Still waiting in Palolem.......Yes i know

5/12/11 to 20/12/11

   Well I'm getting bored but I'm still in Palolem, my letter has not arrived yet. I don't like giving plans too much because they seem to change quicker than I can tell people about them lol. But i will most likely head over to Hampi in a day or two, then come back about Xmas.

   OK what have I done, well all the usual sleep, eat, drink, swim, walk, ride. Did go out to the tree lookouts in one of the wildlife Sanctuary with an English couple.

  Yes that is me riding on ahead

 The native creatures coming to the river to drink, lol.

 Anybody can make a Tandoori oven

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Some of the wildlife at the tree top lookout, there where lots of tiny little birds as well.

I spotted a new follower the other day and if Ali Belly is who i think it is, he will remember giving me this shirt way back in Vietnam.

  Mmm that really isn't much for 2 weeks of blog is it.. well as that is the case I will put in something a bit more personal. 

  Thank you very much Mum and Dad for making me the sort of person who is willing and able to archive all that I have in my short 41 years. The fact that I started paid work at 10 years old has made a big difference, I think. I have heard people say many times through out Asia how terrible it is that the kids are working, I disagree, more kids in the west should be working and from younger ages. What I think is terrible, is the fact that those kids are supporting the family with what they earn, I was able to spend what I earned on me, not staying alive.

   Way back when I was little Mum gave me a book “You can do it”, which was a self help book that I remember nothing of except the title, and I have been doing it for a long time now. This book is probably part of the reason I have been willing to change career path every few years, go to Uni for almost 6 years, and travel as much as I have, so far, even though that is actually bugger all. So thank you so much for helping to make me what I am today Mum and Dad, I love you both and look forward to catching up with you somewhere in the world during this trip.

  Enjoy your life

Back in Palolem Beach lol

25/11/11 to 3/12/11

   Well have managed to change the front wheel, disc, pads, tyre and the bike is much better for it all of that cost about the same as a front tyre in Australia. Have also had the pocket on my bag fixed, otherwise a bit of riding a lot of relaxing.

 The day the Goan police told me to take the India flag off, it just doesn't look right anymore.

   Have also had problems with the INP as the Australian post has lost it somewhere between north Melbourne and Brunswick, also north Melbourne lol, and here was I worried the India side would be the problem. Of course the day after my INP expired I got stopped by police here in Palolem and asked for licence, fortunately they accepted my Australian licence. So have to send off the forms again and pay again, this time also using registered mail.

   This means of course that I am stuck in Palolem for another week or so, bugger it will be hard but then sometimes we have to suffer to complete our dreams.

 yes i haven't done enough sunset shoots yet

For those that say there is no recycle point in India, this one is out by a fort near a little village, oh and it was empty lol.

The fort did have a lovely view tho.

4/12/11

   Well well well it is my first anniversary today, yes one year since I arrived in Ho Chi Min city. There are plenty of wonderful memories, hanging out at Hung Vy's with the teachers, and of course getting my Open water dive certificate. Then one of my favourites In Rach Gia back on the mainland I arrived at a clam restaurant just as a group made a table available, the only one on both sides of the road. After a lovely feed a family of 4 arrived on a scooter so I gave up my table for them and went and sat on the far side of the road next to the main restaurant and played boo with a little 3 year old well having a beer. After a while a waitress came over and said that the family I gave the table too wanted me to join them, which I did. No one at the table was able to speak English, except me of course, and no one at the table could speak Vietnamese, except the family. But we did manage to have a few beers, the father and myself. After the family left I decided to head over to the fair on the other side of the river, but when I asked for my bill I discovered that the family had paid it for me.

   New years in Ho Chi Min was also very enjoyable, followed by the sad loss of my first silver fern flag. Mmm Then of course my first experience of true hills in Vietnam on the way to Dalat, and the next day chasing a local down a hill road, loved it. Ohh then of course the water slides in Nga Trang hehe I loved them, and a dive there, but the visibility was a bit poor. Further up the coast I Meet the Fin who was riding toward Hoi An. Arriving in Cambodia was very exciting for me, even got given a Cambodian flag from one of the boarder guards.

