Holi!

When we arrived to Hampi we had heard that there was suppose to be a big festival that weekend called Holi. However, no one seemed to know what is was for or what day it was actually on. We continued to hear many different things from travelers and local Indians. At first we were told Holi would be celebrated on Sunday only to find out on Sunday morning that it was actually going to be moved to Monday since it was recognized as an official holiday and people could take a half day off work to celebrate and join in on the festivites. To fill you in on what Holi actually is..Holi is an annual festival celebrated on the day after the full moon in the Hindu month of Phalguna (early March). It celebrates spring, commemorates various events in Hindu mythology and is time of disregarding social norms when friends and family spray each other with colored powders and water and cover each other in paints. It basically becomes mayhem with tourist and locals all just going crazy and wild in the streets dancing and covering each other in paint. Everyone in Hampi joined in the festivity from children to adults locals and tourists -it is a festival that also celebrates the breaking of all barriers of discrimination between caste systems and toruists and locals by covering eachother in paint everyone looks the same so it was really nice to be a part of it after witnessing the caste system and feeling such a barrier from locals while traveling and being tourists.







Molly and I along with our good friends Mel and Dev that we had met at the hostel went full out on Holli. We saw it all begin and marched through rice paddie fields with local children and drummers to the othersied where the full Holi madness began. We stopped at our hostel to mix sand dye and water in waterbottles and joined in the festivity and spraying everyone while being sprayed with paint! With in the first 10 minutes we were covered head to toe in paint. The celebration went on for hours.. we walked through the town spraying eachother, dancing with locals and children to loud drumming and music, and just fully joining in the festivities. It was a memorable day that we will never forget. It was quite crazy walking around town the next few days seeing people still covered in paint as it takes about 3-4 days for it to wash off your skin and who know how long it takes to get out of your hair as I sitll have traces of the paint in my hair a month later!

Heading to Hampi

So, Kate and I have slacked big time on writing, but we finally managed to post a few pictures for all to see, and now we are working on writing about our past 10 days of India! Basically, from where I left off last time we were in Palolem (beach town in south Goa), and about to head to Hampi. A few days earlier on our way to Palolem (during our 4 bus day trip), we decided to be responsible travelers and book our travel plans in the hub city as we passed through there. So, we woke up on Friday morning, said our goodbyes to the beach and headed off around 2 pm to venture on some more awesome hot, jam packed government buses! We arrived in Panjim (the hub town where we had booked our bus tickets) after about three hours of traveling in the hot sun. We found a nice place to eat and kill some time before our night bus was leaving. We loaded up into our night bus (the tiny little space we came to call home), and tried to sleep for awhile. Before closing our eyes, we both noticed that it seemed like we were heading back the way we had came, but we thought that that couldn't be possible, so we just dozed off. Basically we woke up at 11:30pm on the exact street in Palolem that we had left at 2pm!!! We both looked at each other and started laughing about what idiots we were! We traveled all day in the heat, just to be back at the same place we started nearly 10 hours earlier! To add insult to injury we fell asleep once more and woke up in another small town. After inquiring where we were, we realized that we were in Gokarna, the town that is closest to Om beach! We had heard about Om beach from our first day in India; it's supposed to be super chilled out, not many people, perfect beaches, huts right on the beach...blah blah blah...yeah, paradise. Well, after looking at the map when we were in north Goa, it looked like we would have to back track about 7 hours if we wanted to go to this beach; and since we are thinking about going to the Andaman islands, we decided to bag the idea of backtracking just to kick it on a nice beach. So pretty much we realized that we were the biggest idiots in the world, because not only did we travel an unnecessary 10 hours to pick up a bus, but we were also in the one town that we had wanted to go to the whole trip. (And not to mention, the entire time we were in Hampi all we heard about is how great Gokarna is, especially Om beach. Everyone talks about how they got stuck there for weeks, met tons of great people, and just had the best chilled out time...so yeah, we don't want to talk about it)

