector, I told him no, a document with fines. How do I know that it's 250 and not 100? He started convincing me that it's the rate, but I wouldn't pay. He said that he'll call the police, and I told him to go ahead. Unless he shows me a proper document I'm not paying anything. We sat there quietly looking at each other. I told him, ok, I'll go to general class right now, he said no. Let me pay the difference - no. Ok ... let me give you 100 and we'll be friends - What?? I'm working for the government, not for tourist money. Ok ... I kept sitting quietly. I was surprised that the family didn't back me up. After a few minutes he started asking me a bunch of questions, where I'm from, and if we have trains in Canada, and some other stuff, and I knew that he gave in. We joked around, he made me promise that I will never do that again, I promised and he forgave me. Fweeeef!! :)) Although it would’ve probably be another interesting story of me mingling in the local police station :) It’s ok … next time :)

https://picasaweb.google.com/100036016632387453128/UdupiAndCochin

Palolem, Gokarna and Sold

To get to Palolem which is 60 km south is very easy, all you have to do is change 5 buses and travel for 5 hours :S I missed one of the bus stops and ended up in the middle of the city instead of the bus stop. I had no idea how far the bus station is, and the rickshaw driver took me there for 80 rps. I knew that 80 is too much, but anyway ... when we got there, it was way to quickly and for sure not 5 kms that he said it was. I told him that it's not worth 80, but he said that it's the standard price, and ok, fine, I didn't want to argue ... but ! next time I will! Not really argue, but just give him 20 or 30 and walk. I wonder what he's gonna do! I'm reading a book now about how to be assertive, I think I should practice it more! I don't have a problem saying what I want, but I have a problem when I receive "no" as an answer ... then what? In the book it says that you give a reason and repeat your request in a loop until the successful result. Assertive people who read my blog, can you give me some tips please? :)
D: 80 rps
Y: It wasn’t 5kms, it should be less
D: 80 rps is a standard rate
Y: I don’t think the drive costs more than 30
D: No, it’s 80 rps
Y: ??? (fill in here)
Holy continued, and one guy got into the bus all covered in colors head to toe. He stood right beside the door, and all the people who came in and out had to brush against him, thus covering themselves in colors. I was so surprised that nobody said anything, and nobody asked him to move to a less vulnerable location.
Palolem is technically still in Goa, in the south, but due to lack on Russians and Trance music, I decided to include it into a different section :)
It is a very beautiful crescent beach with a little island on the side and a bunch of coconut palm trees. The palm trees really make a gorgeous view, but this is a coconut season and there were a few times when they fell down in my sight. From that moment on, when I was walking anywhere between them, I would always walk with my head up trying to escape being right under them. Some guys were making fun of me, said that its gods will if anything will happen. I said that I trust my eyes and judgment more.
A lot of the hotels on the beach are huts which are made out of bamboo trees. These huts will not survive the monsoon season, they will either completely broken apart, or get rotten, so each season the workers disassemble and reassemble the huts, which takes 4 days/hut. Thus in the low season, the beach is completely empty, not only of people, but of buildings as well.
On my last night in Anjuna I went to sleep at 4am and couldn't wait until getting to bed in Palolem. I talked a little bit to and Indian guy who works at the hotel about what to do what to see, then I headed early to bed, desperate for some sleep. On my way up to the hut (which is built on wooden columns), 2 Indian guys in the adjacent hut asked me: "What's your name", I said "Yana", they said "nice name", and off I went to sleep. Suddenly a knock on the door "Yana, open up". I barely open my eyes, not knowing what's happening, and thinking that it's the worker of the hotel asking me to fill out the registration form, which I said I will, but didn't. I said that I'm sleeping and I'll do it in the morning. More banging "Yana, open the door, I'm not a liar, I'm not a cheater, open the door" (what?????). This is not about the form I'm starting to think. I look at the watch, it's 3:30am. "Yana, open the door!" I'm lying there, and my heart is beating fast, I'm not fully awake, my head is spinning, I don't know what to do. "Bang, bang, bang". In Anjuna Sheriff told me a few ghost stories, and one of them involved hard banging on the door. I was pretty scared falling asleep that night, but now I wished that it was a ghost. I decided that it's not a good idea to lie in the bed, just in case he'll manage to open the door somehow. He then moved onto the window, trying to get it to open. I quietly got up, and very slowly (because the hut was shaking with every move) got out of the bed, put my cloths and sat waiting. "Yana, open the door, open the door!". There were cracks everywhere around the window and the door, and he was flashing his flashlight/phone. I thought to go and sit behind the door, so if he'll flash in, he won't see me. I made myself relax, take deep breaths, focus on something and quiet my mind. I was thinking of what I can do if he'll open the door. Next to me the door is shaking, and so am I, all my body is trembling while I’m trying to relax. You can't do smart decisions in fear, you can't apply all your power for your protection, the brain shuts down and you freeze. I looked at one spot on the wall in front of me and was just trying to think of it and trying to think what I'll do. I decided that if the door will be opened, I'll kick him in the stomach with a side kick so he'll fly down the 8 stairs to the ground below and hopefully hit something with his head when he'll land. I tried to practice this move in my mind while my feet were shaking so hard on the floor, I was scared he would hear them tapping against the floor. He started swearing, loudly burped (drunk?) and finally he left, but I was sitting next to the door for an hour, looking out on the street from the 2 cms of space between the door and the door frame. My heart was stopping with every noise that was made. At first I loved the waves, then I started hating them because they were loud and I couldn't hear anything when they crashed. Then I saw one guy walking around with a black hood and a stick, and the hut started to shake from my shaking. I observed the door, it was a dead bolt, and the bar went into the lock only about half a cm, that half a cm was all that held the door in place. Also you could reach from the outside inside the crack and slide the lock open. After about an hour, I thought to lie down. I didn't sleep, I was almost meditating, thinking that probably he would come back again. He did. I heard some door opening and jumped from the bed to the door to look outside hopefully to see him. For a split second, I saw someone in the red shirt walking up the stairs. I sat beside the door, and this time held the lock in place. Thankfully after 3 bangs he gave up and left. I was lying till 7 unable to sleep, listening to all the noises, and jumping to the door with every one of them. At 7, people were waking up, and there was too much jumping, and I thought that now I'm relatively safe, I fell asleep till 9. When I got up, packed everything and opened the door, the person who works at the hotel, whom I was talking to yesterday, was sitting on the stairs of the adjacent hut. I looked around and at him. Right away he asked, did you have a good night sleep, what's wrong. I said that "no, I didn't". And he was trying to ask way too many questions about my night. Then I said that someone drunk was trying to get into my hut at night, and besides him and the 2 other Indian guys, nobody else knows my name. At that point he started yelling at me, saying that what am I the only single girl who he ever saw in his life, and what am I crazy, he has a hotel reputation to protect. Then he started yelling at the 2 guys saying that he'll call the police. The door was open, and I saw a red shirt on the bed. He told him to show him his shirt, and he gave him a blue shirt that was hanging on the door, but I pointed out to the shirt that was on the bed. He just looked dumbly at me, and said huh? Other people have joined in, nobody heard anything, and there was no point figuring things out. I looked for another hotel, moved out, and went into the shops to see if they sell pepper spray. Nobody even heard of a pepper spray, when I tried to explain what it is, one guy said that I shouldn't worry, Palolem is very safe, and that guy was probably drunk. Oh, ok, he was only drunk... I can relax now!
