fast news & change of plans!

Hello again!!
I know I havn't written for a long while, and that's because I've been very very busy!! I can imagine that it's hard to believe, but now you'll know why!
I arrived in mumbai almost 5 weeks ago. I spend the first 2 weeks hanging around, going out... discovering the city. I even met zac again, the american guy I was traveling with for 3 months!!
In some way, I felt very attracted to the city, feeling very comfortable, and seeing contrasts every now and then. I also started meeting people, indians and westerners, and because of all that, I went to check a model agency. In 3 weeks I've done 3 jobs, and I have a couple of options for next week!! I've been going out a lot, I've destroyed my nice budget, but I'm having lot of fun. And now I'm looking for an apartment and I think I'll have a bussines visa soon. So things go on a nice direction, and I'm planning to stay here for a few months, and if I keep on working like now, who knows, maybe years!!!
So the trip once again has changed completely. Unexpected things are keeping me alive!!!
The only thing is that here is summer now, and it's super hot. Average of 35 degrees, with a 80 % humidity every day. Nights, 28 degrees... yes, life it's so hard!!!
See you soon!!!!!!!!

new contact number!!

Hello to everyone!!
Since I think I might stay in mumbai for a while, I got a new cell number;
0091 9833051907

I'll explain you the reasons soon!!!

look at our world, it's so big & amazing 02!!!

Hello everybody!!!
I’ve posted a few more pictures I’ve taken since the beginnig of 'everything'. I hope you’ll like them, and please, don’t hesitate to write comments!! (about the pictures, the light, the colors, the topic, about anything you like!!!)
And once again, thanks for keep on writing mails and comments!!Thousands of hugs!!!

http://jordimatasimages.blogspot.com/

26-27/mar mumbai 03

26th of march, holi, pronounced without the 'H', more or less like italians would do it. I was supposed to go and live holi at mekhala's builing, but she told me there was nothing there, and that was good for me, since I had the chance to live it in direct contact with one on the poorest areas of colaba. I reached the colaba market just by case, and realised that the area was not exactly a wealthy area. But if I found something there, that was life, energy, happines and even madness! This area is set in a kind of left over between 2 wealthy areas, occupaying an area of the docks. I would say is something between a shanti town and a slum area, dirty, but today full of color and music everywhere, people dancing, and what makes the holi famous, people throwing color, powder, to the other people, that with the sweat, or the water, stays there, dying your skin, hair, and clothes of lots of colors. They were also throwing eggs, and drinking alcohol. Many terrible things are happening during this kind of festivals, but I guess that this is happening everywhere unfortunately. It has a religious meaning (hindu) that I still don't know. People is absolutely transformed, inside, for the happiness of a day without working, were everything is allowed, or from the alcohol, and outside, for the effect of the powders, water, eggs... After seeing other areas of the city in, during the same day, I've checked that holi is lived more intensively in these areas, where the people radiate happiness, and I was told that people is waiting for this day for weeks! I guess it's a way they have to forget for a while their real situation, accepted with more or less resentment, in this life. So today, everything is allowed, and if someone doesn't like it, must stay home. It was fun to see that people didn't want to touch me, since I was one of the only 'non indians' there, but after allowing a few children to throw me color, everything became much funnier, and I finished ... you'll see the picture soon in the image blog! This area, has a kind of beach, where the children were playing and swimming but it was only after a few minutes that I realized that there was no sand in the beach, just garbage, and shit... the water was very dirty as well, and I guess that that was the perfect place to get every possible disease...
After that, I went to meet mekhala, and we headed towards one of the most elitist social clubs of mumbai. So, in 1 hour time I passed from one side to the other. This club has swimming pool, squash, gol... and it's quite big, everything in the center of mumbai. And it's very nice. It's from the time when the british were here, and being inside makes you feel that you are in that time. Wood everywhere, the signs, some of the machines, the waiters... something I didn't like that much was that to order food, you have to ring the bell, and then the waiter comes. It made me feel quite uncomfortable, so was mekhala the one to order food and stuff. We swam there, met 2 of girls that were at jazz the bay a few nights ago. We went out at night, in a place called hawaiian check, that was too packed, and with music from the '80 loud enough to make talking possible. It was fun anyway, because I could see indian boys dancing like in the bollywood films, and also looking at me very bad when I was trying to speak to girls. On the way back home, we took a taxi, and I saw hundreds of people sleeping on the street, following the rail tracks... a neverending line of poor people, families... so, once again, contrasts and contrasts all the time, impossible to be indifferent, but still looking for my position towards it.
The day after I lost the wonderful breakfast (3 slices of bread, 5 if you have contacts, butter and jam, egg & banana), and I was very very tired. I decided to see the prince of wales museum, and the truth is that I wasn't very receptive, after that, I headed towards the hanging gardens, were I took a nap, after that mahalaxmi mandir (temple), hagi ali mosque, in the middle of the water, with one single access, 1 or 2 km long, with shops in one side and beggars at the other. I can imagine seeing more than 200 beggars, side by side, some of them in terrible conditions...
10/4/05

