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Published: July 21st 2008
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Elephanta Is.
Carved from solid stone on an island in the bay of Bengal, Mumbai (Bombai) Well... It's been awhile since we added to the blog. In actual time we have traveled through India, Seattle for two weeks, Mexico for our amazing wedding on the beach of San Pancho, honeymooned in Cancun, and are currently writing to you from Justices cousins home in Ipswich England. We are now married and back on track, delivering the next installment of ... Where Are They Now...
Our story picks up again, leaving Nepal headed for Mumbai, India.
Traveling through Delhi and on toward Mumbai we arrived weary and ready for a good nights sleep. Our first impression of Mumbai was that it was incredibly expensive, having to immediately play hardball with the taxi driver that drove us to our hotel. We nearly had to get out of the cab to get him to turn on his meter. Arriving at our hotel and having to renegotiate our room price of nearly a weeks budget (no thanks to hotel.com) we finally got settled into a room not worth the money but none the less suitable for one night. First thing the next morning we headed out to book our train tickets toward Goa and find more affordable rooms
Water thief
This little guy stole the water, sat down and uncapped it and then took a long and satisfying drink... too human... in an overpriced city of 25 million. We found a room in a rather modest place at an immodest price but had to wait till the "routine" fumigation for "bugs" had finished. This was OK due to the fact we had to retrieve our luggage from our last nights lodging. So off we went to fetch our luggage and returned ready to settle in having finished our tasks for the day.
Upon our return we determined that the "bugs" were actually Bed-bugs, to the strong reassurance that the treatment was "purely preventative"... riiiight. We moved into a room and layed down to watch some TV. Approximately 9 PM while watching the tube a small nearly invisible crawler was spotted on John's shoulder. YUK... Needless to say we rapidly agreed to change rooms to the one most recently treated. The fumes were eye watering but completely tolerable considering the alternative. So, we settled in again and returned to watching the tube. Come approximately 12:30 AM Justice shrieked and John jumped up when she removed a HUGE bug from his bare shoulder, immediately spotting about ten or twelve more on top and under the pillow. These little monsters before feeding are
nearly invisible, however after feeding they reach the size of a popcorn kernel and are dark red with their belly full of blood...your blood! No more fun and games! We grabbed and shook off our luggage and headed out of the hotel after being refused a refund, to find a new place to stay at one o'clock in the morning. Luckily, the top floor of the building contained another hotel of a much higher caliber that had ONE last room available, which we bargained as hard as we could for considering the time of night. We AGAIN settled in and went to sleep completely exhausted from moving and freaking out over the horrible feeling of violation and deception. Too much stress for one day. We did learn a new tactic in checking out possible lodging, pillow cases can be changed, however the pillows themselves retain the blood stains from smashing the nasty buggers. So we began to check inside the cases to inspect the pillows before agreeing to pay for the night not to mention avoiding if at all possible paying for the room in advance. This new tactic helped us to avoid any more nights like that one... so
far.
The following morning arrove too soon. Tired and grumpy we packed, checked out, and stored our luggage to ready ourselves for the evening train to Goa. We had a visit to the former evenings hotel to deal with before we left the city. The manager of the buggy place got to work at nine AM and we intended to be his first visit of the day. He didn't look surprised when we walked in the door, and steadfastly refused to return any money denying any bug problem, until John unwrapped a ball of tissue containing a couple of dead bloodsuckers in his face and had a nose to nose chat over the counter. At which point we received half of the nights fee back, which was better than nothing and left us feeling partially vindicated.
That evening we arrived at the main train station, a beautifully ornate building which stands as a delightful relic of colonial India and handles approximately three million people a day. Boarding the train we found ourselves seated across from a friendly couple from southern France named Alex and Willie. It was a sleeper night train, our first experience with trains in India,
Beach Toilets
Well, we thought this one was interesting for you Freitag... what an experience it was to be. In a country of three billion people the concept of personal space we often take for granted in Western countries, does not exist. Standing room only was the standard on the train. We had reserved beds, but it did not stop those without from sitting on and even sleeping on the spaces of the beds that were not physically occupied by our bodies. What a crazy ride... but we arrived in Goa with new friends and tougher skin.
Goa was a breath of fresh air compared to Mumbai! Thanks to Willie and Alex we rapidly found ourselves at home is an amazing two room apartment complete with balcony, bathroom, kitchen and super friendly hospitality, all for approximately $10 USD a day... India was starting to look better. We spent just over a week relaxing and exploring by scooter the surrounding area of Vagator, Anjuna, Panjin, etc.
Spending time with Alex and Willie, long term repeat visitors to Goa, enrolled us in the idea of renting a Royal Enfield and doing a portion of our trip in India by motorcycle. So for ten days we packed a well bartered, medium size backpack
Alex and Willie in Goa...
Two wonderful people we met on the train from Mumbai and became fast friends with. We hope to visit them in France soon. strapped to the back of a "borrowed" Royal Enfield and headed off the beaten path to explore inland Hampi, and southern Gokarna, and Palolem. A journey to be remembered for years to come. Although much of the ride resembled that of driving into an enormous hair dryer on high heat, the rarely traveled path yielded a full range of dirty smiling Indians running to our arrival, using all abilities to communicate that they would like their picture taken.
Often times when the heat was too much to bear, and our tooshies were sore from riding we would pull off the road for a hopefully cool beverage containing both sugar and caffeine. Since many of our stops were in the middle of nowhere, very few people spoke English. On the way to Hampi we were unsure why the gentleman selling us a cola like drink was so reluctant to give it to us, until we took a sip of the cool salty liquid. Yuk! Not so thirst quenching!! It is common in Asia to have a combination of salt with the sweet to insure proper hydration. However, when you're brought up without it, it can be a very unsatisfying surprise.
Just before arriving in Hampi we had a disturbing encounter. Stopped at the only light on an entire days ride, we took off next to a bus only to drive straight into the chest cavity of an enormous water buffalo gone crazed, which darted out from in front of the bus. With a great big "grunt", it took one look at us and hurried off sidewiding across the road with a little old man chasing after it with a stick. Luckily, none seemed to be injured and we headed on down the road a bit shaken and highly amused.
Hampi, had a great similarity to Kathmandu Valley. As if upon entering the ancient gate, time there had stood still for centuries, not to mention the heat! The town itself was a maze of narrow dusty alleys, small family run kitchens, and guest houses, sprinkled with a combination of cows, dogs and chickens. The area surrounding the small town resembled the desert of southwest United States only with ancient temples built amongst giant granite boulders and a scared river meandering through the valley. The atmosphere was layed back calling it's visitors to slow down and reflect. We spent three
of ten days enjoying Hampi then headed back towards the coast and Goa along the road we had already traveled down.
Leaving Goa was bittersweet, leaving a home away from home to board yet another packed Indian train to Kochi. Stay tuned for part two of the skin toughening sub-continent, India.
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Bruce Barr
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Coming by?
Hey guys! Looks like you're having a blast. Donna was horrified by the bedbug story. Doesn't look like we'll be heading to India any time soon.... Let me know if you're gonna hit SoCal on the final leg! Bruce