Booked my plane today. I tried to get a train but had no luck, I'm going to get one for my return South. I think the train from Dehli-Bangalore will be amazing- I will see the land develop and change....over 48 hours. I'm basically using Dehli as a gateway to the North- from there I'm going to Hardiwar, then Rishikesh, then to an as of yet undecided location. Dylan is going to Mumbai with a few buddies we met, so it looks like I'll be flying solo for a bit. It doesn't worry me though- most of the travellers we've met are doing this, and India is not a very dangerous country. Anyhow...yesterday I was travel planning all morning, then in the afternoon we got an AWESOME game of beach soccer going. Indians and foreigners alike were all playing and the game got quite intense. There was a kid of maybe 11 years of age playing- really just anybody who wanted in. Eventually, of course, the Canadians took the liberty of scoring the winning last goal. At night we simply ate dinner and then went to a beach bar and talked to people. Met a girl from Victoria- there were 4 Victorians in that bar! Go figure. Anyways, as you can see life isn't too exciting here, and that's why I want to leave. Hopefully I'll have a good story tomorrow.

Nick

Day 3 Palolem

Yesterday afternoon I started to get a little worried...Goa is great and all, but it's such a tourist spot. If I wanted to crash out on a beach for a week, I'd get some Cuba package; in short I feel like I'm wasting valuable time. So, after some mental deliberation and conference with fellow travelers, I've found a solution. We really want to go North, but the travel times are absurd...by bus or train, that is. So, my plan is to fly out from Goa to Dehli in a day or two. It'll save me travel time, won't cost much, and will thrust me into what is, from all accounts, an absolutely incredible land. So, now that that's settled, here's what I did yesterday. I went for a swim after posting, then decided to go beach searching, and rented a scooter. Dylan hopped on the back, and we bombed out into the countryside, finding a nice dead beach about 20 km away. After just enjoying the serenity for a bit, we simply meandered about on our scooter, until the muffler conveniently fell off. Yes, it just fell off. No, we weren't doing jumps/wheelies/doughnuts. After a makeshift repair job, we got back and the scooter rental dude was actually quite easygoing about a refund. Satisfied with the day's adventure, we found our buddies and actually decided to buy a soccer ball. Today we're starting up a big game of beach pickup, which I'm rather excited for. The weather today is overcast and windy, and the temperature is actually quite nice. Alright, gotta go for a swim.

Nick

Palolem Day 2

After posting yesterday we went for a swim in the Arabian Sea. The water is so warm, the waves are a decent size (4 feet or so for the big ones), and it's just so nice having the beach literally on our doorstep. We had beer after the swim and kicked it...everybody was tired from travelling and being up since 5AM. After being lazy we went for one more swim, then trekked down the beach for a dinner. Funnily enough, our Scottish buddy from Hampi is here too, and so he's joined our posse. Coincidentally, he met a guy from Victoria here, who joined us for dinner. This guy just finished the carpentry course I'm going into at the same college! Small world eh? I had tandoori chicken for dinner- absolutely fantastic. The chicken gave me great energy for today as well. After dinner we sauntered on down to a bar (2 for one beers!!!!!) and hung out. Dylan and I played the Scot and Brit at pool for beers- we lost but it was close. Don't worry Canada, redemption shall be ours tonight. Today we slept in, and I just had breakfast. I've been getting kind of frustarted with the amount of sitting around and talking that's been going on here- I really want to get out there, so that's what I'm doing today. I know everyone just wants to kick it on the beach, but I'm not here long enough to drag ass really- not during the daytime at least. Anyways, today the agenda is swim-explore the next beach- kayak- beers. It's already one oclock and my breakfast should be digested by now, so I'm going to head out. Thanks for reading,

Nick

Goa

Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay, I had a sick day a couple days ago but thankfully it was only a day. I went out climbing in the morning, felt a little sick, then threw up my breakfast. The rest of the day was spent drinking plenty of water and sleeping, but 24 hours later I was just fine. Went up to the monkey temple 2 days ago (via scooter), with a few friends. In our group of 6 people, there were 5 nationalities (Canadian, American, Welsh, English, Indian) represented. Pretty awesome if you ask me. At the monkey temple (which is atop a mountain), we went into a little shrine to Hanuman; the monkey god. Inside the shrine, a monk (ey??) conducted a little ceremony with bells and incense etc, then called on us to, one by one, go up and do some breathing exercise with the incense smoke. Tima went first, then I went up, and by doing so apparently condemned myself to a future life as a cockroach. See, the incense was in this little room with the guru, and there was a step to this room. I put my foot on the step while performing the motion, and as a result got an angry grunt and was denied the sugar and honey that everyone else got. This was actually quite funny to me. In my head, I was thinking "Look, man. Do I look like a Hindu? No, didn't think so. So why not just be a little forgiving if my prayer technique is sloppy while I try to appreciate your way of life?". This showed to me some sort of insecurity in the man. Anyhow, the next morning (yesterday) I went climbing with Tima and a couple other friends, then chilled for a few hours before catching our 5:00 train to Goa. Our travel companion for the time being is a Brit we met in Hampi named Rob- helluva funny guy. Anyways, it was 12 hours travel and then another hour on the bus, but we're finally here. The train wasn't so bad- I slept most of the time, and read my book (a Hindu epic, the name of which I will post later). Anyways, we just had breakfast, and are ready to enjoy the beach! I'll be more frequent in posting now.
Nick
PS: Check out www.ilovemyliferightnow.com It is the website of the marketer for Pilsner beer who gave us the flag, and we're featured. Check that site as well for updates, fyi our friend from Bristol (Dan) is the one holding the flag. Pilsner ftw!

