An Indulgence in India 8th Feb 2018

Goa competes on the international circuit for the British midwinter sun seekers. It particularly attracts the long stayers from the 60+ generation. Hardly surprising with beer less than a pound a pint and cheap dope freely available, so I am told. A decent meal in a restaurant can be had for £2-50 and accommodation starts at £5 a night. Our rooming was more like £35 a night but was a well appointed, bricks and mortar as opposed to bamboo and thatch.
This is our place. Through the glazed doors lies our seating area, which in turn gives on to the jungliod walk towards the beach.

This is the main activity here. Palolem has one of the cleanest, safest and most attractive beaches in all of Goa.

Here you can see the south facing beach and the sunsets down behind the little peninsula as is witnessed in a later picture.

The beach is serviced by a string of beach restaurants which also have a few rooms for let like the two above Fernandes. The sunbeds and parasols are free but you use their bar for your food and drinks through the day. Fernandes was our daytime bar of choice.

Some more views of our pad. Here the view is towards the shower and toilet room.

This is what I described as the jungle earlier on. The plants are all potted and are watered daily by Sanjay,who was our very helpful host.

The patio/seating area outside the room. You can see some of the facilities, namely air con, flat screen TV, wardrobe and fridge. Unusually for India we also had tea and coffee making facilities.

There were five apartments altogether and as ours was at this end we had plenty of privacy.

Goa does make a more significant effort than most of India to keep its land tidier and relatively clean. It is clearly one of India's richer States, presumably from the tourist dollar, judging by the infrastructure. Goa has a very swish new airport, and an excellent north south highway with a parallel motorway under construction. The railway connection was only finished in the late 1990s. These ladies are paid to clean the beach every day. Clean beaches tend to be respected and stay cleaner.

If you read the blog which covered the desert festival in Jaisalmer you might remember the couple called Holly and Andy. They recommended a restaurant at Agonda Beach called Kopi Dev which is run by a couple of expat Italians. Well thanks Holly you were quite right and we enjoyed it immensely. Here you can see the place with Helen and the owner.

As a rest from sunbathing we decided to go on a boat trip. It featured the chance of dolphin watching followed by the opportunity to visit a couple of beaches only accessible by boat. The boats were owned by the local fishermen who ran the trips to supplement their income. The boats were pretty well all the same, carvel built with starboard outriggers and powered with a small outboard motor. They were beached well above high tide level so launching required an interesting routine.

First of all hardwood shaped planks were lined up with the keel. These were lubricated with cashew nut oil and a few locals would push backwards whilst singing a little chant. Maybe this was a prayer for safety on the sea.

Meet the skipper.

This is what we were hoping to see. They weren't exactly leaping out of the ocean but if they were the Arabian Sea Nonleaping Dolphins, this is precisely what you would expect. If you expand the picture I think you can confirm that they are either the Mainlyunderthewater variety or the aforementioned Nonleapers.

After about three quarters of an hour at sea the crewman suddenly decided to give us lifejackets. We soon discovered why as a police patrol vessel hailed us to stop. It transpired that it was a check to see that we had the requisite license and insurance and entailed a phone call to the owners. I didn't see any money change hands.

This is Honeymoon Beach complete with its decoration. The tins and bottles were all empties but the bizarre rocks were the real thing.

Another view of the rock formations along with one of the bizarre natives who looks like he's been dreaming of cheese.

Our next trip was up river to look at the local wildlife,or more specifically bird life. This is a Red Whiskered Bulbul.

As we were poled up river by Mr Big we got some good shots of the local raptors. This was described to us as the White Chested Sea eagle which I think is a local name and is more properly called a Brahminy Kite. The other much darker raptor is the Black Kite.

The birds are gathering, it is not long before sundown so I thought that they were roosting. They, however know better and supper is about to arrive.

A Black Kite striking for the food that was thrown into the water as a lure. I think these guys were ready and waiting for their easy meal.

Now you can see the real feeding frenzy that follows Mr Big throwing dead fish scraps onto the surface of the river.

The Brahminy Kite striking for the food on the surface.

An Indian Cormorant.

The Heron is in perfect focus but the camera was a little out.

