Goa: Party time

After Hampi and its “shanti shanti” atmosphere, my friends and I headed to Anjuna, in Goa, for a bit of party! And party there was… We arrived on a Tuesday morning after night spent in the bus (i.e. no sleep), and decided to take a long nap during the day as we had heard that there would be a good beach party at a place called Shiva Valley. But first let me give you an idea of the setting of Anjuna Beach: a beach long of more than 1 mile with white sand, delimited by palm trees on the land side and the ocean on the other side. Or this is probably how it used to look 40 years ago, when the hippies first arrived and discovered the place. Now, it is a slightly different story: few palm trees are still here and the ocean is still pristine, but you can tell that local and foreign people have seen the advantages of tourism in the area and there are countless shacks and restaurants built on the beach, which results in a continued line of places where you can eat, drink, dance and rest. A sort of Indian Riviera, where many foreign tourists come, including a lot of ruthless Russians (usually fat ugly dudes, with one or two young and fit girls (sluts?)). To summarise, this is nothing like the rest of India (but what is?) and you barely see any locals in Goa, apart from the owners of bars, restaurants and guest houses.

Now, Shiva Valley is one of those bars/restaurants/clubs, located at one end of Anjuna beach. We all met there at around 6.00pm for the party. The events of that night could hurt the sensitivity of some of you, so I decided not to give you too much detail or post pictures (there aren’t any… or very few!). Just imagine loud trance music, hundreds of westerners dancing, drinking and being on drugs, a narrow strip of sand (as the tide was coming up) covered with numerous stalls selling food, drinks, cigarettes and flashy souvenirs, and of course, the spoilage made by all that crowd on the beach as everyone throws all their garbage directly in the sand. We were having a great time until the music shut down at midnight, due to a curfew that imposes outdoor places to stop making noise after that time. This did not stop us from continuing the party though: we heard of another place in Vagator (about 4 kilometres away), called Primrose, which was opened till early morning due to the fact that it is indoors and decided to get there. After a few more hours of partying and a stop at the beach to go for a swim, we finally got back to our guesthouse for some well-deserved sleep. This was until Max, one of my friends, decided to go for a bike ride in the morning, fell down and broke his foot… Nothing major but this still necessitated him to be repatriated to France and we all stayed in Anjuna for a few more days than initially expected to wait for him to go and to recover from our emotions…

I met a lot more people there, from Germany, Austria, Australia and England (those Brits are everywhere you can find cheap booze! And in Goa, it is cheaper than anywhere else…). There are very nice places in the area of Anjuna as the area has been adapted for western tourists. Therefore, restaurants, guest houses, etc. are probably among the best ones you can find in India (and also among the most expensive, apart from the beers!). However, all good things should have an end, and after a week in Anjuna, I got bored with hearing loud electronic music throughout the days and nights and decided it was time to move on. The next destination was to be Gokarna, a bit south of Goa, another beach place (I am not leaving the seaside until the end of my trip!). It is a much quieter, beautiful place and probably looks a bit the way Goa looked like in the 1970’s. I am staying on a beach a few kilometres away from the main village: OM Beach. It is called that way as the beach has the shape of an Om symbol and is a bit like paradise. I am staying in a hut on the beach and can hear the waves when I go to bed and when I wake up in the morning. I think I might as well stay here for a while, so I will provide you with more information in the future, maybe when I have other random thoughts to write about.

In the meantime, take care and enjoy the pictures whilst you are all freezing during this tough month of December.

And yes, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 Vagator Beach, Goa

 Some cows doing a bit of sunbathing

A face carved in the rocks in Vagator 

A parasol, like in Deauville... but with a slightly different weather 

Anjuna beach 

Sunset in OM Beach: that's in front of this that I sip my beer every day! 

OM Beach 

Some nice scenery around Gokarna 

OM Beach again, you can see the shape of the OM here

Hampi: Hippie world

It has been a while since I have blogged, and this is for a simple reason: time has slowed down considerably over the last couple of weeks.