I have a new arranged marriage theory. I think that if arranged marriage wouldn't exist, nobody will be married in India, who would marry these Idiots!!!????
The whole day, I had a headache, was dizzy and very foggy. I didn't talk to anybody, was just reading a book and walking on the beach. Palolem is full of elder British folks doing nothing but drinking and working on their tan. It's so strange how different people go to different places. Goa was full of Russians, Palolem was full of British, Swiss and Swedish.
I was sitting in the restaurant by myself, when one of the British folks approached me and asked me that if I'm bored, I could go and sit with them. After some debating, I thought that I can't be paranoid about everybody, and British are not Indian, and I should be ok. I went to sit with them, and one of them was a promoter for a silent noise disco. These are discos that happen in Goa, and especially in Palolem because music is not allowed after 11pm. Somebody came up with an idea to distribute wireless headphones to everybody with 2 or 3 DJs playing different styles, and you can change the channels on the headphones, so everybody is dancing to their own choice of music, but outside, everything is quiet. Sounds cool, but the problem was that there were no people at all. It was Tuesday, and it was empty :( The real clubs go on Thursdays and Saturdays.
At night, I came into the hut, and there was a cockroach sitting on my mosquito net. I don't like cockroaches, and was just standing there looking at it, wondering if it will run away. I had an idea to kill it, but I'll have to get it off the net first. Kinda disgusting and scary. Then I thought, what's more scary, having a guy trying to break into the room at night, or killing a cockroach. I decided that killing a cockroach was a piece of cake, took a shoe, threw it off the net and smashed it. I was proud of myself, and I wasn't even too too scared when another cockroach fell on my head when I actually went to sleep ... had to kill it too :) They're like suicidal or something :)
Falling asleep was a little bit of a challenge because I was still very sensitive to sudden noises, and with neighbors walking around, opening and closing doors, I had to do some convincing to myself to fall asleep.
In the morning Steve (British guy) took a scooter and we went to another beach, which I didn't really like. It's big and wide, but with no people. I don't think I like "no people" kind of places, especially when there isn't much to do. I told him the story about my night, and we were talking about our lives, travel, passions and dreams. He doesn't have a lot of money, he works as teacher's assistant, he's tired of England and wants to move somewhere else. He thinks about Hawaii. He wants to work in a hotel for a few hours a day, and then stay and eat there for free. I think he told me about a site called helpx. I haven't looked it up, but if someone wants to travel for cheap, might be a good idea to check it out. I don't want to work while travelling, this is not what travelling is all about for me. He asked me why I travel alone, and I said that I like my freedom and the ability to make my own decisions about schedules/places/sleeping times ... He asked me what will happen if I'll meet this perfect guy, would I be willing to travel with him (At this point, I'm sensing a lot of hinting). I said that it's not even an option for me. I've decided to travel on my own and that's it. We ate at a restaurant, and there were some books in there. I wanted to take a one, it sounded very interesting. "Start up nation. The story of Israel's economic miracle". I was debating how I should ask to take it ... I didn't really have many choices, I didn't have a book with me to exchange, and I didn't want to buy it, or borrow it, I wouldn't finish it in time. Steve told me, just ask them if you could take it ... hm ... ok. I took the book, went to front, and asked: "Can I take this book?". Sure, yes you can! :))) I think I should've paid more attention in university, when we learned the kiss rule: "Keep it simple stupid" :)
We then drove to a fort, which is very very beautiful, not really the fort itself, but the view from the fort. I discovered that most views from the forts are beautiful ... makes sense, because they're always built on strategic locations which allow for seeing great distances.
When we got back to the guest house, Steve asked me that he knows that I'm not looking for anything, but he wonders if he'll hang out a few days together, do I think that I could be interested in pursuing things further. I knew it !!! I said that no, that I told him about my last 2 weeks and I don't want to have any contact with men for a while. He tried to convince me that it could be a happy ending to all my troubles, but I still said no. What's up with guys? I mean, ok they like me, but do they consider if I like them back? How can you convince someone to like you? Besides, a teacher’s assistant ... is that even a profession?? Shouldn't you woo a girl with your wittiness, sense of humor, generosity, interesting/unusual conversation, surprise me with something that will throw me off balance or make me think, why are you unique, make be interested in you? All the qualities that he was lacking. Only because I'm a girl and he's a guy, it's a good enough case for getting together?? Stop being delusional !!!
While I was walking on the beach I noticed that most workers in the previous hotel that I've stayed in, wear red T-shirts. Aha, so it wasn’t my imagination after all!
One waiter in the new hotel started to talk to me. He asked me where I'm from. I told him to guess. He said Sweden! What??? Ok, I know that most tourists in Palolem are from Sweden, but do I look Swedish to you, or you just don't know the names of any other countries? I said no that I'm from Ukraine. He said that it can't be because my English is good. I said it's because I live in Canada now.
- So I was right!
- Huh? Didn't you say that I'm from Sweden?
- But you're not from Ukraine
- Buuuut ... yes I am!
Then he told me that thinking is bad for your brain that it makes you lazy. He also said that there is a big problem with government, and there are no jobs. People study, have graduate degrees but have to work as autorickshaw drivers because there are no professional jobs. I mean, look at me, I have hotel management degree, and I work as a waiter!
- How long did you study for degree?
- 3 months

Overall impression of India so far: very oppressed, naive, stupid, close minded, unhappy people. Too many rules on what you can't eat, drink, dress, work, talk about anything you like/to anybody you want ... has a huge toll on people!

