MASSIVE last day in Colaba
More shopping
Heaps of bloody walking!
Late nights
Art galleries
Yum bakery

R&R in Singapore
A hotel room with carpet AND hot water.... at last
Not to mention pool, puting green, gym, wifi internet
MASSIVE electronics malls with dodgy salesmen
Near-miss with some cool sunnies
Few km cablecar ride to Senatosa Island
Night Safari at the zoo (awesome!)
Us missing the bus (the bus missing us?) back to the hotel after the night safari
Laser light / fountain show in one
Crazy local fruit (kiwifruit/nashipear cross!)

Stayed up all last night in the hope of sleeping through the fligbt to NZ. See you all there!

COMING SOON:
Mission Stats

News In Brief remains copyright of the author nickrav, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Have done all the goodbyes in the village and are currently in Colaba, the tourist district of Bomaby (officially 'Mumbai' now) and having a wicked time. Caught the train here from Navsari and have worked out how the whole 'class' system works. We'd been travelling second class - still comfy enought with your own seats, air conditioning and no1 standing up. But thought we'd go the whole hog on our last train ride in India and go First Class.

Still under $50 pp for the 400kay trip and it's well worth the dosh! You have your own private cabin complete with AC controls, reading lights, carpet, towels, lunch and cushions even get provided early in the trip. The windows are tinted and the ride's so comfy it lulled us both to sleep! Damn trains and their gentle rocking to and fro....

Anyway, after getting off the train and enduring a good hour of steaming-hot taxi ride, during which our driver asked no less than 10 people for directions to the Ascot Hotel, we were at our destination. So lost that he even tried to ditch us twice by saying he'd drop us off as it was "just round the corner". I dont think so buddy!

Hardly any of the hotels had vacancies but we managed to get a nice room in Ascot (complete with cable TV and hot water) for a steal! We accidently got caught in an impromptu shopping spree and ended up home with a bag full of stuff after Indian McDonalds for dinner (come on, it HAD to be done).

Managed to roll through three of the Lonely Planets recommended bars that night, which was pretty cool. Best place of all was "Indigos", VERY posh and packed with the poncy Bollywood Crowd. Walk out and theres a Porche parked at the door plus four chicks getting dropped off in nice black Ashton Martin.

Felt the toll the next morning as we werent even out of the hotel by 11. Had a AVERAGE lunch of waffles/bananan/maple syrup as this cafe before cathing a ferry to Elephanta Island. The boat could only be described as a floating coffin, but we thought what the heck it's got to be done.

Turned out 9kays in the boat takes at least 40min and we were well over the heat by the time we arrived. Saw some cool Naval stuff, and a couple of superyachts in the harbour on the way though! Elephanta Island's attractions are these stone caves with massive Hindu sculptures of Gods and stuff built into them. Not much is known about their origins but the good ol' LP (Loney Planet) says they were probably constructed between 100-400AD and were named the Elephanta Cave/Islands by the Portugese when they rocked up at the shores and first noticed this big stone statue of an elephant. Makes sense I guess.... There were also lots of sweet monkeys at the caves, pretty cheeky too - a girl next to us had an apple clean stolen out of her hand and I had one swinging from the end of my coke!

Pretty cool stuff to check out and as usual there were loads of street-side vedors selling everything from sandwiches to xylophones on the walk from the wharf to the caves. Ferried back and checked out the Gateway To India, a massive monument that was built for King George V's first arrival back in the day. On that note, theres plenty of old colonial architecture around..almost looks like London sometimes.

Walked no less than 10kay (honest!) trying to find this restraunt that we saw on our taxi ride into the city, as dined at one with the same name in Bangalore and it was excellent. Turned out the name was all that the two branches had in common though. Quite funny, we found it and though there was a huge crowd of people waiting to get in as it was SO busy. Turned out they were just gawking through the full-glass wall to get a glimpse of the tv inside and see how India was doing in the one-dayer against Pakistan. The restaunt was dead-empty inside! Lesson of the day was dont go to a half-arsed restraunt and order food when the crickets on in India, as the staff are on the same wavelength as the people crowded against the window. After more than half an hour's wait for food we busted a move... dont think they even realised we were gone.