After spending a while in the hills of southern India, my friend Sandra and I decided that it was time to head towards places that are a bit touristier. This is why we decided to travel to Hampi, in Karnataka.  The road by bus was going to take about 20 hours, and we had to change buses in Mysore, which allowed us to go and see a sound and light show at the magnificent palace of this city. The show was alright, although it was all in Hindi and with a lot of spoken words. But seeing this palace being lit at night was a sight worth seeing.

Our journey to Hampi was in an overnight bus and we arrived there ore breakfast. Hampi is a town located next to a river, with acres of antique temples around it. More interestingly, the area is covered with massive piles of boulders, brought there by thousands of years of volcanic activity and erosion. This makes the landscape looking like you are in another world…

We first stayed on the Hampi town side of the river, until we noticed in the evening that dozens of people were crossing the river by boat to go and sleep on the other side. Therefore, we decided to do the same on the next day and arrived in a place that is not India anymore. Hundreds of young people, mainly French and Israelis, were staying there. Lots of them were hippies (or trying to be…), not doing much except playing guitar and smoking marijuana. It is funny to think that these people think themselves as free spirits when they pack themselves in places where everything is made for tourism, even though it is not high-end resorts and all that. I was first staying in a guesthouse, sleeping in massive tipi for a few nights as it was the dorm room there, which was funny, but not really quiet… Then, I moved to a proper room to try to get some sleep, and also because I could not stand hearing the three same tunes being played every hour by those hippies.

We met a group of cool guys from France: two brothers traveling by motorbike (Royal Enfield of course), Max and Julien, and another one called Jimmy. We spent a good time altogether, riding mopeds on the local roads, going to a nearby lake to bathe, or to a temple on top a hill to see sunset. A week passed that way and then, we decided to move on to Goa with Max and Julien, in order to get a feel of the party scene and to get a bit further from what is “real India”.

Take care,

Matt

A few pictures for your keen eyes:

The Palace of Mysore

 The Palace, again...

View of the landscape in Hampi 

Sunset in Hampi 

The rocks of Hampi during the day 

 A small lake surrounded by rocks

Kerala - Boating and trekking

After my deeply spiritual experience in Tamil Nadu (*sigh*), I decided that I needed more fun and headed towards Kerala, on the West coast of southern India. The place is reputed for its backwaters: a massive network of canals in the middle of rice fields, fish farms and forest, linking most of the state's coastal towns. This is where I headed first as lots of people had recommended that area to me, starting with Kollam. This is also where I came across Sandra a French girl that I had already met back in Darjeeling and we decided to travel together for a bit. Now, OK, I know, I said I'd put a ban on French people in this trip, but I also said I made exceptions for girls... and only idiots do not change their minds... and I don't care about what you guys think...

We went on several cruises in the backwaters, one on a canoe in Kollam, in the middle of small villages, one on a motor boat in Alleppey, to get a better feel of the bigger backwater environment, and finally, a travel between Alleppey and Kotayam, to get to the hills, as it seemed much better than taking the bus (even though it probably took us twice the amount of time...). In Alleppey, we also saw lots of houseboats where people can spend the night and be catered for by a crew including driver, cook and waiter. This seemed very nice as apparently, they fish for you in the canals and cook the fish for you and the houseboats look extremely comfortable. However, we did not do that stuff as it was very expensive and also because it was very expensive.  

After Alleppey, we headed to the hills in Central Kerala, to Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. We went on a trek in the natural park, hoping to be able to spot some wildlife. The trek was very good with an overnight stay in the park, in tents and hikes during the day with guides and an armed forest guard. This also included some bamboo rafting on an artificial lake, and my first encounter with leeches, which are simply a pain in the ass and will  try to stick on your shoes to climb your leg and suck some of your blood anytime you walk in a wet area (which happened quite bit during the trek...). We also where lucky enough to spot some wildlife including wild elephants (they came very close to our camp during the night but could not get access to it due to a deep moat separating us form them), bysons, turtles, monkeys and wild boars. Obviously, the tigers were nowhere to be seem, but it seems they only appear once in a while (usually, guides tell you "three months ago" to keep your expectations low). This was nevertheless very good and I had a lot of fun with the guides and the other members of the group. Being in Kerala was also the occasion to see some Kathakali, a local and traditional form of theater, where actors have their faces fully painted and only communicated by moving their eyeballs (this part was actually quite gruesome), dancing and making signs with their hands. This was a cool thing to see, even though I did not fully understand the story that was depicted (some sort of mythological story with demons and gods). Finally, I had an Ayurveda massage one of the evenings I spent there. This is a full body massage where they use all sorts of essential oils that are meant to clean your body and make you feel better. Now, I did not realize that full body massage actually meant full body and I almost fell from the table when my masseur (an Indian dude...) offered me a happy ending! 

