Blogs from Arambol, Goa, India, Asia - page 5

I left off after our first week of our yoga course. In the end we did a two week yoga course with am amazing yoga guru and person named Mahi. The yoga course was six hours a day, 6 days a week, starting at 7 am until 930 and in the evening from 4 pm until 7. We learned meditation, pranayama's (proper breathing techniques), the philosophy of yoga and assana's which are the yoga positions. What an amazing experience! We were all so sore and in rough shape by the end of the 2nd week, 72 hours of yoga later!! Mahi is an absolute guru. What he can do with his body is insane! he was just the right mixture of professionalism, support, encouragment, challenge, cheekyness, insparation and hilariousness. His favourite line was: " I am ... read more

Happy christmas folks! Christmas eve was when we finally got a bit excited abou christmas, a few fireworks were going off on the beach and a few Indian kids and clearly Australian tourists had on christmas hats! We went to meet our friends Wendy, Ami, kate and danny at their local hangout to join them for christmas drinks and boy were they having christmas drinks indeed! they had started at 12 noon so were pretty jolly and stoned, so with a bit of convincing we managed to get one of the staff of the bar to fit 6 of us in a tiny tiny car and drive down to the surf club, down a mad bumpy road listening to goan political hindu reggae! All the floors of the club were mosaic and it had no walls ... read more

The last day of the Mumbai-Goa coastal circuit. The plan was to drive to Terekhol, see the fort, take the ferry to cross the creek and then drive south to Goa. A Dad's friend called me in Sawantwadi and insisted that I should visit his home in Shiroda. He and his wife took some time out from his morning rush to the office to have a little chat over the tea. I dropped him at the Vengurla branch of Syndicate bank. Everyone seemed to remember my Dad even though it was about 15 years back. My bike was definitely a center of attraction as it had been all over the trip. I came back to Shiroda and headed to Terekhol fort which is now a heritage hotel. I remember staying in their premium suite 15 years ... read more

So while Alicia was going through 10 hours of pain i thought i would hire a scooter and go for a leisurely ride around a few different beaches and just generally explore whats around us. Indian roads are definately not for the faint hearted, especially in the large cities, but out here in north Goa its pretty relaxed by indian terms. That doesnt mean to say that there are not loads of potholes to navigate or cows, chickens, dogs and cats that suddenly run into the road to dodge and crazy indian drivers beeping there horns, overtaking on the wrong side of the road on corners and carrying massive loads like wardrobes or other furniture on there little scooters. After a while you start to get used to it and realise that beeping of your horn ... read more

fuer das wochenende hatten wir uns was ganz besonderes vorgenommen: wir wollten mal ziemlich zeitig das camp verlassen um uns auf den langen und beschwerlichen weg in den norden goas zu machen. der plan ist mehr oder weniger in erfuellung gegangen, denn wir waren schon um ca 13.30 im ersten bus gesessen. in margao war der erste umstieg angesagt, in den express bus nach panjim. von dort aus ging es mit einem etwas volleren bus aus nach mapusa und dann begann der horror: der bus von mapusa nach arambol: die indischen bus jungs schaffen es locker aus einem bus mit offiziell 11 stehplaetzen einen bus mit 30 stehplaetzen zu machen. und das ist wirklich ein angenehmnes gefuehl, wenn man arsch an arsch in einem bus steht, der fuer mindestens eine halbe stunde in der prallen sonne ... read more