Bangalore weekend

Hi everyone. We made it home safe and sound, with the very pleasant surprise of Mark's folks picking us up at the airport. It's always great to see a friendly face when you walk through the arrival gates!

But, before that there were a couple of busy days in Bangalore, and our wonderful overnight bus ride from Hampi to get there. Unlike our other overnight bus from Palolem Beach to Hampi, this bus was not only on time, it was air con as promised, came with blankets, and delivered us to Bangalore safe and sound, and ahead of schedule - at 6:30:00 a.m. Nothing like trying to find a hotel at dawn! We picked one that came highly recommended by the trusty guidebook, and set out on foot to find it, which ended up taking us 2 hours, mostly because of our crappy map and the fact that it was a hell of a long way! Not to worry, I considered it Bangalore Boot Camp, and it was worth the search.

We stayed at Casa Piccolo Cottage, run by a friendly French/Indian couple. It was on a quiet side street, with a lovely garden and very pleasant rooms. At 4000 rupees a night it was a bit of a splurge, but a great place to end off our trip!

What to do on a Saturday in Bangalore? Shop with the masses, of course! We saved almost all of our souvenir shopping for this weekend, so had some serious work to do. Thankfully, we were successful in our great elephant hunt, and Lakshmi, the lovely carved wooden elephant, now graces our home. It was tough work, but Mark persisted in the search through many, many shops before he came across her. We also stopped in some clothing shops that were having pretty good end-of-season sales - Mark scored a great casual button up shirt and I went into the Levis store, just in case there might be some jeans that fit me in this world.

Something I'm not sure I mentioned was that the service in stores is amazing. People follow you around showing you things, carrying your purchases, and bringing you alternate sizes without you asking. For example, at the Levis store the saleswoman first measured me, and then picked up 3 or 4 pairs of jeans for me to try on. Twenty pairs later, including a pair that the on-site tailor took in at the waist just for me, I didn't find any that were right but it certainly wasn't because the staff wasn't helpful! If only the service at Indian restaurants was 1/2 as good!

Saturday night in Bangalore brought us to Guzzler's, a local pub that had been suggested by one of the young shop guys. It was kind of a cross between a sports bar and a beer parlour. Interesting... but not a place we wanted to linger. Next stop was "The 13th Floor". Appropriate name - it's on the top floor of a 13 storey building and has a good view of the city since most buildings are less than 6 stories. There I tried a cocktail made with beer, gin, and anise syrup. Sounds a bit off, I know, but it was pretty tasty. Had to have two in fact. Interestingly, the pricey cover charge ($12.50!) could be put towards your drink bill. I think that Vancouver clubs should institute this! In Bangalore, the pubs and clubs wrap it up at 11:00 pm, so it's perfect for me, since I'm not much of a night owl. When 13th Floor called last call, we were ready for some cheap eats.

We stopped at a busy outdoor joint on a nearby corner where we discovered that late night Indian fast food is pretty darn tasty! I wish I could so easily get fresh made dosas after a night of beverages in Vancouver.

Our departure for the airport was 5:00 a.m. Ugh! We had a 3 hour layover in London where we bought duty free and went to Plane Food - the Gordon Ramsay restaurant - for a leisurely lunch. It was delicious - chicken pate and rocket salad for me, and pork roast and rocket salad for Mark, and of course, some delicious white wine. The land of cheap food was long gone though. Our lunch bill was nearly $100.00! Ouch!

Landing in YVR we got some unwanted attention from customs, mostly attributable to Lakshmi, but I think it didn't help that Mark hadn't shaved in 36 hours - he must have looked suspicious. An hour later, we finally made it through the arrival gates where our fancy-black-Lexus-driving parents (in law) were waiting.

We had a great time on our trip, but it's good to be home. Thanks for reading. Here's to the next big adventure!

Historic Hampi

It really seems like a long time since we've last posted, I suppose because the long, lazy days at the beaches evaporated and we've just spent the last 3 days in Hampi.

We experienced our first "sleeper bus" and first non-government (read "tourist") bus to get from Palolem Beach to Hampi, and let me tell you, the government buses are not all bad.......