Next I went to Gokarna. There isn't much explanation in Lonely Planet about this place, and it makes very hard to travel to. There are no maps, no directions, no nothing. I arrived, first thing that I found to be very strange is that a rickshaw driver asked me where I'm going, I said the name of the hotel, and he just told me that I can walk there, and gave me the directions! What just happened??? Next in the hotel, I asked about the room, the lady said it's 300, but ok, I give you 250! What just happened???
I went for a walk, all the streets are empty, shops are empty. Where am I? I have no idea where to go, what to do. Finally I met some backpacker, and asked him what's up. He said that it's siesta, and things will start opening up around 6 (that's how hot it is!), but meanwhile I can go to the beach, ghat, temples. Explained me the way to everything, and I wasn't lost anymore :) While I was walking around, it seemed that every house is a temple and everybody is very spiritual. Around 5 people started to get out of their caves, and here most of the men wear skirts. It's a piece of cloths wrapped around, so it's long till the ground, or they bend it in half and tuck into the top (that's how hot it is!) :)
Everywhere there are rituals going on, people take baths in the Ghat, or rather pour the water from a container on them, wash their legs and feet before entering the temples, go in bare-chested (only men)...
In the evening went to a "restaurant", it's really a 1 table establishment. But the owner was so nice, I just had to go in. He said, small restaurant, small menu. They only served Chicken rice, Chicken Chilly, and Chicken Sukka. I just had to have chicken sukka :))) (In Russian suka is a whore). It was really really good, chicken cooked in shredded coconut with onion, tomatoes, herbs, spices. The owner was smiley all throughout, told me stories, gave me to try chicken chilly, "Here, here, you try". Afterwards I wanted to go to some temple, and he explained me the way, and then stopped someone on the street, and asked him to take me there... What just happened???
This is the friendliest place I've ever been to in India. People are nice, smiley, much less pushy and give more or less fair prices.
At night it was so hot, I had to get up a few times, take a cold shower, and go to bed wet. Woke up at 7:30am (on my own) hot, hot, hot !! Took a autorickshaw (also called tuk tuk) to a beach. There aren't too many people anymore, it's the end of season. Sometimes things feel very deserted. Checked into a hotel, had breakfast, walked around the beach, and by 10am already felt like I did everything.
Saw a girl sitting on her own, and asked her if she wants to walk to the paradise beach. I'm not making that mistake again of trekking on my own... at least not in India. The trek was very beautiful, along an edge on the cliff. Needed to do some mild rock climbing which is always awesome :) On the way 3 Indian guys appeared after us. Here we go again. I already know how that's gonna go. We stopped to let them through, they went, then a minute later, they stopped as though taking a rest, we passed through, they started walking, we stopped, they passed through. Tessy finally understood why I wouldn't walk on my own. She said, but that's not normal. Once is ok, but not 4 times !! Newby ... what can I say? :)
She's here volunteering with mentally challenged kids. She said that these kids are very neglected by their parents, because the parents believe that if something's wrong with the child, it means s/he did something terribly wrong in past life. I have a more valid reason. People here have a lot of children to secure the parents future. Kids go to work, send all money home, and when parents turn old, they take care of them. So what's the benefit from a mentally sick child?
The organization takes trips to nearby villages, and is looking for these children, and tries to take them away. Usually most parents without hesitation give them away. One family had 2 kids like that, they gave 1, but kept the other despite a promise for much better conditions. Some time later, the father came, and was complaining about pain in his toe asking to heal it, and btw, here is the 2nd child. When the parents give the kids away, they never visit them again.
Paradise beach, wasn't really a paradise, just a bunch of hippies living there. There used to be hotels and restaurants there, but the government came and destroyed the whole thing. I've heard that people did too much drugs there, and 1 guy committed suicide. Or that it's government property, and hotels/restaurants were built illegally. Both are not very good reasons for me to completely destroy the whole place. What about taxes? It will benefit both the locals and the government. And about the drugs story, if the police destroyed every place where there are too many drugs, then half the India will be in ruins.
Tessy was reading a book about child sex trade in Nepal, and just finished reading it, it reads very fast, it's double spaced, and I was reading it until 2am. It's called "Sold", and I wrote out the pieces about village life in Nepal (which is I assume the same as in India) for you guys to read. It's a true story about a 13 year old girl named Likshmi. She has a mother (Ama) and a step father, and she lived 2 day walk up and down the hills to the nearest bus station. Her step father after losing in cards (yet again) all the money that his wife made, sold Likshmi to be a sex slave in India. Likshmi and her mother thought that she will go to the city to be a maid for a rich family.


- A son will always be a son. But a girl is like a goat. Good as long as she gives you milk and butter. But not worth crying over when it's time to make a stew.
- In the cold months, the women climb high up the mountain's spine to scavenge for firewood. They take food from their bowls, feed it to their children, and silence their own churning stomachs. This is the season when the women bury the children who die of fever.
In the dry months, the women collect basketfuls of dung and pat them into cakes to harden in the sun, making precious fuel for the dinner fire. They tie rags around their children’s eyes to shield them from the dust blowing up from the empty riverbed. This is the season when they bury the children who die from the coughing disease.
In the rainy months, they patch the crumbling mud walls of their huts and keep the fire going so that yesterday's gruel can be stretched to make tomorrow's dinner. They watch the river turn into a thundering beast. They pick leeches from the children's feet and give them tea to ward off the loose-bowel disease. This is the season when they bury the children who cannot be carried to the doctor on the other side of that river.
- (Likshmy got her period) Before today, Ama says, you could run as free as a leaf in the wind. Now she says, you must carry yourself with modesty, bow your head in the presence of men, and cover yourself with your shawl. Never look a man in the eye. Never allow yourself to be alone with a man who is not family. And never look at growing pumpkins or cucumbers when you are bleeding. Otherwise they will rot. Once you are married, you must eat your meal only after your husband has had his fill. Then you may have what remains. If he burps at the end of the meal, it is a sign that you have pleased him. If he turns to you in the night, you must give yourself to him, in the hopes that you will bear him a son. If you have a son, feed him at your breast until he is four. If you have a daughter, feed her at your breast for just a season, so that your blood will start again and you can try once more to bear a son. If your husband asks you to wash his feet, you must do as he says, then put a bit of the water in your mouth. I ask Ama. "Why must women suffer so?". "This has always been our fate. Simply to endure is to triumph."
- The leaves on my cucumbers are edged in brown, and Ama and I must each make twenty trips down the mountain to the village spring, waiting our turn to bring water up to the rice paddy. My stepfather dozes in the shade, wearing nothing but a loincloth, too hot even to climb the hill to his card game. The baby's eyes are cakes with dirt. He cries without fury. He cries without tears.
