PS

I forgot to mention on my previous post that I have feverishly been uploading photos to Photobucket, so I am now totally up to date - lots and lots of new ones to look at....

The end of the World as we know it...

After a few days of lounging about at the beach, it was time to go and visit the Southernmost tip of India - Kanukumari. For the Indians, this is a place of great pilgrimage, and for the Westerners, its a diversion - to say you have been as far South as its possible to go in this magnificent continent.

Nele and I packed an overnight bag and hopped on the local bus heading South. The bus was a rickety affair which lurched, zoomed and swerved through breathtaking Keralan and Tamil Nadu-ian scenery for 3 hours before unceremoniously dropping us off in the middle of Kanukumari.

From the moment we got to the village, we had a curious flashback of Hydrabad crossed with Calangute - a place unprepared for Western tourists (and better for it really) sporting a huge monument in the middle of the water (the Hydrabad influence) attracting lots and lots of domestic tourists who are gaily going about generating a large amount of noise and rubbish and generally having lots of fun swimming in the sea fully clothed, riding horses wildly through the crowds and drinking tea (the Calangute influence)

We spent a very hot but happy afternoon taking in the sights, and then repaired to our 50 rupee room for the night. After another brush with Indian bedbugs, mosquitios and miscellaneous biters, we decided to head "home"back to Kovalam on the early bus in the morning...ensuring we were back at the bakery for breakfast. Yep, we have become true tourist trap wussies.

The last couple of days we have been lazy once agian...but tomorrow, we are on the move again.... to the Southern hippy capital of Varkala...then onto Amma's Ashram in the Kerala backwaters! feels good to be on the move again.

Thunder and Lightening

So, when I last left you, I was sweltering away in an internet cafe in Trivandrum. I am still sweltering away, but now we have a sea breeze as well.

Nele and I spent a full day sightseeing around the city, which included visiting an amazing temple complex dedicated to the bed that Shiva reclines on. Yep. Thats interesting. (its a bed of 5 cobra's). It was a little difficult to appreciate, as tourists are not allowed in, so even with our best efforts of break and enter, we still managed only to walk the perimeter. It was a very beautiful building though (PMA Abster)

We then slogged through the markets and the shopping streets, but seeing as we are now on a stricter than strict budget (with flights to Thailand to pay for in the next month) we weren't in the buying mood. That night we decided to chicken out and go back to the coast - at least to breathe some fresh air again.

Next morning, after a brief financial tussle with the supposed "Christians" at the YWCA (that was where we were staying) we made a graceful exit to the beach. A 40 minute Rickshaw ride brought us to the famous Kerala beach resort of Kovalam.

Kovalam is famous for being the place on all the "Kerala - Gods own country" PR posters, with the soft white beach and traditional fishing methods. BUT, I had read in the guidebook that this was actually a bit of a blag, as it is terrifically overdeveloped and full of package tourists. We waited to find out the truth!

When we arrived, it did seem that the place was certainly more developed than we are used to - the whole of the beached are lined with proper Spanish style hotels and bars etc, but the magic thing is, that its (of course) out of season, so there is very very little tourists here. We spent a beautiful afternoon wandering the deserted white sand beaches swimming in the clear azure sea and talking to the fishermen with thier picture perfect Kerala fishing nets and boats. Heavenly.
We bought some fruit off an ancient old lady with betel stained teeth, and I must say (it could have been the atmosphere, but Im not sure) it was the best pineapple ive ever tasted! SO SWEET!

Both Nele and I agreed that we had really stumbled into paradise this time. The 4 beaches are all thickly lined with lush green palmtrees and the whole atmosphere of the place is truly spectacular! Of course its Indian summer holidays at the moment, so in the day there are bus loads of Indians on the beach, boys bathing in thier brown pants, rolling around on the shore with all thier male relatives, and the ladies paddling to thier waists in full sari's and squeaking every time they get splashed by thier sons/husbands etc. By night the whole atmosphere changes into a totally peaceful sanctury. On the first night, we ate fresh fish caught off the beach that morning, and watched as countless small boats went out to sea, each bedecked with one or two twinkly lights. Really beautiful. Like a dream.

