Category: India

After three very relaxing weeks at Candolim Beach, Goa, we departed to Mumbai on January 3rd. When we first arrived in Candolim we were a little concerned about the crowds but we quickly came to really like the vibe, the food, the people and the location and the cost of living was very reasonable. We did pretty much nothing the whole time except relax on the beach at our favourite beach hut, “Ganesh Beach Hut”. We had great chicken chili and veg noodles for many lunches, sipped on sweet lime sodas and caught major rays getting us almost as brown as the locals. The town of Candolim is very hectic, the traffic chaotic but is filled with great little restaurant/bars and the food was always delicious. The town has everything you need or want. We had great Moroccan food for Christmas dinner and had a blast New Years Eve down on the beach. All-in all, a really great time. Some final pics…

Where’s oopik?

Ganesh Shack

The beach

Behind the scenes

Debbie, our favourite shp keeper

Our dail fruit lady

Road back to our hotel

Scooter art?

After our 2 days on and 1 day off strategy of hanging out at the beach for 3+ hours over the past couple of weeks, today, a day off to sleep in (7:30 am), drink 3 cups of Nescafe with a touch of sugar, have our breakfast consisting of Alpha Oats Mix, no sugar added with added sliced bananas, yogurt (if not liquidy and runny), local very well washed oranges and Topicana fruit juice, it is our day to get our teeth scaled and cleaned at the local dentist. There is a booming dentist industry here. The Docs are well-educated and certified and the cost is 1,000 rupees, $20.00 CAD, probably $160.00-$200.00 at home. 😬

We now have nice shiny white teeth and our plan for later in the day was to take a cab to the Saturday Night Market in Apora, Goa, about 6 clicks from our place. A must see market/bazaar in Northern Goa. The other “must see” market is Anjuna Beach Market held Wednesday afternoons. We went to the Anjuna Market back in 2006??. It was great, I bought a hippie shirt that didn’t fit, we had a beer listening to some music and headed back to our place in the south so why the “what to do?

After a very relaxing day, blinding the on coming pedestrian traffic with our shimmering teeth we debated about going to the market. All of India has so far essentially been a market in our travels to date. You can put together a tourist oriented market (both Anjuna and Apora) and market it to the tourists. It is great fun but we were feeling a little hesitant in going because it would probably be the same, no, would be the same.

It’s interesting when you are travelling. You think you have to see everything and it is impossible to do and yet you feel “travellers guilt” if you think you missed something important so we did what was important to us.  We talked and chatted like we always do and made up a story to tell our taxi driver why we couldn’t make it to the market. Joyce has Delhi Belly! but as it turns out, he forgot about us so I went for beers and ordered take away to bring back while Joyce chilled out watching the 759+ channels on offer.

We have our next 7 days booked in Mumbai and Delhi once we leave here on the 3rd. 3 nights Mumbai and 4 nights Delhi and then we have a major planning job to do to cover the north of India within the next 6-8 weeks. It is very challenging to find accommodation and transportation options. Travelling is relaxing but can also be very stressful if your itinerary isn’t planned out for you. Thus is winging it and we are definitely not complaining….

” A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving”. Leu Tzu

“The traveller sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see”  Gilbert Chesterman

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page”. Saint Augustine

So we’re going to celebrate New Years here in Candolim Beach, Goa. We’re not sure what we’ll do but we are looking forward to heading to the north of India to explore and boldly go where thousands have gone before and hope to have some lively blog posts and pics coming soon.

Happy New Year to everyone! We are so appreciative of you visiting our site.

Thank you.

Grant and Joyce

There are over 1,326,841,506 people living in India. Think about that. And India is about 1/3 the size of Canada with a population of about 36,000,000.  A song from Pink Floyd “And Nobody’s Home” complains about “13 channels of shit on the TV to choose from”. Well we have Tata TV (a very well-known Indian conglomerate) with probably 750 channels to choose from and the choices are essentially unlimited. It is without doubt the widest selection of entertainment I have ever seen on a TV menu screen. Most are in Hindi and many are very similar but there is an obvious innocence in the acting, singing, dancing etc. that is so prevalent. It is so entertaining. The game shows and movies and serials bring you back to the days in the 70’s and 80’s when life was real, comedy was comedy, people weren’t offended and you were allowed to laugh at the daily foibles of life.  Indian TV is very entertaining.