- That night, after my stepfather leaves for the tea shop and the baby falls asleep, Ama reaches behind a big urn for a smaller one. She feels around behind that urn for an even smaller one, reaches inside, and pulls out a handful of maize. " I set this aside in the dry months for a night like tonight". She pours the kernels into the skillet and we watch as they burst into flowers. We sit together savoring our secret treat and dreaming of the days after the monsoon. "The first thing we'll do is patch the roof". "No, child. First, we'll offer thanks to the goddess. Then we'll mend the roof". "With the money from this year's crop, we may have enough to make you a new dress". "Maybe there will be enough to buy sugar for sweet cakes" I say. "Maybe we can buy extra seed this year and plant the empty field behind the hut". We sit there in the flickering light of a shallow saucer of oil already rich with harvest money. We don't say what we both know. That first thing we must do is pay the landlord. And Gita's uncle, who sold us last seasons' seed. And the headman's wife who would not trade cooking oil for work. Any my teacher who gave me her own pencil when she saw I had none. And the owner of the tea shop, who, my stepfather says cheats at cards. Instead we linger over a luxury that costs nothing: Imagining what may be.
- The rain is so fierce, so relentless, so merciless, it finds every crack in our rood. Ama and I pack the walls with scraps of cloth, but each day they melt a little more. When there is a rare moment of sun, the women gather on the slope, shake their heads and say this is the worst monsoon in years. After several more days, when there is no sun at all, the village headmen gather in the tea shop and ask the holy man to say a special prayer to make it stop. I try to remember the days when the heat was so fierce that we prayed for this rain. When the night rain soaks the ground past the soaking point, when the earthen walls around the paddy melt away, when the rice plants are sucked out of the earth one by one and washed down the slope, there should be a sound announcing that something is terribly wrong. Instead there is a ghostly hush that tells us we have lost everything.
- City rules: In the city, says Ama, the people clean the floors with one rag and the dishes with another. Take care not to mix them up, or you will risk a beating; Get up early in the morning before anyone else in the house and be the last one to bed at night. Never sit down in the presence of your mistress or her husband or even in front of the children. And never eat your meal until they have gone to bed; Say your prayers every day and wash your skirt and blouse once a month. And perhaps at festival time next year, your mistress will let you come back to visit.
- The stepfather just sold the girl to be a sex slave for $16. He put things in the basket. A carton of cigarettes, a bag of sweets, chewing gum, a bottle of rice wine and a new hat. While he was busy haggling over a watch that has caught his eye, I placed a sweater for Ama and a coat for the baby. I add one more thing for Ama, a costly treat that only the headman's wife can afford, a bottle of Coca-Cola, the sweet drink that people say is like having tiny fireworks in your mouth.
- We have passed through seven villages, each one invisible to the other because of the mountain between them, but each one the same, with women pounding laundry on rocks at the village fountains and men sitting cross-legged in the tea shops. "Is it true that all the roofs are covered in gold in the city?". "Where did you hear that?" she says. "In school". I want her to know that I am not a backward girl. I am educated.
- 30 ruppees - that's the price for one sex act
- 40 ruppees - a price for coca cola
- The teacher gave us difficult problems, asking us to figure out how many baskets of rice a family would have to sell to buy a new water buffalo. Or how many lengths of fabric a mother would need to make a vest and pants for her husband and still have enough for a dress for her baby.
- Monica is going home in a month or so. But still, she could run away before paying off her debt. They say Monica has a child at home. If she runs off, Mumtaz will take the child, cut off a hand, a foot and sell it to a beggar woman. Softhearted people will give an extra rupee or two if you have a sick baby.
- Monica paid for school fees and medicine for her daughter, and for her father’s operations and for her sister's spectacles. When she came back, her father beat her with a cane and told her not to come back and disgrace them. They told her daughter that Monica is dead.

I don't know where to go to next from Gokarna. I was reading and reading the book and have no idea whether to go to Murudeshwar, Udupi or Mangalore. I was debating it for a few days now. No proper description in LP makes it difficult to decide. In Murudeshwar it's the largest idol in the world. It's Shiva on the beach, 15 meters high. Udupi had some temple, and Mangalore I don't know what it has. I bought a ticket to Mangalore. On the train met some girls who do student exchange in Mangalore, said that there is nothing to do in there, told me all about Udupi, gave me a hotel name and I got off in there. We saw the statue in the fog from the train. I'll post some pix from the internet.
It's hard for me to remember all these names. I feel like I'm in a first grade again, learning how to read. Ma-ma, pa-pa, Ud-ha-ga-man-da-lam, Thi-ru-va-na-ntha-pu-ram. People ask me where I'm going ... uummmm ... Thimururuderu, Thikumeshmaru, Thishlamaladala??? Wait, let me get the book! :)

https://picasaweb.google.com/100036016632387453128/PalolemAndGokarna

Goa

Who knew that Goa is a state? I always thought it was a city! I missed the train stop and ended up in central Goa, when I was supposed to be at the north. Panjim was my place for a few days, and I was actually happy that I ended up there because I needed a few days to get better, and didn't want to get anybody sick. All my body hurt, my head was exploding, and I was sniffing and sneezing every minute.
Panjim is a very cute town, all with colorful houses, small streets, surprisingly clean with a very nice promenade and a view of a river. Goa was once a Portuguese colony, and you could really feel its presence. A lot of older Indians are actually dressed properly and are much better behaved than the younger generation.
Being still very annoyed by the Indian culture and the fact that I was extremely sick didn't help the locals who tried to speak to me, I was barking at them like crazy.
- Madam taxi?
- Why do you ask me for taxi, why won’t you ask him or him or her? So what that I'm a tourist? Leave me alone!!!
...
Looking at a guidebook, picking a place to go to
- Madam, need help?
- No
- Where do you go?
- I don't know yet
- Need help?
- No -> By this point I'm already barking, and behaving very rude, not even looking at him.
A few more attempts without any valid answers, I closed the book and started to walk. Next thing I see, he's driving on the bike near me, overtakes me, parks, walks towards me.
- Madam, can I walk with you?
- NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR !!!!!!
I know, I know ... I shouldn't behave that way. It's not them, it's me. But seriously, I couldn't handle speaking to anybody anymore. Maybe that's why meditation and yoga is so popular in India, you won't be able to survive with so much stress!!
I couldn't walk very far. Walked a little bit, sat somewhere for an hour to gather up my strength, and again and again in a loop. Panjim isn't very big, and I managed to see everything in this one broken up day.
