Divali

Divali is like indias equivilant to christmas( i think i said that before). Its a time where families get together and celebrate, theres flashing lights everywhere(becuase it is technically the festival of lights), people are freindly and always wishing you happy Divali and of course, children insist on blowing off fire works at 8 in the morning in the middle of busy streets and continue doing the same thing all day until the adults get involved (with there own bigger fireworks) at around sun down. Last time i updated this i was in mumbai trying to get out. It took me a few more days but im in Rajasthan now in the city of Udaipor. All the trains were booked so i ended up taking a 20 hour bus ride which was the craziest thing ever( i think ive said that before). The bus company that ran this particular vehichle, packed the bus full, then the driver took handouts for people to get on the bus and insisted that they sit on the floor or find there way into a compartment to sleep. To much detail to get into about what went on while on the bus, il just put it in terms of numbers. There were 16 sleeper compartments (10 single and 8 double) and 16 seats on this bus (meaning a maximum compacity of 42 people) and when we got out at the last stop i counted 84 people, il be it about 1/3 of them children, get off the bus. The worst part is that i had a sitting seat and not a sleeper compartment. Pretty much i hugged my bag for 20 hours and tried not to let the kids sleeping under my seat distract me to much by constantly looking and grabbing at my ipod or book or anything i had in my hand with the upmost curiosity. The more i told them no, the more they grabbed. They evidently thought that me telling them no(in a uptight voice) was funny, and the more they did it the more they laughed til the point i ended up laughing with them. There was one other tourist on the bus with me, a spaniard named David. He was smart and got a sleeper compartment and im sure his ass doesnt hurt 3 days later from being so squished in a seat you loose all circulation in your legs. When we got to Udaipor myself and him found a hotel and hung out til i passed out at 8.

Back to mumbai, the city was good to me this time around. The more you hangout in a place the better it gets and i saw and did some things that i really enjoyed and im hoping to go back there before i leave. I met up with Allen and he took me and showed me around a area of the city i hadnt been in with some of his exchange freinds (over a couple of days). After a few days of hanging out with Allens multi Euro crew of exchange students, one of his freinds family offered to take us (myself, Allen, and the Jens(the kids family)) to a firework celebration (for Divali of course) at the very, very posh Indian National Cricket Center (or something like that) which was like the glenora club on steriods but with a cricket feild. I was in shorts and a t shirt with my backpack haha. A little under-dressed you could say. The fireworks went well and Jens's(i think thats how you spell his name) family was really nice and way too hospitable. After they dropped allen and i off for dinner with Allens host family, and they took us to a really good restraunt with really spicy fish masala. Again very nice people and way to hospitable. After that Allens family dropped me off in Colaba again and i figured id walk across the street and down the block to a popular pub to end the night off. In the pub (called Cafe Mondegar) i ended up running into a couple that i talked to the night before when i had a question about the taxi services in mumbai. They considered themselfs new wave indians haha, meaning they were engaged(not arranged marriage), the guy Harun is muslim and his girlfreind Mila (or something like that) is catholic. They were in there late 20's and both were university grads with good jobs and Harun had lived in Toronto for a year going to school at UofT. They welcomed me over to there table and 2 hours later i was wasted. Indians don't let there guest pay for anything, and some how i was these peoples guests and they insisted on taking me down the road to a really really expensive night club for there freinds birthday party. Becuase i was there "guest" i coudnt turn them down and some how i got into a place where guys were wearing Italian suits, in my shorts, t shirt and back pack. haha. I dont no and i couldnt guess at all how this happenend. Indian night clubs, or atleast this one was wild (except i was the most non covered up person there) and the music was so bad i couldnt stop laughing. I think i ended up talking to one of Indias biggest Sikh Hip Hop stars Haha. I think one of Haruns freinds had his limo driver take me to my hotel, but yeah again i dont know at all how any of this happenend. totally a day to remmember. Im writing now from Udaipor, and this place is truly amazing. Il tell you about it next time and post some photos of the lake.

