Beach life

Quite a lot happens on this beach. The local fishermen launch their boats, many hewn out of tree trunks like this one, sewn together with rope, cross stitched and coated with tar

They go out late at night and bring the catch in at dawn, about 6.30 am here. I haven't been up that early this year!

Then the ladies get to carry the fish pots on their heads to their 'shop'

Just behind the fish stall they sell fish curry & rice for 60p and I'm told it's very good.

There are lots of water sports;the Indians love a good soaking on the banana rides and scream and shout for more, most of them are fully clothed which seems a bit odd to us, and the Sikhs wear their turbans. 

The Arabian Sea is full of shellfish, prawns and bigger fish too. I had a tasty prawn stir fry for lunch with a cold Kingfisher beer

And here's the other sort of Kingfisher

Goan life and The Equalls

We were pleased to see Albert Fernandez our taxi driver at the airport. When he found out we'd been delayed he picked up some fresh bread, butter, eggs and milk, and to top it all off he managed to find some schweppes tonics - bless he's a good soul.

We've slipped easily back into village life here. Everyone speaks and lots have asked us how our trip went.

There was a wedding on the beach, the groom arrived on an elephant. I got the best shot I could without having to cross the river in between!

We also met another rock legend today. Pat Lloyd one of the two white boys out of the Equalls. We told him about the Reggae nite at Pedros and within about half an hour of getting there he was up on stage with Al & Graeme - great night 

Incredible India. Excuse me?

The tv advert say Indian incredible India! And they're not wrong. 

Things are very different here, no one bats an eyelid at what they class as the norm, especially in the cities. I refer to belching,coughing, spitting in the street, sneezing and lastly farting. Absolutely anything goes. I was walking through Mumbai airport when an old guy in white robes in front of me let one go, a rippler in fact. Himself says it must be great to fart with impunity without the worry of a follow through - this ladies must be a man thing, having never experienced anything like this myself:)

 The sneezing has been a concern. The old saying coughs and sneezes spread diseases rings true. We have been concerned while in the north about the swine flu epidemic there have been 13,000 cases and 774 deaths. The Japanese as usual are all wearing face masks. Fortunately there are only a few cases in Goa so it's good to be back. We were not unduly worried having both had flu jabs with Tamiflu added before we came to India.

Second picture is Gulab Jamun a sweet dessert and this is a yoghurt curd which is really nice.

Back to sunny laid back, clean Goa, and while on the beach today a mum with her two kids erected this tightrope, she played on the drum, little girl walked the rope, she was only about 6 and the little boy who had a painted curly moustache aged about 4 came round with the hat. Great family teamwork.

Anyone for jelly?

The sea is just like a warm bath, crystal clear, but today I was just getting out of the water when a Russian lady who has a place near us shouted me to get out quickly and this was right behind me. I don't know what make or model it is, I've never seen one as big it was about 24 inches across and was still moving. Being a complete wus, I didn't go back in, I decided the pool would do today.

Thanks today to John & Denise for the English Cheddar & French dressing xx😊 missing you already!

Not another Dry Day?

Well here we are dry days continuing, the local school trip to Daulatabad Fort  and teachers who insisted that Himself waved the flag for Shivas Wedding. Ironically he didn't realise he was waving the flag for a no alcohol day.     The kids all called us Aunty and uncle.

The fort was built to keep Muslims at bay, there was a huge moat to keep elephant riding soldiers away, but it fell to the Deccan in 1210, at that time it was the capital city and the entire population of Dehli came here.

Fort walls were 63 m high

Cannons used to repel the enemy 

 

While we were looking around the caves we met up with Al who was meditating and washing in some pure water he'd found. There was a stunning little frog with fluorescent eyes swimming in there. We had quite a chat, meeting him really made our day!

Aurangabad caves carved out in the 5-6th century

And so to the  mini  Taj Mahal, built in 1600s as a mausoleum , such a baking hot day and had to remove our shoes to go inside. It really was like walking on hot coals, I've never seen himself move so fast.

Cave carvings in Elora

Tomorrow we fly back to Goa. I'll be really glad to get back to cool sea breezes. If you saw yesterday's blog with my ramblings about food fantasies I've decided I'm going shopping for lamb, veg and bacon & beans. I know John & Denice have been drip feeding themselves the delights of heinz beans for 40 days! 

