Week Two.

Well, Bono can kiss my ass, coz for now I think I've found what I'm looking for. I skippied Kerala for now and am in Abolem, North Goa, but before I go into how great this place is, this is the story so far...
I spent a day in Bangalore, which is a complete contrast to anywhere else I've seen in India. As I've always liked big cities I enjoyed the atmosphere of loads of people and traffic (crazy crazy traffic) but being there as a tourist can be very hard. The AutoRickshaw drivers are everywhere and as I was new to the city needed a lift to get to places I wanted to see, but sadly this hardly happened as they made the Chennai touts look like amateurs, after analysing the science of the situation and trying numerous phrases to say I didn't want to go to 'fine, cheap emporium', I realised that they would take me there regardless and leaving the taxi and walking away was the only option. But my day was okay, my Taxi driver Kumal took me to a few nice places as well as the shops and when we had to wait for 30 minutes for a musical fountain show he kept me entertained in the children's playground. At night, I eventually managed to get to Peco's, a fantastic 60's rock pub, the bangalore equivalent of the Gloucester Arms, and spent most of the night taking to a German DJ about Mark Knopfler for some reason.
As I left the place a rickshaw driver picked me up and instead of my hotel offered to take me elsewhere. After a day of learning the tricks and scams, I needed the subsequent situation to remind me of my naivety. When the driver described a club with "dancing, nice college girls", I innocently imagined a nightclub like in Oxford where you could drink and dance and meet people. When we first got in I noticed that only the girls where dancing, not that uncommon. I then realised that I was the only non- big middle aged indian guy handing money over to the manager. My driver wanted me to pick a girl, but after a lot of negotiation and "too much beer" managed to get back to my hotel with a much lighter wallet. The next day I was ready to leave, and got a email from my buddy Phil instructing me to get my arse to Goa, so here it is. Before I left I went to the house of my Indian Relatives, hoping to meet up with them in spite of the short notice. There was no one in so I left a note with my number and twenty hours later, in a reggae bar on the beach after much intoxacation, I got a call from Adeline who I think is my second cousin once removed, or something. So, after my holiday here I'll be back in Bangalore and hopefully having a much better experience.

As far as Ambolem goes, this is the place where the problem is figuring out how to leave. I've met a lot of guys who haven't figured this one out after about ten years of living here, doing very little except drink on the beach and swim. There's fantastic music everywhere, everyone is geuinely friendly and chatty, and there are some beautiful walks to other beaches, including Querim beach which I discovered yesterday which is practically deserted. I'm finding it hard to think of much detail for this place as the nights get very blurry, but if I have to end my nights stumbling around in the early hours trying to find my room, I glad its on a long cool beach with a soundtrack of gentle chilled reggae. Anyway, I think you get the idea, I'm glad I have a reason to leave here, otherwise It could have taken up the next two months, but once I have met the family I'll be fulfilling my plans to visit Kerala, then sadly will probably end up in Goa again, oh well.

India, week one.

Not sure if this'll work either, it looks different this time.
Right, I am now in India, flight was very long but okay, however my hopes and dreams of beginning this trip and experiencing new cultures and frames of mind were slightly tarnished by the fact that everybody loves raymond was on the screen.
Nevermind, Chennai was a good place to start, but impossible to get around on foot for a naive young amateur like myself, so got myself an autorickshaw driver ( I'll refer to autorickshaws from now on as tuk tuk, mainly to be pretentious, but I've proabably spelt it wrong) and was then taken against my will to loads of shops where salesmen had the perfect pyjamas/ shawls/ statues of Ganeesh etc for me. After parting with a fair amount of money the driver (forgotten his name, dammit!) took me to San Thome Cathedral, one the two churches in the world to be built on the tomb of a bonefide apostle (St Thomas). The driver led me through to a silent chamber with a glass case which contained a waxwork of the deceased doubting Thomas. The driver ushered me forward and I sat down on the floor in front of the glass case and bowed my head....


The worst thing about realising that you've made a prat of yourself is judging how long you should leave it before you move. As I noticed that all the other visitors were using the pews behind me, I knew I had to get up but thought that if I did it straightaway I would be admitting my mistake. After about three minutes of sitting there I realised that either way I looked like an arse and so sheepishly shuffled over to the side. Maybe I gave St. Thomas a good laugh.

Also visited a Hindi temple, kapeeshwarer, I think, no funny stories there but it was pretty beautiful, I gave some money for tsunami families and was anointed by my guide, again, I forget what this ritual is called, I'm gonna have to write this things down or something.

Nevermind, today I awoke in Bangalore, a pretty big city, and will have to resist the temptation to visit all the western fast food eateries that can be found here. Need to buy a few things before heading to Kerala, which sounds amazing.