The Price of Good Company

Back from the backwaters!
Hopefully I can get my pictures up, but the boat trip was crazy good! Alleppey has been really nice, very chill, and GREAT tomato fry! So the 5 of us (Jon, Antonia, Danny, and Elie) got to the boat around 11ish and spent the entire afternoon cruising along the backwaters of Alleppey. The houseboats are massive, ours was 3 bedrooms with a giant area for us to hang out all day, so it wasn’t like it was cramped together at all. We brought a bunch of beer with us as well as some whiskey and rum, but the crew got into the rum before we did, but they seemed happy with us the rest of the trip so all was not lost.

Been having a great time with all the new ppl ive been meeting, the ones im hanging out with now are especially cool tho, my original plan was to head to Kumily (where theres all the tea plantations and spice feilds as well as a wildlife sanctuary to see the elephants in) i was going to head there tonight, but everyone else is sticking around alleppey for one more night before moving on, so ive decided to stay here with them and party it up one more night before heading off on my own again, unless i can convince them all to come with me, which may be a possibility

So another night in Alleppey, losing a night in Pundicherry and a night in Kumily it seems, but so is the price of good company! but ill be on my own soon enough! not even jon's gonna come with me to Pundicherry, and im missing a HUGE festival in kerala that starts may 3rd, just another reason to come back.

no updates in pics today, but i got some good pirate ones!

Yea, But I've never met a guy with such a Jewish soundin' surname

Thats thanks to Jonny this afternoon, my response was that I wasnt even Jewish.
sorry to hold out for so long, I was tres busy in Hampi.
My first day in Hampi, Jonny and I met up with antonia and some friends she had met on the bus (we also met Shelby on the bus, who came along with us as well) So the 6 of us got a coconut boat accross the river so we could climb up this big hill to a temple to the Monkey God was built, it was his birth place. At the top we had chai with the gurus that lived there, one of them was called Baba, which made me think of home but laught at the same time haha. So from the top you could see pretty far, and the landscape in Hampi is just hundreds of boulders just piled on top of one another all over the place creating these huge hills or mountains. To get to the top it took 601 steps. On the way down the Guru took us into this crazy cave, and then we walked about 5km before getting a Rickshaw back for some food.
The next day after antonia, Elie, and Danny left, the 3 of us remaining took an all day tour of the city and all of the ruins and temples. We started at 5:45am so we could catch the sunrise from the top of another mountain, it was tough, but it was really nice, the sun rose over all the hills and banana plantations, the whole area seemed consfused at weather with wanted to be paradise or a desert. In the afternoon after seeing everything, Shelby Jonny and I went and found the waterfall and went swimming in the river above it. The water was really nice and clean and the waterfall was really cool as it ran though all the boulders and kinda carved its way around.
My final day in Hampi was spent relaxing around town to recover from the sunrise start the morning before.
I left for Cochi (or Kochin) that night taking an over night sleeper train to Bangalore, where I then spent a day there wondering around, seeing how much it would cost to fix my camera (the screen is lighting up but not working so im shooting blind right now) Anyways we went bowling, looked around and went to the botanical gardens in the city. On our way back to Jo and Simons hotel (2 ppl we met in Hampi) the sky opened up and just POURED, way more then Ive seen in florida or anywhere else, it was NUTS. SO another over night train, a ferry, and now im in the Fort Cochi area of Cochi(Kochin). Jonny and I have met up again with Antonia, Danny, and Elia. Tomorrow the 5 of us will head to Appolly where we can get a houseboat for 24hrs and cruise along the backwaters and lagoons of Kerala.
When I was in Hampi, I also booked my train ticket from Chennai to Varanasi, so im now taking a 36hr train rise from the south to the north so I can make my flight home (this will also giver me enough time to go from Varanasi to Agra, to Vrindavan and then to Delhi to come home!) So after the backwaters I'm headed to Kumily to see the tea plantations and where they grow all the spices, and also while im there I'll go to the wildlife sanctuary to try and see tigers and wild elephants. From there to Pundicherry for a few nights then to chennai then onwards!
I have a plan i just gotta stick to the timeline! so much to do!!
Here are my pics of Hampi and Bangalore, you might need to see part II later cause this computer is being really slow
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2201080&id=90401387&l=f53460555f
part II
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2201112&id=90401387&l=75e36148ad

Fade to White

Leaving paradise is probally one of the hardest parts of my trip. Although my wallet will be happy with the end of Polelem, my head is gonna be stuck here for a while. I was telling John the other day, I feel like my vacation is over already because i need to start travelling around and thinking again! With my flight booked for May 12th, I have a limited amount of time I can see the rest of india with.
My plan as of now is to head to hampi tonight for probally 2 nights then head down to kerala and spend 5 nights there, wondering around teh back waters and the coast. ive alloted myself 12 days to go from Pundicherry to Delhi, Im gonna fly from Chennai to Kolkata and then hit up Bodhgaya, Varanassi, Agra, and Vrindivan before headed back to delhi. The good thing of the plan is that Im aiming to get into Delhi mid-late afternoon on the 11th, allowing my to go straight to the airport for my 2:25am flight! which means i wont need to spend any more time in the del-hole then i have too! WOOOO
Also, when my camera got wet, it dried out and started working again, but now, its starting to mess up again, i need to blow into the lens for the screen to work! luckily it still takes pictures regardless, so things could be wrose.
As for my return, I fly back to TO on the 12th, but fly out to florida on the 14th and arrive back on the 18th, so lets save the party til then, florida will be nice to recover from the jet lag, a nice post-vacation vacation
Back to "work" for me!

