Hampi & Mysore

So its time to leave the wonderful non-India beaches of Palolem and head inland to the small village of Hampi some 10 hours west via bus.  Lots of rolling around all night but we rolled into Hampi around 8...some 5 hours ahead of the bus directly behind us that got stuck in a massive traffic jam.  Hampi is a neat little (for India) village that is split by the Tungaphadra River and set in massive boulder field of rocks in which an amazing series of ruins (home to over 1 million people over 500 years ago) lies scattered over 25 sq kms.

 No booze equals one quiet Christmas especially when the population is Hindu and Muslim and do not celebrate Christmas.
We spent 5 days exploring the various temples and ruins including one day of hiking to the temple of 600 steps and another day (which Lori said was the best so far in India when we pedalled some beat bikes to the far-off ruins. )




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Despite the river resembling more of an open sewer than a river (warning signs about the currents in the river but they are nothing compared to the chemical and sewage soup the river is composed of!) (in fact it is actually pretty clean for an Indian River other than the "open latrines"scattered about on the rocks!)
Some of the ruins are really neat and are World Heritage Sites and surprisingly well maintained and kept clean by the Indian government.  In fact there are literally hundreds of these stone ruins and one is completely blown away by the amount of work that went into carving these rocks into walls, roof, buildings etc.

Unfortunately my skin rash is a raging epidemic and making life a little miserable...but I can tell you I am the cleanest I have ever been with at least 6 or 8 cold showers a day to try and keep the heat/rash down.  As per usual the best times of the day are before 11 and the evening sunset which we shared with hundreds of other people and some pretty serious "herds" of monkeys.

  (Oh yeah we also climbed to the top of the highest temple from which we got a fantastic view of Hampi and surrounding areas)
Leaving Hampi we had a couple of options but decided to head south to Mysore as we didn't want to retrace our bus route back to the coast.

MYSORE (butt)..our first ride in a non-sleeper and she was a dog!  Mysore...another BDIC boiling with traffic, smog and noise all mixed up in a stew of human love and misery!  After some screwing around with the local rickshaw drivers (the place is packed with local Indians on holidays so its difficult to locate a place to stay after 15 hours of abuse on a Indian bus!)  Once we got settled in we took in the sites (bit of a bitch finding ones way around this place but the ever-friendly locals can always give you advice!) including the Mysore Zoo (established in 1917 by the King of Mysore...over 6000 school kids (let alone other people!) visit the zoo every day (they pay nothing, Indian residents 10R and foreigners 100R) and I think each one of them wanted to talk to us, shake our hand and get their photo taken with us!  If you don't want to get stared at and mobbed by locals don't come to India.  Actually its lots of fun...until you get tired of it as it makes it kind of difficult to do anything when you are being talked to and mobbed constantly.  Anyways the zoo was fantastic and the close by Karinga Lake sanctuary even better as it was QUIET...unreal..surreal..don't believe it..amazing...Quiet,quietquietquiet!

 Next day we took in the Sandal wood factory (est in 1918 and primitive to say the least but super interesting as Sandalwood production (oil and wood for use in the burning ghats and carving is super controlled by the Indian government as the oil sells for 1000R for 5ml...liquid gold.  Needless to say one does not find sandalwood trees in the forests any more!
Nest stop is the silk factory...dating back to 1912 she is one great big accident just waiting to happen.  WCB would need to take a pickup truck full of infraction booklets to clean this place up.  It is one huge factory full of workers who have probably worked the same mechanical looms for over 30 years and the NOISE is insane!  Sounds like your standing behind a jet engine full of mechanical noise!  But I really liked the dye tanks...surrounded by signs warning about the dangers of the fumes, caustic dyes etc. and with a few poor guys slopping bundles of silk into the open dye tanks (steaming hot fumes engulfing the place) and then wringing the dye out by hand (caustic??)  My guess is that these guys don't work this job too long...for obvious reasons (they die!)
So we spent New Years with our friends Kit and Robin...we thinks that they have spent a wee bit to long in India as their diet consists of Kingfisher beer for breakfast, lunch and dinner (no kidding!)  But we had a ton of laughs and they sure convinced us that England is NOT on the list of places to visit (or at least London!)  New Years is surprisingly quiet in India in the tradition of India (obviously not so quiet on the "non-Indian beaches" with fireworks and a few kids screaming in the street..and not much else but we had a great time none the less!  Checked out the Mysore Palace...so typical of India.  The crowds are absolutely insane and in the good tradition of India the more people the more aggressive the Indians get and soon there is shoving etc and the noise is absolutely insane...as I sincerely believe that the Indians are actually scared of quiet!  Anyways just when you are thinking this is a complete "shit show" (Dylans words!) you step into this palace that literally blows you away...absolutely incredible 200 foot plus stained glass ceilings, amazing wood carvings and the stone and marble work that leaves you speechless...there is no way this could ever be replicated in the modern time even with trillions of dollars at your disposal! (And typical:  no cameras allowed in the palace but everywhere one looks there are people with phone cameras and small cameras taking photos with guards watching them...but then a tourist (NO not me!) pulls out a camera and bang the guards are all over them!!!

