Hampi, November 12, 2008

I'm finally in Hampi. After a long and surrealistic trip of 18 hours.
I left Mapusa at about 3:00 PM as the bus was supposed to leave at 6:30. Waited in Mapusa about 1:30 hours and then the bus which is a pick-up bus arrives at around 7:30 and takes us to Panjim where the final bus was waiting. So we leave from there about 8:30. Fortunately I had a seat with no one sitting beside me. Actually they did have sleeper for singles, only two. But I did not know. The bus is very old, and air-conditioning is opening of the windows. Not too bad as it is not very hot, but air pollution is a hassle. The bus was full of foreigners including many Israelis. So company was very good. I also met a nice British woman which lives in Montevideo and became friends with her.
The trip is surrealistic. The bus goes very slow, while crossing cities there are lots of street bumps which slow it down even further. At about 3:00 AM in the morning the bus stops and the responsible person tells us that there is a traffic jam. It is unbelievable. You get out of the bus and the whole road which is not very wide is completely blocked by trucks on both sides. The thing is completely clogged and nothing moves. We stayed the whole night for 6 hours waiting until things started to move. So instead of getting to Hampi at 7:00 AM we got to Hampi at about 3:00 PM. I got to a nice guest house called Shanti Guest house. I joined some other people I met in the bus. It does not have a toiled and shower in the room but is very clean, nice and very cheap. It is also located in a great location. Hampi is just amazing. The temples are breath-taking and there natural rock bolsters just unbelievable. Now I downloaded all my pictures to a CD which I'll send soon be able to send.
Overall I'm tired but the place is quite amazing and well worth the trip. Will see how many days I stay here.

Goa, Aranbol, November 11, 2008

It is just amazing that I'm already one month in India. At the beginning I was thinking what I would do in 9 weeks, and it is passing very fast and I'm already starting to feel that it will be two short. Specially when I meet people that are here for 6 months, 1 years, etc.
So I left my guest house and I'm on my way to the bus station in Mapusa (pronounced Mapsa) which is just ~30 KM from here, but the bus takes an hour. From Mapusa to Hampi is probably 500 km and the bus takes 12 hours. This is India pace, average of busses and trains is 50 KM/h.
The roads are typically very bad and everything is veryyyyyyyyyy slow.
All the young Israelis in the Internet cafes are hysterically being called by their families to go back home or to leave Goa. As the foreign department in Israel is warning against traveling to Goa in this holiday season. I'm not too concerned. Following the Mumbai attacks there is much more awareness of the local police and authorities and as Goa is the most touristic state in India, they are very alert to any attack possibility. My own judgment is that Aranbol would be less likely a target as it has NO hotels and resorts at all. It is all cheap budget guest houses. I'd imagine that terrorists would rather attack a more flashy hotel. In any case, this is my rational to be calm.
So I'm leaving Aranbol today but after Hampi there is a likelihood that I'll come back. At least to somewhere in Goa. More and more I'm enjoying, the longer you stay the more you get acquainted with the interesting people and spots.
A few days ago I found a very cheap little eatery which many westerners sit. You can have a nice Tally and few SHAIs for around 60 rupee (1.5$). Also I found that the people sitting in this place are very nice and they blend on the few tables. There I met a couple from Portugal. Jose which is Portuguese and Tomoko which is Japanese and leaved in Brazil. She is Jose's girl friend. She is a very short little Japanese which speaks Portuguese with a Brazilian accent. Very nice people.
I went there around 6:30 PM for a Shai (Milk tea) and suddenly someone from Germany joined us and I stayed for 3 hours talking to this people in this little spot. The German woman came for a year. All those long time travelers are always traveling on a very low budget, so they come to this cheap places.
After that I went to a another restaurant, which had some amazing live music. The place is called sports bar. As they play on a big screen sports. I come for a little while to watch and stayed till 3:30 AM. At 1:30 AM the Champions league games started and watched the Arsenal / Porto game. Meanwhile I talked to many different people, including the singers which many have interesting story and interesting lives.
So this is Aranbol, very lively, never a dull moment.
I'm profiting that I don't have a room anymore to enjoy the A/C in the Internet Cafe and write my blog. But soon I'll start my long journey to Hampi.