After Periyar, we decided to go the Munnar, a quiet town in the middle of the hills, surrounded by tea fields. You can get some very scenic views just by walking a few minutes out of town. We also went on a bus tour of the region, and whilst it was nice to be able to see the local sights within a day, it was bit rushed up and finally not what we expected. After a short stop in Ooty, another hill station, which allowed us to take a toy train up hill for a 4 hours ride that allowed us to see fantastic landscapes, we decided to head for better climates (the evenings in the hills get really cold and there is nothing much to do outside). New destination: Hampi, in Karnataka, but this is for a future post.

Take care,

Matt

And now, some pics:

View of the backwaters 

On a canoe, in the small canals, near Kollam 

Yeah, I had to survive  for a while in the canals and drink  and eat some coconut... 

The houseboats in Alleppey 

I know, this is just another sunset 

The canals in Alleppey 

The lake in Periyar 

It tried to escape, but we finally caught it after running for a few hours 

Bysons: you do not want to get to close, in case they decide to run towards you...  

These  guys are pretty awesome as well

Tamil Nadu - Temples, temples and temples again...

After my trip through Rajasthan, I thought I was templed out and decided that I would probably not spend any more time visiting temples during this trip... It was before I went to Tamil Nadu and visited three of the most amazing Hindu places in India.

It was difficult to leave Pondicherry because of the horrific weather conditions, but I finally managed to get a bit of sun to get to the bus stand and jump on a bus to Trichy. After about 10 hours of a trip including the bus breaking down (definitely not easy to travel in India!) and changing buses on the side of the highway with cars driving on the wrong side of the road (they do it on normal roads, so why not on the highway!), I got to the town. Trichy has the second biggest temple site in the world after Angkor in Cambodia and I have to say it is rather amazing with a 136 acres site mixing temple gates and usual Indian city bazaar, passing seven massive gates carved with hundreds of colorful god statues and finally getting to the main temple. I did not take pictures of it as the layout and the site of the site made it extremely difficult to get a good idea of how it looked like...

After less than 24 hours in Trichy, I headed to Tanjore, to see another huge temple: the Breehadishwara temple, which is a Unesco world heritage site and included a 63 meters high tower. Again, the carvings were among the most impressive I have seen and the ochre color of the stone made it amazing.

The next day, I finally traveled to Madurai, which also has a Unesco world heritage site: the Meenakshi temple. This one is probably the most amazing building I have seen in India after the Taj Mahal: a marvelous colorful temple with 50-meter high gates, all covered with thousands of statues representing the Hindu gods. This is also one of the only sites that the Indian seem to be taking care of as they repaint the temple every twelve years. Last time they did it was in 2009, which means that everything looked brand new. I hired a guide for a 2-hour tour of the site and I learnt a lot regarding Hindu religion and the various gods, as well as the way people worship them.

This done, I decided to try to go under clearer skies and headed to Kerala to get a bit of backwaters and natural parks. But I will talk about this later on.

Take care,

Matt

Now, the pictures:

The gate to the Brihadishwara Temple in Tanjore 

Brihadishwara Temple in Tanjore 

The main tower of the temple 

These types of carvings are covering the whole temple 

The gate to the Sri Minakshi Temple in Madurai 

There are literally thousands of statues carved and painted on the temple 

The ceilings are also amazing 

A famous type of Hindu painting, with an optical illusion 

View on most of the massive temple complex in Madurai 

I did not know where to look as there was something interesting everywhere 

I knew I was the Anaconda, but this guy is my hero: 6 elephants to hold his penis!!  