Leaving Mysore we had only the option of taking a non-sleeper bus to Kochin then a local bus to Allepey (house boats on the Kerala backwaters)..so we line up at the bus station to wait...in total confusion until our bus comes.  On we go and in fact passed through some of the most amazing forest on this single lane road that had us crawling along at literally 10 kmph and having to stop numerous times to allow other vehicles to clear by us.  Definitely not the situation to promote a good sleep..then we are woken by yelling and screaming!  We were stopped in this city and I guess some one had overbooked the bus (typical)..after about 15 minutes of yelling/screaming about 20 more people climbed on board...kids, adults old people...all having to stand in the packed isles for over 2 hrs.  Crying, snoring, coughing puking and spitting was the tune of the night...and obviously no sleep!  Then we get dumped off at the Kochi bus station at 4 am...if you stepped into a urinal where 3000 people took a piss on the floor then turned the heat up to 100 degrees you would get the "flavour" of the Kochi bus station.  Trying to figure out the Hindi on the local bus's as they pulled in and were literally mobbed by locals running into them (kind of diffucult for foreigners with 50 lb packs to keep up with!) you get an idea of the situation we were faced with...non the less we are on the road and by the time we hit Allepey there were over 25 people standing in the isle on a bus that only had windows in the front and back (a "rolling tomb" according to Lori!)...stay tuned for more!

Gorgeous Goa

After our "roller-coaster" bus ride we arrived in the capital of Goa state...the city of Panaji.  With the coming of daylight we are treated to a surprise...beautiful, thick lush green jungle with less garbage and people than the northern states.  We are still trying to figure out why we stopped in Panaji but we had a short but interesting stay.  We participated in an evening sunset cruise and for any of you that should choose this option DO NOT participate in the evenings couple's dance.  First off you get onto a stage in front of well over a hundred people...of course you are the only goras (foreigners) on the boat so every eye is one you!  On comes this blast of noise and away you go...dancing!  So this cruise is about 1.5hrs long and they make you dance on this stage (sweating your bag off!) for over a half hour non-stop!!!  At least at the end of the performance we got alot of "you good dance".
Onto a couple of "chicken bus's" and to the southern beach of Palolem...and this is NOT India.  Clean, beautiful and full of very nice places to stay and eat (and Kingfisher beer for 35R (70 cents) and lots of foreign and Indian tourists. (although foreign tourist numbers are WAY down because of the european financial problems)  With its gorgeous sand, coconut tree lined 3 km long beach this place matches anything the Caribbean can offer! (but at about one fifth the cost!)  The Arabian Sea is bathtub warm and is much needed as the temperatures from noon through to 5 are blistering hot!  After 5 it is GORGEOUS as one watches the sunset, wander the beach and have a few brew (2 for 1 after 6) 

We have done some kayaking (lots of neat birds in a local river) and rented motos to check out some adjacent beaches (gorgeous and alot less people) forts (impressive) and I spent an entire day in the Cotiago Wildlife Sanctuary (50R entry) on my moto...some of the best jungle scenery I have ever seen (inc. Amazon and central america)..amazing and I only saw 1 vehicle the entire day!  Rough 2 wheel tracks to waterholes with lots of birds, hundreds of monkeys and a few deer.  At one of the waterholes I found two cobra sheds over 10 feet long!