“A Fine Balance” is the title of a novel by Rohintom Misty, a Canadian author and winner of the “Giller Prize” and nominated for the “Booker Prize”. Joyce and I both read the novel during the year leading up to our trip. It is an amazing novel that captures the cruelty, corruption and dignity of India that has surrounded us thus far in our journey through this country of contrasts. We highly recommend this novel.

“The human face has limited space. If you fill it with laughter there will be no room for crying”

Chaos, comedy and sensory overload have filled our days and we’re at the beach! The smells can be overwhelming at times, the air is sometimes hazy with cooking smoke, curry and car exhaust but the theatre that is India is a show we are so happy and fortunate to participate in.

OMG! Just listened to “Jingle Bells” and “Santa Clause is coming to town” from the live band playing across the street.

Go back 7 or 8 years, Joyce and I are in Kampala, Uganda, we found a nice bar, local band and ready to hear some good roots music. The first set is great. We’re happy. Found a good local music scene. The next set, bring on the bands girlfriends who can’t sing if their life depended on it and they sing Christmas carols. History repeats.

We’ve been here 5 days now and are feeling at home in our apartment that we basically did all of the cleaning thereof (another story) and are checking out restaurants for a Christmas meal to see if it is turkey, tikka or tandoori. The weather has been great, not too humid, nice breezes and probably around 28-30 degrees. Aside from a couple of expensive taxi rides to try to send some parcels home from DHL and then India Post, the cost of living here is very reasonable. Beer, 650 ml bottle ranges from CAD $1.80 to $2.80. Lunch with soup, sandwich, appy, 2L of water and a couple of pop with tip is about $12.00 for two. This is at the beach. Dinner is less away from the beach. A 3-4 course meal of rice/veg noodles, curry dish, chicken dish and chapati is about the same, maybe a touch more. Add in beer at $2.00 CAD, say 5 beer and you leave full and tipsy for less than $25.00. Not too bad in my books.

This blog isn’t a “how to” travel guide but realistically speaking, if you are done with the backpacking, dorm accommodation, shared bathroom experience you might have done in your 20’s, then seriously plan on about $150.00 per day per couple. A reasonable clean hotel room will run $35.00-65.00 per night. Expenses add up quickly and they are expenses you don’t generally plan for. How much is it to travel from point “A” to “B” never mind how much to take auto rickshaws, tuk tuks or taxis from point “a” to “b” in your destination? Not necessarily cheap. Tips, beggars, water (especially water) and toilet paper add up. So, although India on $5.00 a day (revised to $25 a day) is still probably possible, we’ll pass. Give me the bed bug infested, diarrhea splashed bathrooms? Sorry. Been there done that.

After another 8 hour, 340 km journey by car through open plains and lush jungle forest we descended into the state of Goa and are now parked here in Candolim Beach for the next three weeks. Total road distance from our starting point in Chennai is just under 1,900 km’s with many hours of often white knuckle speed bump infested holy cow (and goat) road blocks, highway construction diversions, pot holes, dogs, some squashed, a few “oh no’s!” from Joyce in the back seat seeing the inevitable head on collisions that we were about to be in and ultimately an amazing drive through the east, south central, central and the west of southern India. All in all four states; Tamil Nadu, Puducheri, Karnataka and Goa.

We have a nice apartment here in Candolim however the area isn’t quite our style but it will do for the next 3 weeks and we’re sure we’ll make it a nice relaxing time. The beach is clean and very long and is strewn with sun beds and temporary thatch and bamboo/wood built restaurants with lots of very overweight tourists primarily from Russia and the UK and about a 15 minute walk from our apartment. We paid a Christmas/New Year premium so we ain’t going nowhere until the 3rd of January when we may head a little south or a little north for a little more chillin. There is a huge Goa Reggae Sunfest happening in the north of Goa mid January at Ajuna Beach (major old hippie hang out) so we might just stick around for a bit or we’ll start making our way to the north to explore four more states; Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab. If we really feel adventurous after all of this then maybe we’ll try ro venture into Pakistan. We shall see. It’s called “winging it” and so far, so good.