Blog returns Monday, will FaceTime family over the weekend x

Aurangabad

When we landed in Aurangabad we noticed it was more affluent than a lot of the places we've been to.

Housing more middle class, but still as many beggars. 

Why did we come here to a blisteringly hot inland area, well there are world heritage site caves in Aurangabad, Ellora & Ajanta.

The temple above was carved out of one piece of basalt abound 1100 ad and is quite a spectacle.

Inside the erotic carvings are of God Shiva and Goddess Parvati along with elephants for intelligence and lions for strength. The guide was very thorough, and gave us so much info in the 3 hours we were there that I just hoped he wouldn't ask us questions at the end! This is difficult to explain but as this was carved from top to bottom and back to front they must have been excellent craftsmen, doing the whiole thing in reverse.

There were some very aggressive bumble bees the size of butterflies that took a liking to my hair, but the guide and himself said don't worry, they'll leave you alone - whilst backing off at a rate of knots.

The late summer and lack of flowers and pollen made them angry - apparently. 

This was built by the Buddhists and depicts Lord Buddha seated inside the ribs of an elephant! Our guide chanted for us and asked us to feel the vibes.

Lord Shiva on elephant

The temple was last lived in 1100 ad, then a holy war ensued and the Muslims came and took over the area.

Aurangabad is more Muslim than anywhere else we've been and feels more like Iran than India. Local men and women wearing robes and the burka. You could have heard a pin drop when a group of German tourists turned up in cut off micro shorts - very distasteful - the men here don't see bare legs and shoulders until they get married.

After our day sight seeing we went out for dinner at the Tandoor which was excellent but were a bit disappointed that today was a dry day - no alcohol served as it was Shivas wedding day! Yikes we haven't had a beverage for 3 days!!!!   Weve  both got cravings, himself for bacon and beans,a pint of cider,  me for roast Lamb all the veg and mint sauce and a blue Saphire Gin & Schweppes tonic, ice and slice ahhhh.

Next blog will tell more on the Dry Days

Mumbai .....

Today we had a quieter one. We had planned to go to the Taj Mahal Hotel for brunch, but we're both feeling a bit jaded, so instead had a late breakfast, swim in the pool and a little retail therapy.

The Yogi Executive is a beautiful hotel in Navi Mumbai - new Mumbai

The flowers around the hotel are stunning and fragrant

The restaurant has a huge fish tank 

We went for a swim, there were a few pigeons on the safety rail and after the manager came to see us he sent a boy with a cap gun to scare them off!  Only in India! The pigeons weren't impressed , we said to the boy that he needed an AK47 which he thought was very funny 

The enormous shopping Mall is better than you would find in the UK, all international brands, not far from the Aston Martin dealership.

We stopped for lunch and were given a tablet to order our meal and drinks on - impressive

So any of you that think India is 3rd world may be surprised with growth of 7% and interest rates of 8% on bank deposits  -it's  considerably better than back home.

Just checked our mail to see Air India has rescheduled our flight for a little later this afternoon, so no blogs til maybe Friday x

Modern Mumbai - Bustling Bombay

After the dust and grime of Varanasi it was a real treat after two Air Indigo flights to land in modern Mumbai. It's a city of two halves, high rise skyscrapers for the haves, and slums for the have nots. The have nots all work, they have to in India, maybe menial jobs, but still work. We could learn a lot from their work ethic, no wonder a small city like Varanasi had a massive university complex over 1.7 miles with 50-70,000 students all working to escape hardship for a better life in India or abroad. No government funding for students and steep entry costs ensure students are committed to work.

No one starves here either, we've watched food stall-owners give food to beggars wherever we've been.

The is the renown Mumbai Dhobi (laundry)

Only men work here , there are 40 troughs for washing/ rinsing and clothes dry in the open, then are pressed. It's right at the side of the Bombay railway line, picture taken on the railway bridge. We would have liked a glimpse of the main station, but traffic congestion and crowds didn't permit.

Our driver said our personal laundry would not be going there as it wasn't clean enough. Good news for us then. The laundry service has been pretty efficient . On our travels we've just got time to send our mucky stuff on our arrival day to ensure it gets back before we leave. Ten items usually costs a out £2 washed , ironed and folded.