Besides our travel mishap, and the tumultuously bumpy road (which is a little creepy when you are sleeping with two people in a tiny bed 10 feet off the ground with only two metal bars to keep you in place), we arrived in Hampi happy and healthy! Driving into Hampi was beautiful; Hampi used to be a bustling trade town of about 500,000 people that was built in the 1300's, but was destroyed in a religious battle in 1565 (I think). So the town is scattered with ruins amongst amazing granite boulders. We hopped off the bus and followed a friend's suggestion to cross the river and try to stay at Bobby's place (thanks Gabi). You have to take a little boat to cross the river, and it just runs back and forth all day, with a cute little teenage boy that wears a cowboy sombrero conducting it! After walking for awhile in the opposite direction as everyone else, we arrived amidst the rice paddies at three little guest houses. Bobby's ended up being full, so we stayed next door at Manju's place. We ended up getting our own large room with shelves and a bathroom for 225 rupees (rs) ($5) a night (but sssshhhh....don't tell anyone, secret price! That is what they have said to us at every guest house we stay at. They always tell us that the person staying next to us is paying more, so we can have the room at our desired rate, but we can't tell anyone...funny huh?). We almost stayed in a mud hut with dirt floors and a shared bathroom for $1.50 cheaper, but because of all the bugs and the distance to the bathroom we decided to splurge and each pay an extra 75 cents each per night (it's funny because talking about it now is ridiculous...it's just dollars and cents, but when you're haggling 75 rs seems like a lot!)

I know I started explaining the beauty of Hampi earlier, but this place is really something else! The landscape is just so contrasting and beautiful. There are guest houses scattered within rice paddies, palm trees, granite boulders, ruins, a big river, some lakes, and lots of temples. Hampi is one of those places that you end up staying longer than you planned to when you arrived, yet when you leave you feel like you could have stayed longer. It's pretty special!



Shortly after arriving we were hanging out at our little communal gazebo area and started chatting with a guy from Montreal. He had a pink cast on, and told us how he had broke his ankle a week back from bouldering, he also told us that one guy had just died from jumping off the rocks into the lake (I seriously still had to plead with Kate not to do it even after she knew someone died...haha), that his roommate compressed a disc in her spine from jumping off the rocks, and that another guy had Malaria in the guesthouse next to us. What a welcome right!



The next day we decided to rent a motorbike and see some temples. We met some funny guys that were renting out bikes and managed to get a good deal on a bike. Little did we know that our bike was a piecer! One of the guys was obsessed with Kate, and wouldn't stop calling her Kate Winslett....plus he wanted to marry her! haha...all in good fun. Anyhoo, Shortly after our first failed attempt at riding off, we hit our first hill...and let me tell you, that didn't go so well! The whole day was spent with Kate getting off the bike on every hill and literally pushing the bike up to the top. Riding a bike in India is quite an experience, even in the countryside. First off you are constantly running into herds of animals; our day began with 2 herds of goats, then a huge herd of buffalo, then the cows...endless cows. It's difficult because the herders don't help get them out of the road, instead you just have to go slowly and hope that one of the animals you are passing doesn't decide to turn around and spike you with their horns!


We managed to overcome the bike issues, and ride all over looking at temples. Luckily at our second temple we were 'adopted' by a sweet Indian family that drove us around to a bunch more temples, while their 16 year old son drove our bike! We ended up being able to go to a super spiritual place that not many foreigners go to because it's difficult to find, and it's not really clear what it is without some explanations. So, after a long morning in the sun we decided to head out to the lake that everyone was talking about. On our way out there we got lost twice, and spent about 20 minutes looking for the swimming hole. As we were driving around we got stuck on yet another hill, and I was waiting at the top for Kate to hike up, and there was a guy standing at the top. Half of his body was behind a rock, and I didn't think anything of it until Kate got on the bike and looked back at him while he gave her a huge smile. Kate screamed and said "Go, Go, Go!" Apparently the guy was playing with himself as he watched us! GROSS!!! It was kind of scary too, because we ended up driving past this guy two other times that day, and both times it was the same thing...and the last time he started chasing us! We were really freaked because we were on a hill, but our bike must have sensed the urgency because luckily it sped off just fine and we left the creeper in the dust!

So, we eventually ended up finding a nice swimming hole with a group of English tourists, but still the vibe was a little creepy. Whenever you get in the water in Hampi loads of Indian guys gather around and just stare at you...it's super creepy. We were trying to enjoy ourselves because it was so hot, and the lake was so refreshing, but it was just not a good scene. Luckily a nice little Indian boy helped us out and told us to cover up because those were bad guys, so...we decided to leave.