 Lori and I are heading back there tomorrow on a Royal Enfield Bullet moto (700R rental)...bet she won't like the water crossings! 

The only bad news is that I have picked up some sort of skin rash which isn't helping my looks...Lori says "stay away sick man"!

Chris tried this medicine man and his spelling is as effective as his cure....

 Have picked up our bus tickets to Hampi and will be rolling to the west tomorrow evening (22nd) and will spend Christmas in the gorgeous city of Hampi before returning to Gokarna Beach on the coast for New Years and proceeding S.  The 8 days we have spent in Palolem have really "recharged" our batteries...we are ready to tackle the "real India" again!!!

Udiapur & Mumbai

Greetings from a very warm and humid Mumbai...city of 16 million souls...some stats for those of you that are interested: No. of public washrooms per million people: 17! No. of people on a Mumbai train designed for 1,700 during rush hour: 8,800 (me thinks that this is low...after all anything is possible in India so why not 20,000 or so? No. of people per sq. km in Mumbai...27,700...you get the picture...lots of people and also the most beautiful buildings we have ever seen. We are in the Fort area called Colaba...made infamous by the book Shantaram and the well coordinated terrorist attack a few years back. Definitely high end tourist as the streets are clean, relatively few horns blaring etc...and for India very expensive (we are holed up in a nice Sally-Ann (salvation army) hostel. These old buildings date back to the 18th century and looking at old photographs, India (and Mumbai) was a paradise before a billion plus people put an end to paradise. The University buildings make anything we have seen in Canada (inc. Victoria/Quebec City, Parliament buildings etc. look like a "1"...they are truly spectacular and make us want for a wide angle lens. So as we are leaving Mumbai we were treated to a classic Indian scene...a ancient bus packed with Indians rolled by with an entire flock of crows perched on its roof...classic!  Our travel book says "don't expect much sleep on the bus trip from Mumbai to Goa as it is one of the worst roads in India...truer words have never been spoken as we seemed to have made the trip constantly rolling from one side of the sleeper to the other!
We are heading to various locations in Goa today...but before Mumbai we visited the city of Udiapur (formerly Mewar)

Udiapur...the most romantic city in India! Or so it is known...looks like another BDIC (Big Dirty Indian City) to us, although the lake and clustered busy streets do have a certain charm in the morning and evenings. We spent several days exploring including a fantastic visit to Kumbalgrath Fort...dating back to the 14th century this fort had 36 km of walls and contained over 180 temples...and only a part of the fort has been repaired. The Indians have done a great job here...the fort and its 1044 gun bastions are a sight to see...to think of 36 km of huge walls (over 50 feet tall and 40 feet wide!) all constructed by hand is insane! The drive to here (over 7 hrs total driving time) runs through some of the first untouched jungle land we have seen in India (incredibly rugged...thus no roads, or people) and through small villages where we got a glimpse of an old way of life...oxen driven water pumps made of wood wheels...etc. Our next stop was the Jain temple at Ranakpur often referred to as the most beautiful Jain temple in India. Made entirely of marble the temple has 1400 huge marble columns, all intricately hand carved and none the same, 11 halls (all hand carved) and simply put is the most amazing piece of art that we have ever seen! (The Jain are a sect of Hindu that reject the caste system and do not believe in killing any creature...to the point that many brush the ground in front of them when they walk to prevent killing ants etc.