Ergh

Dylan spent a little too much time in the sun yesterday, and as a result he wasn't feeling tip top this past 24 hours. This meant that today consisted of a whole lot of nothing- just running him water etc, hanging out with travelers, playing a game called Karan board...really exciting stuff. However, I already have climbing lined up with my buddy Tima, a local, and we will be joined by 2 girls. One is from New York, and one is from Wales. It'll be an early start (6:00 AM), but mornings here are my favourite part of day. Huge spider in my room last night- bigger than anything back home. I walked in and just got that feeling; there's a spider in here. No worries though, my Canadian instinct kicked and caused me to wrist shot the little bastard out of the door with a stick. Creepy nonetheless. Nothing else to report really- play with the pet dogs of my guesthouse, these dogs are some of the healthiest I have ever seen. White teeth, clear eyes, loads of energy, and very friendly. Other than that, nothing new to write. I'm getting tape on my hands tomorrow; the missing patches of flesh won't be getting any better soon hahaha. Not too much new to report, we're going to stay put until Dylan is FULLY recovered, so looks like a few more days in Hampi. Although I do want to hit the road because of my limited time, I can definitely think of worse places to be stuck...

Nick

Happy Hampi

Day 2 here started lazy- I had a big breakfast after a good 10 hour sleep and we generally just lounged about chatting with other guests in the lounge. At noon a couple friends of ours moved over from across the river, and are now staying at our lodge (they are from Scotland and England, by the way). In the afternoon we hiked off into the boulders around the river to find a little swimming hole, along with companions from LA and England. They were poorly equipped for the trek and had a hard time making it, but they did alright in the end. After basking in the glory of the river for about 10 minutes, a piercing "WHAT THE F*!& IS THAT THING?!?!! GET OUT OF THE WATER" (Coming from Dylan), sent us all scrambling the shore. Turns out it was a water snake, contrary to my initial thought of "Shark!!!!"...hahaha. Anyhow, after this I returned to Hampi alone to go bouldering with a friend of mine who lives here. 3 British girls and our two previously mentioned friends came with. My Hampi friend is an incredible climber, and showed us some proper routes. When I said bouldering was hard earlier, I didn't really mean it...now my hands are shredded (literally), and my forearms feel like pieces of wood attatched to my elbows. Thankfully, the girls all have great cameras, and took some awesome shots. I've added them on facebook, so the shots will be available for all my fanbase to see hahaha. After bouldering we watched the sunset from some rocks, and came back to home base for some well earned grub and beer. I will go out bouldering again tomorrow with tape on my hands and a renewed vigour- this is the funnest sport I've tried for quite some time. The lifestyle here is nice- meeting lots of people, being active during the day, good food and whatnot at night, and then a blog post, reading, and BED! We must move on soon though. We don't know exactly where to, but it will be on the coast (Goa likely). Anyhow, I'll have more adventures to post tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Nick

Hampi- first proper day.

Alright, the other night we met a few people, one of whom is a guy from Bristol, England. He's been our running mate the last few days, and we have done quite a bit. For starters, we went scambling up a mountain of boulders upon which is a temple to the Hindu deity Matanga. The climb was quite exerting and exciting, we hopped from rock to rock like the monkeys that live there. From the top we watched the sunset and enjoyed a masala (spiced) tea. I had actually decided to climb the hill alone that morning, and an elderly Hindu worshipper insisted on giving me a "Bidi" dot (you know, the red dot between the eyes), which was the cause of much irritation as the powder mixed with my sweat and ran into my eyes. I would make a poor Hindu. Anyhow, we (us and Dan, our buddy) decided to watch the sunrise from the same place the next morning (aka today). We woke at 5 and made it to the top for 6, the sunrise was absoulutely spectacular, and a monkey stole my water bottle. Even after I gave it a banana! The nerve of some people (well...almost). After that we all rented scooters and a motorbike, got a couple friends on the back (dude from England and a 30 year old Kiwi), and took off to an absolutely amazing place. It is called the waterfall, but the waterfall is underground. What we encountered was miles of rocks laden with big swimming pools, an absolute paradise. Jumping in the water is so refreshing when you're in 42' C heat. The landscape looked absolutely alien- unlike anything I've ever encountered. OH, I dropped our camera on the mountain today, so I guess I'll be buying a new one. Damn. After the swim, we dropped off the 2 other guys and took off into the country sides on our scooters. What a blast that was, sharing the road with cows and goats. We also took some Indian children for some laps around a parking lot, they were so thrilled to be able to do this. Also, children are absolutely ecstatic to have their pictures taken. These simple pleasures and opportunities bring a degree of delight to these kids which I have rarely seen back home. Really changed my perspectives in some ways. Anyhow, me and Dylan moved across the river tonight (Joan, you know what I mean) to cheaper rooms and better access to climbing and new terrain. Our place is very laid back, staff are super friendly. And yeah, that was the day. Best I've had so far here and now I'm ready to CRASH! Been a long day. Tomorrow I'm thinking another temple, rock climbing, and whatever else comes our way. Our plans are so loose- the "waterfalls" weren't even on our radar til an hour before we left. Oh, I got a wicked tan today. It was threatening to burn but it's mellowed (yes, Mom, I'm wearing sunscreen).
Cheers
Nick