Got a taxi to a well-known place called 'Leopolds' that's been pumping every time we'd walked past it to date. The tandoori chicken and fish masala was well worth the taxi ride...and was out in less than ten minutes!

Just off a horse-and-cart ride of Colaba at night. Looks awesome fully lit-up and our cart even had neon lights on the back - talk about pimped out! The gameplan is to see what Indigo and some other bars are doing tonight before a day of sightseeing / last minute shopping and a 21:30 check in for Singapore Airlines to Singapore tomorow. Coupla days there and we're back in NZ late Thu night!

Oh, the day before we left the village Mum, Maya and I did a train-ride mission to Surat, a big neighbouring city to see what it was all about. Turned out to be a BIG day, had a VERY nice lunch at this Lords Hotel place and checked out some shops. There was this place called "Bombay Market" which was indoors, very tidy and seriously, there must've been MILLIONS of saris there. Quite funny, they have mattresses (weird, I know) all over the floor of their shop. So you go in, they sit you down and then proceed to empty about half the their shelves showing you all they've got. Doesnt matter what you say... it just keeps coming and coming till you buy something or walk out!

Beauty, hope Aoteroa's treating everyone well!
Nick

Cranking Colaba remains copyright of the author nickrav, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Spent some more time at Vajifa, as it makes an easy escape from sitting ‘round. Pretty fun too, got to watch the rice terraces being irrigated, worked flat by bullock & cart, then rice planted row by row by the workers. Got cooked a traditional Indian BBQ, rode the bullocks (hota) and took HEAPS of photos. Quick trip to the Bombay Markets (in Navsari, nonetheless) proved not worth the effort. Same shit, different store….yet again. That and a whole lot of bric-a-brac.

A REAL LIVE indian wedding

Plans for further abroad didn’t work out due to our inability to negotiate India’s rail reservation system. In the jumble, I thought that buying “Trains at a Glance” for a mere 35 rupees may further our cause. Only after I paid did it’s tremendous girth become known to me. No less than 267-pages and you need nothing less than a PhD to decipher it. Not so much glancing to be had I’d say…though at least you’re getting your ruppees worth of paper! By the time we’d got back from the train station the three of us were dehydrated as…not to mention bored shitless and sick of little beggar children poking us. Turns out it’s actually a six hour journey and there were no first class tickets left on the trains we wanted. Perhaps a day trip to Surat will have to do…

Haven’t seen any good snakes yet, a few small dead ones on the road but don’t think they qualify! A couple of cheeky squirrels around and the usual gaggle of dogs. Actually one cute little puppy’s adopted our household. He hangs out in the yard and if he’s not there he’s “guarding” (sleeping by) the front door. The local peacocks seem pretty intelligent too, seems as though we’ve got one on a bit of a timetable to appear at our back door so we can feed it and stuff in the morning. Pretty cool – it’ll eat right from your hand and it’s a big male one too. These things are so massive tho, can’t see how it’s physically possible for them to fly!

Great to have some more Marmite from NZ and I never thought I’d appreciate the Weekend Herald as much as I do here. Real articles! Real English! Such a relief… every article’s like poetry when you’ve been on a solid course of The Indian Times for three weeks.

Have also just blown the limit of photo uploads per month so scroll back and check some out! Cheers, Nick

Look theres Mum!

Goodies from NZ remains copyright of the author nickrav, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

More sickness in the camp at HQ. J was physically ill yesterday and I’m avoiding food at the moment, no prizes for guessing why. The tummy’s feeling all good but lets just say there are issues in other departments. The EVIL Giardia strikes again perhaps? We’ve switched back to drinking only bottled water instead of tap water (which is sourced from a well) coz of what it may contain.

As for further trips, I’m way keen to train it to Ahmedavad, spend a night or two, fly to Delhi, check it out and possibly get a car down to Jaipur, Agra (Taj Mahal) and Pushkar. If there were constant trains and planes it’d be sweet, but a number of factors are working against me. Granddad’s book-launch is now officially scheduled for Feb16th at Dandee Beach, we’re off to Bombay and NZ after that and even going to the travel agent and finding out about fares/timings is at least a half-day mission! Not to mention courting the support of the shopping-brigade... If planes/trains line up, I’d possibly do the trip solo. But even finding that is gonna tine…. Where’s the internet when you need it?!