Yesterday, we found a whole network of walkways behind the main drag of the seafront - which wind thier way through wild coconut tree forests and then between different hotels and shop backs - a bit like a very exotic St Ives. WOW this place rocks. We now walk this way every time, as it skips all the beachfront shops (look look, you buy? very cheap!) and gets us straight to the sea without hassle. The locals use this route to get to work, so we are also getting to know some of them already. Yesterday morning, we were wandering, and we came across a small smart hotel, which had a very inviting looking pool. We decided to ask if we could use it, and they said yes - so for 50 rupees (about 60pence) we got exclusive use of the pool for the whole day, sunloungers, soft clean towels and a personal waiter, who brought us cold drinks and ice. Wahoo!!!! The day was only slightly marred when one of the Indian employee's friends tried to kiss Nele when she walked past. Unluckily for him, he felt the full combined force of two Euro tough girls. I think he regretted it by the time we had finished with him!!

As you know, this is not the first time that Nele and I have felt our "personal space" invaded. As you know "Eve teasing" as its called in India, is very common. It seems that Indian men on holidays, seem to think its acceptable to grab/kiss/fumble European women at any given oppounity. Both Nele and I have had unsolicited bum and boob grabbings, and now we are ready! We had a minor victory the other day when we were approached by a group of Indian men in the water (remember Indian men cannot swim very well, so when im on my own, I simply keep out of thier depth, but this time we were in the shallows) They approached like the zombies in day of the dead....slowly yet purposefully! We had clocked them and were ready. One of them dived under the water and tried to grab Nele by the leg - she simply got him in a neck lock and kept him under the water till he panicked. EXCELLENT! I dont think he will try THAT again. Hahaha. Hopefully he will get the idea that Euro women demand as much respect (if not more) than our Indian counterparts.

Anyway, what was I going on about before I got all feminist....

After the Pool Debacle, we retired to a peaceful beach restaurant to watch the sunset and then the ensuing HUGE thunder and lightening storm. It had been brewing all day, and finally it broke just as we were having dinner. For over 4 hours, the sky was filled with purple and dark blue sheet lightening and electric yellow and purple fork lightening. The power kept cutting in and out, and then the RAIN! It was a classic tropical storm! SO primal and exciting. We watched the storm for an hour or two and then retired. What a day.

Jack Stuart Ross-Macdonald

Amongst my previous ramblings today, I forgot to say the most important thing ever - I am now the proudest Auntie Abster on the planet. On Friday 13th April, Mel gave birth to Lovely baby Jack after a long but productive labour.

Both Mel and Jack are now at home with Papa Olly and doing well.

Well Done guys!!

love you!

Chilled. 45 degrees and rising...

Sitting here in Trivandrum almost at the Southern most tip of India, im about to boil in my own skin. The temperature is 45 degrees centigrade, its 7pm and I am absolutely melting. Welcome to pre-monsoon South. Nele and I arrived here at 5am this morning expecting the heat, but I am still surprised how the locals here manage to continue thier daily lives without so much as batting an eyelid at this temperature. They keep laughing at us sweating our way around the sights, saying "you (tourists) shouldnt be here now! hahahah! you are so sweaty! hahahahaaaaaaaaaaa!" Yep. Lovely. SO we are off to the seaside agian tomorrow, this time to the famous Kerala resort of Kovalam. Its meant to be quite touristy, but at least there will be a sea breeze and we will be out of the city.

Anyway, since we last spoke, there has been a huge amount of tales to tell. If I remember right, I left you at Om beach on Easter Sunday.....Well.....as you know, we had all pretty much decided to go to Arambol in the North of Goa to catch the UK's "Big Chill festival" So, a few days after Easter, I decided to go ahead as an advance guard to Arambol and stake out some rooms. Also, I had decided I didnt want to stare at the place where that bloke had died for much longer - so a change was in order.

My last night in Om will be one which I will remember as the epitome of the Om experience. My friends and I gathering in the Jungle (a cafe in the outback behind the beach) to talk and play guitar etc over dinner, then a riotous few games of "killer" which was a massive obsession of us all, we played every night. A bit like wink murder but better. Then we and all the other tourists on the beach went to a huge beach fire which was meant to be the last of the season. I have I think, mentioned how darn HIPPY it all is in Om, well, this fire outdid it ALL! There were about 10 bongo's and other drums and lots of people spinning fire and lots and lots of talking bullsh*t! One of the guys with a small mohiecan from another bunch of people was doing virtuoso drumming and spouting poetry, screaming and humping the drum. I couldnt take my eyes off him! Absolutely nuts, especially by the light of the fire. Also, There were a lot of Isreali's there, who suddenly turned into Romany gypsies - playing guitar and wailing. I got a bit "British" and trollied off down the beach to look at the stars.... hahaha

Next day it was time for me to depart to Goa with one other guy to stake our claim on Arambol. Our Om beach crowd now consisted of 15 people, so we were pretty much needing a whole hotel, and what with the festy influx, I was glad I went ahead. On the recommendation of one of my possee who had been to Arambol before, I booked out the wonderfully named COCK TOWN (this is meant to be Hen House, but the Indian owners got it wrong with mirthful consequences!) guest house on the beach in Arambol. Very like the place in Om, it had beach huts overlooking the wide and beautiful beach, and had many hammocks and loungers to hang out on in the shade. I had a lovely day of peace before the crowd descended.