23-25/mar mumbai 02

Breakfast with josu again. After talking with my mum (that is living my trip as if she was here, reading, researching…), and washing my clothes, I went out and found heidi and johana, the girls I met in arambol, just by case. We had lunch together. After that, I started walking, and observing. Gate of India, and after that towards flora fontain (area) again. I bought 3 books, very cheap; 'midnight's children' (s. rushdie), 'by the river piedra I sat down and wept' (p. coelho) and 'digital fortress' (d. brown). They are all photocopies, even if they almost look normal books. There are lots of stalls in one of the main streets, and police is not saying anything about that, since each person has the same space every day, most of them leave the books in their spot during the night...after that, I took a bus and went towards opera house, where I found lots of electronic shops, and I started deciding which cd/mp3 discman was I going to buy, the right price... they also sell lots of models that are imitation, so one must be careful. I had dinner with a guy from nigeria, that is working for a NGO and is here to visit african that are in jail, and to try to peace them with the catholic religion... he tried to convert me from my agnosticism to his religion, but he wasn't successful, and he left a little bit angry, even if I was trying to be as respectful as I could.

And yes, I like to be in the salvation army (guest house); it's great to wake up early, there are no curtains, so the sun, and the other people use to wake me up. After the first night, where I was sleeping only with indians, everything changed, and I don't really know why; now almost everyone is foreigner, and most of them has more or less my age. So, it's quite fun. It feels like being on a cheap residence, since they serve lunch and dinners, a part from breakfasts. And yes, I can finally listen my music!! It sounds like an easy thing, but it took me a while. I finally bought in a normal shop (not on a street stall), and for the lowest price. It's not 100% legal. The told me that it was coming from singapur, grey market, and that that was the reason why there was no warranty. But, I couldn't afford to by a legal one, since they cost 2 or 3 times more. Let's see the time it will last! Dinner at the university, and afternoon with my blog, and uploading pictures. And still now, when I remember that I'm in india, in mumbai! it's hard to believe. I have this feeling of live dreaming very often, and the truth is that I like it!! Mumbai is a shopping paradise; Today I bought those books, and only because they were that cheap, I bought the dan brown one, that I would never bought in other conditions!! After that the discman, and now, when I was heading home, I saw that antique dealer, and I started thinking about buying a sun watch. I guess that my friend ribas will know what am I talking about! It's like a ring, with a very small hole, where the sun light gets in and shows the time. But it was impossible tom find it, no-one knew what was I talking about, and well, I think that that was good since I had already spend enough money! I was also looking for a lonely planet, the one of pakistan, and 'fortunately' was too expensive! When I was going to sleep, I found ami, the sister of neta, 2 israeli girls that I met in varkala, kerala. It was pleasant talking to her. She is traveling alone one year, and has already been in nepal (before the emergency state), thailand and india. She was thinking about going to japan, to see the blossom festival, that is supposed to be very important and nice.

