Goodbye Goa

The past week and a half here was definitely a great way to get a much needed chill out after dealing with the rigors of North India. I've booked my flight out of Delhi to Bangkok on the 14th, so tomorrow I catch a train to Mumbai to start my journey north to Delhi. Unfortunately I feel completely out of it for my last day in Goa due to the bad case of food poisoning I got last night. I would have recommended the restaurant Double Dutch to anyone, but not after that nasty bout of sickness.



The last few days have been good times, hanging out with a friend from Brazil, getting drunk and attempting to chase women in the lame nightlife that is Arambol. I took a hike in the jungle with some German people to see the Smoking Baba, a holy man that sits under a big tree and just gets stoned all day. I guess being religious in this country has it's benefits.

I'm very anxious to head to Thailand, it's something I've been waiting for for a long time. Hopefully I'll be able to fill the next two weeks with some sightseeing, as I definitely do not want to spend a large amount of time in Delhi.

First Scooter Ride

My first taste of operating a motor vehicle on the hellish wasteland that is the Indian road system. I rented a scooter from my hotel for about $5 and headed off into the Goan countryside. The original plan had been to go to Panaji for the film festival that was happening there, but it being my first time on a vehicle with less than 3 wheels, I decided it would be hazardous to my health to try and tackle an Indian city of 100,000 people. The countryside is no problem at all, it's a nice cruise, but anywhere with an abundance of traffic is incredibly nerve racking. Instead I just cruised around the countryside, stopping at Anjuna beach and a mediocre fort. Visiting Anjuna made me glad I didn't decide to go there, which was my original plan before heading to Goa. The beach is mediocre at best and there is not a hint of any type of nightlife. So far Arambol is looking like the best choice I could have made.

So I'm going to continue my beach bum crusade for the next few days, and after I ship some stuff home hopefully my lighter backpack will motivate me to get off my ass and start heading north to catch a flight to Thailand. The good news is I found out flights out of Delhi are just as expensive as in Kolkata, so that cuts my train ride in half. The bad news is the price is double what it would have been in January. I guess I'll have to fork out some extra cash for a Christmas in Thailand, but I'm confident it will be worth it.

Israeli's

Ok I figure one part of India that can't go unmentioned is the people that travel it the most: Israeli's. Now well I hate to generalize, and there exceptions (the super nice girls I hung out with in Amritsar, the two girls I met in Pushkar), there is a certain mentality that is apparent in Israeli travelers.

Individually they seem like very nice people and are easy to make conversation with, but small talk will be as far as it goes, getting in ring with an Israeli group is next to impossible. Even if you do end up hanging out with a few, they'll conversationally abandon you and let you sit there while they banter back and forth in Hebrew. They usually stick together in packs, it's very uncommon to see a solo Israeli traveler. It's a very odd style of travel, they'll stay in one place for a long time, getting stoned and sitting in the same restaurants every day. This concept is lost on me, I get too bored if I'm in one place for too long, save for the beach, where there is a lot to keep me occupied.

Overall there's a very ignorant attitude among these people, it's hard to watch them treat the Indian hotel and restaurant owners like servants. The ignorance even extends to other travelers, last night I had to listen to a group of them carrying on in the hotel restaurant (right next to the rooms) until 1 am, with no regard for the other guests or the hotel staff that sleep in cots on the edge of the restaurant. The general concensus among other travelers are that Israeli's are best avoided whenever possible. I wouldn't be too mad if I never had to encounter these travelers in quantity again.

And if I've been insulting in this post, I apologize to the nice Israeli people I've met here, you know who you are.

Living the Life

Summary of the past few (can't even remember how many) days: Sleep, beach, eat, drink, repeat. I have been nothing but a beach bum and it has been great. Arambol is a great place to chill out and soak up the rays. It's not a busy place at all, and the quiet is welcome to me. The beach is lined with tons of small restaurants that offer cabana chairs during the day, and beachfront dining at night.

