Howszat

Had a splendid day at the cricket yesterday! I think M&K even enjoyed it for the most part. Their next door neighbour is a very sociable retired old gent who has been a member at Melbourne Cricket Ground for nearly 50 years bless him and he got us some tickets for the members area. It is a really impressive stadium that can hold up to 100,000 that's larger than any football stadium in the UK and vastly bigger than any cricket ground. We had a fantastic view and even though it was the 3rd day of a match (no real result possible at that stage) between two nations that I have no affiliation to, it was still a gripping days play.
In other news, I have got my ticket for the Big Day Out that should be a laugh and I'm planning to go to NZ perhaps on 31st of Jan??

Xmas in Melbourne

Here I am on St Kilda beach in Melbourne on Christmas day with Kat and Mat you can see their site here. I've had a great couple of days checking out what Melbourne has to offer and to be honest it is quite a lot. I'm really beginning to like this city and it's a least made me think that perhaps I could live in another country at least for a bit anyway. Not getting carried away yet though i have only been here a couple of days and things are so much more familiar than India (it's even got a Brighton beach!), no wonder it seems appealing!
It suddenly dawned on me that I don't have a plan now, so I best get one fast, M&K are lovely and have been great hosts, but I'm sure they won't want me here forever! Things so far have somehow come together on this trip and the embryo of a plan is forming. The Melbourne test match Australia vs South Africa is on at the moment, might try to get a ticket. The Australian Open Tennis is on the second half of January again live seats would be cool. There is a one day music festival end of Jan with bands such as Franz Ferdinand, The White Strips, The Go! Team and The Magic Numbers so all these things would be good to see and also there is the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide to drive plus perhaps taking a domestic flight to Sydney or something?
Some ideas anyway, then NZ to see my dad and from there Japan?? What do you think?

(Ball) Bags to Mr India

Finally I made it to Australia and M&K where kindly waiting for me in the airport, my bags however were not. They had travelled alone preferring to go to Singapore rather than Melbourne, I hope they had a good time that's all I can say. The bags have now arrived here too and we are one big happy family. I have been made most welcome have my own room in the lovely little house they have here in the 'burbs of the city. Everything is so clean it's a bit of a shock after India.
As for my trip it was all a bit hectic, I stupidly went out for a beer the night before I left. It would have all been good, I chose not to meet the English guy I had been hanging around with and opted to just go and get a meal and beer alone, however that's when I met The Cave Man. Cavey turned out to be a very likable Australian who was quite bearded and cave man like and we enjoyed a couple of games of pool and a few beers. Anyway the few turned to a few more, we also met some other folk and to cut a long story short I have vague memories of Cavey being sick, the sun coming up, me being miles away on the beach and then I awoke at ten minutes to 3pm, this was bad as I had a flight to catch at 5pm. My next few words consisted mostly of expletives, I packed my things in haste and caught a taxi whilst wearing the same clothes from the night before and having half of Goa's beach in what remains of my hair.
We made it to the airport at breakneck speed and the flight was delayed by 40 minutes or so anyway, so it all turned out ok. At this point I would like to clear up my sweeping statement about the Israelis. It was meant as a throw away observation on very little actual contact, however I met an Israeli girl in the airport who seemed to rapidly befriend me when she found I was also flying to Mumbai on the same flight and then Bangkok later (different flights), she was actually very pleasant company. Also through talking to her I found out more about their military service, which they all serve, boys and girls, but it sounded like the boys actually see a fair amount of 'action', which I can't imagine is that good for their mental state and therefore they often go off to other countries immediately afterwards to let off steam.
On the flight to Mumbai I made another friend, I was sat next to this rather well groomed guy (almost as attractive as me ;o)) who as it turned out was off to do some modelling for the Thai tourist board. Anyway he said he had just one a pageant of sorts, he turned out to be Mr India, I have his email if you are interested ladies!
I've just looked up Mr India on the web, he lied! Well bent the truth at least, he actually came third! (Second Runner-up: Karan Hukku ) I feel cheated, I bet he says that to all the girls! ;o)

The last post

Well from India at least. In conclusion India is a mystifying and chaotic place that I have been told people either fall in love with or can't wait to leave. I have had both of these feelings whilst being here and I really do recommend visiting for a good amount of time and sticking though the bits when its tough and you will be rewarded with constant surprises and a total cultural difference to the west, but due to our colonial days there is quite a bit of familiarity for the English even though it will have an Indian twist. The people are also on the most part really friendly and helpful (too much so sometimes!), but you also have to be wary of being ripped off at all times too.