Here are the rest of the Mumbai pictures,
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2199814&id=90401387&l=66a28f24ba

my pictures from Arambol and the train ride to Polelem,
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2200499&id=90401387&l=1f2c973569

And my pictures of Polelem, and now your literally up to date! (slash get aload of the yoga pics, dont be too jealous (of the spot and my abailities hahaha)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2200503&id=90401387&l=53ec178c1d

The revival

i knows its been a few days, but its tough trying to find the energy to blog when youre some where this nice!
im down in Polelem now, so southern Goa, the beach is palm tree lined and theres tons of restaurants and all that good stuff, so lots of options, but mostly just alot of time spent on the beach! If I had died in Arambol, this is definitely my revival, fitting that I arrived here on easter....
so since ive been here ive done alot of relaxing, and alot of partying, the beer is just as cheap here as it was in arambol so i went to a party a few nights ago and because the tide came in we were stuck there until 3am because the tide flooded the rivier, o darn. What did suck though is that my camera fell into a puddle on the beach at the party! luckily its starting to come to, the screen wasnt working, but as of this morning it was back to normal, so im still gonna take it slow with the picture taking regardless.
Im doing yoga while im here, the place where the classes are is at the top of a hill with the ocean on 3 sides of it, so its reallllly nice, and i made a deal with the guy that i get 6 yoga classes and 4 massages for just over 60$ canadian, which is awesome! i already had my auverdic massage (i spelt that wrong) and today i had a "four-hand" massage, which was 2 ppl massaging me at once. it was awesome.
my beach hut is costing me about $1.50 a day, so im happy about that and its ridiculously close to the water, no more then 30m at the most, i just dont know what to do with myself.
anyways, im trying to get some photos up, but the computers here are being silly.
booking my plane ticket home tomorrow! ill be back on home soil may 20th, so mark your calenders!

I think I'm dead

Mumbai was pretty sweet, i've been hanging out with thses 2 guys i met on the bollywood set, dave from Oz and Rob from the UK, so we've been walking around the city and all that stuff, its been nice to meet ppl! the first night we went to chowpatty beach adn watched the sunset after wondering around all day and watching some random cricket games in the parks. then the next day when dave and rob did a slum tour i went and shopped around, got myself some lacoste polos (theyre half the price of the ones back at home so i got 2 to make it worth while haha). We also hung out with some girls from Iceland and Holland and went for a few drinks a Leopolds a cafe where there was some shoots a few months ago, i have some pictures of that too. The next day the 3 of us went on a huge tour of the city and saw the hanging gardens, Gondhi's house, a mosque in the bay and a whole bunch of stuff, it was pretty sweet. That night before Dave and I headed off to the train we met up with the german girls i was hanging out with in Udiapur and went for dinner and then found a Hooka bar and went there before catching the train to Goa.
Which is why i now question my mortality. Im in Arambol right now and im not sure ive been to a nice place. The room is 125Rs and im sharinf with with dave and a guy named john that we met on the train and its a 3 second walk from the beach and the beer is only 55Rs!!! (thats like $1.05 Can for a 650ml beer! its amazing i gave the hotel guy a hug when he told us haha) So i spent yesterday on the beach and im going to rent a scooter tody and head down to arjuna to take a look at that and then spend more time on teh beach! probally heading down to Polelem in a few days and then parking there for a week. WHICH MEANS POSTCARDS i know im doing them late, so let me know if your address has changes/will change in a month or so, i think that how long it takes to get there. And if you havent sent me your address dont expect a postcard, althought i bought 20 and i think i have 2 extras, so first come first served. Anyways, the weather is far too nice to be on a computer all day, below is more pictures from Udiapur and my first batch of Mumbai (please note my shoes on the bollywood set, my feet are too big and they didnt have my size, so they put me in sandels and then put black socks over top of them...the magic of movies)

Udiapur
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2199123&id=90401387&l=0c69e3171e
Mumbai (part 1)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2199423&id=90401387&l=265d6cdf5d