   And then when I made it over to the Mekong river at Strung Trend,visiting the 100 Pillar Temple will always stay with me, opening the book to the page about Lumbeni. Getting lost down on the way from Kratie to Kampon Cham ending up at a dead end in a bush, then riding in a little village where everyone stopped and stared, none waving, none saying hello hello. Eventually making it out to the the main road again. And of course then there was Angkor Wat, a must see for everyone, and loving riding around the main temple complex most days with my feet up going oohhhh Ruin, oohhhh another ruin.

   Diving down in the south was great, great visibility at the far island, but mostly little things to look at. Mmmmm and the yummy pepper in Kampot, swimming the river out at Utopia, naming My Suzuki GN125 Gracie.

   The roads in Ko Chang were definitely fun, although finding out that I wouldn't be able to go to Malaysia because of the flooding in south Thailand wasn't as much fun. And catching up with William, and getting snobbed by the Harley guy who refused to work on my bike, having bike issues but getting to meet the custom bike guys on the side of the road part way to Chang Mai was awesome, of cause the fix didn't last and had to train the bike into Chang Mai. Sangkran was great, days of throwing water at each other, although copping a bucket of water in the chest at 60k can hurt.

   The boat trip down to Laung Probung was great, although wasn't happy to have seen so little of Laos, did have a ball tho with the engagement party, and walking the river to town. And riding down rivers, getting taken across rivers in narrow little boats, was all lots of fun as well. Up in the north of Vietnam I found Sapper to be a bit cold but still lovely area and Ha Long Bay was wonderful.

   With not being able to go to China a holiday in Malaysia and Indonesia was very enjoyable sitting on TiamonBukit Luwang and the Orangutan's, Palau Weh were the diving was beautiful. Yes I know I didn't do much riding in either country but I did ride in both.

  Sri Lanka had some lovely places as well, Pasicuda bay and meeting the man called father there. The mountain roads up to Kandy where also very enjoyable. Ohh then of course there is the Movies in Chennai heheehe playing an US soldier, well failing to as I was not good enough at dieing. Although I should be in the other movie which I don't know the name of lol. Mildura's temples where also a treat loved sitting on the roof of the hotel as the sun went down watching the storms roll in, with lovely lightning shows, and the music from the temple playing.

Watching the sunset down the very bottom of India, and having my first major photo shoot for about 20min with almost every person on the tower. My first major break from India in India was Varkala beach which was awesome especially as I got to watch us beat the Aussies and then the French to take the Rugby World Cup, nice one AB's. This was another brilliant place for watching evening storms. Doing ferry trips out and walking back in Allepucha was also a great way to spend my birthday. Oh and those mountain roads through to Combitore, Ooty, Mysore and back down to the coast were brilliant.

The Royal Enfield Rider Mania was also fun, Goa as a whole is one of those have a break from India well in India places, and I have been Enjoying it. I have named my India bike Mule, from the wandering Star song in the movie Paint your wagon, Wheel are for turning and Mules are for packing. I am looking forward to heading on tho, and apparently the INP has arrived in Aussie so may have it soon ish.

  Well it has been fun spending the day writing this and thinking back on all the stuff i have done so far.

     Enjoy your life

I've put this photo in again because i told some people it said Avoid aids......... Blow Horn, but I'm wrong.

In Vagator Heading back South Goa

15/11/11 to 17/11/11

  Sat on the beach, went for rides, watch TV/movies, ordered some parts for the bike, got the bike cleaned and oil change, slept, all the usual things well waiting for my International Driving Permit.

  I also went to my first silent disco while here, you get given a set of wireless head phones which have 2 channels. They had 2 DJ's one playing 70's, 80's, rock etc, and one playing Techno. This can obviously make for some interesting dancing when a couple are listening to 2 different types of music. It also solves the noise issue, so the place can stay open much later, and if you want to talk to someone you just take the headphones off and talk normally, loved it.

I think this is the 90th Hotel I've stayed at but hard to be sure now lol

18/11/11

  Rode out for Vagator in North Goa for the Royal Enfield Rider Mania. Nice little ride but the main road is very full so will head back down on more back roads. Meet up with JP in Vagator and registered for the 3 day event, this includes 2 stubbies for R30 for the whole event, so $0.60US nice, oh and a tee shirt all for R600.

