Bombay and Beaches

So, eventually another blog, no excuses, just couldn't be arsed to sit in some dark room when the sun shines and the beers are calling. To also be honest I found this difficult to get excited about writing, its a tour of the SW Indian coast back to Sri Lanka then the scheduled hop to Thailand to re-visit old places / people and mainly to meet up with Taff and Lin plus Mark, Georgie, Bob and Mandy to celebrate Taff's 49th and their 25th wedding anniversary in Ko Samui. Beaches are beaches at the end of the day!
Then when I sit here I do it a disservice: fabulous beaches, newly opened post-war Sri Lankan east coast and then the guys of course. All mixed with the pains of travel and dry states in India, still apprehension in NE SL and diving and drinking in Thailand! So, I'll do this chronologically for a change:

Mumbai:
The only city in this chapter - and what a place! Full of more contradictions, history and today - colonial / anti-colonial, art deco mansions and skyscrapers, shanty towns and beaches but above all for me Mahatma Ghandi's base. What a man, lawyer/ philosopher / leader / peaceful revolutionary in India, South Africa (deported) and Britain. Visiting his old house is an eye-opener on his life and works, shame about the cheesy pastiches of his life.

SW Coast:

Bus and train trips all the way back down the west coast to fly back to SL through 4 states, all different:

• Maharastra - deserted beaches but Robinson Crusoe-style, no tourists, no infrastructure, no beer! Great for a day or two, move on;
• Goa - like another country! Just cross a river and there are Moorish cathedrals, shrines and bars / restaurants, and a thriving illegal booze smuggling trade with other states who tax it to the heavens. So small after the other states too, easy trips between sites. Portuguese until 1960's and fully western: still some old hippies but many old 60's hangouts are now either package tourist towns full of Russians and Brit winter escapees or backpacker beaches but all different styles, cultures, nightlife with a Portuguese twist in the inland towns, and still a few almost (always a bar) deserted beaches if you look hard enough! And cheap! Recommended by DUM's very lonely planet, but go soon the Russians are coming.
• Karnataka - a flying rail trip through, as stopped many times on way up. Again huge beaches in the north with little infrastructure but as Goa keeps being packaged, many independent travellers are starting to migrate south. Doesn't have the western "culture", few hotels and DIY nightlife. Then, like Kerala, you have the historic ports and waterways and hill stations if you're not a beachie, so take your pick!
• Kerala - as above with a couple of exceptions: Varkalla, for instance, an old established clifftop beach resort. But summed up India for me, I couldn't take a decent photo without streams of rubbish covering the cliff sides opposite each restaurant or shop area. Someone Else's Problem. Bye India.

Sri Lanka:

From Colombo up to the newly opened NE coast following the 30-year civil war. 8 hours on the train to Trincomalee, supposed to be a beach gem around there. It was still pretty much closed, the beaches deserted, hotels closed or still burnt out, army and navy patrols. Talking to the locals was easy but don't mention the war! Still tensions as most people here are Tamil and don't like the Singhalese even though most didn't fight themselves. My guest house owner spent 8 years in USA/Canada to avoid being "conscripted" by the Tigers, his family still there. His wife stayed throughout as local teacher, they have re-built their house 3 times, twice as burnt out by warring parties and once destroyed by the tsunami (4 metre high wave here)! What a cushy life we have.

Followed the east coast down through Batticaloa (pretty old Dutch fort city) through lagoons and dunes to Arugam Bay - a surfer paradise from April and all Muslim here. They were caught pretty much in the middle of the civil war, less forces and patrols here, they are still re-building from the tsunami in 2004 as money allows! Found great bar run by half-Dutch/half-Isle of Man guy who rode a bike out here in the 70's, married a local and has never been back! Illegally brews his own beers too! German-style from wheat beers to stouts - wonderful! He just pays off the police, etc and they come and drink it too! Think Arugam Bay would be fun in season!

Then through the southern national parks for the elephants (inc Born Free Foundation place, excellent) and back to the west coast beaches on the way back to Colombo and the airport. Beware full moon days in SL! Unlike Thailand, the place goes dry - its a holy day! Still, got served special "tea" in big teapots and drank from a cup and saucer! Saved.