Next day I decided to watch a Bollywood movie. I already bought a ticket when I remembered that I still sneeze every minute, and hoped that nobody would kick me out from there. I like going to movies in different countries, especially 3rd world countries. The theaters are very modern, clean, air conditioned, and for a few hours one can forget where he is. I had to go through metal detector, bag check and had to deposit my camera. Most of the movies that are sold on the streets were recorded in a movie theatre, with camera shaking, somebody getting up and blocking half on the screen, or even the camera man would be laughing.
After a few commercials, there was an Indian flag with a message, please stand up for the national anthem. I thought it was also a part of the commercial, but after everybody got up, I thought just in case I'll watch this commercial standing up :))
If anybody wants to see what India is all about, and can't get a full impression from my blogs, please do watch a Bollywood movie. You'll see India in all it's colours with garbage on streets, people yelling at each other, nonexistent women rights, packed buses, eating with hands, lying, all packed in 2 entertaining hours ... well, more like 3.5 hours, so pack up popcorn and nachos :) Weird that mostly they speak in Hindi, but for some reason, which I cannot explain, they sometimes say whole sentences in English, and would switch back to Hindi, both in movies and in real life! What's up with that?? Also miraculously, nobody kicked me out of the theater because the minute I got in I stopped sneezing and sniffing. Clean air is good for something after all :)
After the movie, one guy on the bike was waiting for me on the street.
Hey, I saw you watching a movie by yourself. I'm by myself too.
So????
Lets go for coffee!
After a lot of no's and telling him head on that I didn't have any good experiences with Indian men so far, he tried to convince me that he's not like everybody else, that he works with tourists and knows how to deal with him. Well, just to prove him wrong and because I had nothing better to do, I agreed to spend 10 minutes with him for a coffee. While we were walking there, I got hungry and decided to go for a dinner instead. He got me laughing with his knowledge of Russian, saying phrases like: potom? potom sup s kotom. (later? later a soup with a cat) meaning ... it's not going to happen :) The conversation went fine, not anything intelligent, but the thing that pissed me off though, was that he was constantly on the phone ... as the rest of Indians are. I told him that it's very rude to be on the phone while you're having dinner with somebody, he apologized, but the frequency didn't decrease at all.
After dinner I said that I'm going back to the hotel, and he tried to convince me again that I should stay, and that he wants to see me again, and that I'll break his heart if I'll go, and that he wants to know more of me. I told him that he proved my theory right, and that if he wanted to get to know me more, he should've spent less time on his phone!
Back at the hotel I asked the owner what's wrong with Indian men, and he said that because they've watched Hollywood movies and some been to Goa and seen girls naked (i.e. sun tanning topless), that they think that we're easy and want to give it a chance.
Went to get a watermelon juice. There are a lot of freshly squeezed juices in here, but just in case I made sure that it will have no water and no sugar. The girl at the counter first cleaned all the table, then assorted dishes, then rung a bell, and yelled watermelon juice. Couldn't she yell before cleaning all the stuff??? Guess what? I forgot to mention "no salt"!! Who in their right mind puts salt in a watermelon juice??!!!
Then it took me a whole day to get a phone. I needed to get passport pictures, ask for a local reference, find the phone, fill out an application, make a photocopy of my passport and visa and wait a whole day for an activation. I took the money out and put it on the table. The girl approached, and instead of leaning 10 cms to get the money, stood there with her hand out for me to give it to her! I'm still surprised, every single time! Just to give you an idea of phone prices in here. The sim card and new activation costs $1, and a brand new Panasonic phone costs $20.
While in Toronto, I don't think I put 2 and 2 together. With the Indian employee who couldn't deliver anything, then my agency that screwed something up every single month, was from India, all the guys that I met here who say one thing and mean another, the customer service that I'm getting.... I don't understand the desire of Canadian companies to do any business with India. They might save money in the short term, but will get long term headache with missed deadlines and coding not according to specifications. I heard that there are troubles already and companies want to switch back. I hope everybody will realize it sooner than later!
Before moving to the beach, I decided to see Old Goa. It was a very interesting little town with a bunch of churches, churches and more churches. It was very strange to see Indian people, all dressed with traditional dress going to churches and crossing themselves on entry. Here in Goa they don't believe in talking elephants anymore, now they believe in talking snakes.
Came to northern Goa and stayed with a friend of a friend Oleg. Oleg broke his collarbone twice. First time on a bike accident, second time by not being careful with the arm. He decided to stay in Goa until it heals and the day that I met him, was the day that the doctor said that everything is good. He stayed by himself in a very nice villa in a gated community. After a month of guest houses I wanted to stay there forever. With marble floors, beautiful bathroom, dishwasher, laundry machine, hot water and good pressure I was in paradise. This paradise didn't last long, since he showed me to my bedroom but suggested that I can stay in his bedroom as well. No thanks! I understood that I have to be veeery careful. In the evening we met Vadim and his wife Veronica. I got to know Vadim when I was in Bermuda, and it was great to see him again. After travelling around the world, he decided to settle in Goa, as do a lot of other people. Goa is full of expacts! And after being here for 2 weeks, I understand why.
We got into some deep conversations with Oleg. He asked me if people in Canada think about the meaning of life, and why were they born to this world. I said that I don't remember having these kinds of conversations with anybody really. He asked me why I think I was born into this world. I said that I don't know, my parents had some fun, and here I am :) But what is the meaning of life? To be happy, to have choices and freedom, and to live life as I want to live it. But what about after life? I don't believe in after life, I believe in physical world, and that's why I want to live life to the fullest without having any regrets in the future. He said that he thought about it a lot, and when he found the answer, he became enlightened, without any phsycodelic(?) drugs (which supposed to open the mind), he just came with an answer which people strive to figure out for many many years. And it is: mind is separate from body. When body dies, the mind continues to exist. Ok ... interesting. What I was thinking is not about eternal existence, but why Canadians don't think about it much. My idea is that life in Russia is hard. There aren't many choices, the country is corrupt, people are killed for money, they're usually cold, rude and unhappy. When you live like that without many choices, of course you're gonna think why you were born to this world. People in Canada are relatively happy, so why clog the brain with this gar... philosophy. What are your opinions? Why were you born?
I went with Oleg to the beach, a nice supermarket with foreign products that I haven't seen in a month like mustard, mayo, sour cream :) I was super excited, we bought a bunch of stuff and did some house cooking :) Went to a few restaurants, juice shops, and every time I wanted to pay for myself, but was given no permission. As you know, nothing comes for free, and after 3 days at the villa he very aggressively showed me his intentions! He is very racist and for all 3 days I've heard nothing but allegations against Indian people that they're nothing but animals, his favourite animal of comparison was a dog. That night, no common sense worked with him, and only when I told him that he's no better than an Indian, I could get out into my bedroom. I locked the door, and left first thing in the morning. There you go, Indians might be like dogs, but at least they only bark.