Just where the river meets the sea is the Earth Village. This is very Goa. Let me throw a few words at you to paint a sort of mood picture of the place. Yoga, zen, tie dye, pot, ayurvedic massage, wind chimes, hairy, alternative, New Age. I'm sure you can see the picture.

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There is a local fishing industry and this very smartly dressed young lady is doing her bit. These fish have been caught in the fresh water of the river and subsequently dried in the sun on the flat rock.

On our walk back after the river trip, the sun was setting and giving us this wonderful multicoloured vista.

There exists a healthy programme of various self and public improvement initiatives. We encountered this self explanatory activity involving local young people. The placards are well worth a read and are further examples of the Indian panache for and love of doggerel.

A very worthy sentiment in a country that reversed its laws on homosexual relationships. In 2009 homosexuality was made legal only for it ruled to be unlawful in 2013.

Apart from the very sound advice, you can see that other lifesaver in the background. It's the lookout post for the beach lifeguard!

Finally a blackfaced monkey who looks like he has something other on his mind than the tourists.

These are my final observations on and descriptions of our travels in India. Now we just have a one and a half hour taxi ride, a two and a half hour internal flight followed by a nine hour international flight home. Next series of blogs probably May/June to Greek mainland and islands. How about Greek Gambols?

An Indulgence in India 2nd Feb 2018

It's a long and winding road from Jaisalmer to Indira Gandhi international airport at Delhi. We decided to break the journey down into three sections. The first and longest would be Jaisalmer to Bikaner. Bikaner itself has some features of interest and would under normal circumstances justified some time but after eight hours in the saddle, well back seat to be more accurate, all we were looking for was somewhere comfortable to lay our heads.
The journey is 328kms which you would think is four hours easy, but no you figure without Indian road improvements. When we rebuild a road in the UK we tend to do a bit, finish it, do a bit more etcetera. Not the plan in India. Here you dig the lot up then, slowly slowly lay a toppey for the entire length. So with an average speed of 40 km/hr or 25mph it was a long day.
Sadly I have no pictures of our overnighter at Bikaner but I must give the owners Gaytri and Rishabdev Singh due credit. They had two enterprises on the premises. Udai Niwas was a very well appointed homestay whilst Café Indra as well as being a delicious café was also a sort of combined storytelling/study/playcentre. The sort of place you wish your library would be when we could afford them. I'm sure you can find them on TripAdvisor or the Lonely Planet. If all fails try+91-151-2223447. Before we leave Bikaner can I wave to our Italian beekeeping friends who run Soleterra an organic honey farm and due to bee committments can only holiday in January.
The next day's drive was only four hours, on similar road surfaces except that the last 20kms were worse. We left Bikaner at 10am and arrived in Manhawa at 3pm having stopped for lunch for an hour. There were other obstacles that delayed our progress. This vehicle is carrying animal fodder, most of these were camel hauled.

I selected Mandawa quite carefully and because I particularly wanted to stay in this Hotel. The next picture shows the sign board outside the place. It gives you the flavour of the "non hotel". First of all I am still not sure what a non hotel is, secondly the date is wrong by about 2000 years. Still, no hurry, no worry!

Let me tell you something of the story of Mandawa and district. In the C18 and C19 shrewd merchants left this area to trade in the new commercial hubs of Bombay and Calcutta. They lived very frugally but prospered and sent the bulk of their fortunes home to build grand Havelis. This was partly to show others now well they were doing and partly to compensate their families for their absence. The competition for grander and grander edifices grew.
The painters, originally potters were also recruited from other parts of the country leading to a fusion of styles. The oldest show the floral arabesques and geometric patterns of the Islamic Mughals. Later the Rajput influence was visible in the Hindu mythology, especially that of Krishna. But it is the last influence, that of the British Raj showing C19 and C20 technology that is the most interesting and amusing to us today.
This is the entrance to the bedroom courtyard part of our hotel. The photo is taken from the first part of it reception is to the right and the café garden is on the left.

I was advised by the Lonely Planet to book a decent bedroom as some are rather small. I booked a deluxe double,which in Indian terms means middle of the road. We got given the honeymoon suite,which I think you will agree is impressive. This proved to be the high point of the stay along with the fact that I was loaned a WiFi hotspot to speed up my service.