Had to do some very rapid RVDR (Routine Visiting of Distant Relations) in the arvo in a neighbouring village, the one where Dad’s originally from. There was an absolute plethora of olds ladies we had to call upon! I was kept amused though, as Indian people are soooo funny. I’ve also sussed that old ladies are the same wherever you go… all about the talking, tea and gossip. I’m pretty sure we got through at least 7 households in two hours, every single one of them ULTRA hospitable, consistently ignoring our requests not to serve us tea / pepsi / etc! Left with no less than 4 invitations to stay for dinner too. As I said, the oldies were funny as, all of them marvelling over how much I’d grown since last here age 3 and insisting I let them find me a good wife as they knew lots of nice girls. Baha!

The girls (now 3 of them) rickshawed to Dandee beach and managed to score some camel rides…nice for some!

S.O.S remains copyright of the author nickrav, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Landing in Mumbai at 7pm instead of 6, combined with the discovery that our taxi driver had no clue whatsoever how to get to Bhanderi station meant our 7.30 train to Navsari had long gone by the time we arrived for it. Deciding to take things into our owns hands, we joined the throngs of people mashed against the ticket counters in an attempt to a) find out when the next train to Navsari was, b) get tickets and c) get the heck aboard!

Simple right? Think again. There’s no actual timetable on the wall or anywhere (have previously tried the net but it’s an absolute maze) and there were, strangely enough, TWO sets of 8-or-so counters no less than 30m apart, each differently labelled in Hindi with what you were meant to do where. In the chaos, whilst everyone spared a second or two to answer our questions in english, very few made any sense. Imagine you’re asking directions but half the people say left and the other half point right. Then add some darkness, a few hundred people, yelling, screaming, beggars, pickpockets, 25kg of backpack and you’re close to Bhandari Terminus 8pm on the 8th of Feb.

Splitting up to try penetrate the masses, we ended up with cattle-class tickets on a 22:30 train that stopped in Navsari. Lost out due to some weird process you’ve gotta go though to get first class, despite me telling the guy at the counter it’s what I wanted. You WANT to be in first or second class in Indian trains. The locals travel anything below: think no seats, think no doors, think filth. Having somehow gleamed that there was also one departing at 21:00, Maya insisted we try to get on it. I was happy to go along as the above cattle class seriously didn’t appeal. Pacing along the 30 or so carriages in the hope of finding the conductor we found ourselves up against a smartly dressed gentleman in black pinstripes. He was our man! And for a mere 430 ruppees each he said we could upgrade to second class. After being absolutely certain that this ‘express’ train actually stopped in Navsari, we boarded and hoped for the best.

Four hours, one of them standing and no less than three seat-changes later we were at our destination. We almost made the whole 300km trip on NZ$4 too! But the conductor remembered the little ‘deal’ we had. Quite an enjoyable trip once you know you’re gonna get dropped at your stop and you’re a (vaguely) legitimate passenger. There were about 3 or 4 bridal parties doing the 15hour ride to Rajestan, all adorned with lots of colourful, shiny stuff and looking nothing short of amazing. Even managed to get blessed by some bloody scary transvestites! Officially called ‘Eunuchs’ or ‘hijras’, the Lonely Planet says some of them were “unlucky enough to be kidnapped and castrated”…not such a comforting though to have echoing in my head when they came and started talking to us! They travel around begging, performing as unwanted entertainers and as hookers. Apparently there’s something real superstitious about them and they can lay either a blessing or curse on you. Either way, they asked for cash and Maya insisted on asking what for / where were they going etc. Cowering in the corner I was mentally urging her open up that wallet and throw them some rupee!! Luckily enough we gave 50rupees covered the both of us and she we scored a blessing for us and our village. Phew, close shave! (chop?)

Made another hectic venture into Navsari and had a few revelations by the end of it. Love the animals in India; just everywhere, doing their own thing. They epitomise the people here… stop, stare at you, have a think, see if they can possbily scam you, stare again and then go about their day. They don’t give a damn. The wild ones aren’t scared of you, nor do they want to harm you. Just nose around, see what they can get off of you and then move onto their next prey. End of the day they don’t give a f#*k!