  A reasonable number of people here and the first Indian I have seen with full armoured clothing, by the end of the 3 days I had seen a few with full kit, but most just had jacket, boots and Knee pads.  They had a figure eight race on the first day, 4 men 1 bike ride around 2 trees in figure 8. They also had a slow race, and bands later in the night. The custom bikes where out on display all three days.

One of my favourites from the show and he wasn't allowed back in on the second day as he left to early on the first night.... mmm.

Just some of the bikes,  i like the off roader.

19/11/11

  It took a while for them to get going but the had the dirt track race for each class which was funny to watch, and surprising how good some of the Indians are at off road, I suppose they should be use to it but I haven't been down many fully dirt roads yet. Then they had the Freestyle which was very narrow and almost no one made it, none made it without penalty.  Also was a bike carry where 4 man team carries the bike over the line. Then of course more drinking and music

yes the dirt track was fun

20/11/11

  Last day and they had Assembly wars, where you take the wheels off, clutch and accelerator cable, and not sure what else run to a judge to make sure they are the right bits then back to the bike and put it back together and ride it over the finish line.

  The ride around the area, I sat behind the ambulance as there was only Enfields in the group when they started riding. And of course AFTER the ride was the drinking comp and the arm wrestling, I tried to enter the drinking comp many times and they always made some excuse, I guess they didn't want to loss to a westerner as there where only Indians entered.

 The sound of all those Enfield taking off was great.

  Then to finish the night lots more drinking and music lol, and it took till the very end of the night for the inevitable to happen, final got hassled for not riding an Enfield, I thought it would be an Indian earlier on some had mentioned it but when i explained that I wanted a more reliable bike they all sort of understood. Not quite the same with the westerner who actually got insistent that it should only be done on an Enfield. Sorry mate I'm not that sort of biker I will ride anything and I will be happy, bike snobbing is for the Harley people.

The winner of the Custom, apparently he paid to get the bike in so he was always going to be the winner.

21/11/11 to 23/11/11

  Decided to stay in Vagator for a few more days, do some day rides to other beaches check out the local beaches, and wait for news of my IDP... Post cards are in NZ so it must be there hope it comes soon. Also I don't think the parts I have ordered in Margao have arrived yet so no rush to head south again just yet.

 Well off tomorrow toward Palolem again  as i want to get closer to Margao, although will probably stop somewhere on the way.
    Enjoy your life
 

In Goa now Palolem Beach

5/11/11

   Rode out for Mysore leaving a little late as it's only a little over 100km, so nice short day. Although it took a while to find a hotel, which meant I did not find anywhere to get passport photos, I used the last of mine to get the Sim card in Chennai.

The country that makes you go Huh strikes again, I have to admit tho when got to the other side of a bridge that was around the corner I found another one, so in this case it is warning lines. Unlike the identical ones 2 km up the road which were pedestrian crossing.

6/11/11

   Wandered around town for the day looking for a place to get photos, I eventually meet a English Buddhist monk where told me where I could get it done, minimum of 15 which should mean enough to last until Norway depending on which countries in that area need visas. I've sent everything off for the new International Driving Permit so should be at yours within 2 week (hopefully) Nick so need you to text me as soon as it arrives.

 Yes you have to watch your step on the footpath, but it does make me think of home and the good old days of warming your feet on a frosty morning by standing in a nice fresh poo, lol i wander if Indians do that?

A nice juice carton drink...

Yes Whiskey (Indian) in a cardboard carton lol.

7/11/11

   Spent the day walking around to see lakes, palace and temples. Went to the Palace at night for the light show, actually it just lots of lights that they turn on well an orchestra play, but still looked nice.

Some of the Temples look awesome at night

The black lines when unlit is obviously where the lights are, and the reason they are black is, they are covered in birds, most crows i think.

8/11/11

   Road out for the coast but it's a bit slower than I though so only made it as far as Sagar, a little mountain town with nothing really for tourist, so nice. Was a great ride through the mountains to get here, I'm loving the roads down here I imagined they would be a lot worse, from what I've read, but then most of what I've read is about the north rather than the south.