I've not become an Indiophile like the hippys who spend every year here, but I really think I will come back, I still want to visit Rajasthan and maybe Kashmir if the trouble stops and I think Goa again one day. Anyway signing off for now, next post from OZ.

Root Beer

It's absolutely horrible, tastes like medicine, what were they thinking!

Things I have discovered

1. I can wear thongs (flip flops to all non Australians, I have not started wearing women's pants, not in public anyway ;) ). After suffering some initial blistering which always made me give up in the past I have beaten the pain barrier and I now find wearing flip flops actually quite enjoyable. It was also forced on me a little bit as my trainers were starting to stink after wearing them without any socks for a few days.

2. Sun tanning is fairly dull, but I have given it a go this time as I just have a few days to kill before flying off to OZ and i am actually going a bit brown.

3. Israelis really love Goa and there is tonnes of them here (in the restaurant last night I was the only non Israeli).

4. Israeli women are extremely attractive and the guys generally look pretty good too (just an observation I'm not coming out of the closet or anything ;) )

5. In general they seem to drug taking arrogant buggers though and the Goans generally don't like them.

Ozzie Rules

The flights are booked, visa obtained and it's to be a Christmas barbee on the beach for me this year. I'm flying with Thai Airlines to Melbourne via Bangkok, and I'm dead excited, it will be really good to catch up with M&K and to spend Yuletide with some friends rather than crying into my margarita in a bar in Goa ;o)
So now to lap up the sun and read some good books for the next week.

vive la france

Courtney has left with her friend to travel back to Delhi and so I'm now kicking my heals in Goa waiting to get a flight to Australia. It is really nice just relaxing and reading on the beach, we did go to a couple of clubs (one was fun, one just painfully dull), I can't be bothered with all the drinking and drugs (I get offered Hash everyday at least 3 times) it's a young mans game ;o) But I have got into just sitting and doing nothing it's just so nice to feel like this after all the manic travelling and trekking. Still I'm sure I will get bored soon and it will be great to see my friends in OZ for Christmas.
I have been spending the last couple of days with two French guys from Paris and I have to say they are two really friendly and pleasant blokes, who would have thought it ;o) Enjoyed a top game of Tennis de table with them. Anyway must get on I need to sort these tickets and then I've got a few hours of sitting a reading on the beach followed by a swim and then perhaps a cool beer or banana lassi, ahh ts a tough life.

First sign of life

Sorry it's taken me so long to get a photo up on the site. My camera is bloody crap and it has been a right pain getting the photos onto a PC let alone resizing and uploading them, also (the eagle eyed may be able to spot it) my lens is damaged and all my photos have a little blurry mark (in this case in the sky) . I will get it sorted soon. But in the mean time this will have to do it is a shot of me and two of the Australians; Courtney (who has been travelling with me) and Tim the afternoon before we got to Base Camp.

Bodily functions

For those of you who are interested in my very personal news; I have on my travels so far been food poisoned, had a few bad poo days, had a cold (twice!), leach bite marks on my ankles, mosquito bite marks all over (mostly my legs, but I have reacted to them much worse than I ever have before??), been bitten all over by bed bugs in a guest house in Kerala and also been sun burnt (I'm still peeling! doh!)

Erm keep on trucking

Oh my god just spent over 24 hours travelling from Munnar back to Goa. Nightmare journey which involved a 5 hour bus journey in which we got a flat tyre, followed by a 17 hour train journey, which started in General Class that seems to involve some kind of world record attempt to stuff as many Indians into a train carriage as humanly possible. Fortunately with our big packs we were physically unable to get into the sardine like crush. An Indian chap suggested helpfully that we just stand in the corridor of the higher class carriage and try to get upgraded (we were unable to get these tickets as they were fully booked). We did this and to cut a long story short we spent about half of the journey in the corridors.

