Paradise lost...?

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Quick update... and I wrote out a nice post yesterday before my computer promptly crashed and lost everything, so here goes again.

I know you're asking why "paradise lost...?", and its not because we haven't been in paradise, because in so many ways Palolem, Goa, is close. I've been able to relax here like I've never been able to relax before, and thats no joke. I've had a string of days here where the most significant things I did were... well, really only getting a big henna tattoo. Everything else I did was normal stuff: eat, sleep, swim, read, lay in the sun, go out for a bit at night, and... really nothing of any great significance, and certainly nothing stressful, or anything I had to work to do. And to be able to do nothing is/was amazing, but only in spurts. And this is where paradise gets lost. You can only take so much of doing "nothing" before you need to get back to doing something, and really anything. And for that reason we made plans to go to Humpi tomorrow for three days before we return to a northern beach in Goa for a few days (just to see what we were missing while in Palolem) before we continue on with the journey up to Mumbai and Aurangubad. Humpi was the latest change to our plans, but we've also opted to change our plans in Nepal from Kathmandu to Pokara, where we can get a little further up into the mountains, as well as meet up with a Nepalese guy we met here in Palolem who is a trek guide in Nepal in the Goan off-season. He's a very cool guy, trustworthy, fun to be around, and I've even agreed to sell him my iPod (for about $50), just so he can play my music in the hotel/restaurant that we've been staying at (which means a larger dose of good hip hop, reggae, and some alternative music, albeit only a small selection from my music library at home, only covering A-C in the alphabet - didn't have any more space). And about our hotel... cheap by the day, exquisite food thats also cheap, good music, great people that work there, and my room (or hut or shack) basically opened up into the restaurant. To be honest it was the complete package for relaxation, and I'm making plans to come back here for a couple weeks after Pokara and Varanasi (before heading back to Delhi/Jaipur/Agra). I had thought of doing something like this before I left, and now I know where I want to go, just to relax before I come home (and I mean the same hotel, named Presley).

As for our next leg of the journey to Humpi, our travel mate Henry (from Scotland and England) that we picked up in Kovalam will also be joining us, however he will probably split after we come back to Goa.

Anyway, all is well, and the bus keeps moving... I'll check back in a little bit.

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