Nice little side road i found for a break, quiet and shady nice.

Don't stop too close to a school to check your map, especially just as they finish for lunch lol, but it's still fun.

From the roof of the Hotel in Sagar

9/11/11

   Road through to Jog falls in the morning but with all my bike gear on I wasn't walking down to the bottom. Not far from Jog falls I meet 3 English people doing a walk from Chennai to Mumbai, Mad buggers you would have loved them Murray lol.

 As you can see to far down for bike armour lol

 The country that makes you go Huh strikes again, Maybe Led Zep where here and this is what made them thing of the stairway to heaven....

 The view of the river just after i meet the walkers.

   Then stopped for a drink down the road and a Kiwi on a push bike come riding past, he has come round from south east Asia, oh and if you read this mate I lost the piece of map that you wrote your details on, please email me. I didn't make it far from there and stopped for an early night. When getting some water I spotted a book in the shop that looked interesting so bought it, then proceeded to read the whole thing 3 times that night, lol I love map books and this is much better than I had.

Now when you have the hot tap and the cold tap right there, why can you7 not put the hot to the shower. Almost another "the country that makes you go Huh"

10/11/11 to 14/11/11

Another very short day riding through to Palolem beach But found a nice cheap place to stay and will stay here till Friday. I have managed to catch up with a man Jean-philipe who had been put in contact with me from a man I meet in Mysore, and he told me about an Enfield club meeting up in north Goa next weekend, yes my first bike meet of the trip, hopefully many more. 

 Yes i like the Goa beach cows. 

   Enjoy your life.

P.S yes i added some more photos, they had been stored on my phone instead of storage card, so where miss placed for a while. Hence the re post.

In Ooty On the way to Mysuru

Varkala Beach, from one of the many restaurants

Some of the back streets are very English

Life is hard, for someone., somewhere.

The storm that almost blocked the sunset, then provided a lovely light show into the night

25/10/11

   Didn't actually make it away because the Rock 'n Roll bar had a local Tabala (drum) and Violin playing for the start of Dewali a 2 day thing with fire works and bangers, often big bangers. The night started well with a chance to watch a local fisherman jumping of the back of rocks with the swell, to catch crayfish apparently. This of course is when the sun is going down, aahhh lovely, then just to spice it up, a pod of Dolphins swam past out a bit further lol, awesome.

26/10/11

   Bit wet in the morning and realised I still didn't have a cover for one pannier after losing the one in Sri Lanka. So went to town to find a couple of cheap poncho's like I had in Vietnam, one for the bag and one to save me putting on the wet weathers. It turns out that the wet weathers they have here are proper ish, top and bottom set pieces, not what I'm looking for. I eventually found a place selling tarpaulins and bought one of those.

This did mean I stayed another day lol bugger.

27/10/11

   Rode out with every intention of heading into the hills, until the rain started. With everything covered I ended up staying on the main road up the coast toward Kochi, unfortunately I lost the other wet weather cover for my bags, grrr. Luckily the tarpaulin I had bought was big enough to cover both bags, yes.

 Lucky I'm not entering any fashion shows. Yes a police man has asked me to remove the India flag as it is illegal to have one unless you are a politician, but it was raining so he didn't want to get out of his jeep, so i couldn't be bothered removing it.

   I made it to Backwater town, Alappuzha about 4pm and hunted for a hotel. By backwater I don't mean middle of no where, I mean the place everyone comes to to do backwater house boat trips. The hotel I found even has proper hot water, what I mean is the water is actually hot, I have stayed in hotels advertising hot water, but really it's warm. And of course I've stayed in hotels that had tanks on the roof which got hot during the day. But this was HOT water hehe, it probably helped that I was wet and cool at the time of arrival, but then I did have 3 showers last night and I really cannot remember the last time I had a real hot shower, it may even have been in south Vietnam 9 or 10 months ago. No it was Singapore although I don't think I ever turned the hot on there, so maybe in the mountains of north Vietnam. It's two days later and it was Sri Lanka in the Hills (maybe).

Some of the canals here look like parks

28/10/11

   Been having issues with Vodafone so had to go to the shop, nothing really sorted as I'm in the wrong state apparently, that's India for you. Went for a ferry trip in the afternoon out on the canals, and I could happily spend a while here just catching a ferry out and then walking and ferrying back to town down the canals.