Needless to say I was in a bad mood for the whole day, but I thought to myself that I'm in Goa, on the beach, why be in a bad mood, and got myself out of it quickly. At first I was disappointed in Goa and couldn't understand why everybody comes here, and that's all you hear about, Goa, Goa. The sand is brownish/black, and it's all wet, the water is brown (not because of dirt, but because of sand), but I've been here for 2 weeks now, and I find it hard to leave. Our beach plays trance music every day until 2am. Sometimes it's nice and fun, but sometimes, I just want to hear the sound of the waves. I went to the market, and I realized that I was still fuming. Of course all the things I was looking at were at ridiculous prices. You come into the shop, the price is 350, the minute you head out, it drops to 200. I didn't want to buy most things anyway, was just looking, but I got really frustrated at a few and told them that I will not buy anything from them because I don't deal with liars. Of course all the things that I did buy, I had to bargain for anyway. I was fuming at everybody. Every interaction I had with locals, I felt like killing them. I realized that I have to calm my nerves immediately, and locked myself up for 2 days in the garden of the guest house while writing the Mumbai blog. I didn't talk to anyone, just concentrated on writing, and the only time I got out was for dinner.
On the beach there are a lot of people trying to sell everything, massage, jewelry, sunglasses, magnets, fruits, ice cream. I mean A LOT !!! And they don't care if you're sleeping, reading, talking ... "Madam, you want something, look, very cheap!" .. I continue talking. They stand there for 1 more minute. "Just look, no buy" ... ignore! I feel bad ignoring people, it's not their fault really. That they try to cheat you, yes, it's their fault. I've seen a few times when tourists were throwing the products in the sand, or yelling at them to go away. But they would just come, talk to you, get no answer, then sit beside you, open their box of stuff, start laying it out on the beds, or putting bracelets on the legs (with no permission)! I learned shake my head in a "no" movement and continued doing what I was doing.
I'll try out an experiment. Tell me what you think. Pretend that you're reading my blog on the beach ...
I'm thinking that it's not that bad that they sell the stuff. Let’s say you want something to eat, and a lady would walk by with fruits every hour, you would be running after her *hello, how are you today? do you want a bracelet? Necklace?* and just waiting until she's gonna appear again, but with them coming every 2 minutes, it could get really annoying. They need to make money, and there are 1.2 billion *sunglasses, sunglasses* people in India.
Goa is full of Russians, I haven't seen that many Russians outside Russian nightclubs in Toronto anywhere else! The locals sometimes speak better Russian than English, and most restaurants have full menus in Russian language. I don't like Russians though, they're rude, aggressive and swear a lot, so I'm trying to stay away from them.
I've also heard theories that people don't come here for the beach, they come here for the drugs. It's not *magnets, beautiful!!* legal in here just like everywhere else, but it doesn't stop anybody. Anywhere you sit, there is a smell of hashish, and most of the people are stoned on it, or on some other drugs that I've never even heard of. There are clubs 24/7 going on ever *come see my shop* ywhere. It's very strange to see at 2pm people with red eyes, eyes that just look at one spot and size of half of their face, wobbling from side to side, doing some weird moves to trance music.
While I was in the guest house, there was a guy ... very very strange guy. He was full of tattoos, and you could see that he was on drugs and alcohol, and that's he's definitely from the hood. At times he was walking around cheerfully, other times he would be almost screaming and swearing after every 2nd word ... probably telling what happened to him on the way to the guest house. Or he would talk and talk, people won't be able to put a word in between. *mangoes, coconuts, pineapples* I was thinking about what he's doing here, guys like that usually have spare change only for coke. *ice cream, chocolate, vanilla, almond* After 2 days of watching him, he put something on his computer, and at the same time I got tired of staring at my screen all day long, shut it down and got up. He asked him if the noise bothers me and that's why I'm going. I'm thinking to myself ... there I go, I actually have to make a conversation to him. Well what do you know? His nick name is Sheriff, I guess it comes from very strong political views that he has, along with other theories about how to whip the world back into shape. He's very knowledgeable in current events, politics, history, geography. He has more manners and respect than anybody I met in a long time, and is very generous with money. *madam, you want something* Gives them to poor, always leaves tips, bringing presents and cooks to guest house staff and after we've met he started making omelets, teas, and buying candies for me as well :) He runs his own flower shop and landscaping business, and every year takes 4 months off in the slow season to travel around the world. India got to him so much that he can’t wait to go home, and out of 4 months, spent 2 in this guest house, cause he couldn't handle it anymore. He's very intelligent, funny, and has lots and lots of common sense and a handle of life. We ended up talking for 4 hours straight. He told me that he's very happy to meet me because I don't suck like the rest of people around here :) I told him the same thing :) One of his opinions stayed in my head. *coconuts, coconuts, I give good price* He said that he understands why Muslims strap the bombs to themselves and commit suicide. He said after being to these countries and seeing the oppression, you don't have any freedom at all, you can't have drugs, you can't drink, you can't talk to women or even see them, it's very understandable that they will kill other people to go to heaven and have their 40 virgins. Although he said "I hooked up with a virgin once, and it's was the worse s*x of my life, if I got to heaven, give me 3 whores and a bottle of rum!" :)
One evening we both craved something sweet, *drums, how much you give?* all stores were closed and we went to a restaurant for a dessert. It was way over priced, but we are both sugar addicts, and ordered it anyway. I don't really know how to describe the taste, but for sure there was more taste of a stale fridge than anything else they put in there. I went to the counter and politely said that this dessert is not very fresh and if it's possible to exchange it for something different. They started proving me that it was only made yesterday and everybody loves it. After trying to persuade them a little bit, they told me that if I don't like it then I should get the f*ck out! I came back to the table and sheriff was laughing, I said thanks for your backup. He told me, what did you expect, you're in India! This is not US. Oh, something's wrong with the dessert, no problem, have it free, would you like to have something different instead? Oh, and here are some coupons for the future! Here it's: you don't like the overpriced stale fridge tasting dessert??? Why not??!! We paid the bill, said thank you very much and that for sure we'll be back tomorrow! I even went as far as writing to the lonely planet about my experience and asking them to remove that restaurant from the list of recommended restaurants.