Saw a wicked sight in the vegetable ‘bazaar’. There was this cow just cruising around amongst the masses (nothing too unusual). But this bovine beast had an agenda. While the Fam were looking at veggies for dinner, he snuck in beside Maya and got his gob around some nice fresh carrots – straight from the vendor’s stall! Finding himself promptly whacked with the vendor’s stick, he backed off and carried on his way. Within a few paces he was at it again; ended up strolling down the bazaar sneaking whatever he could from the stalls and getting whacked with sticks or hands. Small price to pay I guess!

Our car driver is a bit of a funny-guy, he keeps hassling me about there being plenty of eligible young girls out there for me. Reckons all I have to do is give him 51 rupees and he can get the marriage all sorted! Personally I think he just likes my hair…keeps asking me if I’ll leave him my wax before I leave. What a clown!!!

Back to the Gaam remains copyright of the author nickrav, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

All is good
Nick

En route Navsari remains copyright of the author nickrav, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

In Panjim now, much harder finding a Cybercafe in this place than in Touristville central, the beaches.
Spent last evening in the company of the Fijian-Indian-Kiwi blokes and 2 UK-Indian girls from Leicester on Vagator beach, along from Anjuna. Somehow ended up at a place called Prim Rose, for some food, altho the lads were strictly on the liquid refreshments. Come kick-off Chelsea vs Liverpool, a mob of Fans arrived to watch the game upstairs on large screen, so we joined in. Boring Game, but it ended in 90min or so, if you didn't catch it Chelsea won 2-0 and take away the League title. Anyway, Nick found the club associated with Prim Rose and it was superbly organised with seating, dancefloor and psychedelic lighting... just very few punters, so Baskin and Robbins icecream seemed a wiser choice. Shared a taxi back to Calangute with the UK girls only to find the power was off, and the boys at Shalom had already started on the bottle of Smirnoff for the night, so popped over to enjoy the moonset until power was restored.

Superb morning today, went for nice last walk along the beach before all the sun loungers get full of people and also got a 'Real coffee' from the Kaya Cafe... just along from our accomodation. It is owned by a Japanese woman and her Goan husband.. good freshly ground coffee, with a fantastic breakfast of fresh fruit (papaya, pineapple, strawberries and banana) with this terracotta pottle of fresh yoghurt, as well as eggs and toast on a plate made from leaves. Amazing presentation and undeniably the best breakfast I had in Goa.

Found Nick relishing in the after-effects of Kingfisher, and after a 'refreshing' beetroot juice he almost caused the rickshaw driver to have a panic attack as he puked red-purple on the side of the road. He is blaming the chicken toasted sandwiches from Room Service, but I never saw any of that or carrots either !!

Staying in Panjim on AB Road, there is no C or D.. we asked!. Went for a stroll and Nick picked himself up to do some shopping. Tis a good moto to buy now as you may not see it again. Have got a Family Supply of humungous cashew nuts, fingers crossed NZ MAF will let us in the country with them, or will be crazily eating them by the Amnesty box.

Just spent an hour on a 'Sunset Cruise'. Very popular with at least 4 Operators and plenty of 'tourists' mostly Indians from other places, but also a few white and other colours too. Very corny Entertainment director, who loved the sound of his own voice rather too much and seemed to be almost swallowing the microphone.

OK, so our Southern Indian adventure is almost over, just another Domestic flight and it has plenty to compete with and then the train ride homeward.

Ciao for now.
Maya

Kingfisher Kick Back remains copyright of the author nzmaya, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Solid evening last night. Started with a cruise over to a different beach called Vagator to hook up with the indo-kiwi dudes and the english girls from earlier. AWESOME beach.. think cliffops, coconut palms and bamboo shacks. Not crowded at all, probably coz most of the beachgoers were happily smoking it up in the beach-shacks.

As a result I'm having a bit of a rough one today. Tender stomach and all, lets just say the rickshaw had to make an emergency stop this morning. Could be a real rough hangover or the street-side feed we bought at 5am.... We've sussed that Drunken Samosas here are the equivalent of Drunken Pies back home!

