I come back, everyone is leaving

When I came back to my home city in December I found out two good friends had already left while I was in India, with more soon to be flying away to other exciting exotic lands.

Dreaming for a day where it's 0c..

It seems everyone who grows up here leaves eventually. I'm not sure if its because all my friends are very internationally focused (AIESEC anyone?) or because the weather here is terrible. Yes, it is true, the weather in Saskatoon reached a low of -43C yesterday. I remember talking to children in southern India who didn't believe me that it can get colder than freezing (0c), oh how I wish that were true..

Another friend I've known since high-school left this week on his own adventure to Holland!  I'm quire envious and would like to wish him the best of luck, may he find whatever it is he is, or isn't, looking for.

For those of you who have been reading this blog and are now traveling, I would love it if you were willing to share your own travel blog. Feel free to email me the link or add it in the comments section.

I've been compiling a small list of questions I've been asked which I will answer in a upcoming post. If you have anything you are curious about (whether it be on India, traveling solo, on a budget, or without planning) please email me and I'll be sure to answer it! If it's a 'bigger' question I may even commit an entire post towards answering it.

Cheers,

Catchy sayings and thoughts

It's been a few weeks now since I arrived back in Canada but I can't stop thinking about India, traveling, and the people I met. I just wanted to share a couple things I heard while traveling that have stuck in my head.

During your first couple weeks in India the country will be an acronym.

..India as an acronym..

I was able to meet a variety of backpackers while in India. A good number of these people, usually the fresh arrivals, absolutely hated the country. The culture shock and different feelings for the country had caused fights between many couples and often caused others to arrange onward flights as soon as possible (for those who were doing an 'around-the-world' trip).

The key to enjoying India? 
     Lower your standards and keep an open mind!


Another saying I heard from someone in the group I traveled with for just over a month is still one of my favorites. He told me "It takes a brave man to fart in India". At first I didn't understand what he meant. Was it culturally insensitive to fart here? How could that be when there is, burning, garbage everywhere with people defecating in the middle of the street?

It took a while but I figured out what he meant.. Diarrhea! Oh yes, the famous 'delhi belly' that attacks so many travelers. The saying "It takes a brave man to fart in India" is a reminder that you don't always know if that fart is actually a fart.. I have seen the face of a man who thought he had a fart but got more than he was expecting. It was a look of fright, worry, and slight disgust. In Canada we call this little surprise the 'Shart'.

So remember this every time you want fart in India... 'Is it really worth the risk'?

You've got mail!

I received a notice in my mail yesterday that a parcel had arrived. I thought it may be the one I sent home just over a month ago but didn't want to get my hopes up.

I went to the post office this afternoon and after searching around for a couple minutes they presented me with a dirty and beaten parcel from Neyyerdam Thiruvananthapuram, India! When I picked it up with my hands I could tell that there was no structure left to the parcel as it had a long and rough trip across the ocean. The only thing holding to together was the, originally, white cloth sewn around it. Eager to see what made it back home in reasonable condition I raced home to open what could be considered my Christmas present to myself as I had forgotten what I packed inside almost two months earlier.


The contents:

• My custom made-to-fit yoga pants (x2)
• Some white women's yoga pants (there was lack of guys & therefor guy clothing at the ashram)
• Hand panted t-shirts
• Shirts from the ashram
• Tons of book (religion, meditation, yoga, and various other topics)
• CDs (yoga and meditation)
• Chakra poster
• Ties, cufflinks, and handkerchiefs (I knew I'd have to 'suit up' again eventually)
• A gift for someone
• Various other things I bought for no apparent reason

Out of the entire package there was only one thing that I bought for someone else, but I suppose I have the right to be greedy with space when shipping costs so much!

Still alive!

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates over the past little while. I left the ashram a few days ago but things have gotten hectect as I was, and still am, trying to straighten things out for the rest of my trip.

I am taking a train tonight that will put me right around the middle of India tomorrow if everything goes according to plan. It's an overnight train so I will be writing a few posts to recape the ashram experiance and everything that has happened since then. You can look forward to some new posts starting tomorrow!

I have lots of writing to do so I'm off.

Cheers!

It's the little things: Coconuts

Remember me writing about my fear of falling coconuts? Well this is the not-so-little guy that fell and hit me on the back, leaving a huge bruise for about a week. Scary thing is it was only a couple inches away from falling on my head; I don’t even want to think about what that would have felt like!

This is an scheduled posting which means I'm still at the Ashram with no internet access. - Simon

It's the little things: Beach Huts

When I arrived in Goa it was still the low season as the monsoon was just ending. There was still a good selection of available accommodation but that changes quite dramatically during December-January when the high season peaks and not only do foreign tourists fill the beaches but so do travelers coming from all over India.