The day after, I decided to do one of those things that I love to do.; I transformed a bag, 1 small towel and string on a case for the discman! It was fun to be alone in the room, listening music, sewing... and it turned to be quite nice , functional and safe enough to carry the discman inside my bag! there is also a part to keep the cd's. This day marc called me, and I was very excited because I was not expecting that at all, and we had almost lost the communication. It was the best surprise. And it was the best because he was with david from madrid and chidam from istanbul... of course I've thought a lot about them during this trip because I was in a very special trip with them in turkey, 5 or 6 years ago... ai...that was a great trip!!! Let's see if on a short time period marc, or marc and pati can come here and we can travel together for a while! After that, I went to see the sunset at marine drive, a road that goes parallel to the sea creating a sort of bay (with disgusting water), and with a beach, chowpatti in one of the corners. There were lots of people, most of them couple, and quite many holding hands, impossible to see in the rest of india, but more or less normal in mumbai, and I guess bangalore, delhi... big cities. After dinner, I met mekhala and her friends at jazz by the bay, a very famous bar in mumbai, with karaoke, rock concerts, and I guess that jazz concerts as well. It was nice to see that most of mekhala's friends were girls, all of them indian, and a couple of guys, vishal and anish. There was a very nice girl called puja. That night a the group that was playing were friends of them, and the music was very good, versions of classics. I had lot of fun, and it was very interesting to have the chance to talk with the wealthy part of india, of mumbai. I'll try to write more about that in the next posts. And yes again, I feel good here, I like mumbai, there is something that I can't still explain that attracts me!!! (a part from the beautiful indian girls!)

10/4/05

21-22/mar mumbai 01

And yes, I was in the train, reading, eating, and after I couple of hours, I saw that girl, indian looking, that was looking for something. She told she had lost her wallet. Five minutes later, she came back, more relaxed, and with the wallet. We started talking, and we did so for 8 hours!! Her name was melisa, and she was English. She had lots of relatives in India, some of them from goa, the others living in Mumbai. She was a very esay going person, and was nice to spend that time with her. After a couple of hours, her friend sarah, also English, came, a little bit worried since she thought she had lost her friend in the train. The journey was nice, and sitting with 2 girls, one of them blond, made me see the attraction that all Indian male have for them. We were most of the time surrounded by Indian, salesmen… Melisa explained me a little bit about her family. A wealthy Indian family, that had good relations with the british, and that had traveled a lot. They are staying at her uncle’s house, just 2 minutes from the taj mahal hotel, with views over the sea. Not bad!!
Once in mumbai, we arrived at the Victoria station, a astonishing building that could be a parlement or the kings palace. Gothic style, made in the british time. And, just by chance, my place, the cheapest one in Mumbai, was 5 minutes far from where they were staying, and 1 minute from the most expensive hotel. So, it wasn’t a bad location at all!! It was the salvation army, a dormitory with room of 12 to 16 beds (bunk beds). Rs 135 with breakfast included. The most expensive place I had been in India so far, but the cheapest one in Mumbai. The rest of ‘cheap’ places were at least 300 – 350Rs, obviously out of my budget! In my room, there were only Indians, even if I was told that that was the backpackers place in Mumbai. No problem. Well, yes, there was a problem. One of them was snoring… but, c’est la vie!
I slept very good, no bed bugs (I was told there were), breakfast till 8:45 am, so I had the chance to wake up early, and I met josu (36), a guy from bilbao, that was working in correos, and had been traveling a lot. The only problem about meeting people while your are traveling, is that sometimes you don’t have too much time to get to know them, and most of the conversations are exactly the same. Anyway, it’s always good to meet someone, since it’s not possible to know if that person will change your life or not!!!
After that, I went to the model agency elite, to show my stuff, and the girl that was there treated me very good, even though she was new there. She told me there was job for foreigners in town, so I was quite excited, even if I was supposed to meet the boss!
There area of the agency, is a part of colaba, south of Mumbai, and where my bed was. And it was another India that I had never seen before; there was lot of life and energy there, but lots of suits and ties, lots of business men, good cars, I was only hearing English, street slightly cleaner, skyscrapers, expensive hotels… A kind of pleasant downtown. After that I went to the embassy. I had questions about the Indian visa, Pakistan, china… and was fun to see that the consul couldn’t even speak Spanish, in the Spanish consulate… I was looking for the catalan consulate, but I couldn’t find it. Well, Mumbai is still growing!! After that, I went to the university building, a very old and elegant gothic building, with a canteen. Thalis 16 rupees!! And the chance to meet students from Mumbai. Everything was nice, the city was treating me very good, and I was feeling very comfortable. After that I startes looking for an cd/mp3 discman, and was a good excuse to start walking. Victoria station, Crawford market, and then south again towards flora fountain, and after that the world trade center, but they were closing. I got an sms from melisa inviting me to have dinner in town with her aunt and cousin, and I was lucky to have an extra t-shirt in my bag, since the place was… I first got scared when I saw all those waiters parking cars, opening doors… and then the restaurant in itself. I asked, and I was told that it was an expensive restaurant. When they came, I just saw 4 young girls, and that because the wife of david, the uncle, was only 28. Anyway, we got in, drunk a couple of bottles of beer, eat the best food I had eaten so far, and pay 700 rs each… (2 days of my budget!!!) I was happy though, I had good time there. After that, we went to a club, Wellington club, where they are members. A very british place, very elegant, a bit old fashioned, and with lots of waiters again. Let’s remember that there is more than one billion people in India, the second highest population right after china. And growing. After the club, the aunt and mekhala, melisa’s cousin, left, and we 3 went to the taj mahal, to check how insomnia was. Supposedly the coolest disco in Mumbai. 1000 Rs the entrance… it was empty, so we could go in without paying, and the place was nice, nice interior design. Something minimalistic with an Indian (geomethry) touch. We were a little bit happy (drunk), so me and melisa went to the reception of this hotel, and asked for the presidential suite, 2300$ per night. After waiting a bit, the girl told us that she was alone in reception, and we should wait till the day after to see it… that was fun!