Next days' restaurant experience was not any better. We came in and there *necklace, very very beautiful* was a dog barking. Sheriff asked if the dog will be barking all the time. This time we were told to get the f*ck out not by the owner but by some hippies who were sitting there, and said that we should have respect for this dog, because it's owners dog! I thought cows were holy in India, not dogs :S Sheriff got a little bit upset at the fact that his hand didn't completely heal from the last time he punched someone out.
I really wanted to rent a scooter for a few days now. Every time I saw a scooter in Toronto, my heart pinched, I miss driving it :(( The problem was that on the beach a lot of people were somehow injured from driving a scooter. And I'm not talking about minor scratches. After looking at all that, *ice cream, lemon, strawberry* I was pretty scared, specially considering that I didn't drive in over 2 years. After some debating, I decided to hire it. I'll just drive very slow and only during day light. Bermudian experience has helped because the driving is the same as here, on the left side of the road. I rented it from some guy for 3 days. Just paid him in advance and left no name, no number. That's how business done in India, I pay $12 and have myself a free scooter! :)) When I got on it, after a minute it was like I never got off of it. I drove to see all the adjacent beaches. Some people got lost, I don't really understand why. You just stop at every fork and ask for directions. I never got lost. Driving is so much fun, it's like a video game! *sunglasses, lighters, miss, sunglasses?* Mostly it's 1 lane which sometimes becomes 3 lanes, there are no sidewalks, so you have to watch for people, pot holes, cows, dogs, vehicles taking over from both sides. They just love blind turns take overs! Maybe because usually they have a whole temple in their car, they think they're safe?? Sometimes there is no asphalt, and you go on some sandy very rocky road, but it manages it with no problems. On some potholes, I had no idea how to drive, if slow, then you feel every bump, if fast, then the scooter might somehow fly over it. I tried both theories, but decided to stick with slow approach. Once got stuck in the sand, but some guys helped me out. One turn was particularly tricky, it was sharp left *watermelon, coconuts!* (meaning the scooter is leaning), and very uphill (accelerating), with 2 huge potholes on the side with maybe half a meter of space between them. If I didn't go slow and with caution, it was an accident waiting to happen. It was challenging to drive, constantly looking for signs, traffic and other dangers and sightseeing at the same time. But when I was at some beaches relaxing, I couldn't wait to get back on the scooter :)) 3 days when I got back, I just completely crashed. I thought why? I wasn't doing much, just driving around ... yep, that was it! The driving took so much concentration, that I was out every day!
First day I went to see the southern beaches. There was some old fort ... very very dirty fort *madam, see my shop, looking is free*, but the view from it was amazing on all the never ending beaches. Next beach was very nice, clean, white sand, very wide and long (it's actually all one beach, just different names), but there are almost no people on it, I felt kinda bored. Next beach was full of Indian tourists. It's strange, they don't really mix with the travelers, they pick their own beaches, and usually the most ugly ones. Travelers are usually seen in couples or in small groups, whereas Indians are usually in groups of 20, all jumping in the waves and taking gazillion of pictures... usually men, women hang somewhere nearby.
Next day went to visit Vadim and Veronica in their house. The complex is very nice, resembling a Caribbean resort, and with soft music and incent burning, it feels like a 5 star one :) We went yet to another beach, and the next day I drove all the way north (well, at much north as lonely planet shows :) ). That beach was very nice. It's called Arambol, or Hermal (for some reason towns here have dual names - Arambol/Hermal, *madam, how are you? why are you not talking, you don't know English?* Panjim/Panaji, Mapsa/Mapusa, Mumbai/Bombay... no wonder mail never gets anywhere).
Arambol is long, wide, white sand, with the right amount of people, a small fresh lake, and some tree. Why is the tree in the guide book? Hiked up to that tree. It's some strange place around a tree with a bunch of stoned mainly Russian hippy people. It's very quiet in there, with occasional instrument playing and singing. Then it would get very quiet, and one person would shout "boom!!!", then someone else "boom! boom! boom!" What's boom? I planned to stay there for 5 minutes, but ended up staying for 2 hours. 2 hours later, I still didn't get into the hippy life style. Love all, share and get high attitude. Everything goes round the circle. Someone will buy fruits, cut them up and pass round the circle, cookies, a joint...
On Anjuna beach there are a few men giving massages. They want rps300 for about 15 minutes! Crazy prices! They tried to get me to do it, but I said I *Drums, what's your final price? A little more final price* wouldn't pay more than a 100, and they wouldn't give in! They would rather stand around do nothing than make 100 rupes. Another reason why I wasn't too keen on it maybe was because I didn't want them to touch me, and if I will pay 300 ruppes, I'd rather pay a 70 year old, toothless hallucinating dude! And so I did! At that tree! The massage was very good, relaxing, I could feel that he knows what he's doing, he even cracked my back and neck!
Anjuna beach is famous for its trance parties, but the first week when I was there, it was as quiet as it could get. Apparently there are elections and everybody has to abide by the rules, no alcohol, no music after 10pm, and even 3 days before elections nobody was allowed to sell any alcohol. I don't understand why, because there is no point to these elections anyway. All the parties buy the votes, give families 10,000 rupes to vote for them (it's illegal of course), or I read in the newspaper that they arrested someone with 17,000 litters of alcohol *Privet, kak dela?* - clearly meant to buy votes. So you'd rather accept the money, swallow your pride and vote. Everywhere there are ads on how to elect government. "Our party will not sell jobs!!"
After elections were over, the parties started. Sheriff and me went to my first trance party (first and last!). I don't like trance parties, I don't like trance music, I don't like trance people! Everybody dances by themselves, nobody's socializing, nobody's talking, it's stupid music with high people. I danced for a bit, looked around, and was surrounded by 8 Indian guys showing off their best moves. Sheriff didn't leave my side not for a minute.
After elections were over, trance was playing almost 24/7 ... EVERYWHERE!! *Massage? I give good massage, you look stressed, here, give me your hand* I woke up with trance banging in my head, which wasn't too bad because my room was dark, and I couldn't tell when it's morning, but with trance music starting at 10, it was my cue to get out of bed :) That place almost gave me a heart attack. It's a coconut season now, and the palm trees are everywhere. All the chairs/couches are away from the coconuts, but the METAL roof is not. And in the middle of the night, there were at least 3 occasions where it's like a bomb exploding, OMG, jumping off the bed and all covered in white powder from the ceiling, oh, it's just a coconut, can go back to sleep, just have to wait for my heart to stop racing!