Got back to Goa in the end and shared a taxi to Anjuna with a couple of French chaps we met on the train. Had and interesting discussion about the riots and race/immigration issues that have been happening over there.

Anyway I have had a bit of a change of heart as I do frequently and I'm probably not going to come home quite yet. Tempting as my mothers festive curry offer is ;o) But I need to look in to prices of flights.

Home sweet home

First pangs of missing England now and to be honest I'm not sure how much longer the trip will last. It has been really amazing, but I guess I have to admit that I'm not much of an intrepid explorer. Options are still open and I may well move on to Australia yet, but I will make up my mind over the next few days. My travelling companion is off pretty soon and I've also realised that friends and family are important too, hey it's Christmas and I guess I'm getting sentimental ;o)

Indian driving

Quite frankly terrifying in most cases. There is very little rules to the road it just seems bravely force your way forwards and all will be well!

It makes me laugh that trucks and tok toks all have signs on the back of them saying honk horn please or something to that effect. As if the Indian driver actually needs encouragement to use their horn! It is a prerequisite for driving in India and is much more frequently used than say the break.

Bus drivers are by far the most insane and try to overtake at every opportunity and also prefer to take the racing line around blind bends, it's exhilarating I guess ;o) Also there doesn't appear to be any suspension and on the pot holed roads it can be a challenge to stay in the seat ;o)

Nice Cup of Tea?

I'm in Munnar, in the east of Kerala. it's been a hectic/relaxing few days if that's possible?!

Hectic as there has been a fair amount of travelling, by train and bus (more of which to come). Relaxing as we had a two days on a house boat sailing around the backwaters, which was really enjoyable.

The coast was damn hot, but now we have travelled up to Munnar in the hills/mountains of Kerala its a tea growing region and we walked through a tea plantation today the scenery is stunning and it's amazing how much cooler the temperature is up here.

Going south

So moving on today, off to Kerala in the south and a 15 hour train journey awaits!

In the meantime we went to a great club a couple of nights ago, where I met some folk from Brighton, knowone I knew, but thew buggers get everywhere don't they ;o) I'm not that much into clubbing, but this on overlooked the beach and had people with little stalls selling various things and food stuffs and it was just a really cool place.

I'm still burnt, what a plum!

I want to ride!

I'm having fun, and for some reason I feel like that is bad. Am I catholic or something ;o)

Anyway I have been riding a motorbike all around Goa and it's a brilliant laugh. No Insurance, no helmet, no worries. We went to a beach in the north today, occupied by Israelis for some reason and got a bit burnt, I will never learn.

I have been playing pool and table tennis with my fellow traveller, brilliant, it turns out she has a fiercely competitive streak, which is quite amusing, and also makes for some good competition ;o) we also bought a cricket bat, but as yet we have been unable to play and emulate England's humiliating defeat in Pakistan :(

Holiday mode

Ok so we flew into Goa yesterday and stayed a night in the capital in a really pukka hotel for only about 7 pounds each breakfast included.

Flew in on a Kingfisher Airways plane, which is the same as the beer that I have been drinking all over India and it was one of the best flights I had ever had amasingly much better than Air India.

Had a really good day in Delhi in the end that came as a bit of a surprise, the hotel manager was really cool and sorted out our plane flights (we had already gone to travel agents and he manage to get us a better deal) Then he asked if we wanted to get a taxi tour round
Delhi and at 600 rupees for a whole day 7 quid. We thought why not, and it was really well worth it, I saw more stuff than I saw on the day with the Intrepid group. We rounded the day off with a curry and a few Kingfishers and I left Delhi with a feeling that although I
wouldn't exactly miss the place it wasn't as bad as my first impressions.

So in Goa now then and I have already bought a bhudda tshirt and some three quarter length pants I'm starting to get in to being a beach bum, I'm spending too much time with Aussies ;o)

My travelling companion is keen on us hiring motorbikes, so if this is my last post you will know why :)