8/4/05

19-21/mar arambol & future plans

Fast shower, just in time to take the bus to got to mapusa, and after that straight to arambol, one of the last beaches of the norther goa, and my last beach for the next few months... I met a finish and a british girls, that were also going to arambol. They are both doing one of those wonderful north/european, mosly scandinavian things, spend a year on another country, switzerland, just learning the language, and getting sponsored for it!! great, isn't it!!
It was nice because I could speak a little bit swedish, since heidi, the one from finland, was living on the swedish speaking area, western finland.
Once in arambol, one of the first person I saw was chani, the israeli girls I met in gokarna. To meet known people, is happening very often, more than I would never thought!
The place looked nice so far. It was a touristic place, that's a fact, with the bars by the beach... but there's another atmosphere, something that one can smell while being there. The bars are more discreet, made with wood and palm leaves, no sun beds on the beach, no umbrellas... though in the northern part of the beach there were concrete buildings, not too high. But here, as the beach was wider, was less annoying. People seem to be here on a chill out mood, less showing off, less appearances... more normal. Even in the shops, or in the town itself the tempo is lower.
The beach is very long, with a few fishing boats, and quite many people looking for shells, reading, walking on their hands, playing freesbee... I stay with the 2 girls on the beach for a while, but I was feeling like moving, and they just wanted to lay down and cook themselves! So I went up north, and I discovered a very nice beach, surrounded by rocks, but quite big at the same time, and facing the west. So that was great because it was the sunset time. In that beach, with very very few people, there was only one bar, so it was nice and peaceful.
The day after, I had breakfast at a bar where the waiter was from dharamsala, headquarters of the tibetan government in exile, and where the dalai lama lives. I think he spend the coldest part of the winter in bodhgaya, place where budha was enlightened under a tree. So, we spoke quite a lot about the area, about kashmir, ladack... all these places where I wanna go.