The fellow who sold us our ticket advised us to get to Chaudi (a few km from Palolem Beach) for 6:30pm, as the bus was supposed to arrive at 6:45. So, obedient Canadians that we are, we arrived by 6:15. We boarded the bus at 10:30 pm. And the place we were waiting was not much more than a cross street with a couple of shops that sold water and some sweets. Bus after bus headed for Hampi came and went, and when we'd check with the bus conductors they'd say "next bus" and hand back the ticket. When ours finally DID arrive, there were people in our berth, it wasn't air con as promised, but by that point, we would have been happy to get on just about any bus going anywhere! The people in our berth left (yes, it's a lay down kind of berth) and although we had to sleep with our packs because there was no room for them anywhere else, the night passed, we got some sleep, and when we finally opened our eyes at 7:30 a.m., we were treated to sunrise on the ancient pillars of Hampi's old bazaar. That, and a bunch of touts wanting us to take their auto rickshaw into town. -sigh- We'll fill you in on the reasons for the late bus in person. It's a good story in itself!

A quick dash into town with all of the other travellers, a check-in at "Rocky's Guest House Cum Travel Agent", some breakfast and a shower and we were off to the races. Or perhaps more accurately, the temples.

Hampi is a place that defies description, at least by the words in my vocabulary. It's temples are a World Heritage Site that dates back to around the 16th century, and is set amongst the most surreal, mystical landscape of giant boulders. We've never been anywhere quite like it, and the photos fail to capture the real beauty of the place.

There was much fun to be had during the 3 days and 2 nights that we were there. Most of the first day we just wandered around with our jaws hanging open, amazed at what we were seeing. We walked to where the bus dropped us in the morning and climbed along paths that led to some of the many temples in the area. To my happy surprise, we ended up at a large temple that most tourists ignore, so it was blissfully quiet. It was wonderful just being in the moment, sitting on the steps of the ancient ruins, pretty much all alone.

If you looked up, w-a-y up, you could see a small temple set atop a steep sided hill of red boulders. Well, of course this meant that we had to go up! I sucked up my fear of heights, ignored the fact that hiking in flip flops might not be the best idea, and followed Mark up to the top. The view was spectacular, and we had it mostly to ourselves for a while. There was a woman from Paris who we hiked with for a while, the sleeping security guard (who, when he woke up wanted us to pay him "20 rupees for up and down" which we ignored) but when a few more people found the place, we headed down on a different path. This led us past a troop of cute black faced monkeys. At least they were cute when they weren't baring their teeth at each other. We made it back down without mishap, had a dosa for lunch and went to our room for a well deserved nap!

There's a temple elephant that lives in Hampi. Her name is Lakshmi. Mark seems quite taken with elephants this trip, so it was imperative for us to head to the river to see her get her bath. This happens in the morning at 8:30 (thank goodness for guide books!) so after visiting the main temple in town at 7:15, we had a quick breakfast and headed to the river. Sure enough, there was Lakshmi, looking like a grey boulder in the river, getting scrubbed down by a couple of elephant handlers. Once her bath was done, she lumbered up the stairs back to the temple, but not before "blessing" those who want to be blessed. If you give her a 10 rupee note, with her trunk she'll pass it to her handler, and then "bless" you by gently laying her trunk on your head. It's really kind of cute.

We rented bikes, which made for a pleasant way to get around. No honking from cars or auto rickshaws, just the wind in our hair and hours and hours to go temple hopping. It was a very nice change, but I'll never complain about my 3 speed city bike again. This was a one speed, and it had pretty high gearing which made hills a challenge. Even Mark had to get off and push!

Hampi is a very historical spot, obviously, so many many schoolchildren go there for field trips. They all know at least 3 phrases: "What country are you from?", "What is your name?", and "How are you?" It's cute, until about the 100th time. Then it gets a bit tiresome. Oh, and they also all want to shake your hand.

Strangely, I was also asked to pose in many photographs with many people, most of them men. I was not dressed inappropriately I didn't think - just my pink t-shirt and capris, but either I look like someone famous that I don't know, or they are hard up for interesting photos and I'm the most interesting thing around. It was kind of odd. I should have charged 10 rupees per photo, I'd be rich!