Some of the naive and more recent additions to the decorations. This effort must be post Indian Freedom. It's a jet!

This picture of a train deserves closer attention. It is full of little mysteries. The engine driver appears to be ahead of the smoke stack. Each carriage is clearly different. Is that a louche lady in the last one? What's going on in the one with all the blinds down? Combine that with the Picassoeque take on the distorted perspective, and your could write a book about it.

Inside the courtyard around which the bedrooms are arranged. The restaurant was to the right above where you saw the reception. Unfortunately the standard of the food did not in anyway match that of the décor. Furthermore as we were leaving at 7-00am promptly we requested a 6-30 breakfast. Nobody rolled up to the kitchen until 6-45. This place could be a wonderful hotel but does require some firm management. I suspect that only one other room was occupied the night we stayed there.

We had a guided tour around the village and either looked into or at several other old buildings, most of which were now hotels. The overall theme below was Hindu.

Another train picture for you. This one I think is a lot older, note the double banked engines.

These were the doormen to the nearby Castle Hotel. Some people will do anything for a quick Rupee.

We left on time with a couple of boiled eggs and an apology in our pockets. We made the six hour drive to the airport without incident so the next blog will come to you from where India dresses up to meet the foreign tourists, or where India meets the Caribbean. I am speaking of course of Goa.

An Indulgence in India 31st Jan 2018

By happy coincidence we discovered that our visit to Jaisalmer is taking place at the same time as the famous Desert Festival. It boasts such attractions as camel polo, best decorated camel competition and by way of variety, tugs of war, wrestling, air force drill team and things we didn't understand but probably involved getting your opponent's face in the sand. Here is the Border Security Forces camel polo team in their pre-match line up. They were playing against the Camel Polo Association Team. This is the only place in the world where camel polo is played, so feast your eyes on the action shots because you will probably never see it again.

I don't suppose there are many other best dressed camel competitions in the world either,so here's another one to savour.

Now you can meet the winner of the decorated camel competition.l suspect that his garb and demeanor was a contributing factor as well. He was certainly in demand for selfies.

I snuck into the press photographers area to get these action pictures of the polo and it was great until I was rumbled and sent packing.

They played two chuckas and the white team (camel polo association, remember) won 2-0. I hope the Border Security Forces can improve their defence.

The mallets are 6 foot 6inches long, add to that about a yard of arm and it is a wonder that they ever hit the ball.

Camels always seem to me to give the appearance of arrogance,but maybe in this case with good reason.

We found seats under this canopy which had various reserved areas. We qualified for the foreigners section. Look more closely and you can see a really great example of Indian hyperbole. Very Important Persons is usually sufficient distinction to segregate the elite but here in India they always have to take it that one step further hence we have the VVIP section right at the front, centre of the stand.

As you can see there's a good crowd both under the canopy and standing around the perimeter. Let me tell you a little more about the tugs of war competitions. Both were locals verses the foreigners and there was a man's pull and a lady's pull. I've no idea how the locals were recruited, but the foreigners were just volunteers out the crowd. The men pulled just before we arrived so I can't tell you about it however the foreign women prevailed 2 pulls to nil. They were all later presented with generously large cups. Heaven knows how they were going to get them home. The Air Force drill team were entertaining in a dangerous kind of way. Each carried a shiny chromed rifle complete with a 12 inch fitted bayonet. These they blithely chucked one to another. At one point the rifles were thrown backwards overhead, spinning to the man behind who had to catch the thing but avoid being cut to ribbons by the knife edge. I am still not sure how the last man coped. Before they started it was announced that their motto is "Brill to Drill" In retrospect that might have been "Thrill to Drill". It's not easy to tell with an Indian accent. Nonetheless typical of that doggerel that the Indians love. By the way my favourite is "no hurry no worry".

Whilst we were watching the Festival we got talking to a couple called Andy and Holly. They were bravely doing their own thing for the first time in India. They had lately come up from Goa, specifically Palolem to whence we were heading. They were able to give us some good tips. If you ever read this, thanks.