Spending the night in the Goa state capital of Panchim at a relatively nice hotel. Yes, air conditioning and hot water 24/7. Qutie a nice city... it even has footpaths and i havnt seen a cow on the road all day! Heaps of catholic churches and the likes around because of the Portugese influence. Had a wee shop-up and then boarded for a 'Sunset Cruise' in the harbour.

Cruise was a bit of a joke. Was a bit apprehensive; boarding a sketchy boat while nursing a vulnerable stomach... but that was soon all turned around by our MC for the evening and the ridiculous on-cruise setup. Fast-talking, american-accented indian dude introducing each part of the on-stage 'entertainment', followed by the 'DJ' going nuts on one of those synthesiser keyboards (the ones every 10 year old had) while some local fools tried folkdancing. It was SO cheesy, but the rest of the boat (mostly non-Goan indians) were lapping it up! Cameras out and all. Great for a laugh.

Some more of Panchim, a bit of Air Deccan to Bombay and a train ride back to Navsari tomorrow will bring Tour 1.0 to an end.

Awesome, am not risking dinner tonight as spewing beeroot-red stomach juices out of the rickshaw (in an attempt to cure the hangover I thought I'd try some healthy fruit juice...bad call) isnt my fondest memory of the adventure so far!

laters
Nick

Panchim remains copyright of the author nickrav, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Having an amazing time in Goa, not hard to see why it's the tourist capital of India. This place is massive, littered with cool beaches and has a party scene too.

Choka with people, no shortage of bods on the beaches and in the shops. A mixutre of paisty white and crimson red Poms - they're about as much fun as a hard boilled egg. At any one time there've got be anywhere between 10 000 - 20 000 of them in Goa.

Had a couple of MEAN nights out with another planned to start in a few hours. Bumped into some other indo-kiwis in a bar called 'Mambos' and have been hitting it with them. Last night we went to this surreal clifftop club called 'Club Cabana'. Interesting cover charge policy (or just no admission for guys that arent couples...wheres the fun in that?) here, but we got in sweet as were accompanied by a couple of english chicks that I had met the night before. 500 rupees (not even 20 bucks NZ!) later you're at this poolside bar, next to a mansion / club. Seriously, thought I was in Hollywood! Went to find Cameron Diaz but to no avail.... Oh, OPEN bar nonetheless, the cover charge includes all the drinks you can handle. Needless to say it was a wicked night.

Had a mission 2 hour bus ride to Anjuna beach (its only 15km away)where we had lunch with the indo-kiwi dudes. I went to a midnight market before meeting up with them again that night. Got a henna tattoo as well, will try and post up a picture. Maya made a return visit to 'Shalom' and I'm thinking dinner there's gotta be done again.

Umm... what else? Eating delicious seafood on the beach, still drinking Kingfisher. It's still bloody hot, high 30's I'd say. Swimming, but the water's luke-warm so its not exactly refreshing!

Another full day in Goa tomorrow; may be going deep-sea fishing with the kiwi dudes on a boat they've hired. If not I'm hoping to go on this waterfall tour where you get to see sweet monkeys plus check out this 'Saint Francis Xaviar" guy's corpse. Legend has it he was a Portugese catholic missionary who died in the 1500's but his body doesnt decompose. Currently residing in a glass coffin at a church in Goa. How out-of-it is that!

Luvin It!
Nick

Goodtimes Goa remains copyright of the author nickrav, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Well, was a beautiful start to the day, wandered down to Calangute Beach early and was rewarded with seeing the fishing boats coming in and the nets being emptied of crabs, fish etc. Found a quiet spot and guess what you do not get any hassles if you are sitting and meditating. In fact you hear people walking towards you and then around your 'space'. The whole personal space thing took on a new dimension, considering how crowded everything else is.

Nick became human around 10am after a big night out with some 'new friends' that he made in Club Paradiso.......Indian Kiwis no less and they are friends of Ashwins from Auckland and the UK.

After some blog picture uploading, we decided to check out some local transport to Anjuna (the party beach). It is always helpful when someone tells you that to get there, you have to go to Mapusa first and change buses. Well, what a trip... the local scenery is great, heaps of tall coconut palms and something strange was with every cow in a paddock there was a white Heron type bird nearby. Hmm, maybe the cow stirs up the bugs for the bird.. nature is full of symbiotic relationships.