In the afternoon we headed up to the Hanuman (Monkey God) Temple! There are 577 steps that lead you to this amazing temple high up in the sky. It is probably one of the most amazing views I have ever seen! It's one of those places that makes you think that no matter what care in the world that you had, it would go away once you got to the top of this temple. The temple is situated on huge granite formations, so you can just walk around and find a chilled out place to kick it! The contrasts of the granite and the rice paddies are unbelievable! And, I'm not sure if this is true or not, but someone told us that the Flintstones movie was filmed there, and I wouldn't doubt it because the scenery doesn't look real! I think these pics will explain it better than my words:

The pictures don't really show the complete beauty of the place, but it gives an idea! The funniest/scariest part about the Hanuman temple we are the cheeky monkeys!!! As we were walking around Kate had a bottle of water, and a bottle of petrol in her pack when two monkeys attacked her! One jumped onto her backpack trying to steal the bottles, and the other one crawled up her leg and onto her pack...Someone had to help us get rid of them, it was a little freaky! They are small but super strong. They all look cute from a distance, but the rest of the time we were really weary of them!

The rest of the time in Hampi was really chilled out. We were staying at an awesome place where we were able to chill everyday. We also rented Motorbikes and swam at the lake (with a group of people this time to avoid the creepers) almost everyday, it was awesome. We met a great couple from England Melody and Dev (Mel's actually from Zimbabwe, and Dev is Indian so he's been here a few times) who have already been traveling India for 3 months at the beginning of two years of traveling! They gave us some good insight for northern India, and we have actually made plans to meet up later this trip! So, all in all Hampi was one of the best places we visited so far! Super chilled out, awesome hiking, bouldering, temples, lake...just perfect! Our last full day in Hampi was a festival called Holi (pronounced Holly), that Kate is going to write about! It was complete madness. The pictures are pretty insane!!!! So, sorry it's been so long since our last posts, but we are working hard on catching up on everything! Thank you all for your wonderful comments, it is great to know that people are reading this! Love to you all, and I hope this message finds you in good health and happiness!

MOlly

(This computer isn't allowing me to post anymore pics from Hampi or the Hanuman Temple, so next time I'm online I'll post some more pics!)

One of our Favorites!

We were leaving the bus stand walking through the crowds of people when Kate pointed out this amazing photo opportunity! We struggled to find the camera, as hordes of people were staring at us with looks of bewilderment at what the heck we were taking a picture of! Look closely and hopefully you can read the sign above the building (if not is says "Symbol of Cleanliness", while the building is surrounded by trash)!!!! It's funny because you will visit some of the most beautiful places in India and they are still littered with rubbish! We are also adding a pic of one of our favorite meals!!! (Masala Uttapam, and a South Indian Veg Thali...Mmmmm)!

Pictures from Goa

Here are some pictures from our adventure throughout the state of Goa. There were so many stalls selling teas and spices, it was beautiful! If you recall in our earlier post we spoke about all the crazy people that we encountered in Goa, especially Arambol. You will see the David Bowie double from the Labyrinth balancing a glass ball on his head. Topless women doing handstands, men in speedo's juggling. Luckily amidst all the craziness there were also many beautiful parts of Goa, from the fishing boats to the cows roaming the beaches. There is also a picture of our jammed pack bus rides, and a few others just for fun! Thanks for waiting so long for all the pictures! We are finally starting to motivate, and will hopefully have some new posts coming your way!
-Molls and Kate

Mumbai Pictures!!!!

North Goa to South Goa; Palolem

We have only been here 5 days, but it feels like so long. From previous trips I remember that the first two weeks on a trip feel like they are so long, then the rest of the trip flies by. In the beginning days feel like weeks, but by the end months turn to days. India was a real shocker at first (which I'm sure you can tell if you've been following the blog), but it's funny that it's already beginning to mesh together and feel more comfortable. As crazy as everything/everyone is here, it all seems to work. For example, yesterday we had to take four buses to move from North Goa to South Goa (it would have been $40 by taxi, or $1.50 by buses).

