Feb 2006

Now in Goa, self-proclaimed 'beach party capital' of India. Look like the peak tourist season is over though as it's not exactly pumping.

Domestic air travel in India rocks!! Rest assured there are no cows or beggars in the aisles and the service is top-notch. Had a great flight here on Kingfisher Air, and domestic airports are excellent too.

Kingfisher Air, supposedly India's 'budget' domestic airline are totally wicked. Run by a dude that owns the brewery producing the renowned beer of the same name (what a guy!), they offer a A-Z service. They're with you from taking your bags out of your rickshaw when you arrive at the airport, right through to loading them at your next port of call. Not to mention good food and inflight entertainent to rival Singapore Airlines. Reading through the in-flight mag, there was an article about the Director of Kingfisher also publishing a swimsuit calendar. Again, what a guy! Makes beer...owns planes....makes swimsuit calendars.

Anyway...In an attempt to avoid hotel issues a-la-Bangalore, we wasted no less than an hour in Panji (capital of Goa), trying to find a fax machine where we could get the Navsari travel agents to fax a copy of our passports to. Worked in the end, by which time my t shirt felt like a blanket in the 36' heat. Note to all travellers... dont expect that 'Tourist Office of India' or the 'Government Tourist Office' to be able to help you with anything AT ALL. Nothing. Zilch. Zippo.

Got a decent mid-range hotel for the night (still no 24/7 hot water, let alone carpet) as we planning to splash out for the last night or two at a food+booze provided palace. Had entrees at this AMAZING lebanese restraunt next door to Hotel called 'Shalom' - dining tables / bar are on a multi-level deck ON TOP of a massive bottom-lit pool. Totally wicked. Turns out it'd only been open 12 days. Food was a treat too! Ate Kingfish at a beach shack (with liquid equivalent on the side) for desert. Delicious.

Have walked a few kays along the beach this morning, it's totally packed with beach hut / shack restraut-bars and zillions of loungers. Ridiculous really...think Baywatch but on loungers and with 'Raj' and 'Ashok' instead of Mitch and Kit. The loungers look pretty inviting; am gonna set aside a day to lie back, get comfortably drunk and enjoy the view.

HEAPS of Hawkers everywhere here too. On the streets... on the beach.... constantly pestering. Every Dipak, Anil and Apu have "very special prices just for you" on anything from shoes and towels to lobster and margaritas!

Gameplan for today is to book some top-end accom for the next few days + get transport from Mumabi to Navsari on the 7th.

Sweet as, am gonna try upload some photos now too
Enjoy

Nick

Ok so you know the whole 'fingers crossed' thing? Didnt help. Got back to Hotel Toms at ten past two and tried talking to the manager (who was now on the front desk). After a lot of wasted time I've decided I need to get my hands on an Indian dictionary and lookup what a 'Booking' means to these fools.

He stuck to his speil that no1 had vacated and they had a 'wedding party' coming in who had pre-paid for their rooms...therefore there were no rooms available. Sure, acceptble enough. Except when the guy on the desk who we phoned the previous night said 'Yes, we have rooms available', took our details and said he'd see us at 2pm. Mr Manager maintained that this was a "conditional booking", conditional upon them having rooms available. Despite none of these 'conditions' being told to us over the phone when they confirmed our booking. Go figure. It was all I could do to open up a can of Whoop Ass (Contract Law edition) on his ass!

So.... he sent us to 'Hotel Vellara'. Didnt look too bad from the street but trying to get a room proved more than difficult. Our Navsari travel agent had advised us NOT to take our passports. Being a tad wary about only having a NZ Drivers License as ID I took a photocopy of mine. Turns out Hotel Vellara had a strict passport-checking policy for all non-indian nationals. Anway the guts of it is that most hotels here insist that THEY had to check you're a legitimate tourist (hey, forget customs and all that...) and since we were holding only a copy of my passport and nothing of mayas(thanks for your advice, Kalpna travel, Navsari!!!) we couldnt get a room.

Despite what Maya may tell you about Hotel Sunflower, it was another dump. Clean enough but nothing spectuacular. VERY bottom of the range by NZ standards. Hotel dude insisted it had hot water. Tempted by the 'hot' tap on the shower before we went out, this turned out to be a lie. He neglected to mention the hot water only runs in the mornings...

Collected a pretty good haul from the Brigaide Rd shopping area. Nice and cheap, just the way I like it!

'Out' in Bangalore is eventful once you find a place that is open past 11pm. Must take a concerted effort to get decently drunk here as you'd have to be rocking up to bars right on opening time! Hahaha it was Bollywood Night at 'Zero G' so we though we'd go along for a laugh. No less than half an hour of walking later we found it and were predicatably amused by the antics of drunk indians. Complete with token Dirty Old Men and Absolutely Munted Girl no longer able to walk. Funny tunes but they must be big pop hits as everyone(else) knew the words. Almost had to stop some people on the dance floor as it lookd they could hurt themselves....

Laters all, off for a rickshaw-tour of the city before the flight to Goa.

Ciao People,
Well yesterday was Bangalore in a nutshell... From the slums, thanks to Nicks elaborative descriptions to the Rooftops.
We managed to a place to sleep for the night.."Hotel Sunflower", right on a busy intersection, but at least it was central and came with supposed hot water and a TV (100+ channels, about 20 in English and 80 in different Indian dialects)
Wandered down Richmond Road to MG Road, the Hub and place to be seen here. Got flyer for Channa pattie burger at ...... KFC !! and there was also Eat as much Pizza for Rp99 (=$3)

Speaking of Hubs, there are these roadside, well arranged 'cafes', not unsimilar to 'Starbucks' which were positively pumping with people all there to be seen and heard, if that was possible above the loud 1980s music. Ha Ha...

Well, as Nick was hanging out for a beer we went in pursuit of some cold alcoholic liuid refreshments.. found a place called 'the 13th floor' and had to wait till 7pm (15min) for it to open, and it was well worth the wait.. cool, outside barstools with views over Bangalore in the evening, lights and no noise at that height, and the Beer .. 600ml Kingfisher was superb as well.

En-route back to Sunflower checked out another Bar called 'NASA' and Yup it was all about being in a spaceship with fluoro blue lighting and TV screens all over the place. Not sure if the music is as loud in space !!

Ho, Hum ,after some decision and indecision was decided to try and find some 'nightlife', so consulted the "Lonely Planet' only to find the so-called open to 2am places were in fact closing at 11:30, anyway headed off to a place that didn't look so far on the map. About 6 blocks later and we hear loud music coming from the top of a highrise !, Yup right on track to "Zero G", a rooftop club that was 'going off'. Yest truely there was dancing and jumping on the dancefloor, really drunk people being held up by their friends, young and old alike... but all Hip in the bangalore way. The place was rather incredible, actually outdoor with big sails well arranged and great seating in the adjacent restaurant. Watched and drank for a short time, felt strange not knowing any of the music, but pretty good beats none the less.

Not a bad day overall in Bangalore.. Silicone Valley of India
Cheers
Maya