(so here I decided a kind of possible route. My indian visa expires the 7th of July, but I wanna spend the summer in the himalayas (dharamsala, manali, leh, srinagar...) doing trekings (that I've never done before) and enjoying nature. So, in order to get a new visa, I was thinking about going to pakistan at the end of April spend a month there (I think it must be an amazing place, with very few tourism, and I think that now is quite safe, since the indo-pakistanian relations are in a good moment now), and comeback to india (with a new visa, 6 more moths) in June spend a couple of weeks in punjab, with chandigarh as a capital, famous because the city was entirely designed by le corbusier, the most influent architect of the 20th century. And then, 2 or 3 months in the mountains. After that would be cool enough to go to rajastan, desert area, gujarat, and then towards varanasi, where there are suppose to be festivals in autumn or early winter. Let's see! fortunately, plans are changing every day!!!)

I spent the day thinking about possible routes, swimming walking on the beach, and when I went back to the secluded beach, I met a guy from holland, whom I had lunch with. He had been traveling a lot, and was a very pleasant company. We played chess, he destroyed me, and talked about lots of things.
The day after, I finally left towards mumbai. For the first time ever, I felt sleep before starting a trip! the good thing is that the train came late, so I took it without problems. I was very lucky. And now again, another train trip. 10 more hours in the best transport system, the best place to be with yourself or to meet people. And of course, enjoy the landscape!!! And after that, mumbai, the city I studied in the university, and one of the only indian cities I've known since I was a child. I was very excited!

