Luke OS

After spending one night on an overnight train and the following on an overnight plane from India, I was a little bedraggled upon my 5.30am arrival into Bangkok. Feeling the need for a good sleep, I headed straight for a comparitively expensive hotel and made the most of my air-conditioned room, warm shower, TV, room service and most of all, a king-sized bed. Oh yeh, and a buffet breakfast the next morning with one of those guys that makes custom omelettes for you. Deluxe! The next day however, I moved to a little bit more modest place, just around the corner from the infamous backpacker metropolis that is Khao San Rd. People had warned me that Khao San was pretty hectic, and sure, it was overrun with tourists, shops, 7/11s, fast food and a million ... read more

People that I'd met along the way had told me I'd like Arambol - it was a bit more laid back, hippyish and less touristy than the rest of Goa. However, being the end of season (they were literally starting to pull down the huts and shacks), it was a little laid back even for me. The preferred activity seemed to be the usual baking on sun beds all day, though I found it a little more challenging to take myself off on walks - of the surrounding bush, adjacent beaches and even a nearby lagoon. I rather foolishly attempted all of this one hot day without any water, not intending to go so far, and found myself stumbling over a rocky headland in thongs, exhausted and dying of thirst (well I was pretty thirsty ... read more

Old Goa, appropriately enough, is the old capital of Goa, and situated just 9km from the new capital of Panaji. I'd heard it was worth checking out, so gave myself a night there to see the sights. After 3 buses to Panaji (and another 1 to Old Goa) I arrived with only about 45 mins to check out all the sights. So hammering it around on foot, I managed to see most of what there was to see, which consisted mainly of old churches in various states of ruin. The highlight would have been the Basilica of Bom Jesus which contains the incorruptible body of Saint Francis Xavier, which is basically some dead dude's body that won't decay (though bits of it have been ripped off it and stolen). Unfortunately, it's not possible to see ... read more

While at Kovalam, it turned out that I had an opportunity to witness an apparently special event - that being seeing the sunset and April full moon on the same horizon, at a place called Kanyakumari. It's somewhat of a holy place here, being the southern-most point of India, and pilgrims make the journey down here to bath at the meeting of the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. My three-bus journey down there was less well-intentioned - I just wanted the photo that the lonely planet described. The authors made it seem as though there would be a spectacular meeting of the setting sun and rising full moon at a single point on the horizon (or maybe that was just my idealistic interpretation of it). As it turned out, the horizon was ... read more

After deciding there was not much to see in Kollam, I headed down south to a little beachside community known as Varkala. The trip down was my first introduction to the crazy world of Indian buses, though this trip was quite pleasant compared to later ones. The direct buses are never as frequent as a guide book will have you believe, but after gambling on a changeover in a strange town I'd never heard of, I managed to arrive safely. Once there, I found it very hard to leave. In stark contrast to the dirty, noisy and odorous towns i had been visiting up until now, Varkala (well the tourist part anyway) was a rather pleasant little cliff top community overlooking a nice little beach. The cliff top itself was lined with an endless assortment ... read more