To visit these temples we took a taxi and it took over 7 hrs of driving on some sketchy roads (that trashed brakes, clutches etc.) and we paid....1400 R or 24 dollars! (this was just the two of us with a driver!) We also checked out the city palace in Udiapur...impressive and best of all there is a World Wildlife Fund office within the palace grounds. We had a good discussion with the supervisor...less than 1500 tigers left in India (and India has 60% of the wild tigers left in the world) and although there was a slight increase in the Indian tiger population this year the general trend is app. 50 tigers dying per year through various causes...poaching being the main one (mandatory 5 year min. jail time for poaching a single tiger) However the biggest species threat in India right now is the vulture population...it has dropped over 90 percent in the last two years due to a drug(diclofenac for arthritis and joint swelling that is used on cattle, which if they die and are eaten by vultures kills them by damaging their kidneys. The government cannot ban the drug as it would mean a major drop in cattle production so it appears that all of the Himalayan vultures (which include the massive Himalayan Griffon and Lamegeyer (impressive birds!!) are pretty much doomed. So much for boring animals eh!  We also witnessed the incredible Muslim celebration where huge houses (up to 4 stories tall!) are packed around the narrow streets of Udiapur followed by thousands of Muslims dressed in traditinal head gear.  We were warned to keep clear of the streets but ventured down for a few moments and it was pure pandemonium!  We quickly retreated to our roof-top viewpoint...absolutely amazing and dangerous!  These huge houses are constructed on logs that are carried on the backs of up to 30 people and you can imagine they hang up on all the buildings surrounding the streets.  Ahead of each "house float" are people with big bamboo poles beating people out of the way and keeping the streets clear for the human house transport team!


On our trip back from the mountains we also captured a glimpse of true India...a large cow was sharing a dumpster with a pack of dogs..the entire front end of the cow was inside the dumpster where it was helping itself to a smorgasbord of plastic etc. with a pack of dogs!

So our trip to the South continues...Terisa says "look for the hidden India...it is incredible"....we are trying but she is hard to see beyond the piles of garbage, nosie and smoke filled sky!!!!

Rishikesh, Pushkar and busses without windshields...

Rishikesh, what to say....yoga, meditation, ashrams, and tourists. This is one busy little place with everyone on their own special journey so to speak...it looks to me like a few of the tourists have gone more than a little overboard in their spiritual journey..but each to their own! We are surprised to see some pretty old tourists...but then again there are some really nice hotels and tour groups arranged through the big hotels in Delhi etc....but still India is not the place to visit if your stomach isn't strong. Talking of which the cows here are dammed tough and basically survive on eating plastic and paper bags. One lady we met says that they are outlawing plastic bags in some cities as they are killing the cows (which are obviously holy) and some cows have over 90 lbs of plastic stuck in their stomachs! (I was wondering about this plastic as the cow dung looks pretty much the same as our cattle just being a little looser (plastic laxative!).

even the cows like the shopping in Rishikesh

The pigs play a major role in garbage disposal eating cow, human crap and most anything else around here. So Ernie...the answer to your question is that "no" they don't eat moose meat..and no beef or pork (thank god!)...the goat (we had some okay goat in the Himalaya) and mutton (always tastes like crap to us!)...we are 100% veggie/fruits here in India.
We spent our five days in Rishikish exploring the streets, relaxing on the beaches along the Ganges (mother Ganga) river, watching the monkeys (lots and one of the "red ass" fellows attacked me and chomped on my pants), watching sunsets, reading and relaxing...very nice and we leave Rishikish with some great memories!

After "organizing" our getaway we took a tuk tuk to Hardiwar (about 25 km) and just about sucummed to fume poisoning (might as well have sucked on a diesel pipe for an hour) before we unloaded at the bus(?)station...bears a distinct resemblance to the Alexis Creek landfill...only dirtier. Some strange sights on the way to the bus station the least of which was a baba, awash in gray ash and standing buck naked in the middle of a bridge slowing down traffic...strange! Bought our ticket at a travel agent promising a tourist sleeper bus.. pay 650R each which to put in perspective is slightly more than what we had just paid for 5 nights lodging in Rishikesh, so even though it only costs us $12.00 each, is expensive......get to the tourist bus station which is little more than a very dirty dirt parking lot with some chai stands, people waiting around and a few buses in various stages of neglect. There is a bus on the outskirts that has seen better days....no windshield, hood doesn't shut, a few boarded up windows and what looks like a flat tire. Chris laughingly takes a picture of this derelict. Some of the other buses look okay. We sit in the shade sipping chai and wait until our appointed departure time when we are to leave on bus #3206. Time comes around and minor chaos is starting so Chris goes looking for our bus...returns laughing his head off - guess what - that broken down bus with no windshield is ours! But enough of our bitching...what about the driver..as it is frigging cold and I cannot even imagine what is thrown up by traffic (and speaking of traffic it flows non-stop...bumper to bumper all night with huge traffic jams in Delhi at the toll booths even at midnight. In fact this is our first sleeper bus and its pretty cool as we have our own private space above the seats (not good in a roll-over!) and one entire side is window...that opens wide open (like wide enough that someone small could easily fall out of the window onto the packed street!)...a great place to see India from! So the bus stops every once in a while to allow people to grab a chai etc. These stops rarely have a bathroom and are considered "open" areas...that is you whiz or take a dump where ever you want. Needless to say the smell would gag a hyena and one definitely wants to watch their step! (good for the guys..not so much for the gals!)