Selfie by The  Gateway to India

Didn't really need to take the pic myself, a roving photographer took this for 50p outside Taj Mahal Hotel

Great technology!

Mother Ganges

I've got to tell you about the Indian people and the River Ganges. People believe so intently that Mother Ganges cleanses not only their bodies but also their souls. We witnessed hundreds and hundreds of people washing their clothes and themselves in it. Our guide Pintoo Pandy ( we nicknamed him Andy) took us along the river on our first night in Varanasi, he kindly offered to moor up the boat and get us some chai (tea) we thought this was a nice touch, and guessed he'd paid with our money for 4 including the boatman. On the last evening we took a boat in the opposite direction, just below the burning area (all day cremations) we saw a man washing out a very large kettle in the river, and then filling it up. We watched in horror as he walked to a tea stand!,

Pintoo (Brahmin Hindu)

We watched people cleaning their teeth and generally abluting; when we told Tim Shackly (our doctor) we were going for a dip he said "oh good, that'll be two patients off my list"

The Burning Place

We were surprised the different races and creeds, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists & Jews all live in relative harmony at the moment and all believe in the benefits of Ma Ganges. 

It all seems to defy logic, the river is quite heavily polluted, a lady told me there was a buffalo floating; there are lots of fish in there, the fishermen do ok from it, but it can't possibly be safe to drink, and oh my Lord I hope we didn't. 

When we were witnessing a cremation, something I really didn't want to see but Pintoo insisted, a family member of the deceased threw a leg bone ino the river and Richard was heard to sing, "and that's not connected to the thigh bone"!,,sorry :)

The sacred river Ganges & Varanasi

They say that Varanasi is the oldest city in the world. It has a population of 5 million, and two million pilgrims/visitors turn up every year. They arrive by plane, train, boat, car, coach, auto rickshaw, cycle rickshaw, man powered rickshaw, bike,horse and cart or on foot. Congestion is chronic, it took an hour to walk about 500 yards tonight. People stay in all sorts of accommodation. Those with no money who come to bathe for health reasons, stay in blanket halls, where for 10 rupees (10p) you can kip down with your fellow man in close harmony. No washing facilities provided, the river is just downstairs.  It must be a very unique experience in there - last night in our very nice hotel I hardly slept with all the Brahmin chantings, train whistles blowing, horns blowing, firecrackers going off, the at about 4am we got the Islamic call for prayer followed swiftly by our neighbours in 355 singing some religious songs - oh my life, I've heard it all, and himself purred happily beside me!

There are burning places where 24 hour cremations occur 7 days a week. Bodies are covered in ghee ( liquid butter) then dressed in their best clothes dipped in the river, to set the butter, the body then dries for a while in the sun. The family member then lights the pyre the body goes on and is stacked with special wood which absorbs the smell. The family then wash in the Ganges and take the ashes home.

All a bit grim, but that's life I suppose.

Lunch was nice tho a maharajas thali and a Shahi thali  (vegetarian) just £3.25 the lot.

Today we also went to Hindu, Buddhist  & Chinese temples, in fact it was a nine hour tourist marathon. I had hoped for a nice shower, G & T & bed, but alas this place never sleeps, the hotel is dry and there is a Valentine's fracas downstairs with fireworks, chanting and folk dancing.

 At a Hindu temple people were giving offerings, but the holy one was too busy, on his mobile!

We finished our day with another trip up the Ganges, it really is a remarkable place. Every nationality and creed are here, a melting pot of humanity. Cracking boat eh? Think we bought it.

The monkey spooked a cow in the street and a major incident nearly occured, cow hit rickshaw and people fell of bikes - disaster!

Tomorrow we hit the dusty road 30k back to the airport, they really do need to bring the airport closer to Varanasi. 

Was it all worth it - you bet. Such an amazing place, an assault on the senses, sight, sounds and smells - and there were lots of them.

Tomorrow we fly to Mumbai. Himself has written to the Grand Exec Chef at the Taj Mahal Hotel to arrange a meet, alas he hasn't replied. We're going for afternoon tea, he'd better show up! :)