Yesterday, after an 8 hour, 340 km journey through the most rural of rural India we arrived in Hampi. I must say, having a car and driver and being able to stop anywhere anytime is the only way to see the true day-to-day existence of the people of this fascinating country. Words cannot really describe the sites we’ve seen over the more than 1,500 km’s of driving so far so hopefully some of our road pics with a few words of commentary will help but first, Hampi, another of the many sites in India designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The main town of Hampi is a typical noise and exhaust filled cornucopia of chaos. It lies about 3 km from the Village of Hampi (Hampi Bazzar) which has slowly grown into a funky little tourist area in the heart of the boulder strewn and incredibly beautiful surrounding hills and temple ruins.

Situated among banana plantations, palm groves, paddy fields and a meandering river, the area is dotted with “chill” restaurants and small family run homestays offering private rooms with toilet, bed and shower, it is such a nice change from the hectic to the relaxed.

Only motorcycles and auto rickshaws/tuk tuks are allowed on the very narrow roads that make up a small grid in this village of 1,000 people where alcohol is prohibited but secretly available as are the “special lassies”, however, there is a serious issue here that looks to cause the demise of this little Hampi hippie haven.

According to the Indian government, all of the businesses that exist to serve the tourists here are illegal and must be removed. All of them from tiny Mom and Pop window shops selling soap, water and toilet paper to all of the home stays and restaurants. Everything.

On the day we arrived we were told the court process to prevent this mass displacement had been exhausted and the next day the locals would find out their destiny.

The worst case which most were expecting was everything would be bulldozed. The second worse was they could keep their homes but must immediately close all business, their livelihoods. Not much of a choice and it was heartbreaking to have this conversation with the locals. What do you say to them?

Late the next day the verdict was in. Close all businesses immediately and don’t lose your home or defy the order and face demolition.

In a similar court ruling in 2011 they moved in and over night bulldozed homes and businesses into oblivion leaving 1,500 people homeless. Plots of land a few km’s away and compensation was offered and we’re told many are still left waiting.

Then, in 2016 they did the same to another small village in the area.

The vast majority of these businesses are run out of adjoining sections of their homes so the cost of defying the closure is the very real prospect of having your home demolished. The people knew the government wasn’t kidding.

When we departed the next day after the verdict every single business was shuttered, everything was shuttered. You couldn’t buy anything from anyone or any business that existed only 24 hours earlier.

There are over 3,700 beautiful monuments scattered over 36 sq. km’s of this amazing area and it seems if you live near these ruins your lively hoods will be ruined.

People blame the UNESCO designation (they can be very heavy handed in how they run things) but we’ve also heard some big hotels in the area are pushing for this, they are losing business and we’ve also heard (according to the gov’t) the concern is about human encroachment into the ruins. It’s probably a combination of several things.

We think the best solution is the status quo. No more construction, keep what is there and move on. It would be a terrible loss to the local people and tourism.

We doubt few travellers aside from organized tours would stay in the noisy and totally uninteresting main town of Hampi.

Unfortunately the area has lost a true jewel that glittered around the edges of a truly spectacular site.

Road pics to Hampi (iPhone pics)

The harvest is in

Laying out the wheat

The wheat is separated by the cars driving over it

A typical road block

Hampi became the centre of the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th century and by the 1500 was the world’s second largest medieval-era city after Beijing. The empire was conquered, pillaged and destroyed by a coalition of Muslim sultanate armies in 1565 after which Hampi remained in ruins. The majority of sculptures were partially destroyed by breaking off the hands, feet, trunks, tusks, paws and some heads.

The amazing ruins of Hampi

Garuda Stone chariot

Market

Musical Stone Pillars

Virupaksha Temple

Queen’s Bath

Queen’s Bath

Garuda Stone Chariot and Vitthala Temple

Yoga-Narasimha Monolith

Outside walls of Hazara Rama Temple

Outer walls Hazara Rama Temple

Elephant Stables

Aqua Duct

Solid granite door

Ganesha

Krishna Bazaar in front of the temple ruins

Below are a few pics of our room, our chillin spot at Ravi’s Rose and Thali dinner.

Our room

Chillin

Our Thali dinner

We departed Mysuru on December 9th for our next stop, Hassan, about a 4 hour journey. We used Hassan as a staging point to visit two towns famous for their Hindu temples located about 40 km and 55 km respectively from Hassan. The town of Belur and the Channakeshava Temple, and the town of Halebid with the Hoysaleswara Temple. Both are very much off the beaten tourist path so we were virtually the only white faces among a sea of Indian school children and tourists. Something we noticed so far on our tour of temples.