The tatues are also very detailed: see the veins on this musician's hand

      

Pondicherry - French Connection?

My dear English speaking readers, since this post is about Pondicherry, the former French India colony, I am going to write this post in French (Google translate should help to have a feel of what I am talking about).  My French speaking readers, enjoy this one, this will be the only one in my mother tongue…

Je vous ai laisses la dernière fois alors que j’arrivais a Pondicherry, fleuron de l’empire colonial français en Inde (ou bastion, sachant que le reste du pays était occupé par les anglais, les portugais, les néerlandais, les danois, …). Apparemment, la France ne ‘est jamais vraiment intéressée a l’Inde, préférant piller les ressources naturelles de l’Afrique et de l’Asie du Sud-Est.

Donc, je suis arrivé à Pondicherry (Pondy pour les intimes) sous la pluie et cela a été a peu près l’histoire de mon séjour pendant les deux premiers jours que j’ai passes sur place. Le Tamil Nadu est en effet en pleine période de mousson (bravo Matthias pour le timing…) et j’ai pu voir ce que c’était : en gros, il pleut de manière extrêmement abondante pendant 12 heures d’affilée, a tel point que je n’ai pas pu sortir de mon hôtel – avec environ 30 cm d’eau dans les rues, ca ne rend pas les promenades très agréables malgré mon K-way et mon pantalon imperméable (les deux meilleurs achats que j’aie fait avant de partir…). Du coup, il est vrai que je me suis emmerde royalement pendant deux jours, profitant de courtes accalmies pour aller manger ou consulter mes emails. Heureusement, le temps du troisième jour s’est avéré bien meilleur, et j’ai pu profiter des lieux.

Pondy, c’est tout d’abord deux villes en une : la partie française, a l’Est et au bord de la mer, et la partie indienne, a l’Ouest, séparées par un canal (ou plutôt un égout ouvert… et qui déborde lorsqu’il pleut trop !). La partie française a effectivement garde des aspects très… français : noms de rues, panneaux, nombreux restaurants a noms et menus francisants, institut, consulat et lycée français, boutiques et touristes français Bobo/ 68ars sur le retour et une architecture coloniale que l’on retrouve dans les DOM TOM.  Le front de mer est borde d’une promenade assez sympa, bien que très bétonnées, et surtout sans plage.  En effet, s’il y a bien une mince bande de sable marron, elle est séparée de la mer par des récifs, ce qui rend la baignade très dangereuse (d’un autre cote, il ne manquerait plus que des colonies de français se faisant rôtir sur la plage…). Vous l’aurez compris, Pondy est un peu trop française pour moi, du moins pour tout ce que je n’aime pas de la France… et en plus, tout est extrêmement cher !

La partie indienne n’a, elle, rien de particulier : une ville indienne comme une autre : sale, polluée, bruyante, bref, rien de bien intéressant. Bon, je l’admets, le temps plus qu’exécrable a surement flouté mon jugement. J’ai quand même vu quelques choses assez intéressantes. D’abord, les églises : Tamil Nadu a effet une forte population catholique. Les missionnaires français ont bien fait leur boulot et ont même réussi à faire construire des églises énormes et pour le moins colorées… Je ne sais pas s’ils étaient un peu mégalomanes, s’ils voulaient être surs de faire passer le message de la beauté de la chrétienté, ou s’ils ont simplement réalisé qu’en faisant les choses « a l’indienne », ils auraient plus de succès, mais le résultat est assez drôle, avec des églises peintes de toutes les couleurs et décorées des mêmes lumières que nous mettons dans les rues pour Noel !