So, after a fun filled 30 hour hospital visit Dylan is finally back at a functioning level, and we can begin to enjoy Hampi. He had a stomach and throat infection. The hospital was funny, we were treated very well but it was not as sanitary as back home (derrr), there were needles lying on the ground by the wastebasket etc. Thankful to be out of there and that Dylan is healthy again. It's hot here. I went out climbing the other morning for 2 hours, and is bouldering ever hard. I made it up a few rocks though, and its incredicbly fun. You pull yourself up, look around, and Oh!; there's a temple hundreds of years old. It's really no big deal :p. Saw a scorpion last night! We met some chill guys from Ireland, Bristol, and Sydney, and were enjoying tea with them when an Indian lady pointed it out, crawling under a tile. A few Indian men picked up the tile and crushed it, but not before we got a peek. 6 inches of "get that thing away from me NOW!". Glad we saw that. Met some cool Indian guys my age, we're gonna go climbing with them today, and one of them is the son of a couple who run a (cheap) guesthouse, so we're migrating today. Bus ride was easy- slept the whole way. I'll post again tomorrow with more on this town- there's so much to see and do here.

Cheers,

Nick

Uninteresting update

Back in Bangalore, our bus leaves in 5 hours so I had a bit of time to kill. Gonna be a long one, but worth it no doubt. Train was interesting today, I spent most of the time talking to 2 professionals from Bangalore. They told me many things about the Indian scoiety, shedding a bit of light on the caste system amongst other things. Really quite interesting, but I don't want to post about it at this time. Thunderstorm in Mysore was, in a word, awesome. Big forks split the sky. Lately I've been asking for spicy dishes, its such a treat to have such flavourful food. Lots of beggars but I've found that the best way to deal with them or anyone else trying to get your money is to ignore them. Maybe I wrote that alrady, I can't remember. We've found that the best rates on rickshaws is to use the meter- what one guy told us would cost 150 RS cost 65R. Lets see...Hampi tomorrow! So excied to be getting out of the congested cities.

MYSORE

Left on Friday for the town of MYSORE on the train. Pretty awesome ride, hung out the side doors and whatnot like a freebird haha. This city's nowhere near as big as Bangalore, but its still busy. There are more people trying to get our money here, and getting them to F!*% off is a valuable skill. Yesterday we went to an incense factory, and bought some incense from Mr. India 1982's son (go figure). The smells are just incredible. Foodwise there is lots of rice and rice pancakes, I just had curry for lunch and neither of us has touched meat since arriving. Today we climbed a mountain (bushwacking for a bit, real harcore stuff), found some caves, and visited a temple atop the mountain. I have pictures so I won't try to describe it. We are celebrities here, we sit down for 5 minutes and everyone is shaking our hands etc. Lots of pictures are being taken, don't worry. Anyways, we're going to HAMPI as soon as we can, depends on train availiability. So far weve been accused of being Chinsese(whilst wearing a Canada shirt) , Australian, and German. Rickshaw's are fun, being a part of the mighty traffic flow is an experience all its own. No major ailments yet, awesome.

Cheers
Nick

Bangalore Proper Post

Oh my Shiva it was hot today. Spent allday wandering around, bought a little camera, went to what MIGHT have been a gay bar (called NASA pub, waiters dressed as space captains...but then again it IS a different culture.), and drank litres of water. Lesson of the day; don't haggle with vendors unless you actually want to buy the item. Dylan got cursed out, and we got one poor fellow from 800 Rs for a pair of shades to 100Rs...and we didnt want them to begin with. Oh well, no harm done. Theres garbage everywhere and to cross the street you just have to dodge traffic (a LOT of traffic)...fun times. Stray dogs everywhere. One instinct says pet them, another one says avoid rabies. Food is amazing here, and we are going to MYSORE tomorrow, gonna hike a 1000 m hill to a temple, then Hampi on Sunday. Train trip tomorrow! I'll post likely tomorrow evening...

Cheers,

Nick

Day 1 Bangalore

Flew into Bangalore last night, crazy city during the day...crossing the street is an adventure in itself. Pretty hot but not unbearable. Time's running out at the e cafe I'm posting from, I'll go more in depth tomorrow if I can, but I'm hopping on the train to Hampi, so this may not be an option.

Just fyi, the title of this sarcastic; I'm not a hippy and I'm not going to become one with the Universe. Alright, so it begins. Flying out in 3 hours.

Made this blog

Leaving in a week!