Seeing as there is no real bus schedule or timetable you would think we might spend a lot of time waiting; but it was quite the opposite. We caught our first bus after about a 20 minute wait, and were packed in like sardines. It's pretty crazy here, because you squish together till you think you can't get any closer, but then the guy who collects your bus tickets pushes his way to the back and pinches you and grabs you, and literally picks you up and squishes you even more! (It's quite an experience, you have no control at all! haha).

That bus was an hour ride, then we hopped off we managed to find the next bus almost immediatly. It was creeping through the bus parking lot, and wouldn't stop for us, so we just had to jump on with all our gear. But it was pretty awesome because we actually got seats! We felt VERY lucky!

At the stop where we were to grab our 3rd bus we decided to walk around and try to book some travel plans for a few days in the future. We tried to get some train tickets, but the ticket office was CRAZY. We had to pay to get a number to wait, and there was one foreigner in there who said she'd been there for 1 1/2 hours and her number was finally next. She said they were going through less than 10 numbers in an hour! When we realized that our number was 20 numbers away, plus the fact that we didn't even know if there was a train to Hampi we decided to bail on that one, and head to the beloved Paulo Travels Bus Service to book another cozy bed for 2 for a 13 hour bumpy ride!

Anyways, when we made our way back to the train station our third bus was conveniently boarding and we were able to buy a ticket and hop right on...into a seat again!!!!! At the Fourth stop we decided to get some food and walk around a bit, then miraculously showed up at the buses once again right as ours was leaving; so we dodged the cars to cross the street and loaded up.

This bus was a little comical, because first of all they were bumping Bhangra tunes! (Our fave was a little ballad that was a woman singing in Hindi, then a man would come on and sing in English with a heavy accent "I don't know what you're Saying, I don't know what you're saying, but I want to dance with you!" It's our new theme song for the trip!) Also, we got charged 2 1/2 times what the locals paid for the ride, but all in all everything worked out so smoothly it was amazing!

So, like I said things are starting to mesh together and not feel so foreign and crazy; but that's not to say that there aren't at least 20 things a day that happen to us that make us look at eachother and just laugh out loud about how ridiculous it is. Here are a few examples:
-Constant Horn Honking....they seriously will hold the horn for 10 seconds at a time...or just constantly give little beeps. Apparently they honk when they want to pass a car, so trucks have signs painted on the back that say 'Horns yes please.'
-The cows on the beach! It's one thing to get used to sunbathing with cows, but as Kate learned the other night, you aren't expecting to have to dodge cow pies at night!
-We decided to drink a beer on the beach last night and a skinny Indian man in red undies (tighty whitey stylie), decided to stand less than 5 feet in front of us when there was no one else near us. He was staring out into the water, then turning around and staring at us. So finally I looked at him and said hi. He took this as an invitation to talk to us...but he kept telling us his wife was in the water and pointing to some people in the water. We told him he should go join her, but he just wanted to keep talking, so we decided to pick up and move. Of course, as we passed his "wife" in the water...it was really just two white couples! He was icky.
-We think Kate may have been involved in some sort of drug deal on the bus! Some boys made her pass a bag with some conspicuous brown powder in it, then made her pass money to the other guy!
-The Constant hassling is too much. This new beach we are on is by far the worst so far! The women come up to and just stand over you, trying to get your attention by asking you questions. If you look up and say "no thank you," your trapped...they just keep talking to you and won't leave, it's totally ridiculous. This has been one of the hardest things for me, because the only way to get them away is to completely ignore them...and I'm not good at that. In one hour on the beach you will have 20 people come up to; each one offering the same things: jewellery, manicures/pedicures, henna, and sarongs. It's so hard to be rude, but it's all you can do. You will be reading your book and they just stand over you shooting questions at you!

So, now we are on Palolem with the constant hagglers. We have found the best garlic naan here that we've had so far! It's so delicious! We are staying in a cute little bungalow for $2 a night each! Unfortunately we are staying next to some Israelis that brought huge speakers travelling with them, and they love to bump techno and smoke hash all day long. They somehow manage to stay up talking till 4 am, which I have no idea how it's possible after the amount of hashish they smoke! But all in all the bungalow is great. We have pigs all over...about 20 piglets running around, plus chickens...tons of them. And last night we were sitting on our deck and a cow just strolled right through (they have carte blanch here). Also there seemed to be a group of rabid dogs attacking eachother all night, so I guess that dogs just seem to be nocturnal in all of India, not just Mumbai! hehe.