3/4/05

15-18/mar moving, margao, panjim & vagator

I feel a little bit better today, my stomach respected me tonight, and this is quite good because I have to travel today, 8 or 9 hours on the train, towards margao. And the trains, are one of those perfect places to meet people, to look outside, and even inside, but as well to read. And I started a book, a present from Ok, the girl from South Korea. Travelers to tibet, and it really seems interesting,but very sad at the same time. People explain in first person their experiences in tibet after the 1978, when the chinese government opened the border to tibetans that where living abroad, and to tourists as well. And what they saw was a complete invasion of tibet by chinese people, getting better jobs, speaking mandarin, and destroying the tibetan culture, very rich before the invasion, I think at the end of the '50. The chinese destroyed lots of temples, and exploted their nature... it's sad, very sad so see how they are loosing the tibetan identity, absolutely attached to their religion... well. So the train journey was splendid, like most of the times, and some of the areas, very beautiful, specially when we were getting closer to the border with goa, a mountain area, very green. The only difference with the rest of my train journeys is that this one had lots of beetles. Ribas might be either leaving brasil or arriving to girona, after 5 or 6 months that I'm sure that have passed too fast. Let's see how everything was! Once in margao, bus to panjim, where I spent a couple of nights. Here, everything (accomodation, food, internet...)was slightly more expensive, even if it was middle season. And panjim was a nice town, with a very cute portuguese old area, with colorful houses, narrow streets, and even people speaking portuguese. I didn't dare to use my portuguese, I think because it's too rusty now! The name of the area was fontainhas, where I stayed. The day after was my little sister's birthday!!! she turned 20 years... time is flying too fast! and of course, this reminded me that I'm getting closer and closer to the '30! felicitats elisabet!!! Walking in panjim was like walking really in another country. A part from the colors of the houses, the balconies, doors... everything with lots of details. And all women (almost) dressing western style. the really looked like brazilian girls, since the have the same skin color, hair, and lots of ethnical differences. Many of them were beautiful. This feeling of being outside of india was emphasized by the presence of churches, and absence of temples or mosques (even if there were, but not as a main buildings). The portuguese were the last colonizers to leave india, I think in the '60. Lots of street names were in portuguese, names of shops, surnames of people... panjim was a pleasant city, with the atmosphere of a town. The day after I went to old goa, the religious center of the portuguese occupation, with lots of churches and cathedrals, and where all the streets were extremelly clean. Everything was white, too much for india I would say! And was there where I bought my ticket for mumbai. The truth is that I passed by all this buildings quite fast. I wasn't that interested, maybe because I'm already tired of seeing churches... but also because i wasn't feeling that good. I took a but to mapusa on the next morning, and from there to vagator, in the middle of a couple of places that I wanted to visit. The town had nothing special. No history, just tourism. Lots of hotels, lodges, restaurants, shops... and any sign of previous life before the arrival of the tourism in goa, I would say in the '50 or '60. But the worst came when I saw the beach, and then I remembered that that was goa. Lots of construction close to the beach, wooden sun beds all over the beach, small stalls selling clothes, umbrellas... and a masala of stylish english, others with milions of tatoos, but everyone ready to observe and be observed. Families, and old ravers. Everything very fashion! There were only groups of people traveling together, very few backpackers. There were also many indians, 4 of them very funny. 4 sicks, laying down on the sun beds, that were placed very close to eachother. They were very fat, with underwear, long beards and turban!! So, a part from all this fauna, one had to use the imagination to see the lasndscape behind. It was really on a second plan, sometimes even on a third... A funny thing about this place, is that no-one is using the sand to lay down, only me and 4 more... and, the water was dirty. So I decided to go to discover new beaches, full of optimism! And that was a goo decision. 15 Miunutes far from the little vagator beach, there was vagator beach, bigger, wider, cleaner, without buildings, without sun beds, and with not many people. The only houses I could see from my place were integrated to the landscape, portuguese houses, and palm trees covering them. So this beach was nice, but not as amazing as the other could once had been. No loud music, just people reading, playing freesbee, meditating... I was feeling better here. I was feeling far from the party scene in those days, and my stomach was so so still. In the area, everyone has a motor bike, the best way to move in goa, since is small enough to go from one side to the other in one day. And 40% have enfields. I must admit that this day I was too critic, and many things were irritating me. As soon of the day was finishing, and after realizing about my mood, I started being more posotive, and I liked to see that I was changing. Everything became better then. Even the night was good, I was staying with a family. They had dogs, and even pigs in the courtyard!! The day after I went to anjuna, one of the most famous party places in goa. I thought it was because of the discos and stuff, but also for the nature and beauty of the place. But once again I was a little bit disappointed. Well, maybe more than just a little bit, since I didn't even swim over there. The town is small but scattered, so it looked big. There was not a real center, at least while I was there. I guess that during the x-mas time is another story. So I saw 3 different centers; the one by the road, the paradiso (disco) area, and the beach. From the road to the beach, 3 or 4 km, packed with bars, restaurants and lots of shops, selling almost the same things. This town has not a clear plan, is quite chaotic and has been growing without any prevision. The beach is ugly and narrow, since you can not see many palm trees; you see only sun beds and umbrellas, and all the bars just next to the beach, many of them quite big for the place, and concrete made. One can only swim in certain areas, since the are a sort of black rocks, that looked volcanic. Maybe gokarna would be like this place if the access was better, and they the guest houses more comfortable. But when I was leaving, I had a more positive feeling again. This place, looks like a sort of ghost town in low season, and it has a certain grace; if you look through 'the whole', the town first shows you a memory of the very last past, from the '60, as a kind of souvenir. You can imagine how it was in the '60, with those hippies that 'discovered' goa. The glorious time of the people. These empty street might have been full on that time. Now even the salesmen sleep... and then, the place shows you another memory, previous to the western 'occupation'. Through these empty streets, you can imagine how beautiful this place was once, the glorious time of the nature.
After anjuna, I went to chapora, a fishermen town, kind of hidden behind a mountain with a fort on the top. There were a few restaurants and motorcycles, but the atmosphere was already different, more chill out. The shops here sell things for the everyday life, for the people of the area. There is only a harbour, small, but with the number enough to pollute the water. I walked from the town, kind of climbing a mountain, to the vagator beach. There was a very small beach, very cosy, with very few people. So I was quite happy to be here, and as my mood was great, and my stomach was better, I decided to go to the same beach of the first day, where I met a few people. I had dinner with a british guy, and went to sleep being aware that I had already spent enough time in goa. Maybe another time, in another situation...

