Hello all,

It’s been 2 weeks since my last post, which may be a good or bad thing depending on what you think of my posts! I am back where I started after traveling a total of 8,667km according to Google maps. Wow!

A lot has happened in those two weeks – too much for detail, so a slightly different format with mini-stories to fill your lunch break at work!!! You can read or ignore as you please! Enjoy….

MAMALLUPURUM AND MYSORE

GREEK GOES FISHING - Mamalupurum
We set out at 11am in the end due to rough seas and dropped our nets about 750m offshore. It was really peaceful out there with just a gentle rocking of the boat to send us off to sleep for 20mins. We then hauled the nets back in and caught about 20 fish – mostly small but extremely tasty! We went back to my new friend’s house and made a fish masala with rice and a curry sauce. That is the life….

GREEK GOES CROC HUNTING - Mamalupurum
Santos, my best friend in India took us to the local croc farm by bus. The croc farm had hundreds of huge crocs that we could feed and a chance to hold a baby one – you can see from the photos that I WASN’T scared at all. ;-) More entertaining was the bus ride there complete with a 5.1 stereo system pumping out Hindi rave tunes like we were in a club! Oh and we had to stop for petrol!!

OLD MAN ENLIGHTENS ME – Chennai Train Station
Within 2 minutes of sitting down in Chennai station a well educated Indian man sat down next to me and gave me a long lecture on Hinduism, Christianity, ways of the world, poverty etc etc etc…. I hardly said a word for 1hr! This happened despite my efforts to escape citing my train is leaving in 20mins, my train is leaving in 15mins, my train is leaving in 10mins, my train is leaving in 5mins – SHUT UP I HAVE TO LEAVE!!!!

THE NAKED CHIMP – Mysore
One of the MOST BIZARRE things I have ever and will ever see. Among Tigers, gorillas, rhinos, giraffes, was a chimp. The chimp got ill, the chimp had an injection, the chimp’s hair fell out, the chimp was naked, the chimp threw stones because we were staring so much! See pics for evidence.

RICKETY OVERNIGHT BUS RIDE – Mysore to Cochin
I booked an overnight bus from Mysore to Cochin (12hrs). The driver was insane - there were sleepers on the roads all the way to Cochin, which the driver took at full speed, and when there were no sleepers there were cobbled roads with huge potholes in them – At a guess, I spent 10 out of the 12 hrs in the air!!!

LUXURY LIVING IN COCHIN FOLLOWED BY DEATH DRIVING
On arrival I stayed with Divya and Paul at their resort/villa/heaven on a lake in Cochin. It was pure luxury living - waiters at the ready, fresh seafood to order, a luscious pool overlooking the lake, a huge double bed, A/C!, chauffeur driven cars, ice cold beers, rum and poker!

Next morning, Divya’s cousin drove Aira and I back, Paul conveniently went in the other car. A dog, a girl, countless moped drivers and us were almost killed in a rally car style 1hr drive back to Cochin.

GOA

MORNING AIRPORT RUSH
After breakfast Paul, Aira and I looked at our watches, it was 9.46am, our flight was at 11.30am and we had a 45min drive to the airport! We eventually left Cochin at 10.20am when someone pointed out that we might miss the plane - Thanks Brains!! Biroy, the driver, got a call half way there from the big boss. All we heard was “Ok Sir,” he then put his pedal to the metal and weaved us to the airport – you get used to the driving!! The flight which followed was much more relaxed with 2 meals in 3hrs and a stop on the way. Weird.

ANJUNA BEACH RECOMMENDATION
We met ´Billy Big b******s’ Rahul in a members only club in Cochin who recommended Anjuna beach. Despite everyone else telling us to go to Baga beach we followed BBB’s advice only to find a dirty black beach with shacks falling to pieces along it. To be frank, it was THE WORST recommendation we have ever had. We swiftly left and found ourselves walking along a road between two swamps for about 40mins before catching a cab to the more lively Baga. Brilliant!

MOPEDS, TATTOOS, SHISHA AND BLUE – Goa
Our stay in Goa was eventful – very eventful….

The scene – endless white sand beaches, bright blue skies, the DJ playing “One Love” by Blue while we enjoy a cold beer watching the sunset over the sea…
We formed a good relationship with our room owner and hired 3 cheeky mopeds from him. 2 of us had never ridden a bike before – it’s pretty obvious who at the end of this…

We visited a fort up on the hill and got chatting to a few women who seemed to be breaking the fort walls down. They insisted on a photo for money and on our refusal wished us bad luck – we predictably laughed it off only for it to bite us in the backside like a rabid Delhi Dog….

1) Aira runs out of fuel – lucky we had a spare bottle
2) Greek runs out of fuel – lucky we stopped next to a shop which sold a bottle.
3) Greek leads following a bus with Paul and Aira close behind.
4) Greek decides to overtake Bus
5) Bus decides to turn right.
6) Greek brakes HARD!!!
7) SCREEEECH AND BANG!!! – Paul ploughs into Greek with his legs flailing at the sides!!

We laughed off this crash until we gave the bikes back. We thought we had escaped until our room owner called us down saying we had damaged the bikes – my number plate had lost a fair amount of its paint and Paul’s had a huge dent in the front as well as the front panel coming loose. It didn’t take Stephen Hawking to work out what happened!! Naturally, we denied any incident and got off very lightly after a good 30mins of arguing – those nights playing the Mafia game whilst skiing came in handy!!

We spent the rest of the time in Goa getting ridiculous tattoos, having beach foot massages, smoking Shisha on the beach under the stars while the waves lapped around our feet, and watching the world go by. Good times…I’ll be back.

MUMBAI
For the rest of the time we were in busy Mumbai. It’s a huge city, heavily congested with people and traffic. The bay is beautiful looking despite it being toxic!! We managed to see some sites including Mani Bhavan – which is where Ghandi lived from 1917 to 1934. It’s now a museum and was interesting to see his room (intact with possessions) and letters to Hitler and Roosevelt, as well as some interesting/controversial quotes in my opinion.

We also found a lake/pool that has a pole in the middle – apparently the center of the earth due to someone firing an arrow into it and the pool forming there and then. We were also offered numerous parts in Bollywood films – only natural when they saw us handsome lads walking the streets of downtown Mumbai!!

I’m now in Delhi where I have been mostly lazing around and seeing the sites I missed when I was 1st here. The best being the scene of Ghandi´s assassination. The place is huge and his final footsteps are paved in concrete until you reach a memorial where he died. Very moving and I am glad I came. Delhi on the whole is a much better place on the return leg.

Hoping all is well in England. My next post will be from China!! Can’t wait!! I leave on Sunday!

WILL, GREEK, STADDOG.