The Channakeshava temple in Belur is a Hysola temple commissioned in 1116 and took over a century to build. The artistry and architecture are outstanding.

Channakeshava Temple

Another Hysola Temple, the Hoysaleswara located in Halebid began construction in 1121 and went on for 80 years but was never completed but is considered to be the masterpiece of Hysola architecture.

Hoysaleswara Temple

We had a full day today exploring the very nice city of Mysuru with a population of approximately 18 lakh. 1 lakh=100,000 so there are about 1.8 million people in the city. Our driver, Iyyappan wasn’t too familiar with the numerous sites to see in and around the city so we picked up a local (his name escapes us so we’ll call him Toor) who is affiliated with his company and we headed to our first stop, Chamundeshwari Temple located on the top of Chamundi Hills, about 13 km from Mysuru and about 3,000 feet above the city. The original temple was thought to have been built in the 12th century and it’s tower in the 17th century. Leading up to the temple is a huge Nandi, the bull mount of Shiva. Carved from one piece of granite it is 15 feet high and 24 feet long and around its neck are exquisite bells. Impressive and reminiscent of the Mahabalipuram rock carvings.

Nandi

Chamundeshwari Temple and views of Mysuru 

So today is a school holiday in nearby Kerala state, the Hindu temple is a revered site so us and what seemed like about 1,000 busloads of students ascended the hill to be met half way with a major traffic jam. It was utter chaos (seems to be the buzzword so far in India) so we did a u-turn and headed back down with the plan to visit again later in the day, Once we hit flat ground Toor suggested we stop in for a visit to a sea shell art emporium. How exciting! We relented and paid 50 rupee each admission ($1 CAD) and went inside to what turned out to be an amazing display of sea shell art and art created out of everyday waste and garbage. There is a huge Ganesha ranked in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest sea shell created statue in the world, a giant model of the Taj Mahal using only the natural colors of the shells and an amazing array of other art made from shells, twist ties, hair, paper, used wooden match sticks, pistachio nut shells etc.  We were fortunate to meet the artist who created all of the wonderful pieces of art and through conversation she showed us a beautiful flower and in her heavy Indian accent said it was made from what we understood her to say, “blister skin”. What?  Yes, blister skin. Joyce didn’t take a picture of this work of macabre art unfortunately but we both wondered, how do you collect blister skin?  Do people volunteer to burn their skin then peel it off of the blister in a nice oval piece of skin? Very weird but the flower was beautiful and she was an artist so, whatever. We continued to go around the museum admiring the truly incredible works of this woman until we came upon another work of art. This one was labeled ” made from pistu skin”. It looked a lot like the blister skin piece we saw earlier then it hit us. This piece and the other was made from pistacio shells. Pistu is an Indian term for pistacio and they call the shells skin. I know, pistu doesn’t really sound like blister but with a heavy accent it did. We nearly peed ourselves laughing. It was a typical lost in translation situation but man was it funny! We hadn’t had a good belly laugh like this for a long time. It reminds me of a situation in Durban, South Africa. I was at a local bar (really?) and I asked the white bar tender how he liked Durban. What I thought his reply was “it’s too white” was in fact “it’s too quiet”. Best to apologise and ask several times if necessary if you’re not sure what was said.

Sea shell art

Ganesh

Taj Mahal

It is interesting to note the swastika on the above picture of Ganesha. The swastika is an ancient religious icon used in the Indian subcontinent, East Asia and Southeast Asia where it has been and remains a sacred symbol of spiritual principles in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. It wasn’t until the 1930’s that it became stigmatized in the West due to its association with Nazi symbolism as an emblem of  Aryan race identity.

Next stop was Mysore Palace. Built on 72 acres for a total cost of 40 lakh, 4 million dollars, because there wasn’t corruption back then we’re told, and is still home to and the official residency of the Wodeyars dynasty. The architect was British and the design incorporates Indian, Indo-Islamic/Arab, Neo-Classical and Gothic styles. Only a small portion of the palace is still in the hands of the Wodeyars, the rest we’re told was taken over by the government due to back tax issues. It is hard to ascertain the exact details on this but the government-owned portion holds a lot of  beautiful artifacts which were gifts presented to the royal family over many years from many foreign dignitaries and countries. Me thinks the government got more than was due. The most up to date info I could find dates back to 2013. ” Govt wants the palace, so does the Royal Family”. Oh the challenges of the royal!

Mysore Palace