Buses.. Ha Ha, getting off the first was OK, but the next one was madly filling up. Needless to say the 'polite foreigners' stood back and let the locals on..... only to have the last 2 people standing on the last step, just enough for the door to close. Yes actually these ones have doors that close, unlike some others. So, we waited for the next bus which duly arrived, unloaded and reversed into its space. Sweet, seats all around... but then another bus arrived and we were told that the one we were comfortable in wasn't leaving for another hour but the latest arrival was loading up and departing ASAP. So we hoofed it over to the new bus, and were invited to sit in the the compartment with the Driver. Funny actually the bus is like 1/4 Bus driver compartment and 3/4 passengers. In the driver space there is all mention of Religious pictures (Jesus, Buddha), garlands, decorations etc. The roads these buses go along and the way they are driven you can appreciate why the driver needs as much religion on his side as possible.

Anjuna Beach... finally and we even managed to meet up with Nicks New Friends, with whom we went to Sunset Cafe for Beers and some food. Great seats looking out over the water. Could feel myself changing colour as the beer kicked in. Following being fed and watered, chilled out on some Sunset Beach loungers that the incoming tide was lapping at... Nice !!!
Yes.. there were even Cows on the beach.. how perfectly typical for here.
Decided to actually try the water and it was WET and SALTY !! Lots of floating vegetation (seaweed and sticks) and some serious sudden sand bars on the way out. The beaches here are quite steep so there is only about 10m-15m from the high tide to low tide mark. Anyway the water was ...... tepid !!, yes like a cool bath.. not as refreshing as the water was at Narrowneck before I left. So ended up doing the plunge thing, in for a few minutes then out to lie in the sun and then in again just to be wet. Hmmm, got rickshaw back to Calangute.

Picked up Train tickets for the 7th, so hopefully our third and last Domestic carrier will be on-time into Mumbai, so we can get our 1935 train to Navsari.

Nick en route to some Beach Party somewhere... I done my share of partying in beach shacks, sand getting everywhere and losing keys, shoes etc !!
Probably need to check out some goodies tomorrow, heaps of silver jewellery, leather sandals and embroidered cloths around.

Let all things happen as they will.

Cheers
Maya

Beach, Beer and Browning remains copyright of the author nzmaya, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

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

Kingfisher anyone? remains copyright of the author nickrav, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

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.

Lies and Deception in Bangalore remains copyright of the author nickrav, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

This Sai Baba faith is unreal; dont quite understand it but apparently the guys a bit of a living god, with millions of followers from all over the world, many of whom follow him wherever he goes and donate shitloads of $$$. There was a service on when we arrived so they wrent letting people into the compound. Seeing the crowds of people we thought we'd better find some accom asap. After a good half hour of walking and finding everything bookd up we let ourselves get led around by this guy who reckoned he could get us a room. It boilled down the the lesser of two absolute slum 'hotel' rooms. Everything in the area was packed out beacuse the Baba dude and his followers were here!

The accom was an absoltue grotto, got photos to prove it. We doused the place with fly spray and spent a good while stamping on cockroaches before getting 'comfortable.' The shower was a joke too, 80% of the water came out of the BACK of the shower head and sprayed right onto the wall....

Anyway this morning we got to the Ashram at 8.30 to check out what the service was like and see the man himself. Heck, see a living God - why not?? Cloackrooms (not allowed bags/cameras etc inside the compound) and secutity checks later we sat down inside. After an hour of waiting they played some tunes (hymms I guess, since people sang along). There were thousands of people seated in this big hall-like thing; brown people, black people, yellow people and even white people! The man himself didnt show, it was all just tunes and lighting a fire on the stage. Then everyone got up and left.... kinda anticlimax.