2/4/05

11-14/mar hampi 03

Breakfast with the french guy, and back to the acropolis. It's good to think about what to do, it's good for writing, since it's very relaxed... and I decided to go back to hospet, to keep my blog updated. Hampi it's extremely hot today, and I'm still tired from yesterday, so the idea to remember past days, on a air/con environment, sounded very good. On my way back to hampi, I found rebecca. She moved to my guest house. We decided to go to see the sunset at a mountain. More than a mountain that was a huge monolitic stone, flat enough to be comfortable while admiring that amazing sunset. The place was near vittala temple, and was empty. And I can say that that sunset was one of the nicest I had ever seen!! The place was just too special, I had never seen nothing like that before. Like a fairytale; rivers, stone temples, greenery, palm trees, huge stones, mountains...The company was very good, fun and interesting, and the light... breathtaking; the colors were very orangish, the sky very clear. It was as my sight could see everything!! After a while, we went down and spent a few hours chatting by the river, till a police came to tell us that we were not allowed to stay there. Dinner after that, thali, of course. The day after, the 3 korean girls left, and Sun left me a very sweet note. It's amazing the details that the korean people can have. They always surprise me positively, like the 2 girls from korea I met in kolkata.After having breakfast and renting bikes, we started pedalling south, stoping every now and then, enjoying the landscape (that includes architecture), its history... that part was a little bit dryer, and it was hot. So when we found a kind of hose (esperssors), we started playing with them. I was absolutely wet, and since I was wearing new trousers, indian made, green, I looked like hulk after that. The discolour was important! I also swam in a river, and went from one side to the other. It wasn't that big, but after a couple of days someone told us that there were crocodiles, something that I don't really believe. Even if I like the idea!!! Another nice sunset, but this time from the top of a mountain, where there was a temple. This one was not as nice as the other, but was ok. And that day the dinner was at the mango tree, a very nice place west of hampi, where you had to walk betwee fields, without light, and where was possible to see insects with light. And the place in itself was very quiet and well done. Big steps, with low tables. Carpets and pillows, very little light... just a potential perfect place!! I woke the day after tired again. We had done 20 km at least the day before. I went to hospet, since my blog was not updated yet... I still write very slow, but I see this writing as a kind of job, as the possibily to have some of the memories of this trip forever. On my way back to hampi, I was told that the town was almost empty, but because of tourism people started moving here. They are 2000 now, plus tourists. So even if the town has grown up, they manage somehow to keep this old-town atmosphere. Houses are 1 or max 2 stories. I think there was only one 4 storey building, a little bit far from the 'center', very ugly. I wonder how all this will be in the future. They are using the stone of the area to build fences and any possible thing that can be build with that stone.The closest old buildings, temple-kind, have been reused. One of them is a school, and it really looked nice. There are quite many children. And the town is clean, something strange in india, even if small town are always much cleaner than cities. Even of that, there were no trash bins around, but people sweeping. This time, we saw the sunset from the hanuman temple, from the top of a mountain. One must climb more than 400 steps to get there... but it was nice. The only problem is that one of the monkeys (hanuman temple is the temple of the monkey god) bite rebecca's arm, and that means 3 rabies vaccinations... a part from that, and after chosing the perfect rock to sit on, we saw a group of 'killer bees' that passed very close to the us, and indians told us that those bees could be very dangerous, since they travel in huge groups... fortunately, nothing bad happened!! a part from the monkey business!! A bad thing, that turned into nothing, but that sometimes worried me, is that I hurted my knee by just sitting on an incomfortable position... let's see. Brekfast with the french guy, and back to the acropolis. It's good to think about what to do, it's good for writing, since it's very relaxed... and I decided to go back to hospet, to keep my blog updated. Hampi it's extremely hot today, and I'm still tired from yesterday, so the idea to remember past days, on a air/con environment, sounded very good. On my way back to hampi, I found rebecca. She moved to my guest house. We decided to go to see the sunset at a mountain. More than a mountain that was a huge monolitic stone, flat enough to be comfortable while admiring that amazing sunset. The place was near vittala temple, and was empty. And I can say that that sunset was one of the nicest I had ever seen!! The place was just too special, I