So after a bus switch (where our sleeper was already taken and the bus full...so we had to stand in the front for the final leg to Pushkar. The driver assured us he would make it in two hours (the book ways 4) and sure enough he definitely had some kamakazee blood in his system as he maneuvered this huge bus through the throngs of motos, Tata's laying on the mega-horn almost non-stop!



Pushkar...here we are...on the ghat lined Pushkar Lake...very nice and not even a village in India terms with only 17,000 souls. We have spent five days here, climbed both of the mountains at sunset, taken a camel ride into the desert (great Thar Desert) in Rajisthan and walked the ghats and virtually every street in this colorful, bustling and NOISEY village. First of all a short list of what is illegal in holy Pushkar: Eating/serving of meat. : Kissing : No drinking : No sex (hold it...can't be true given the expansive number of kids!) So what isn't illegal is Charas and Chillum...smoking of ganga and hashish which is definitely a national pasttime throughout all of India we have visited...people light up any and everywhere especially the locals...and just an observation...there are no rowdies, people acting stupid and mean like when folks use alcohol! Even the lassies (a fantastic drink made of curd(yogurt) and fruit (like a superthick better tasting milkshake), also come specially made as "special" or "bhang" lassies mixed with ganga...they taste good and work (as evidenced by Lori making me do a mega chocolate bar run after a special lassie)! Our local restaurant guy said "I want to go to Canada and open a restaurant selling chai and "special lassies"!...no doubt he would get RICH..but only until he ended up in jail!

Our camel ride was definitely fun as we headed out of town into the desert for an overnight trip. So riding a camel is like riding a bumpy horse that sits 2 stories tall...you're a long ways up! You turn the varmits like a horse...except with their long necks you can stretch the neck of a stubborn camel right to your leg...not good as they are biters. We were surprised to see many birds species and even some large antelope...but then again that is one of the good things about being a vegetarian society against killing...despite horrific environmental degradation there are wild animals living right on the outskirts of towns etc. We were also surprised to learn that the government actually grass seeded many of the sand dunes with pampas grass in the state of Rajisthan to stabilize the sand dunes and allow farmers to grow crops where they could get water.

our camel camp out in the desert

I think that we mentioned that the best way to describe India is "sensory overload".....well we can define it even more after 5 days in Pushkar...NOISE is India!!!! We are convinced that most Indians are scared (no kidding!) of silence! Even in the desert music was blaring at mega decibels wherever people lived and right now we are listening (because we have no choice!) to the babbling of some lunatic spewing religious Hindi at 50 words a minute over a massive loud-speaker...and they have been at it for over 20 hrs non-stop!!!!!! Myanna...you got it right as the most important luggage to take to India is ear plugs...but they are not even working with this lunatics dialog (and although the Indian weddings are incredible...color...life...dancing and music the noise is insane...they blast off these huge fire crackers (better than M50's) but they pale in comparison (in terms of sheer noise) to the music which is broadcast though a mass of 10 plus 3 foot speakers powered by their own generator towed behind a horse...I swear I can feel my balls giggling when they pass by!!! Leaving for Udiapur this evening...lots of bus time and a tuk tuk/bus transfer...will we make it? stay tuned!