We went across the river on the third morning to rent bikes on the "more chill" side, but the bike selection was crap. I really shouldn't have complained about the previous day's bike at all as it was a Porsche compared to today's rusting and rattling Hyundai Pony. We pedalled around to the Monkey Temple, climbed the 575 steps to the top, and enjoyed the view. Inside the temple they gave us piping hot chai and put a bindi on our forehead.

We have now taken our next overnight bus back to Bangalore, and have started to do some shopping for home. We have purchased very little in the way of "stuff" during most of the trip - who needs to carry it around? I figure that our weekend in Bangalore will be the shopping days, and then it will be home sweet home after 20 hours of flying on Monday.

I'm not sure that we'll get a chance to post again, but if we don't, it's been great writing this. It serves as a wonderful diary for us down the road, and it's much easier to write when we know that people are reading! So Thanks!

Palolem Beach

We have a bit of time to kill before getting on the overnight bus, so thought we'd do a quick update of the blog.

There's not a lot to report - the last couple of days have consisted of getting up, going for a splash in the Arabian Sea, rinsing off at the freshwater shower on the beach, laying around on a sun lounger to dry off, finding breakfast, reading, wandering past and occasionally into shops, finding lunch, going to the beach again, finding a spot for a sundowner, showering and dressing for dinner, and eating and drinking once more. That mostly sums it up!

We did deviate from this simple agenda yesterday afternoon when we took part in another cooking class. Mark, I and two young UK women in their mid 20's vacationing from their jobs in Dubai learned some kitchen tricks from our Yogi Master and Chef - Krishna. We made palak paneer, malai kofta, dahl fry, naan, and coconut chutney. Two hours after prepping and cooking, we were stuffing ourselves and enjoying the company. After the class, the four of us went to the beach, drank cold beers and spoke of skiing. It seemed a bit ironic, but certainly was fun!

We hope all is well where you are, and we are looking forward to our next stop - Historical Hampi!

Panaji and Palolem

Happy New Year! We are a little late with this, but want you all to know that we celebrated in style, as we hope you all did! But before we get to our street party brought to you by Clube Nationale, settle in to read about the days leading up to New Year's Eve.

Panaji is the capital of the state of Goa, and it is NOT on the beach. But, it is a city that is easily navigated on foot, has lots of amenities (restaurants that sell great food) and a central bus station to whisk you away to wherever you'd like to go.

After our sketchy place, we found a better room and were off exploring! We found the local breakfast haunt, which served traditional food to locals and travellers alike. I could get used to eating dosas for breakfast! They really are delicious! And the juice these guys whipped up was truly wonderful. We're relaxing our no ice policy as we have not suffered for it, and an icy glass of musumbi juice freshly squeezed for 40 rupees ($1.00) is something I will really miss when I get home. In fact, I seem to recall you can't get much for under $1.00, right??

Fed and watered, we headed off to do what we do, wander around town. Our legs took us to the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, which is huge, and white, and located on a hill. Not something that is easy to miss! They had a lifesize "crib" (that's what locals call the creche scene) at the base of the church and the top of the stairs. Interestingly, we have seen many creche scenes here in South India. Every church has one for sure, as do hotels, some restaurants, and at the entrance to many homes. But the prize for the largest goes to the church in Panaji.

Near the church was an optical store - maybe we should look for glasses for Mark? We'd heard they were very inexpensive here, so thought we should check. I had Mark's Rx in my wallet, so we sauntered in. After probably an hour of looking at frames, we found some that we both liked, and it was time to bargain for the price. This can be a painfully slow process here, and I fear I am not that good at it because I am impatient. But, I think we did well enough as Mark now has a good-looking spare pair of prescription glasses for the princely sum of $68. Not so bad, and really, if you're happy with your purchase in the end, you've bargained hard enough. I do always wonder if I've been successful or been had though.