Got my enlighting experience escorting this blind boy to the prayer hall though. There are seperate Mens and Ladies entrance to the hall as each sit on differnet sides. As I went to take my shoes off and go through secutiry check #2 this lady comes up to me and talks in some foreign tongue and hands me her sons hand. I didnt quite understand till I turned and realisd there was a 'mens' and 'ladies' entrance to the prayer hall. The kid was blind and she couldn't guide him in coz she had to enter from the other end. So I stepped up and took the guy through, sat him down with me. Neither of us understood a word of what the other was saying but he chanted and clapped along to the tunes, looked like he was having a raging good time. I was secretly holding out for some Sai Baba miracle... like the man himself comes out, touches this guy and BOOM he can see again. Didnt happen though...maybe next time. Anyway after it all ended I was like fuck I cant just leave this kid sitting here. So I took him outside the hall + courtyard and waited for his mum. She took ages but finally came...mother and son reunited again! She looked pretty pleased to see him and thanked me by holding my hand. Awwww warm fuzzies all round.

Weird in/out rules at the ashram meant we could either check out the ashram / museum / hospital but wait until 2pm to pickup our bags or get our backs but then we wouldnt' be allowed back in. Deciding to hoof it to the (nice) hotel we booked for tonight in search of a decent shower and shops we took our bags and tried getting a taxi. After crossing railways lines with the traffic, pedestrians and animals in what felt like a dust storm we still hant seen any taxis. Ended up getting a rickshaw to "Hotel Toms".

An hour of dust-filled, pothole puncutated rickshaw ride later we got dropped off. Rickshaw driver was an absolute ROOKIE and had to keep asking people for directions. Upon going in the front desk they said that our booking wasnt in the 'book' so there were no rooms. After a bit of to and fro-ing I managed to sneak a look at their 'book' and realised the fool at the desk had written us in under 'Whitefields', despite us actually spelling the name out to him on the phone. Amatuer.

So... turns out our rooms not free til 2pm. Fingers crossed this is the case as the other three hotels we called were all bookd up. As it was its now 12.30 and we thought we'd try kill some time at this internet cafe down the road rather than hit the shops etc with our big packs and stuff on. I'm keen to see what the Bangalore 'lounge bar' scene is all about tonight, as the Lonely Planet talks sure talks it up and I'm dying to a drink

Again, fingers crossed!
Nick

Slums, Saints and Rickshaw Rides remains copyright of the author nickrav, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Walked around the beach area in Fort Cochin this morning int he hope of seeing the Chineese Fishing Nets (they're wicked wharf-like moving structures) acutally be brought but with some fish in them....and we were in luck! I even got invited to help pull one down / in (all these guys pull down on ropes, which makes the net come in) which was a bit of fun. But, as Indian tourism goes nothing is free and I found out after that I had to part with some coin for the experience.

Currently trying to find accomodation in Bangalore, hopefully only gonna go cheapo for one night and go somewhere nice the second!

In other news I lost my Aviators off the side of the ferry in Kochin as we were getting off, amongst the hustle and bustle while (literally) jumping off the ferry.

The End
By Nick

The beginning of Bangalore remains copyright of the author nickrav, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Quite eventul day today, I started with a Traditional Ayurvedic Body Massage at this place recommended by the Lonely Planet. Went nuts and had th full massage option, as apparently it also "accelerate sblood circulation to prevent diseaseses like nervous disorders, rehumatism and muscular skeletal disorders" apparently. Beauty, guess I'm safe now. Quite an experence, and when you get an hour for less than NZ$10, why not!

A big day for the lonely planet, we also rickshawed to a restraunt it recommended on the other side of town for it's "legendary chicken and meat biryanis".. bloody good too. Nothing flash, nice and cheap and HEAPS of locals so it's gotta be good!

Strolled a few kays down to "Jewtown" as it was meant to be a bit of a tourist spot as well. Shops here were almost all the same though and the service was fairly in-your-face. Theres only so many times you can look at the same crap and ask what price it is. The dudes from the shops try like the hard-sell. They talk so much shit trying to get you into their shops. I ended up taking the piss, pointing at my foot and saying 'orange, orange!' or saying 'No, I've got a urinary tract infection'. These guys have no clue and its fun to see them confused after they hassle you for so long... [my urinary tract is fine thanks] Caught a ride back with thus guyy in his Ferrari! (again, wait till u see the pic!)

Earnt my place as the abolute KING of bartering when I bought two goods. Talked one guy from 100 ruppees down to 65 and the other from 50 to 30. Pretty good i reckon! I've got WAY more game than Maya when it comes to bargaining. It's all in the eyes......

