Seethanadi Nature Camp Udupi

... this, and although I know I'm likely to change my mind, right now I do feel like ripping my womb out and stamping on it for when that change of heart comes. I don't like the idea of children one bit: the most stimulating conversation being 'ooh look at the choo choo train', having a whingey whiney thing following you around all day, never being able to do what you want to do, rarely seeing friends...in short, I have no maternal instinct whatsoever. Sorry, digressing. The astrologer also ...

... is intriguing, but I think because Udupi is a place of pilgrimage for many, these holy men (they would call them 'business holy men' in Varanasi) take advantage of the devouts beliefs. Good job we are not devout anything then! Tonight we get the train to Kochi, our first sleeper train for a while, and the first we will have to find on our own, which could be fun, but we cannot wait to get to Kerala. Gods own country they call it, lets see.

... till krogar i södern. Inkommande helg skall vi resa till Hampi. Vi åker fredag kväll och är tillbaka tisdag morgon. Hampi en medeltida huvudstad till Vijayanagaraimperiet som styrde indien från 1300-talet framåt några hundra år och där finns tempel och ruiner att beskåda. De som har varit dit säger att det är verkligen vackert att se så jag ser framemot resan. Monsunen som jag var hemskt rädd för före jag åkte har dock inte varit något problem. Förra veckan regnade det nästan ...

... vilket verkar systemet som används för föreläsningar här. Professorn läser alltså varje meningen 4-6 gånger i en nasal ton tills studerandena får ner det till pappers. Skönt att ha i bakgrunden. Förra helgen besökte vi ett ställe som heter Ooty. Resorna tog sammanlagt ungefär 30 h och vi tillbringade kanske 24 h på stället inklusive 4 h sömn. Resan var rätt mycket åka till ett ställe med buss ut och kika och iväg igen, men det var änd ...

... who should be sat there, newly arrived in town but Anton, the helpful Swede of Indain Emabassy (Sri Lanka) fiasco aquaintance. He'd cycled up from Kochin, naturally (mad *******), on a one geared sit up and beg. One day covering 96 kms! He was practically mad will spending the time with no company but Indians offering homesexual sex and rooms complete with midnight robbery option so was as glad to see me as I him. So began a very pleasant ...

... on the immorality of the West and morality of the East! Argh, what bloody hypocrit! I had such a sour taste in my mouth after this, it was really horrid. I really needed a good female friend to tell all this to and who would support me, but alas that is one thing I don't have here. I had to make do with a nice educated Nepali fellow who then talked to me for an hour about the woes of India's effects in Nepal, which was interesting as I don't know much ...

... it quite clear that in no uncertain terms we should not stop for the police if they pull us over, and that we should just drive on or through their road blocks, and that if we were to eventually get chased down and caught to say that the we borrowed the bikes from a friend! something about no license and insurance, but a small matter as far as he was concerned. There were plenty of police around and I only had to drive through a road block like ...

... that he spoke English quite well, what with his being a Brit and all. He knew where the tools were and soon came out with an adjustable which we checked on the axle of his Bullet 350 to make sure it would work. Roger was on his way up to Arumbol, and so I gave him a few connections up there, and also in the traveller's style of information trade, he gave me pointers on avoiding the Baksheesh station at the Goa border with Karnataka which presumably is supposed to ...

... arrived to a really sombre mood though, sean, noami and andy went to get our huts sorted and we stayed with the bags, whilst sitting on the beach loads of locals ran to the rocks and they had found a dead body, two local people went swimming yesterday and didn't return we were told. A little boat went out to fetch it and it pulled up on the beach right next to us, where we were sitting with all our bags waiting, so we couldn't move ...

... my new apartment next week, its quite small, but I have lived in much smaller worst places in the UK! generally, I am really happy here, I am going to be extra careful with my cash - it does take a while to get used to not knowing when your next paycheck will arrive..normally when you work this hard you have something to show for it..but I am doing very well. Looking forward to having an Indian Xmas.