Le troisieme jour, le temps m’a permis de louer un scooter pour aller explorer les alentours. J’ai donc pu me rendre sur une jolie plage proche, à cote d’un village de pécheurs, et ou les pécheurs en question réparaient leurs filets près de leurs barques peintes de toutes les couleurs : plutôt sympa. J’ai aussi pu aller visiter une communauté spirituelle fondée dans les années 60 appelée Auroville. Cette communauté s’appuie sur les préceptes d’un penseur (gourou ?) indien appelé Sri Aurobindo, et d’une française qui a pris sa suite après sa mort : la Mère (elle-même décédée dans les années 70). 1800 personnes vivent à l’année à Auroville et participent à des projets censés aider la communauté. En gros, c’est un peu une secte (mais ils disent bien qu’ils n’ont pas de religion) qui essaie de faire de l’argent en s’appuyant sur un artisanat new age et veut véhiculer un message de paix et d’amour. Le clou du spectacle est quand même le monument qu’ils appellent le Matrimandir (sans doute en rapport avec la Mère…) : une énorme balle de golf dorée censée représenter le centre de l’univers et qui contient le plus gros crystal taillé du monde. L’endroit est censée très propice a la méditation, le seul problème est que pour y entrer, il faut faire partie de la communauté depuis 2 ans. Il leur a quand même fallu plus de 35 ans pour finir ce « splendide » monument. Une remarque : construire un temple en forme de boule a facette géante paraissait surement une bonne idée pour des mecs (architectes ?) charges au LSD dans les années 70, mais en 2011, un jeudi après-midi et à jeun, ca ne le fait vraiment pas… Enfin, si ca rend des gens heureux ! En tout cas, je m’attendais presque à voir le gourou Skipy sortir du Matrimandir et vendre des médailles protectrices pour €200… En tout cas, ca m’a bien fait rire !

Ceci conclut mon post en français. J’espère que ca vous a plu. Prochaine étape : poursuite de la visite du Tamil Nadu, avec les villes de Trichy, Tanjore et Madurai, abritant des temples, parait-il, incroyables.

A bientôt,

Matt

Et maintenant, les photos (si certaines sont sombres, c'est parce que c'etait le seul moment de la journee ou j'ai pu sortir...):

Les noms de rues du quartier francais: oui, ils ont voulu avoir la French Touch

Le rue de mon hotel

Le front de mer: remarquez la presence des acteurs d'Alerte a Malibu (a gauche, avec les shorts rouges...)

Une eglise toute rose...

La statue au milieu des lumieres de fete foraine est bien celle de la Vierge Marie...

Les egouts a ciel ouvert. Pas sur de qui a eu l'idee: les francais ou les indiens...

La plage avec les barques de pecheurs

Une autre barque

J'ai presque hesite a passer la nuit dans cette paillotte... mais pas sur que ca aurait ete au sec...

La balle de golf parait un peu grosse pour entrer dans le trou (drapeau devant...) - Le Matrimandir

Oui, a Auroville, ils ont meme ose appeler le parc "Jardin d'Eden" - craquage...

Kolkata, Chennai

Since I have not much to say about these two cities, I will start with some information about the food I have been eating so far (this is dedicated to Seb, who has been asking for this for a while).  First of all, I do not really make any difference between what Indians eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It all looks (and tastes) the same: yellow (and sometimes a bit of green). Most of the food is either pan-fried, dip fried or floating in some oily sauce. That said, food is not bad here. Initially, I was being very conservative with food, sticking to the veggie stuff as I was worried about the hygiene standards with regards to meat. In addition, the few meat dishes that I got in restaurants (mainly trying to get my usual chicken tikka or lamb biriyani curries) were not great: the meat was mainly the bad part of the chicken or “mutton” (actually it is goat…) and I would end up having more bones to suck than actual meat.

The basis of Indian food is called thali. It is a plate with various small dishes, giving a good sample of local cuisine: some steamed rice, usually some dal (a soup of lentils, more or less thick depending on where you are in India), usually some paneer (local cheese) with a spinach or tomato sauce, some potatoes masala (masala meaning a mix of spices and being used almost for anything), and some chapatti (sort of pita bread). Some regions, such as Bengal, serve slightly different types of thalis (with a bit of meat or fish), but this is mainly what you find in them. In Darjeeling, being close to Nepal and Tibet, they also serve beef (yes, cows are sacred animals everywhere else and Indians do not eat them) and make all sorts of dumplings and noodles close to what you would find in a Chinese restaurant. In Kolkata, I also had a massive prawn with spicy sauce: it was so massive that it could probably speak lobster (I owe this joke to Lonely Planet). All this is often eaten with your hands (at least in normal Indian food places). The main drink here is tea. In Darjeeling, they drink black tea (to keep the actual flavour of tea), but in the rest of India, it is masala chai (a tea directly brewed in milk and water, and drank with a lot (a lot!) of sugar). As for the deserts, I am simply not a big fan of Indian sweets: they usually are too sweet and not to my taste, so I will simply not describe what these are. The only sweet I actually like is lassi: a kind of curd mixed with ice and fruits (banana, lemon…). 