had never seen nothing like that before. Like a fairytale; rivers, stone temples, greenery, palm trees, huge stones, mountains...The company was very good, fun and interesting, and the light... breathtaking; the colors were very orangish, the sky very clear. It was as my sight could see everything!! After a while, we went down and spent a few hours chatting by the river, till a police came to tell us that we were not allowed to stay there. Dinner after that, thali, of course. The day after, the 3 korean girls left, and Sun left me a very sweet note. It's amazing the details that the korean people can have. They always surprise me positively, like the 2 girls from korea I met in kolkata.After having breakfast and renting bikes, we started pedalling south, stoping every now and then, enjoying the landscape (that includes architecture), its history... that part was a little bit dryer, and it was hot. So when we found a kind of hose (esperssors), we started playing with them. I was absolutely wet, and since I was wearing new trousers, indian made, green, I looked like hulk after that. The discolour was important! I also swam in a river, and went from one side to the other. It wasn't that big, but after a couple of days someone told us that there were crocodiles, something that I don't really believe. Even if I like the idea!!! Another nice sunset, but this time from the top of a mountain, where there was a temple. This one was not as nice as the other, but was ok. And that day the dinner was at the mango tree, a very nice place west of hampi, where you had to walk betwee fields, without light, and where was possible to see insects with light. And the place in itself was very quiet and well done. Big steps, with low tables. Carpets and pillows, very little light... just a potential perfect place!! I woke the day after tired again. We had done 20 km at least the day before. I went to hospet, since my blog was not updated yet... I still write very slow, but I see this writing as a kind of job, as the possibily to have some of the memories of this trip forever. On my way back to hampi, I was told that the town was almost empty, but because of tourism people started moving here. They are 2000 now, plus tourists. So even if the town has grown up, they manage somehow to keep this old-town atmosphere. Houses are 1 or max 2 stories. I think there was only one 4 storey building, a little bit far from the 'center', very ugly. I wonder how all this will be in the future. They are using the stone of the area to build fences and any possible thing that can be build with that stone.The closest old buildings, temple-kind, have been reused. One of them is a school, and it really looked nice. There are quite many children. And the town is clean, something strange in india, even if small town are always much cleaner than cities. Even of that, there were no trash bins around, but people sweeping. This time, we saw the sunset from the hanuman temple, from the top of a mountain. One must climb more than 400 steps to get there... but it was nice. The only problem is that one of the monkeys (hanuman temple is the temple of the monkey god) bite rebecca's arm, and that means 3 rabies vaccinations... a part from that, and after chosing the perfect rock to sit on, we saw a group of 'killer bees' that passed very close to the us, and indians told us that those bees could be very dangerous, since they travel in huge groups... fortunately, nothing bad happened!! a part from the monkey business!! A bad thing, that turned into nothing, but that sometimes worried me, is that I hurted my knee by just sitting on an incomfortable position... let's see. After a couple of month being perfect (I mean my health!), I spent a bad night, stomach problems... I think I woke up 15 or 20 times!!! Fortunately I was allright during the day. I decided that I had seen enough of hampi, and that was time to go on, so I bought my train ticket (this time was possible) to margao. And as I was just a little bit weak, I took rebecca's mp3 player, and spent the day reading and listening music on a very nice and relaxed bar by the river. There I met a couple of british girls, studing aryuvedic massage in kerala. Made some writing, and eating just plain rice... very boring food, since everytihng here is so tasty, and the plain rice... well, let's forget about that! I shaved myself on the terrace, with the amazing views of the surroundings of hampi, a small mirror leaning on a broken chair, and a big bucket full of water between my legs. That afternoon we went to see a unexistent waterfall. Fortunately the place was worth going, and was good enough for chatting. After that dinner at the mango tree restaurant again, and time for 'goodbye', before going to sleep. It was great meeting her here, let's see if we stay in touch! The bad thing of traveling, is that you meet lots of people, that became close to you very fast, and that you think that you'll stay in touch forever, but then, you leave, meet new people, have the same feeling again... and then you start losing the contact, and sometimes is very sad. Anyway, the chance to meet this huge amount of people has no price!!!

1/4/05