Had booked a Kalikathi (or something like that) performacne earlier so finished the evening with that. Again recommended by the Lonely Planet, apparently it's a bit of a local specialty. A cross between a play / song / dance thing, it tells a (vague) story through song, dance and facial expressions of the characters. They have this unreal makeup on that takes over an hour to apply and can do some INSANE things with their eyes (think pop-out, spin around etc). An alright show, must admit I got a bit bored though. For your average white person I'm sure it'd be fascinating.....

The emperor really didnt dig his new look

A few more things to do tomorow AM before we're off to Bangalore!
Nick

Barter KING! remains copyright of the author nickrav, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

M pretty much covered the haps for today. Thought during the bus ride to and from the canals I managed to suss out a few more of the road rules around here:

Overtaking...
1. If you think you cant make it..... you can
2. If you know you cant make it..... honk your horn and you can

3. Theres no such thing as GIVE WAY
4. Never, in any circumstances STOP

[/b]The boat rides
Also, in true India style the boat broke down after the first leg. Nobody bothers to tell you about this though but we (the Germans, Spanish and ourselves) kinda figured it out after 20 minute of still be tied to the island. In the end they managed to make one working engine out of the parts from two and we were on our way once again.

Fairly good trip, well worth it. Have since got a mean seafood feed at Fort Kochin and been checking out the local stores (mainly art & craft). Some pretty mean stuff that I think I'm gonna have to buy before we cruise outta here the day after tomorrow.

We opted for the prawns rather than the "Fry-D oistures and muscles" (good England, huh?) and they went straight from the seamongers table into the pot at this food stall / restraunt on the beach. Decent prawns but waaaaay overcooked - India style, so a bit of a waste.

Haha, the waiter at the beach / pavement restraunt type thing we had the prawns at recommended this bar to me. We cruised down to check it out and but it was so ridiculously dark and seedy we had to leave. Even located down a dark alleyway! Cant wait till Bangalore / Goa where drinking isnt such a subculture.

More for the Indian Road Code.... remains copyright of the author nickrav, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

A Bugger of a night, mostly because it was so sticky hot and the sheet sacs were awesome but too hot to breath under them when one is hiding from mosquitos!! Anyway headed off to the 'Backwaters' with Crazy Erratic and Tooting bus driver to where we were loaded onto a houseboat complete with red plastic chairs. Rather an idealic ride along to the 'Shellfish processing' place which was non-operational on Sundays !! and to admire local medicinal plants etc. Highlight was Kerala Lunch... White rice (std), potatoe/pumpkin/some other root vegetable curry, salads of different types and some beautiful fresh yogurt lightly spiced!! Then punting along some smaller waterways stopping to have fresh coconuts and to see Coir ropes being made.

Exploring the backwaters of Kerala

Tonight made B-line to waterfront to buy our own seafood and have it cooked for us. Decided on a huge plate of Tiger prawns and had them made into 2 dishes. Beautiful flavours but a tad overcooked, like ordering med-rare and getting well done!!, just not what your mouth was watering for.

Cheers
Maya

Fort Cochin Day #2 remains copyright of the author nzmaya, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Been a long couple of days. Starting yestreday with another trip to Navsari, packing for the our first Tour and leaving Matvad at 10pm for the drive to Mumbai. Again, a ridiculous drive (see above)

Found ourselves in what looked and felt like a different country after our flight. Bloody hot too at 31 degrees! Before long we were in a taxi and headed for the Kochin CBD to setup a game plan for the next few days here. Got a 5 ruppee (just over 10cent!) ferry across to the island of Fort Kochin and have got a room at a backpackers-type place here. Quite a different feel to the other places I've been in India with people being more friendly, a lot more tourists (all Germans so far) and more english being spoken. Had some yum Portugese-style fresh fish feed and have got a 7 hour houseboat tour of the Kerala Backwaters planned for tomorrow. Should be good, looing forward to bed tonight though!

Lots of cool architecture and even the 'Santa Cruz Basillica' here which was first built in 1510. Different stuff around because of the influence of the Portugese and British who had both setup decent sized colonies here.

Nick

Long Hauls.... remains copyright of the author nickrav, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs