I'm starting my blog from after 4 months in Mysore - having lost all my writings so far.
1 February 2010.
I'm off to Hampi and Go Karna for a holiday.
I've left my shishi apartment with all my belongings and am travelling with a guitar and a small back pack only - oh and my yoga mat - and this is travelling light!
5.30pm ish - say bye to a few pals at the coconut stand in Gokulum and Dev whisks me away in his rickshaw for a mere 60 rupees (rip-off) to Mysore bus station. I find the local bus to Bangalore (about 3 hrs) and get comfy. 138 rupees for this journey. Its dark when i get to the bus station, i've had a little snooze and a couple of bananas so i may even make it through the night on the train. Where's the station? Past the urine stench, exhaust pipes of 20 stationary buses, and through a sub-way. (SUBWAY ??) am I sure. ok here goes. in the dark its about 9.30pm but the subway is fine - light - everyone 's setting up underground stalls selling anything they can sell.. India is one big shop. The train station appears round a corner and I even manage to find someone to tell me that i have to go to platform 8 - so glad I'm not carrying my big back pack ... its about a 5 min walk - the stations here are huge. I wander up the platform - no idea where my carriage Sleeper 1 will be but take a guess and i have to wait about 40 mins. Perfectly lined up... My name is even printed on the piece of paper on the oustide of the carriage. No numbers by my end of the carriage so just pick a bunk (i'm Upper luckily - as I forgot to ask). Up i go luggage and all and just put my head down.... India is very funny - there's no respect if you are asleep - they'll just wake you up with a yell or a tug - 3x - first - to check my ticket. 2nd. cos someone has just boarded and technically i'm in their bunk. but the woman on opposite bunk has gatecrashed so luckily she's pulled down and he takes her bunk. Back to snooze mode again. Full sleep not possible. when the train is moving - it feels like its going to derail. when it stops you can hear everyone snoring, eating, chatting, mobile phones etc.... lucily i'm in india mode of only half a mind so nothing phases me... Arrive in Hospet 6 ish in the morning and its light and cool. Take a rickshaw the 1.5km to the bus stand although the walk would have warmed me up and been good for me.. the bus drive is beuatiful - nature. nature nature. lake sky open space... I already have a great feeling for Hampi. Get off at the bus stand and find my way through the Bazaar to the ferry and cross over all of 3mins in a motor boat, motorbikes, people, luggage, altogether - to 'the other side'... supposedly quieter at night - its only huts / cafes / bars for tourists but there are some movies showing at some of the cafes so it makes it easy getting home late at night for me. I think i chatted to a few people, smiled to a few and followed some guest house to guest house checking out the most basic rooms i've seen on this trip.. EEk... ok deep breath, 200 ruppess fora stinky bathroom and room with holes in the wall (but with apattern) as a window. But i have a hammock ! and i have a pathway up to the most beautiful hill for sunset - there's even a man selling chai and water up there and an old temple ...
Dump my bag. clean my teeth wash my face and get out to the sunshine - hire a scooter - no dial to say if I run out of petrol , no helmet - freeedom.. - head off to the find the lake - guitar on back - to find an empty space to practice , relax etc. Cant find the lake. I do find two very young and very very tall and very handsome german guys out riding their bikes - looking for the lake - i follow them - but after 5 kms realise they have no idea where they're going also.. so i head back. and go to the Hanuman temple - up 600 steps. wasnt sure i really wanted to stop the bike as i have to kick start it and its not so easy - left foot side. Anyway the view from 600 steps up was more than worth it. The baba at the top was quite cool and we had a chat - he lives in the tiny temple on a bed - probably lives on chai n charras (this is a vast assumption but it appealed to me). Back to touriststrip - Hungry with a capital H. give scooter back.
Think i ate some momo's steamed dumpling things with veggies inside - ok. shame about fried veg inside but guess that's what they are. Gonna stay and watch the film : Pineapple Express - supposedly v. funny. - Sit with an English man (cant remember his name) ol timer and his Indian wife - both funny and easy to chat to. Home - its pitch black chanting Om Namah Shivaye - to keep me safe. it worked. My room is pitch black and has a concrete table with a matress and mossie net - I put my bag under the net so nothing crawls into it and collapse into bed - exhausted. Waking up its about 7am - cant bear the thought of my cold bucket wash yet - so get some yoga togs on and walk up the hill - half hearted self practice and sitting meditation for hr and half - the scenery and place to practice make it worth while. shivery cold wash. Breakfast - sit wtih Connie in Mowgli - good view of paddi fields - but fruit salad is not good - so i complained - gave a few rupees and left for some decent food at Mango Tree - across the river . Sight seeting day . Mango Tree is beuatiful - in a circle shape on th eedge of a hill - its like it has a huge glass window 50 ft high - but no glass - just open - asked for a Parotha - like a chapati with veg / potato inside - but euh I got a huge pastry puff (again) . This happened in another cafe once before... its ok tasty but just not what i was expecting. I have to say its about 12pm by now - i'm sitting next to Steven from USA - who lives in teh Parvati Valley - he's 60 and Fragile for 60 but sooooooooooo utterly beautiful soft (from the inside) i didnt want to leave - he had such nice energy - Dad, As he was called Steven I had you in mind as I chatted away to him - as if i was having some wise banter with you in a cafe in India... I left as my sightseeting really needed to begin. I bump into a young austrian couple that i saw on the bus, the ferry and just before I got to the Mango Tree adn we agreed to share a rickshaw and have a look round. They didnt want to pay the entry fee to go inside the elephant stables and the ruins with the stone chariot so i agreed- it turned out a good partnership as the misses had been to Hampi before with an NGO and she knew the walk home via the river and via a further 600 step high temple - with a better view than from the Hanuman temple. amazing beuatiful fantastic... We met Tim - a lovely American cycling round India he just happened also to be a biologist and told us about the rock formations adn why they were possibly the way the were (granite bolders)... The next day i took a bicycle out and just pootled about village to village , temple to temple getting my third eye pressed with orange, red, dyes. Ate lunch in a cafe in tourist strip and was joined by Hans? I think from Amsterdam - he was an art dealer - had sold up and was running a B&B - shd've taken the name of it as he was really very nice / cool into meditation and was going to spend the night with the baba in teh Hanuman temple - i was tempted to gatecrash but then thought they'd be sipping chai n charras and as i dont drink caffeine, dont eat sugar and dont eat dairy - nor smoke - it wouldnt be my ideal night out. Instead i decided to pack up and head for Gokarna - 3 nights with cold water, stinky bathroom and concrete shed were enough. Book a ticket on the sleeper bus - mmmmmmmm. 5pm I'm on the ferry . Then on the local bus to Hospet - sitting next to ???? I never did know her name even after a week in Gokarna - from Franch. Takes a while to find the sleeper bus in Hospet - Indian directions are wonderful.. - Little left . No right side . up up up ... adn after all - its just across the street.. I did request a single berth - notreally wanting to share a minute space with a stranger - in the end i had to forgot my luxury lower deck bunk (as it was a double) and take a double upper - cheaper space - but i got it all to myself - next to the french girls. Get my saree out and snooze. 10.30pm we stop at a cafe for a wee n dinner. I think i had dhal n hard crispy chapateee but not much choice here. Bought a metal cup from the cafe and took a cuppa tea back on the bus. Sleeping on a bus is worse than the train - or maybe the upper feels worse than lower - i felt like the bus was going to tip over every time it swung round a corner or past someone ... Suddenly we were all kicked off the bus - its only at 4am - middle of no where - lorry park. One english girl was travelilng with a native mmmm wink wink nudge nudge... but luky for us - he let us know that another bus would pick us up and take us to GoKarna. some time... We just sat in the cool air watching the traffic pass and pass and pass and pass.... Listening to the loud israelis. and watching a completely off his trolly french man who looked like he'd been sleeping in the dirt road for a week- he had a sleeping bag on the pavement waiting for him jsut by our bags... no idea where we were .
Bus comes and we arrive in Gokarna by the rickshaws - not in town - handily for the rickshaw drivers - I share with the two french girls to Kudlee Beach - we have to walk about 15 mins down hill to the beach - sea sand, its light now - everything is closed but we find SunSet guest house claim a banana frond hut with sandy floor mostquito net n matreess - unpack - and get into the sea... its warm, clear and aaaaaaaaaarhrrhrhhhhhhhhhhhhh tastic. Eat, Sleep, swim, splash, eat more eat more chat ... chat. Cold outside showers - mosquitos. pooh. Flat guitar - needs tuning and i'm not able to do it . But Man from near Liverpool in a band tunes it in 3 secs flat- have a chat - he's importing clothes from shop in GoKarna. Meet Gulu and Gautama from Zurich to 45 ish Indian men - .. Then i bump into Pepe, Jay Krishna, Ganga, andDevi Dasi.. lovely hugs love hugs love all round. bhajans on the beach. All the travellers come out at sunset . juggling, fire dancing , violins, all instruments. beautiful. Next day walk to Om Beach and bump into Pepe, Ganga, and Mahendra and Ula.. and the Dutch woman, sorry i ve forgotton yr name already also... chat , cafe, eat, swim, chill out - really peaceful gorgeous day . Not as nice at Kudlee beach. Well that's not true its different the sea is nearer the cafes - one cafe particularly good as it has hammocks. otherwise Om Beach is made up of two small beaches. Never made it to Half MOon or Paradise but I heard they were also both small so i dont mind - i prefer personally long long long stretches of beaches so you can get to be by yrself.. not here.
eve eat, bhajan on the beach sleep . guitar practice. Next day look around Gokarna - nice shops. really lovely little town - all preparing for ShivaAtri - two huge carts take up almost the entire road getting ready for the festival 12 Feb. All days at Gokarna spent like this. easy. little sunbathing and swimming relaxing. Til Friday 12th - walk over the hill 30 mins with guitar and bckpack heading for the sleeper bus to Bangalore (only other way back to Mysore would be the local bus 12 hrs during the day). Wait and wait adn wait and no sign of the bus. then someone arrives on motorbike - checks my ticket and says the bus is 1.5 km away - i ask for aride on his bike and he agrees... instantly - just in time. Get on bus - just me and Mathias - a german metal head banger with longer hair than me - good condition mind you. Anyway 2 mins after we set off he wants a pee and needs distracting so we play cards - he teaches me two games and i beat him at both... preparing for my next sleepless night on the skiniest of beds with one bar to stop me falling off. power cut... back soon. xs