Arambol is the Northern most beach in Goa and has a reputation for being (another) hippy hangout. Its where all the old washed up hippies from the 60/70s have ended up. The village is full of houses covered in weird paintings and sculptures in the garden. The beach itself is hugely long and infact stretched all the way (10km) to Asvem, where the Big Chill was to take place. Its a beautiful white colour and we appreciated that Arambol beach was a lot cooler than Goakarna/Om. Nele and I had a beautiful beachfront hut which opened out straight onto the sea. Magic!

On the day I was waiting for the others to arrive, I thought Id have a few hours unfettered on the beach, catching some rays. Of course, this being India, nothing was that straightforward! I picked my spot in the centre of the beach away from all hotels and other people, and just had started to relax, when what happens? A HUGELY fat German in a tiny tiny Thong comes and sits RIGHT next to me. I mean, laid his beach mat next to mine like a double bed..... Then....he starts doing YOGA. IN A THONG.......
I resist the urge to puke, and then go into the sea. On my return, I less than subtely move my towel about 10 metres from him. He then starts talking to me about his life and his philosophies. Unsurprisingly, he is a washed up hippy who now lives in Arambol. He next offers me a tantric massage on the beach...or IN HIS ROOM....... I then decide to retreat back to the hotel, giving up on the idea of sunbathing without being bothered! Why me? I then spend the rest of the time in Arambol avoiding ROGER (yes....that was his name!!)

Once everyone arrived in the afternoon, we all re-assembled, and it felt just like Om again. We all went for a walk to the next beach, where there is a beautiful freshwater lake at the back - like Cola beach in the South. We all swam in the fresh water and then spent some funny time bathing in the mud baths at the back of the pool - which are meant to be good for the skin. Got some great pics of us all looking ghostly covered in mud.

Next day was the beginning of the Big Chill. In Abster orchestrated eagerness, we ended up getting to the festival site 2 hours early (oops!) so we had a lovely late breakfast overlooking Asvem beach, working up to the excitement of the festy. We could hear sound checks, and glimpse the site decoration from the restaurant we sat in! well exciting. When it was time, we went into the back entrance, found a friendly soundtech, who took us through the whole of the backstage to where they were getting wristbands, and we were shimmied through the VIP queue straight into the heart of the festy! Nice one. The festy was a smallish affair (compared to those I have been to in the UK and Europe) with three stage areas and one body and soul area. The organisers had obviously gone the whole hog on the decoration though - The stages were set in a palm tree woodland. The palms had been decked with huge lines of streamers and lots of colourful sheets stretched between the trees to give shade. All the decorations were flapping in the breeze, and every now and again, you could glimpse the beach through the backstage areas etc. The theme throughout the site was orange, pink and yellow - one of the stages was sun themed with huge faces suspended over the stage and bar area. The main stage had little cocopeople made out of straw, climbing all the trees, suspending streamers all over the place, and the dance stage had long parachute type streamers making a sort of Teepee style thing where the decks and sound system were. The whole place looked magical.

We set up "camp" by the main stage with large blankets and big sheets to sit on, and we all wandered around, danced and lounged wherever we wanted, but used this bit as the base. More and more people who we recognised from Om and also from Patnem and other places turned up, so in the end we had about 40 people around us who we knew. It was really really wonderful! what an atmosphere! Both days of the festy were excellent in different ways, but to me Saturday stood out for me, as I really really enjoyed the closing act on the main stage, who were called Hextatic - an audiovisual band who mixed all my favourite bands of all time together, as well as messed with the visuals like you wouldnt believe! There is nothing as wonderful as raving under the stars and coconut trees amongst 40 good friends! YAY! The dance stage carried on an hour after the main stage, so we all decamped there for the last hour - and Im very pleased to report Nele is now a Dance music convert! wahoo!!! we raved like there was no tomorrow!. Beautiful.