Thailand:

Re-visited Phuket - last time I think, my favourite beach, Kamala, has 2 more big hotels behind it and you can't see the beach for sunloungers. Must have been there too often anyway, the local tailor salesman, Dave, didn't even try this year! Bye to some good people.

Then across to the east Gulf coast to the Samui islands - Ko Tao for cheap diving and fun times (except for abandoning a dive at 18 metres down when my throat closed up on me! Caught a virus it turns out, scary); Ko Pha-Ngan, the famous full moon party island (don't bother if its not full moon, its empty and sad) and to Imperial Boat House Hotel on Ko Samui - luxury! Don't think the porter had seen a backpack before, he carried it upside down, desperately clutching it to his chest! And the mob, great fun for 3 days of swimming pool, drinkies and eats by the beach. Congrats to T&L too! Then moved on - its somewhat out of a traveller's budget! Back to the west coast, Ko Lanta and Ko Lipe (free mozzies with every visit to the outside loo) for diving and island hopping south to cross into Malaysia by boat to Langkawi, and so to the next blog!

Odds and odds:

• India: go back? Only to see historic palaces further north, Andaman Islands diving people rave about, and the northern mountains into Nepal, apart from Goa - a good cheap escape
• Sri Lanka: go back? I loved the ancient cities, hill country and some of the resorts but not enough to stop me going somewhere new, which is my measure I guess. On second visit after India, its not as manic as I first thought!
• Thailand: always fun but only with others now for fun or for diving, I think. It's not cheap anymore either, twice the price of SL or India.
• Food: Thai then Lankan then Indian, though to generalise about Indian food is dangerous, each state is different, the further south the better the food
• Drink: Its all become fizzy pop lager to me now. Singha still has a taste of its own. Local spirits are interesting - from rice wine to palm toddy to "whiskies", all worth a try! Some disgusting, others like raw spirit, some real smooth, all with a hell of a kick. Indian real wine was good too but expensive. Alcohol - a benefit or a barrier to travelling - discuss. Certainly "lost" a few days along the way but met some interesting locals too.
• People: Thais are the most friendly, Lankans friendly but nearly always with an ulterior motive to remove money from your pocket. Indians are business people and more serious OR they ignore you because life is hard enough without helping others. Exceptions all over of course. Me being non-PC again.
• Tourism: a subtle form of colonialism? Certainly completely alters the cultures, the infrastructure and the environment, but brings in dosh which makes a few very rich and jobs / services for the rest
• Kites: a fond memory of India, watching huge birds of prey wheeling above and watching crowds of dads and kids queuing (well as near as you get in India, lots of shouting and scrums) to get served at Kite Shops - yes, that's all they sold plus re-stringing services! Good people watching!
• "Silent Noise" night club in Goa: pay your money, get headphones and a choice of channels and dance the night away to your own DJ! Four DJ's each playing different club styles in a big open air arena, so different groups raving, smooching, headbanging all over the place at the same time! and all to get around the noise pollution laws!! Surreal, especially after a few bevvies, etc.

Sorry, rambling on as usual. Photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/laurentmik/SW_India_SriLanka_Thailand_2010

Cheers! Mike

Cows and Contradictions

So India or to be precise southern India. I came here with all my western stereotypical thoughts and fears of poverty, dirt, crowds but with history, India seems to get a lot of that sort of press and images at home.

First, a step back to set context: I have been here 5 weeks now and have managed to see only part of the south! It's massive. And what I've seen and experienced have thankfully confirmed some but dispelled, or at least overridden, most of those stories.

• The biggest surprise has been the geography, which is beautiful - forest covered hills (the Western Ghats) behind a western coast of beaches, waterways and historical ports. Behind the hills, fertile plains (the Deccan plateau) cut by river valleys with areas of barren hills and volcanic outcrops.
• The history stretches from centuries BC to British colonial to Independence via warring kings, sultans and emperors who all built cities and fortresses, trading routes with Arabic, Persian, Chinese and then European merchants, created advanced civilisations and brought their religions - buddhism, hinduism, muslim, christian, jainism. And left huge legacies of cities, palaces, temples and cultures.
• Independent India has had a fight to catch up with western countries who to this time have held the power, money and economic influence. Hence our views of a backward nation. But that is changing, at least for those who have managed to catch the new gravy train of an Indian economic boom based on IT and manufacturing (cheap labour), there is a thriving educated middle class.
• Languages: there are 7 official languages, so quite often people from different states revert to Hindi, the most populous) or English!
• Travelling is hard work - the distances involved plus the ageing roads (they just go from a reasonable B-class road to a mass of dirt, potholes and axle-breaking trenches within a split second), ever-stopping buses and trains means a 30 kilometres (say, 20 miles) per hour average speed. So any move is a full day or overnight lack-of-sleep-er bus/train.