Hampi photos

Cool doorwayYou cant see it but im on top of a pyramid

This was the place the Hampi empire stored there elephants

The lotus temple, not a bad looking building

Im sideways, but you can see the crazy details put into all the buildings

From Hampi to Hell

Hampi is a freaking cool place. Its something thats hard to describe, its more of an experience thing but il give u a little detail anyways. First of all myself and Stefan (my german freind) got a tip to stay at this hotel called Mowgli, across the river from the main temple and town of Hampi. The place was really chill, full of cool people and had probably the best nightime bar ive seen at a hotel. again to hard to explain but il try and post some photos. I only got to spend two full days in hampi, one of which Stefan, myself and a couple (an italian named Franco and his irish girlfreind Elaine) rented scooters and scootered around to most of the major ruins. The scenery and the ruins them self were fucking amazing. Smoke a little bit of hash and the place was about as cool as it gets. Nuthing but good vibes. I left the morning after the scooter expedition, on a bus to a city called Hubli (which is a major train hub for the intirior of the southwest). K buses in India are like everything else here, expect the unexpected and dont think that your getting anyplace quickly. The ride was only supposed to take 3 and a half hours with 6 stops. It took about 5 and a half hours with over 20 stops. I had no clue what was going on so i just read the whole time. When i got to hubli i had to get my way to the train station and from there i was lucky enough to talk to the head of train bookings by accident, and with a little bit of a cash handout i got my self onto a first class rail car when the train was completely booked. On the train i decided to get some of the nice looking somosas that were being sold in between stops. Bad idea, about 4 hours later (the train ride took 15 hours) i was in the bathroom with a horrible case of food poisining.
All in all a horrible train ride and one im trying to forget. I got off the train in mumbai and got a taxi to a hotel. Most taxis in the city should cost a maximum of 50rupees for a distance of about 3km (which is just over a dollar canadian). When picking a taxi up anywhere, don't let the guy handle your luggage unless hes supposed to (limosene) and dont get into a taxi when there is another guy (a freind of the driver) in the front seat expecially at 5 30 in the morning when the streets are quite.Bottom line i could give the guys a huge handout or get jumped. I ended up paying about 600rupees for a 30 rupee taxi ride. Not good.
Im now hanging out in Mumbai again at a decently priced hotel. Its still way to expensive and the city is crazy because of Divali (the hindu festival of lights) or the Hindi christmas. What ever you want to call it, Indians like to drink at this time of year and that is sight to see. I met up with Allen Fallis last night, and he took me out with a bunch of his exchange student freinds. They were all pretty nice kids and i think il try to meet up with them again. Im trying to get north to Rajasthan as quick as i can but its tough becuase all the trains are full til around the 29th so i might have to stick it out in mumbai through Divali, which would be fucking nuts. Il post some photos if i can.

Photos 2

sunset over Mandarem Beach
The cows of the once hippie paridise vagator beach, plus lots of garbage
Beach hut veiw
Palolem sunset
Awsome self potrait, il start trying to get people to take photos of me from now on

Not good

After a few to many nights out on the town in Palolem, i have become ill. Im not sure exactly what i have but its not good and its been going on for the last 4 days. Ive been to the doctor and they have set me up with some medication so will see how that all plays out. I wont get into much detail about what im experiencing but its not cool. The nights out were fun, but i just simply have to stop drinking for the next little while in order to recover. It helps that now im in Hampi, which is regulated liquor by the government. Im sitting in an internet cafe right now at its pooring outside, so myself and my german counterpart (stefan) are soaked. Im glad to be off the beach to. 10 days was more than enough of doing nothing and drinking cheap beer, although i did get some good reading done. The bus ride to hampi was absolute hell though. 12 hours of bumbs in a sleeper stall that could barely fit a fucking 10 year old girl. Hampi is beautiful, the ruins and temples are amazing but the weather is shit today. Ive changed my plan as to where im going after Hampi aswell. Im going to head north to the desert, and hang out in Rajasthan. The only problem seems to be getting there right now due to the Hindu Dawaliwal (or somethign like that) festival which is like christmas time for us. Getting a train back to mumbai is going to be hell, so im going to wing it and worse case scenerio il bus it again. The bus is quicker, and supposbly the "state of the art" freeway from Hampi to Mumbai is really in good shape. haha. So it should make for a smoother ride. Right now Stefan and i are staying in a nice place over looking the river of the ruins. Il try and post some photos from the last few weeks, but the computer im on sucks. Im also not feeling well at all so the experience of the last 5 days hasnt been all that fun. I hope this medicine finally starts to work better or else il probably have to go to the doctor again for blood work. Sorry to make u panic mom, but the medical facilities here seem to be in good shape so what can you do. I looked online and i saw the oilers are off to a 4 and 0 start, which is awesome. Mom please email me the travel agents email again becuase i think i deleted it. I might try and call home at some obscure hour in the next few days so if the phone rings please pick up.
love steve

pictures of mumbai

the gateway to india
The Taj Hotel, surrounded by touts and tourists
A statue in the Fort district
The musuem of Natural History
Me at Chowpatty beach (the water is toxic)