To accommodate the huge surge in visitors, and demand for accommodation, almost all the guest house/hostels near the beaches construct ‘beach huts’ which they keep up until the season is over then dismantle and store them away until the next year. In the picture above you can see some set up in the very right part of the picture, when we were leaving our hostel was also well into setting theirs up as well (you can see the bases for the huts in the very left-hand side of the picture).

This is an scheduled posting which means I'm still at the Ashram with no internet access. - Simon

It's the little things: Daily Life in Goa

‘Family friendly’ version of our daily schedule in Goa: Wake-up, eat breakfast, drink Tuborg, eat lunch, dink more Tuborg, eat fresh fruit on the beach from the dancing/singing man, have another Tuborg while playing frisbee, watch the sunset, each supper, drink more Tuborg, go to sleep and repeat the next day. The perfect life.

This is an scheduled posting which means I'm still at the Ashram with no internet access. - Simon

It's the little things: Pictures Lost

I’ve had my camera physically taken away by men armed with guns four or five times now for taking pictures in places I either shouldn’t be or that they don’t want pictures of. I’ve lost a good number of pictures from this, my favourite being of a military sign in their naval/gunnery training base which had their motto:

 “Hit First, Hit Hard, Keep Hitting”

This is an scheduled posting which means I'm still at the Ashram with no internet access. - Simon

It's the little things: Rubbish Bins!

The first garbage/rubbish bins I’ve seen in India! These little guys line the port and beaches in Fort Kochi, unfortunately people don’t know what they are for as there are piles of rubbish beside them while they remain empty. I was happy to use one for the first time in India.

This is an scheduled posting which means I'm still at the Ashram with no internet access. - Simon

It's the little things: Contrast

Contrast is everywhere in India. I was wondering away from the touristy part of Kochin when I came across this amazingly built, and clean, house in a neighborhood where almost all of the other buildings are falling apart or deserted with people sleeping out on the streets.

This is an scheduled posting which means I'm still at the Ashram with no internet access. - Simon

It's the little things: Safety

All those drums are full of oil. Ya, that looks safe. What could go wrong?

This is an scheduled posting which means I'm still at the Ashram with no internet access. - Simon

It’s the little things: Football

Me with some fellow football fans I met. I was walking back to my hostel in Fort Kochi when they saw my Manchester United jersey and invited me to join their football game. They told me they didn’t think Canadians could play football; that is until my team cleaned house! haha

This is an scheduled posting which means I'm still at the Ashram with no internet access. - Simon

It’s the little things: Breakfast

Every day; waking up and eating breakfast with friends while looking out on to the ocean: 

 A month well spent.

This is an scheduled posting which means I'm still at the Ashram with no internet access. - Simon

Lonely Road

Traveling alone is a funny thing. I’ve never been surrounded by and met so many interesting people everyday yet still missed someone so much. Before I left for India a few of my friends told me this would happen. 

One of the things I’m looking most forward to about coming home is seeing her.

The little things

Even though it's only been a short time here I'm starting to forget how things are back home. I haven’t had a hot shower in over a month now, or drank water from a tap. No one speaks the same type of English as I do; I’m starting to pick up accents depending on who I’m around at the time.

Garbage, where are the garbage bins? I still hate littering the streets of India with my garbage but I rarely (read never) have any other choice.  Recycling bins? I wish. I don’t think India has any sort of recycling program.  The guest house we stayed at in Palolem (Goa) used our Tuborg beer bottles to create walls around the plants as they had nowhere else to put the bottles.

After staying in a new room every night everywhere I go I’m starting to forget what mine looks like back home. I’ve gotten use to the Indian way of driving; hopefully I don’t continue to drive like that back home though as it won’t go over well. What do you mean I can’t just urinate everywhere and pay off police officers for any sort of offence? I remember when a police officer tried to pull me over in Fort Kochi and I just waved back and speed up on my motorbike, acting as if I thought we was just waving to me. I wonder if bargaining will work back home? And to what degree before people just get offended?

It will be interesting to see how I’ve changed once I get home and all the little things, even if I hate them now, that I will miss about India.


This is an scheduled posting which means I'm still at the Ashram with no internet access. - Simon

Banoffee Pie?

One of my favourite memories of Varkala is the night me and Ceri (from England) went on search of Banoffee pie. Before leaving Canada I had never had, or ever heard of, Banoffee pie. If it wasn’t for the two travelers I met, Helen and Ceri, I would have never fallen in love with this English dessert. (I’ll give a link to a pie wiki here as I don’t know how to fully explain it other than it’s an amazing dish that has a shortbread type base with cream on top, usually surrounded by bananas.)