So, the stereotypes and the contradictions:

• Yes, there's poverty - huge numbers scrape an existence through scavenging, sweeping up after everyone else or begging. Shanty towns and homeless on the city streets. Many who won't catch this economic development through lack of opportunity (the caste system is still alive and thriving, I'm told), education or chance. But hopefully its effects will filter down. Remember, Britain had huge slums and homeless during our big development times of the Industrial Revolution and before - and we may have again some time?
• Farming appears to be subsistence only and country folk stay that way or join the shanty towns - this is very much a bullock cart and ancient local buses in the country versus cars, taxis or at the worst tuk tuks in cities
• Yes, there's dirt - but there's a strange dichotomy between a complete willingness to create rubbish and a culture of personal and home / business cleanliness (linked with Hinduism water rituals I think) - so dirt is someone else's problem, as long as it is not on me or in front of my house / shop - they are forever sweeping their bit of the pavement or road. And it feeds the scavengers, animal (cows - who even eat cardboard here!, pigs, dogs, crows roam the streets) or human (night sweepers, recyclables collectors, homeless). The real problem comes when they litter in areas where no one cleans up like beaches, empty building plots, river banks.
• Yes, there's crowds - the Indian government openly admits it can't keep up with the population growth in terms of housing, infrastructure, education and employment, So exaggerating the haves and have nots gap. No, there are not crowds everywhere - this country is massive and you can find some beautiful places in the hills or on the coast.

And now the fun bits.

Highlights include:

• Swimming on Xmas Day at Om Beach with a barbecue fish dinner on the beach
• New Year's Eve on a guest house roof swigging illegal local spirits until 4am with a group of other travellers from 4 countries in Hampi, a dry city
• Hampi - an ancient temple and royal capital in a pink granite bouldered river valley - surreal. It took 3 days to walk around all the sites / sights!
• Mysore and Hyderabad royal palaces - those guys were seriously rich and knew how to show it off
• Indian whisky is pretty damn good, and cheaper than drinking local (Kingfisher, Cobra, Foster's) beer. About 1.40 pounds for a treble in one of the dark and grotty bars they specialise in here
• Ellora cave temples complex and Khailasa monolith temple, quarried out of a cliff to leave behind a big piece in the middle which then got carved into temple halls, shrines, statues and monuments - without breaking any away from its base - 2x Athens' Parthenon! All by hand in 12th century
• Western travellers going native - hippy linen clothing, long hair and Jesus beards, beads and bangles and ashram/yoga/meditating things (actually saw one bloke get up after his meditation on top of a rock above the sea, not realise his legs had gone to sleep and fall over - nearly killed himself! Dead funny) whilst Indian middle classes and youngsters are heading west - clothes, TV (for good or bad - reality TV has arrived here), music
• Indian politician's polling victory parade in Madakeri - motorcade, fireworks, dancing, drums - blocked all the streets - until it reached a T-junction and no one could decide which way they should go!! Brilliant

Lowlights include:

• Lack of sleep on sleepers and travel times
• City pollution, traffic noise (drive without signals or mirrors just blow horns) and yes, rubbish
• Spitting, hawking at maximum volume and anywhere that's got a wall is a public toilet - mind you there are no actual public toilets except in major cities and tourist venues. ALWAYS watch where you are walking! Avoid the cows too, they stroll or just sit down anywhere
• Bloody vegetarians - everywhere, I know its a religious thing but come on....
• Power cuts
• Grotty, cold water sluice buckets not showers in guest houses
• A cockroach on my toothbrush
• Moustaches are a must!

Enough! Photo link is http://picasaweb.google.com/laurentmik/South_India_1_2010

Cheers! Mike