Mike takes Bollywood

Finishing up Udiapur, i hung out with the german girls for the rest of the day and ended up watching Octopussy on the roof top of a restaurant over looking the lake palace, which is where parts of the movie were filmed, so it was pretty cool enjoying some James Bond in India. The rest of Udiapur was fine, just kinda wondered around, have some nice pictures if i can ever find a place to put them up.
The trip from Udiapur to Mumbai was LONG, it took about 18hrs total, and the traffice was insane! Ive seen Toronto, New York, LA, and Miami rush hour traffic, but this was NUTS, there are sooo many ppl here that the traffic is just crazy. HOWEVER, i am throuoghly enjoying Mumbai! Its like a "civilized" oasis within india, the city is almost developed and aside from the hundreds of ppl sleeping on the streets every night, theres lots of big buildings and sidewalks! its almost like being at home!
Upon arriving at the Salvation Army Hostel in Mumbai, we (me, a dutch girl and a girl from Iceland) were asked to be extras in a Bollywood movie! so I made an extra 500Rs last night! The movie is titled "BLUE" starrig Kylie Minogue and Katrina Kaif, it was a evening restaurant scene and im totally in the shot! at least twice! hahaha so im going to have to watch the movie when it comes out and you all should too! im gonna be famous ya'll!
so we ended up shooting until about 230 and got back to the hostel around 430 so it was a late night.
Cant get into my online banking, hopfully i wont starve, probally heading to Goa on thursday, met a bunch of ppl here in Mumbai headed down that way, so yay for company!

What lake palace?

Udiapur has been really nice so far. The hotel im staying at is about 20mins walk outside of the city, but its really nice, and tres cheap! so yesterday i got lost within the city and had to take a rikshaw to get to the lake, and even then it was a bit of a wlk through the market to find the actual lake...which turned out was dried up!! So theres this really pretty palace in the middle of the "lake" with minimal water surrounding it. I walked along the lake bed and took a bunch of pictures and read my book while sitting on a rock in the lake, it was nice, and on that note, ive finished pillars of the earth, another good one, very captivating, but on to the tailsman!
On my way to Udiapur i met some German girls on the bus from Jaisalmer to Udiapur so ive been hanging out with them a bit which is nice to have some company for a change. And so far, i think Udiapur might be in competition with Rishikesh for my favourite spot so far, although Jaisalmer was really nice too.
Pics from Jaisalmer and here in Udiapur are ready to be put up, but the computers arent cooperating, maybe tomorrow before i leave for the bus, if not then it'll hvae to wait til Mumbai

The end of the safari...

I forgot the end! When i got back to the hotel, they kid who sold me the safari had told me that if i was going by myself i could get my money back, so i bartered with the hotel to clean my clothes for free instead, so i stil hvaent had to pay for laundry yet, woooo
putting up some pictures now
Heres Amritsar:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197647&id=90401387&l=a780d47809
Delhi part 2 with sheila and kathryn
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2198471&id=90401387&l=9c16c63371
Jaipur
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2198473&id=90401387&l=6ab82482ef
Just the desert and Udiapur to go then im up to day!

And this is my camel Papu

A few notes before getting into my adventure. Im starting to think as a narrative...i find myself think, he said, or describing my emotions and what im thinking as if im reading it, its awkward and i think it means ive been reading too much, i blame dawn and the book list she gave me.
Jaipur was sweet, i ended up seeing the jewel guy again and he wanted to meet me for lunch, but i bailed and hafiz was a little pissed, but whatever. The train ride to jaisalmer was nice, other then the fact that i payed 690Rs for my ticket and then when i got on the train, i was told it was for the night before, so the guy i bought my ticket frm at the counter messed up bad and i was pissed. So the conductor had me buy a new ticket, which was tech 2 tickets, and pay the "no ticket fee" so i ended up paying 1025Rs PLUS the 690, not impressed.
Jaisalmer has been sweet, the city is really nice and i havent been asked for a rikshaw yet! its wonderful! I just got back from a 2night 3day camel safari into the desert which was really cool, but not as good as the fraiser island trip haha
there was me and the sarfari guide, and that was it, there were suppose to be 2 others (from vancouver too) but they never showed up. ill get to that soon. The sarfari was cool, papu (my camel) was really awesome, and Rupe the other camel had a sagging lip because he got in a camel fight and tore the part that connects the lip to the gum so his lip was always open. We stopped at some villages on our way to the big sand dune and in the villages the kids were nuts! they were all asking me for pens and rupees and chocolate, and when i said i didnt have anything they started to pat me down to look! a little invasive and creepy haha.
so that night we slpet in the open air in the middle of the desert (although not alot of sand dunes, just barren waste land sorta desert) from the dune you could see the boarder lights of pakistan which was cool. the stars were nice, but you could see them better in australia because of all the dust and pollution over the country.
during the days i saw tons of jets flying over head, and was a lil skeptical until i FINALLY met some other and concluded that they were training which made sense (india and pakistan both had military bases other there, and the states does all there testing over the desert as well, so it makes sense) also there were 100s of wind terbines other there, like a massive wind farm, but apparently it doesnt make that much energy.
the sleeps were bad, the sand doenst do good things to the back, nor does 5 hours on a camel each day. Ill probally put more pictures up tomorrow, internet is pretty cheap here, but i want dinner!
headed to Udipur tomorrow night, yay adventure!