Goa: Aranbol, December 09, 2008

Today I completed my Yoga class. Overall it was very nice. Quite challenging and difficult but
very worth as the teacher Sharrat is really amazing and gave me and the class basic concepts of yoga that you don't learn in every place. The class was good today I made progress on my headstands and I'm mostly able to go on by myself. I bought the ropes necessary to do the headstands at home. A bit heavy to carry but I'm not sure I could find them in Israel.

Other than that I enjoy a lot the live music which is almost daily in a different place.
Yesterday it was electronic music from a group called Electronic Traffic. They are just amazing.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=388336567

I've already seen them before.
They are amazing, the play here and in Ibiza. They are almost everyday in a different restaurant here. The most amazing thing was after 10:00 PM when officially no noise can be done.
The guys from the restaurant which was on the beach, lit a fire and everybody sat around the fire. All kinds of people which play different instruments, specially drums started playing. Others sing. Lots of candles are lit on the sand. It was just amazing and so spontaneous.
I have found my winning formula for feeling great. A kingfisher beer (630 ML) and an Indian vodka (Romanov). After those I feel really good and in tune. I'm whistling a lot with the pace of the music and nobody tells me to shut-up.

More and more I'm becoming friendly with the dogs which are everywhere. Some already recognize me and approach me.
I found a place which has a wonderful Fish-Tally for 40 rupees.
What can I say, life is good.

The big dilemma is to stay here or move to Hampi. I had planned to move tomorrow, but decided to postpone at least a day (maybe more). The routine here is so pleasant. The inertia is keeping me longer.

Goa:Aranbol, November 6th 2008

Today was my 3rd day in the Yoga class and I'm really proud of myself. I'm doing head-stands hanging from a rope on the ceiling. I manage to get up on a head-stand and holding myself a bit.
The teacher Sharrat is amazing, he is so good explaining the details and how everything is so based on the legs. Spreading and extending the fingers, and pushing the heels to the floor, this makes the whole difference.
I'm in a class with 10-15 young Chinese woman and man. They are all so lean and flexible, it is amazing. One of them is the translator, therefore all the teacher's explanations have to be translated which makes the class longer. We start at 6:30 AM, we do head-stands, some flexibility exercises by ourselves and the teacher arrives at 7:00 AM. We go until about 10:30.
After Yoga I go back to my room, shower and go for my brunch about 11:00 AM.

Today I decided to try the Israeli breakfast. It had Lemon Nana drink. The drink is amazing, the probably put in the blender nana, lemon and ice. The drink is very green and tastes great. I've drunk this in Israel. Additionally it had hummus, a salad, eggs any style and a pita (a naan). All this for about 2$. Amazing, it was one of the best Israeli breakfasts I've even had, including in Israel. Everything is cooked and made on the spot with a lot of care.

More about the Indian dogs. Today at 6:15 when I went to my yoga, while it is still a bit dark outside, a dog was by my door. He saw the noise and the light on the silence of the night.
The dog was so friendly and happy and eager for some care. So I gave him some care, and for a while he became my dog. I walked for 15 minutes on the beach and he came with me all the time.
You see gangs of dogs walking with western people. Sounds that if you give the dogs some love (and maybe some food) they become your dogs, at least for a while.

Yesterday I was eager to go see again the Saturday night market. I drove to there with my scooter (for about 45 minutes) just to find that it had been canceled. The Indian authorities are quite concerned with terrorism after what happened in Mumbai. I'm starting to see a few Indian policeman going around in the beach. But they are not armed, and it is not clear what they can do against terrorists. They are so unprepared for it.