Goa

Ive been in Goa for around a week now and its been a very cool experience to say the least. Il start with the train ride down here. Trains in india like everything else transportation wise. Crazy. The station alone in mumbai (which is the second largest train station in the world) was nuts. Especially trying to figure your way to the train at 11 pm after having more than a few beers. I rode class 3 AC (the only available class) and it was pretty reasonable. Most of the other train riders in my compartement were either travellers or upper class indian people (buisness people/nurses) that were from goa but had things to do in mumbai. The train took 11 and a half hours to get to goa were i got off at the furthest north station in the state called Pernem. From pernem myself and a German women i met, got a taxi to Arambol and each found hotels. I stayed in a town 2 k down the road from Arambol called manderem in a beach hut right on the ocean. From there i relaxed, swam and read on a deserted beach for the day. The next day i rented a scooter for 4 bucks (3 days in total) and explored the surrounding area of north goa. The town of Arambol where i hung out in most, was full of restaurants (all with the same food/liqour and all for the same price) as well as the typical stores lining the streets full of sarongs and other touirist shit. Ive also learned that Goa is Israels vacation place, mostly because they cant get into the rest of the far eastern worlds exotic countries because of religious tensions. Who would have guessed. Well the Israelies all look the same (dreads, sarongs and reek of hash) and make up the majority of the tourists in october becuase its there holiday time. All and all a interesting scene. I met a English guy named Desmond and weve hung out together, scootering around and checking out all the untouched/uncrowded beaches in the region along with some cool temples/churches. One thing everyone should know about india is that the beaches are full of cows, stray dogs, and garbage (atleast depending on the town your in). Im sorry to say, but the paradise of one Vagator beach is no more. Its to freaking dirty. Desmond and i were in the mood for a change so we caught the train on tuesday and went 80k south to a beach town called Palolem.
This place is trully fucking beautiful. The beach is extremely clean, its lined with beach huts and bars, the water is great and the scenery is second to none. Its alot more of a tropical region in the south. The people of goa (the indians) are a lot more laid back and freindly than the people in mumbai. There industry is mostly tourism and if your freindly/respectful they are more than willing to go out of there way to help you. Desmond and I met a German man named Stefan on the bus ride here and weve been crashing in a little hotel in town for 300Rs a night(7 bucks) as well as hanging out the whole time. Both Desmond and Stefan are really cool, really laid back guys and have both travelled alot and have definitly helped me out by teaching me some tricks of the road. They both really enjoy beer to, so we have no shortage of things to talk about once we a few in us. Desmond (24) is a chef and is in goa meeting his girlfreind and family in 10 days to travel the south west coast of india. Stefan (29) is a engineer who was a project managaer with Olympus Cameras but quit to travel the world over the next year. Hes more less doing a Gord Neilson. All in all ive been having an awsome time in Goa, and especially in Palolem (which is full of gorgeuos Swedish women). Were all going to change hotels tommorow and get a large beach hut for us to hang out in for the next few days then i think Stefan and i are going to head inland to Hampi.
This post is probably all over the place so i have to apologize because i have recently aquired beach brain.
Il try to post some photos from my trip so far and im sure it will work this time becuase the internet cafe im in actually has computers that work at normal speeds.

crazy

I think i touched on this subject last time but mumbai is crazy. Here is a little bit of what ive noticed in the 3 days ive spent in the city so far. Number 1, for sure would be the poverty. I woke up my first morning and walked out of my hotel to be greated by a whole family sleeping on the side walk in front of me. This was around 7 am and granted it was a holiday (so i assume they slept in?) but over the next hour as i walked through one of the most fascinating cities ive been in i was dodging people sleeping on the sidewalks or cleaning themselves in puddles. Pretty crazy shit considering im staying in probably the nicest district of south mumbai. Another thing that you notice pretty immediatly is that mumbai is hot as hell at anypoint in the day and it probably only dips down to around 30 overnight. Simply put i have a new love affair with Air conditioning. The size of mumbai is crazy too. I took a walk on the sea wall last night (like vancouvers) and man the skyscraper landscape is just nuts. The wall was probably 20 miles long and it started at one side of the downtown core and a wrapped around to the other and was in the shadows of massive buildings the whole way. Another thing is that this city is just one huge contradiction to itself. You have slums beside the Bombay stock exchange (indias wall street), Sky scrappers going up beside buildings that are 20 storeys of tarp and erosion, garbage littering beautiful parks, gardens and streets all over the city and finally the poorest people hanging out (or crawling around) in the richest districts. The mentality of people here is also something to take note of, more less everyone in some way is trying to get ahead and they will do just about anything they can to do it. Its hard to explain in words but so imagine the people of mumbai are like a more agressive version of people from new jersey. Horrible, atleast thats how ive experienced the streets. The architecture in the city (atleast in the nice areas) is fabulous, a mixture of tradional hindu or islamic inspired buildings and statues, victorian style museums and government buildings (from the colonial period) and modern buildings being built everywhere. Also being in this city is like being in hollywood (or atleast i think) except its bollywood, theres fancy cars and nice stores and gossip rags all over the place and everyone talks about actors constantly.