Obviously, due to the large number of western tourists coming to India, most places have adapted and serve various types of western food: veggie pizzas, pastas, sandwiches and burgers. Breakfasts are also westernised and it is easy to find pancakes, toasts and omelettes. I also had a McDonald's back in Varanasi. Interestingly enough, whilst there were no beef bugers (surprising...), the McMaharaja burger tasted exactly like a BigMac... despite the fact that it was chicken! I suppose you don't go McD's for the taste of the meat... Finally, with regards to booze, most places do not have the licence to serve beer or liquor. However, as for everything in India, the rules are not really followed and most places do serve beer (the local Kingfisher, at 4% or 8%).

All in all, I manage to find some good food and I have not been sick so far, but would be ready to pay a lot of money for a good baguette with Camembert and red wine (or a good hamburger with bacon and cheese, or a steak with fries, or… hum).  I will probably be riced up by the end of this trip as well…

Done with the food, let’s talk about the latest places I have been to. I left Darjeeling and flew directly (well, after a 3-hour downhill ride in jeep to the airport…) to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta, but it seems India wanted to get rid of some of the English empire legacy by changing the names of the cities). Kolkata is what I expected Delhi to be. It is the former capital of the British Indian Empire and it certainly shows the remains of a former colonial city (old colonial buildings, wide avenues, large park…). As everything in India, it could be much better and more beautiful if they took care of their legacy, but as everything in India, people do not really seem to care… Anyway, some of the buildings would not be out of place in London or in the U.S. Finally, Kolkata has one of the most beautiful buildings in India: the Victoria Memorial (dedicated to queen Victoria of England, which is ironic!). This old colonial architecture contrasts with a lot of modern buildings everywhere throughout the city, and in particular the massive luxury shopping malls which would give Westfield a run for its money. Having been to one of these malls, it was funny to notice that the shop salespeople behaved the same way in a Levi’s or Samsonite store as they do in a street bazaar: they follow you everywhere in the shop and start pulling everything they have out to desperately try to sell you something!

 

My guest house was not in the backpackers’ area. I could not be asked to spend another night in one of those shit holes full of bedbugs so I opted for a place in a middle class Indian area. Not many tourists there, but still a lot of contrast with poor people and kids sleeping in the street next to the houses of (relatively) well-off ones.

After Kolkata, I decided to take another shortcut and fly to Chennai, in Tamil Nadu. Chennai is another of these former colonial places which have changed of name: it used to be called Madras. Nothing much else to say about that place. I stayed there less than 24 hours as it was not a very interesting place: only a typical big Indian city, except this time, there was not much sightseeing to be done. I took a bus heading South for what I thought would be Mamallapuram: in my book, when the sign on the bus says “Pondy via Mamallapuram”, it means that it goes to Pondy (Puducherry or formerly Pondicherry) but stops in Mamallapuram on the way. Well, in India, it just means that it goes through that place without stopping!And my next question is: who gives a shit, then?

Therefore, I ended up going straight to Pondy (which was on my list, fortunately enough!). I’ll see Mamallapuram another time… I will tell you about the French-Indian colonial empire capital’s splendours next time.

In the meantime, take care.

Matt

Some pictures:

 Yellow cabs? Is this NY? No, this is Kolkata

 Kolkata street view

Another example of the remains of the colonial architecture 

This building seemed to be totally abandoned, which is a shame...

The Victoria Memorial 

You cannot see it from here, but the statue of Queen Victoria is covered with bird shit... I suppose the Indians do not like cleaning this symbol of a monarchy they struggled against...

This is it (each time I see one of these golden statues, I cannot help but think of MJ ;-))