A few of us had been eating the pie practically every day while in Palolem (Goa) and were happy to find it on a number of menus in Varkala. Only problem was no one seemed to have them in stock. Ceri and I were craving the pie after supper one night so we took off on a quest to find it. We looked for what seemed like hours, asking every restaurant and person we could find.

In the end we didn’t actually find any but the fact that everyone remembered us as the people who just want Banoffee pie, and bugged us about it every time we walked by any of the restaurants or shops in the following days .

This is an scheduled posting which means I'm still at the Ashram with no internet access. - Simon

Ashram: Day 1

Today is my first full day at the Ashram. The schedule is rather strict and I can only imagine how tiring it will be both mentally and physically. It doesn’t help that we will only be served two veg meals a day, which are lacking in both portion and taste from what I’ve heard.  On a more positive note, I’m looking forward to experiencing life at an Ashram and saving money while I’m here (it’s only costing 500rs or $11 per day for all my classes, food, and accommodation).

My daily schedule:

0520 hrs	WAKE UP BELL
0600 hrs	SATSANG (Meditation/Chanting)
0730 hrs	TEA TIME
0800 hrs	ASANA CLASS (Hatha Yoga Class)
1000 hrs	BRUNCH
1100 hrs	KARMA YOGA (Selfless Work)
1230 hrs	COACHING CLASS (optional)
1330 hrs	TEA TIME
1400 hrs	LECTURE (On the philosophy of yoga)
1600 hrs	ASANA CLASS (Hatha Yoga Class)
1800 hrs	DINNER
2000 hrs	SATSANG (Meditation/Chanting)
2200 hrs	LIGHTS OUT

This is an scheduled posting which means I'm still at the Ashram with no internet access. - Simon

Halfway mark

Today marks the halfway point in my trip. I can’t believe it’s already been 45 days traveling around India.

I’ve met so many fascinating people on this trip, both from India and travelers from across the world. There was a group of nine of us who met in Goa that I will never forget. We ate, slept, drank, and traveled together for a month in south India.

To those who I’ve met in Mumbai, traveled with to Goa, met in Anjuna, sailed with through the backwaters of Kerala and to those who I will meet in the upcoming days/months cheers and thank you for all the memories past, present, and future.

-  Simon

Killer Coconuts (Random missed post)

I have developed a new fear, one greater than my previous fear of hammoks, a fear of coconuts!

Someone once told me coconuts kill more people every year than sharks do. I have seen coconuts fall from high up in the trees a fair number of times over the past couple weeks. I had a close call in Palolem when a small coconut, about the size of a baseball, fell a couple feet from where I was sitting. They are so far up that by the time they reach the ground the combination of their size and velocity makes quite the impact, sometimes enough to kill someone if hit in the head.

I called home for the first time this morning, other then sorting out my insulin pump. I was talking to my parents on speaker phone when all the sudden, BANG! My back went numb for a minute, it took me a couple seconds to realize what happened. It was a coconut, the worlds most dangerous fruit.

The coconut that struck me is currently sitting in our room. I am planning my revenge, I will soon break it open and turn it into a pina colada.

Departures: current and future

Sea-side view, a little walk from my bamboo hut

After eating a hearty breakfast at the Little Tibet restaurant I called the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari Ashram, the name is quite a mouthful, to check if they had received my email  and had any spots available for their courses starting on the first of November. The person who answered the phone spoke barley enough English to let me know that I could just show up on the 31st of October if I was content with living in the dormitories.

Helen and Ceri, the two British girls who I've been traveling with for a month now, are headed north to Chenni later today. They are working their way up to Mount Everest in Nepal. Before coming to India my plan was actually to do the same, but my visa got messed up and I received a single entry instead of a multiple entry, that means if I were to leave India I won't be allowed back in. I'm almost tempted to go to Nepal then work my way down through Thailand to Malaysia. It would be an expensive change in plans as the fees for changing my flights are ridiculous, but it still isn't completely out of the question.

For now, I'm spending tonight in Varkala then heading to the local train-station tomorrow morning without any tickets or set destination. The plan is to arrive with my bags packed and buy whichever ticket is available for a random city in Kerala, I'll figure out the details on the train-ride to the destination.

I'm back to solo travel for a bit which will take some getting use to. The random travelers I have met along the way in India have been great, especially the group from Evershine Guest House in Anjuna (you know who you are) who I traveled with for over a month.