We found a great spot for dinner - a very funky spot called Hospedaria Venite. They have a great little upstairs that has four tiny outset balconies (very tiny!) that you can sit on. Well, actually, I couldn't really fit as my shoulders were too broad, but the side Mark sat on was a bit wider (love that attention to detail) so he sat there and I faced the balcony but sat in the restaurant. We ate well, but I felt a little overserved. Must have been the weeks with no alcohol, I was out of practice! I was wise and stuck to beer, but Mark was very adventurous and tried the local brew, cashew fenni with coke. I think it must be an acquired taste! The traditional pork vindaloo was yummy, as was my shark. Mark even had bebinca, which is a coconut cake that is often served at Christmas. And, not dissuaded from his cashew fenni, he tried that local Honeybee brandy, which actually tasted like Butter Rum Lifesavers!

We went to Old Goa, which was quite a sight. It was about a 45 minute bus ride, but you know, when you're not loaded down with a pack, the bus is not THAT bad! Old Goa was, from the 16th to 18th centuries, Rome of the East, bigger than Lisbon or London for a time. There a few very large impressive cathedrals and churches that required visiting. One of them, The Basilica of Bom Jesus, houses the last resting place of Goa's patron saint, St. Francis Xavier. Every 10 years his remains are carried from the Bascilica across the road to the Se Cathedral, with pilgrims coming from miles away to participate in the parade. Sadly, the next time he'll be out for his walk will be in 2014, so we'll have to come back!

We made it back in time for a lovely lunch at a great Portugese spot - time for some more authentic food. Fish Balchao - new to us. Spicy tangy and rich dark red tomato sauce on fish - looks like there might have to be more cooking classes in my future! There was a very cool local older gent having lunch there as well. He was dressed in his white dress shirt, fedora hat, and was drinking a glass of wine with lunch. We're not quite sure how the wine part happened, as the wait staff brought a bottle of wine that had been opened but had a cork in it, uncorked it, poured him a glass at the table, and left the bottle there, presumably for more consumption if requested. Interesting. The other neat thing about the restaurant is that there was a desk for the owner of the restaurant in a corner. Locals would sit and chat with her, before having a meal. Sometimes I really wish that I could speak the local language so that I could figure out what is going on!

What to do for New Year's Eve? Well, the youngster waiter at Hospedaira Venite said we should go to the street party put on by Clube Nationale! So, we got dressed up in our best clothes (me in my new salwar kameez and Mark in his black dress pants and his new Indian shirt) and at 9:30 pm, headed off to buy tickets and enjoy the party. Well, at 9:30 there was nobody there, and when we enquired about tickets, they said that the dress code was "formal". Hey, I thought we looked pretty good! At any rate, it was too dead to go, so we headed to a neat little bar nearby, that was also dead. What up?? Finally, at 10:30, we saw some people heading in the gates to the street party, so we tried for tickets, unsure if we were formal enough. Everyone else was in their shirts, ties and jackets, and nearly all the women were wearing little black dresses. Just me and a couple of grannies had their Indian clothes on! There was a live band that was playing some pretty "interesting" music - who knew that there would be a bunch of oldies in the crowd ballroom dancing? They were pretty good, I must say, but this was not really what we were looking for. By 11:30, the party picked up, and at midnight, there was a 30 second countdown, not the usual 10 seconds that we do. A few fireworks, some hugging and kissing, and the start of 2011 was upon us. We left at around 1:30, when the first band wrapped up, but there were still 2 more bands to go, plus the crowning of Miss Goa.... These Indians are late night partiers! My guess is the party wrapped at 4:30 - 5:00 a.m. Interestingly, it seemed like most people were drinking Coke.

We hopped on the bus on January 1st to head to the southern beaches and are now at Palolem, ensconced in a little coco-hut, enjoying the waves and the sun (and sadly, sporting a bit of a sunburn. When will I learn???) The food is amazing, I actually had salad for lunch yesterday and was thrilled with it. It's been SO LONG since I had salad! And the most amazing juice - carrot, ginger and papaya. Mmmmmmm. This morning's breakfast was very traditional bhaji-pau, a fresh bread roll to be dipped in vegetable based coconut curry. Yummy, yummy, yummy. Speaking of food, it's been simply hours since I had my Kingfisher and shared the best chocolate brownie in all of India with Mark. I hear some food calling me.

One week left - the time is flying by!