Personally mumbai has been a "trip" of an experience. Atleast like i said before ive never experienced anything like it. After shrugging off the poverty and dealing with the heat, you begin to realize the city is like everywhere else. It has its good sides and bad sides, there just more abrupt. The noise is something im not sure il every get used to. Dealing with people has been the most interesting/challenging experience. There just for the most part soo poor, and they look at you like "becuase your white and north american" your rich. Which i guess is true, but when it comes to negotiating a fair price for anything without a price tag on it, there are some real challenges to getting a decent price. Ive been ripped off pretty well about five times, atleast thats what ive realized. The best one was at the train station, buying my ticket to goa. I walked up to the foreigner purchase terminal and had what i thought was a very kind hearted and helpful conversation with a older lady probably in her 50s. I wont get into details but she charged me 200rs extra for my ticket and then proceeded to take another 200rs that i had in my passport when i showed it to her. Touts are another experience in themself. There people that are your "freind" and try and "help" you. Pretty well you can't be freindly at all, or ask them for any help without having to give them any money just to go away. I now just walk and ignore, i don't make eye contact and in some cases pretend i don't speak english well. Other than those things ive learned a ton in this city. I visited the museum of both natural and national history and the audio guided tours and displays were amazing and extremely educational. Im really starting to realize how much of the culture is influenced by religion. Over all ive felt suprising pretty safe in mumbai and rather than a run in with one very unfreindly (aswell as possibly drunk) taxi driver my experience here has been great. Met some cool people, hung out in some really interesting pubs and sheesha bars and saw some pretty amazing shit.
Right now im in goa in a little hippie/indian vacationer resort town in the north called Arambol. Im staying on the beach in my own beach hut for around 19 bucks a night and it is absolute paradise. Lots of euros and world travellers around and the beach/ocean are amazing.
Il tell you about the train ride down next time and describe goa more after hanging out here a few more days. I'l also try and post some photos of mumbai but im in some little shack of a cafe and the computers are like 10yrs old so it might not work.

Mum- fucking - bai

Ok il start off by telling you flying anywhere for a total of 18 hrs sucks. Secondly that Mumbai is just insane in everywhich way. Il give you a breif description of my first day here. I get off the airplane after scenicly veiwing the largest slum in the world from the air. I get into a cab the that would fit into the back of my truck and we then proceed to drive through the "outskirts" of that slum in bumper to bumper traffic for the next hour. Picture a three lane road being used as a four lane and even a five lane road at times, 4 kids on 1 scooter every 2 feet, no one follows any traffic signals along with litterally half the population of edmonton jaywalking through traffic. It was the most horribly entertaining drive ever. So i get to colaba and try an get into a decent hotel, for a decent price. That doesnt happen due to a hindu festival starting in the area tommorow and i end up spluring on the 6th hotel i go into. Im going to get out of this city quick and i hope i can give a description of more than the previous words about the city but im too tired right now. Ok mom this was pretty well for you. So you know im ok and ill be back in touch in the next few days.
Il post some pictures and give a rundown of life in the second largest city in the eastern world some time soon.

Leaving

Hi my freinds and family or whoever ends up looking at this thing which i have created a total of 20 minutes before i leave my house for the start of my trip. Last minute nerve's have deifinitly hit me a bit before i leave so ya i guess im just dealing with that right now. Anywase the whole point of this thing is to document my travels and adventures in india for the next couple of months and i will try to update it regularly when i have the time or oppurtunity. Just to for warn all of you who read this, my spelling and grammar will suck, my stories might be long or short or all over the place soo i dont know how this will work out and what will happen but ill try to do my best. Il try to keep up on posting photos and i just bought an i pod touch so il try and figure that out on the plane. Any of you who know me well know that technology is not my thing at all so it should be entertaining. Feel free to leave comments or to email me if you have any questions or just want to say hi.

maybe il get into why im going to india in some other blog post.