29/10/11

   Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, a ferry ride and a walk on the canals, a bottle of rum and a happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me.

I was very impressed in the amount of coconuts for the size of the tree.

Not sure if this is a school bus, or just canoe pooling lol. a heap of ferry's took off just as wee got there that where definitely school buses.

30/10/11

   Happy recovery day to me lol, a movie or 3 and not much else, a happy recovery day to me.

31/10/11

   Another ferry trip and walk spent some time sitting on one jetty and got to see my first snake in India. It was a small green one that may have swam across the canal hiding in the river weed as it went, I say that because I saw one hide in one, after I first spotted it and before it climbed into the rocks on the bank. Otherwise a lovely day on the water and the banks.

From the jetty

1/11/11

   Rode off toward Coimbatore to see Vodafone Tamil Nadu in the hopes that I can sort out this Internet once and for all. The back roads definitely looked the best on the map so I headed out and around the other side of the lake to Kottayam. It turned out that the road I followed was a nice mountain road but took a lot longer than though so ended up staying in Munnar a hill station town.

Heaps of waterfalls all the way up into the mountains, and road side temples are everywhere over here. Almost as many as plastic bags.

loads of Christian churches too, the often have multi tears with priest, saint, Mary, Jesus on them

lol, lucky I had a month of bucket washing in Indo.

2/11/11

   Bike had a puncher in the morning so ripped the front wheel off and the hotel guy ran me down to the shop to get it repaired, turned out to be a little barb made a hole, R50 for the fix and my first real experience of people who don't really know what they are doing, doing the work for you. I was unable to put the wheel back on 2 locals HAD to do it for me, I've read a bit about this in India so you have to keep a close eye on them or they will break things when trying to help. Also is the first puncher on my own bike of the trip, there was the rental in Indo that got a flat.

   Anyway lovely mountain pass to go through on the way to Coimbatore, almost felt like the highest rode in Vietnam for a while there, loved it, a Nam flash back lol, even down to the road works and road condition. The only real difference was tea instead of rice paddies.

 Arrrrggg the smells, the sounds, the feel, Vietnam, all comes flooding back in a rush of niceness, but it's all done so bloody nicely... Yes that is a Young Ones quote, i watched some for my birthday lol.

  Once in Coimbatore the hotel I had found on wiki travel was full, but the Vodafone shop was near by so went and got the phone sorted, well if it wasn't India maybe. It appears I was meant to go back to Chennai, arh no. I managed to get a reasonable deal though, which is suppose to be good for all states and rechargeable in all states, hopefully.

   It started raining again as I left Vodafone and as it was getting dark, I decided to head towards Ooty and stay at the first place I found. Which was a R600 place that I would have struggled to pay R300 for, so rode on. Ended up in a flash ish place for R650 ($13US)

3/11/12

   Got 497km from 16lt very happy with that as petrol is higher in price here than Southeast Asia, that cost R1100 so $22US. Rode up some more beautiful mountain roads, on the way to Ooty, did not rain for the most of the trip but these mountains are like the Blue Mountains in Australia, there is even a mountain called Blue here, so there is often Clouds and rain. Saying that I had not put the wet weather cover on the bags so when it started raining at 14:00 I stopped at the first hotel I saw.

   Turns out it is only 4km from Ooty and much cheaper so quite happy about that. For the first time, possibly in my life, I said “If it is raining in the morning, I ride on. If it is fine I stay for another day” lol.

This is one of my favourite photos so far, possible better when you can zoom in and see the little village at the bottom.

Tea? In India? Who would have thunk it
 
4/11/12

   Lovely fine morning so decided to stay another day. Went for a ride out to the lake and up to the botanical gardens, which I though where great. The where created in 1847, so when Westerners where starting to move to New Zealand lol, I'm guessing you would love them mum, although I think they needed more chairs in a lot of nice quieter areas there where no seats.

 What are these called mum? The where cool little things.

   Then road up to Doddabetta Peak 2,623m, and arrived as the mist came in so turned around and left again lol.
 wow that's a big one
  Enjoy your life.