But everything is falling into place nicely. We are headed to a great town called Hampi tomorrow and we are really excited to post up for 3 or 4 night and relax in this ruin town.

I will be hooking up my camera in Hampi and posting some pics, so even if you've read the last blogs keep checking them for pictures!!!!

Love to you all, thanks again for listening!

North Goa; Arambol

We woke up on Sunday morning to the shouts of "Mapusa, Mapusa!" Kate and I looked around at our home for the night (the small sleeper bed on the bus) and realized that we had our stuff scattered all over the place, and our stop was just seconds away. So we jumped down off the bunk found our packs and quickly started shoving everything we owned back into our packs. We finished with barely a time to take a deep breath before we were off the bus and getting attacked by people trying to give us taxi rides and auto rickshaw rides. We didn't really know where we were or what we were doing, so we really just needed a minute to regroup, sit down, open the LP and figure out what the hell to do next. Unfortunately we had the mob of drivers following us halfway down the block, so we ended up just ducking into a hotel to get a minute of silence! It's funny here, because most places you can find solace on a street corner or on a bench or in a park; but here, if you are in the open you're free game!

We figured out that we needed to get a bus, and we headed off to the famous beaches of North Goa! Upon arrival we were shocked that we weren't harrassed by any taxi or rickshaw drivers, and we just assumed that everything must be really close. The irony of it all is that the ONE time we would have enjoyed a taxi ride, no one was around to help! We ended up walking about a mile and a half in the blazing sun...then wandering down the beach till we found our new home! We got a sweet little beach bungalow for $7 a night between the two of us!

We were so excited to get to the beach after crazy Mumbai. I don't know exactly how to explain Goa because it is quite different than any other place I've been before. Not the scenery....it's a nice beach, warm water, little waves. But I guess it's more the people that flock to Goa. It seems to be a sort of winter retreat for all the Euro Burners. The people are just totally whacked out. Kate and I were just constantly people watching, and totally amused by all the different outfits and hairstyles/lifestyle choices of the Goan Vacationers. First off, most people that were there seemed to be staying there on a long term basis. Lot's of Russians, Ukranians....people from all over Europe, looking for an escape. Also, most of India is very conservative; you have to have your shoulders and your knees covered at all times. But it Goa, that flies right out the window....it's hard to tell who is wearing less clothes: the guys, or the girls? Literally there are guys on the beach in leopard print G-strings...it's a little much!

I wish I could go into further detail about Arambol, but it would take a long time, so Kate and I jotted down a list of some of the most memorable things that we saw:

-We saw a guy with a mohawk that was short in the front, but then turned into a dread mullet in the back
-A guy walking down the beach with tight bright blue pants that bell bottomed, with a fanny pack, and blonde dreads down to his butt
-Weird Moon Boots....(who travels with moon boots right?)
-Sack Pack Attack Everywhere (for those of you who aren't familiar with this term, yes, they are speedos....thong ones too)
-Sack Pack with a Fanny Pack
-Trans Euro Hippies EVERYWHERE
-2 guys juggling in speedos
-1 guy juggling butt naked....and yes, he kept dropping the balls and bending over...GROSS
-A group of about 30 people standing in a circle with a "leader" in the middle, doing what Kate and I call 'Kelp Dancing'...very weird
-We saw a bald guy sitting on the beach balancing a crystal ball on his head (I think we was David Bowie's crystal ball double guy from the Labyrinth)

Those were some of the best ones that stick out in our minds! (I have some good pics to prove that we really saw these things...so check back soon; my plan is to edit some of the posts and add some pics in the next few days!) Also, it's pretty crazy trying to walk on the road here. Everyone rents motos, and the streets are so small, but everyone thinks they own them, and it'a a constant movement of cars, rickshaws, and bikes. It's crazy because they literally aim for you, and when you hear the horn you have to jump out of the way as they speed past you only inches from your body. It's hard to get used to!

We spent two nights in Arambol, and decided it was time to move on. We were really hoping that we were going to head somewhere with Indian food (All the restaurants in Arambol had huge menus with every kind of cuisine from Israeli to Italian to English, then a small section for Indian food) but unfortunately that didn't seem to be the case.

Anyways I'll write about our next adventure in the following blog! Thanks for Reading!!!