Restaurants in Goa are great! Until Goa I've pretty much just eaten Indian food (which is fantastic), but here there are so many tourists with a huge variety of international restaurants.  *ice cream, ice cream* My favourite is from Tibet. My food budget went up from $2 to $4, but omg, it's soooo good!!! We started bringing our own vodka to restaurants, of course pouring it under the table, but I don't think they would've stopped us even if they saw us. At one dinner it was the 3 of us, we ordered fresh oj, glass of wine, 5 amazing main courses and 3 desserts, for a grand total of $14, we couldn't get out of the table without unbuttoning the pants, the walk back to the guest house was not easy at all :)) Oh, and I forgot to mention that Goa is mainly Christian (due to Portuguese), and beef is in the menu! Beef never tasted so good! :))
I was excited for the start of the holy festival. It's a festival of unknown dates, where people throw colors at each other. I thought it would be just as fun as black & white festival in Colombia, but all my waiting went in vein. I should've thought about it though. Holy is a Hindu festival, of course it will not be celebrated much in Goa. The extent to which it went was some locals stopped cars/scooters/people on the road, put some *madam, you want something? look, I give you good price* color on faces and demanded money for it. That was so much fun!! :S
One day I wanted to walk to Vagator beach. There is a little hill separating Anjuna and Vagator. While on Anjuna beach, I noticed way too many rocks on its northern end. I don't remember it being that way ... what's gong on? Then I reached a place where there is a wall of sand about 70cms high. The storm of a last few days washed all the beach away :(( I asked a few locals what's the best way to get over the hill, they told me it's impossible (the usual answer), and that it's dangerous because I could slip and fall. I thought the only danger on the way will be to bump into people like them. I started walking, the walk was easy, relaxing and beautiful, *Madam, where are you from? Russia? Germany? Italy?* I stopped to take many pictures and on one of the stops, I looked back and there were 2 Indian guys about 100 meters away. Oh shit! I put the camera into the bag and started walking very very fast. The problem was that I got into a very bushy area with lots of cactuses that slowed me down. There was a fork in the path, I went to the one that lead to the water, found some large rocks and decided to hide with a hope that they will choose a different path. That wasn't the case, as when I turned around, they were right there "waiting" for me. A stolen camera now became the least of my concerns. They were standing around as in looking at the views. I got up and started walking. I think I invented a new sport called not speed walking but rather speed cactus avoiding-rock jumping. They were right beside me, sometimes in front of me, sometimes behind me, sometimes one in the front another in the back. I stopped then and let the one in the back walk in front of me. After 5 minutes of that one of them asked me "Where are you from?" - "Canada" - "Will you have sex with me?" - "What????? Are you crazy???????" - "Why crazy?" - "Because I'm married!" - "Where is your husband?" - "He's sick in Anjuna" ... Screw honesty!! Lie through your teeth!!! Thank god I was walking fast and in less than a minute after our exchange I already saw people on the beach. I'm hitch-hiking back, that sounds much safer! I sat on a sun bed near 2 girls. After a while one of their friends came and they started talking. They asked him where is he staying, and he said Anjuna. I jumped off the bed "Anjuna??!!! How are you going there? Can I come with you??" and so it was. I made friends with the 2 girls and with John who after 1 hour of sunset quiet meditation gave me a lift back to Anjuna. He said that he's meditating *Madam, hello, hello, hello* every day for 2 hours. 1 hour during sunrise, and 1 hour during sunset. It's ok during holidays, but how to manage it back at home? I asked him for the reasons of meditating, and he said that you control the mind that way, and detach yourself from material possessions/foods/desires. I don't get it ... isn't it good to have desires? Aren't desires what drive the world forward? Of course crazy obsessions should be avoided (maybe), but why is it so bad to want to drive a BMW, live in a mansion and have a millioner husband? I mean, is that too much to ask for?? :))
Here are a few more episodes of Indian culture:
- Everything that they drink, they don't touch the cup/bottle with their lips, in case they'll share it with somebody, and quite often they spill it all over themselves.
- I think I got the answer to men wearing saris and asking for money. These men are considered to be holy because they know duality, they're both man and woman in one, but they're also considered to be bad luck and have a bad spell, so people give them money just to get rid of them ... they're actually scared of them.
- Everybody looks like a kid until they're 20, and then they get old very very fast. I met a few women, I thought they're 60, and they were only 40! No wonder everybody gives me maximum 24. A few people even gave me 18!
- Everybody has a friend somewhere (abroad I mean). I have a very good friend in Australia and Canada, and US ... No they don't !!! In Udaipur it was a very good example of it. There was a guy, a very good friend of Alex. He said that they go way back when, and he knows her for 3 years already. I thought to myself ... there goes my friend theory. Until I asked Alex, and she said, yeah, I've been to Udaipur 3 years ago, he's a friend of a guest house owner, and we just chatted one evening. They also love to take pictures with foreigners, and my theory is to tell their friends at home ... see, I have Canadian friend! Or worst yet, she's my girlfriend!
- For some reason they can't remember orders. I was with a girl, and she was talking to a waiter for a good minute asking for a diet coke, which they didn't have, and she tried to figure out what diet drinks they have. I didn't order any drink. They brought it, and served it to me. On another occasion, Sherrif and me went to a restaurant. He ordered steak with 2 sides, he wanted mashed potatoes and fries. They said no, we can only do fries and veggies. But it comes with any 2 sides, so I want mashed potatoes. - Impossible! (everything's impossible) ... a few minutes later they finally agreed. When the steak came, it was just with fries. Jeez !!! AND mashed potatoes !!! Where is their head at? Maybe the restaurants should give food to workers to keep the hamster alive!
- I was at skype talking to mom and watching pictures on facebook. There is a divider between each computer. The guy beside me, starts calling me, madam, madam, can you go 2 pictures back. Where was that taken? ... Why is he looking at my monitor? 2 minutes later. Madam madam, are these pictures taken professionally? - Dude !!!! Can't you see I'm on the phone???!!!!
- Most Indian never seen women in bikinis, let alone topless, and they come to Goa just to witness such a pornography! Herds of them would be walking along the beach and eyeing every inch of your body, from head to toe. This is so gross, you cannot imagine. Some of the more advanced ones pretend to take pictures of their friends with girls in bikinis in the background. Or they would walk along the beach with their phone or iPad in front of them as though talking on it. I lost my patience every time ... and that's a lot of times !! –Thanks for taking a picture of me!! – Another one, another one!!! Bastard!

I just reread the blog, it sounds very negative. It wasn't all too bad, I actually couldn't believe that when I checked out, I paid for 14 nights. The beach got quite annoying, but if I stayed on the 3rd row of beds, I could avoid most of the hassle, at least from the staring locals :)

pix at: https://picasaweb.google.com/100036016632387453128/Goa#