Sunday we did the same agian, but it was a lot more chilled. We watched strange beat poets, reggae singers, Hindi singers, the childrens parade and finally a great set from a band called Coldcut. I must confess I had one or two Gins and lay down on the blanket for most of thier set. Didnt float my boat like the day before, though it was still an amazing atmosphere.

The last couple of days have been spent chilling out with the rest of the gang. Yesterday we had to do the big goodbyes, as we all were dispersing for different parts of India - and some even were going home. Shame, I had become very attached to them as a possee. Hope Ill see some of them again sometime.

So, Nele and I are loose on the road again. Feeling a little weak because of the heat, but Great other than that!

Kissing a corpse and other stories

Well, my Indian Easter Sunday is not going to be forgotten in a hurry. This morning everything was going the usual way - got up early, went for a dip in the azure sea, played in the tumbling rolling tube waves, basked for an hour or so in the hot sun - lovely. Then gradually retreat from the beach as the Indian day trippers arrive. Its Indian summer holidays at the moment, and every day at about 10am, coachloads arrive to the beach,tip out and spend a couple of hours walking on the beach, serving huge indian style picinics, or frolicking in the sea- of course in groups of all men (in brown pants) or all ladies(in full sari's or salwar suits). Its common for the Indian people to get into trouble in the sea, as they are non swimmers, and if they get out of thier depth on such highdays and holidays, they tend to panic - so its not unusual to have a situation where a tourist assists an Indian in trouble in the water. I wasnt surprised, or even unduly worried when the shout of "Help Help" went up, and several worried Indians came into our restaurant looking for help. My friends and I went to investigate, and at first glance it seemed that there were three Indian men in out of thier depth. The furthest one had a Westerner near him already, and was the most panicked and the furthest out. The Western guy was shouting for further assistance, and frantically waving. My friends went into the water without thinking, and swam out to the first two men - who with a little help could be brought in, and another Isreali guy went to help the men far out in the water. Noone could go near him for fear of being taken down with him. At this stage it was obvious that the Indian further out was not faring well. He was panicking like hell, and eventually sank. The plucky Isreali guy dived down and dragged the unconcious man to the surface. Then, I swam out to them and helped them bring in the man. We then laid him on the sand, and it was obvious he would need CPR. About 30 Indians started grabbing him and imitating things they had seen on TV, but not knowing what they were doing. They pushed his stomach in and out and pretended to check the pulse. It was obvious something better had to be done. I shouted for someone to bring fresh water, and then made them lie him in a proper position for CPR. Then, another man came out of the crowd who knew CPR and we commenced proper artificial breathing and heart pumping. Luckily, once it was obvious we knew what we were doing, the big group of Indians and Western rubberneckers moved back and gave us some space. When we started pumping, lots of foam and water kept coming out of his mouth and nose, we were rolling him and draining his passages all the time, yet he was not really responding in any way. I got his friend to shout at him in his own language "breathe. just try to breathe, you are safe, come back to us" but not a flicker. When I was giving mouth to mouth, I kept catching glances of his open eyes - they were such a beautiful light brown colour - and so alive looking. The poor guy had CPR for over 40 minutes without showing any sign of life at all - there was a moment when I thought he was breathing of his own accord, but he wasnt. As there was no medical help for miles around, we decided to cease CPR after 50 minutes, as he was a lost cause. His friends put him on a beach mat and carried him off to the bus he arrived in. They thanked us for trying hard, and, touchingly they said - its Gods will to take him today - the Indian Karma. He was a healthy looking 24 year old man - so much potential.

After the event, I think it all hit me really hard - the after effect of shock. The rest of today I have been sleeping. My partner in CPR turned out to be a Casualty nurse from Holland - he was a cool older guy. He said I should go into nursing/emergancy care! I think you never know how you could react - im sure every time is different - I was lucky to have a clear head today.

Anyway, aside from the drama's of today, life on the beach has been just that - remember the 80's slogan - "lifes a beach". Biggest things that have happened have been two poor dead Turtles washing up on the beach, and a small whale washing up on the beach next door. Its not all doom and gloom though - a few mornings ago, I was treated with a 20 minute swim with a beautiful 2 nearly 3 metre Bottlenose Dolphin, which was swimming really near to the shore.

We have made another rash route descision - we have decided to attend the "Big Chill Goa" which is happening in a few days time - this means heading North again to Arambol in the topmost part of Goa for a few days before finally descending South to Kerala - where the temperatures will be starting to BOIL! The festival should be really great if the UK version is anything to go by. Looking forward to that.