Last night I ventured out of Arambol with some people I met to go partying in Calingute for the night. Calingute is another beach south of Arambol, and twenty times more busy. Being there made me glad I chose the serenity of Arambol. What surprised me most was the modernity of Calingute. The bars and restaurants there are very trendy, mostly because Goa is a beach resort for Russians, much like Mexico is for Americans and Canadians. Excellent night overall, the bars go all night. I rolled back into Arambol at 6am.

Tomorrow I'm renting a scooter and heading out with a Czech couple I met to Panaji, where a big film festival is happening. Hopefully I'll get to see some cheesy Bollywood action flicks...

Kyle vs. Bus

Added another chapter to the ongoing saga of Kyle vs the Indian bus system. I had booked an onward bus ticket from Mumbai to Goa before I left Udaipur through a travel agent who seemed reliable. He told me the bus departed close to where I was staying. Lies. Earlier in the day, before my 6pm departure time, I looked up the hotel I was to be picked up at, and it showed it to be close to me. Then an hour before when I went to catch a taxi, I found out it's about 2 hours out of Mumbai. So I had to miss that bus and buy another $20 ticket to catch on two hours later, this one one km away from my guesthouse. Next time I see that travel agent from Udaipur, I'm going to beat him up and take his lunch money.

The bus ride itself was another typical Kyle experience. I almost got left behind at one of the stops when I was in the bathroom, and I'm almost positive the seats had bed bugs because my arms and stomach are covered in bite marks that itch like hell. Next time I come to Goa it will be in a fighter jet, loaded with bombs to drop on the first Indian Bus Depot that I see.

Anyways, fuck it, I'm in Goa now. We rolled into Mupasa at 10am and caught another local bus (much better ride) to Arambol, a beach community in the north of Goa. First impression: Beautiful. It's exceeded my expectations so far. The beach is better than I thought and lined with palm trees. The beer is cheap (less than $1), there are plenty of beautiful women, and the weather is amazing. Speaking of cheap, I'm staying in a beach hut with a double bed and a common bathroom for $7. I love it here.

Southwest Is the Best

Great day walking around Mumbai today. I finished Goa'ing up my wardrobe with a pair of shorts and some new flip flops that won't propel me down flights of stone stairs. I put on quite a few km's on them, walking around the Colaba, Fort and Churchgate districts of the city. It totally reinforced the feeling that this is the most appealing city in India. There's a ton of beautiful architecture left over from the colonial period.

I was hassled a few times for taking pictures of some things, it actually turned out to be pretty comical. I tried sneaking into a university (the most beautiful one I've ever seen) to get pictures but was busted by security guards. I finally got in a gate in one end of it and convinced some other security guards to let me take a couple pictures. Then another guy gave me shit for taking a picture of the Bombay Stock Exchange. I'm not really sure why, he couldn't speak enough English to explain. I didn't delete it though...

Oh and I can't seem to find a cafe with wifi here, they're all not working, so pictures will have to come later. When I get to Goa. Oh yeah.

To Mumbai!

Seems like no matter how much money I spend to get a comfortable ride on the buses, it doesn't seem to work. My seat was right above the wheel well of the bus, so my leg room was horribly uncomfortable. And I seem to still be plagued by car sickness. Thankfully a friend of mine gave me some pills for motion sickness, so I was able to keep it together for the journey. It's still lingering with me though, I'll have to confine myself to my hotel room for the rest of the night.

Mumbai: Definitely a different side of India. It's noticeable that the average income in Mumbai is three times the national average. This place has more of a feel of Bangkok than any other India city I've been too. It's tropical, there are actually street lights, traffic lanes and sidewalks! I took a stroll around this afternoon and did some shopping to prep my wardrobe for Goa, and saw the India Gate and the illustrious Taj Mahal Hotel. I had to settle for something a little cheaper, the Taj is a little out of my budget range. Speaking of my hotel, it was definitely a good find. Thank the heavens for the random girl I met in an internet cafe in Udaipur that recommended me to it, it's the same price of the rest of India, in a city where rooms can run you four to five times the standard prices. And it's a nice place, with the most modern bathrooms I've seen so far. And I've already been asked to be an extra in a Bollywood film! Hopefully tomorrow I'll be feeling well enough to take that on...