Pondicherry and other stuff

I was taught as a little boy by my Christian nurse (in my house we had a nurse to look after the kids) "cleanliness is next to godliness". If so, then India, despite its myriads of gods and temples, is the most godforsaken place I have ever visited.

I am now in Pondicherry, a little piece of France left behind when the French moved out some 50 years ago (I think). It is unbelievable: wide streets, a beautiful waterside boardwalk (tayelet) but with no cafes restaurants along it, which I can't understand, well preserved buildings, policemen with 'kepis' and French and other European restaurants - and you all know what that means! Last night I had a real hamburger. Thank the gods that I have decided to service my bike here and to rest up a bit, the last leg to here was 430 kms in one day and I could not think of a better place to rest up. The only problem here is that it seems to be the worst smelling town I have visited so far - you smell shit half the time! However the town is full of French tourists and even a number who live here permanently - there is some sort of international community - - that leads a special lifestyle, I hope to visit the area and check it out tomorrow.

If you remember I left Varkala and the delicious fish on the 2nd of Feb setting happilly off for Kodaikenal - well no zen, no nothing - got completely lost, I must have driven an extra 150 - 200 kms and most of that in the mountains on real scary roads. I bought a map in Varkala, the best map of India available here - I think I will use it for toilet paper. Half the roads marked on it don't exist or don't go where they show they are going or end suddenly at some ashram in the middle of nowhere. And roads that do exist and lead somewhere are oftimes absent from my Eicher Map Book - Aaaaaaagh! But the drive was magnificent and the road filled with animals, squirrels, monkeys, birds of a gazillion varieties, cows dogs, donkeys, horses, pigs and of course at least one elephant and the views were breathtaking etc.....

I finally in Kodaikanal in the late afternoon after 2 hard days of travel and checked into a fairly decent guesthouse. And then it got cold, and then it got colder and then it froze. I spent about 3 nights there and never left my room after 6pm, what kind of a holiday is that? Mind you, it is very beautiful up there and I did do a couple of walks and was impressed by the scenery. of course the Israelis have taken over Vattakanal, a little village about 4 kms from Kodai and a bit higher in the hills - they can have it. On my second day there I met a guy who knew me from Om Beach and he invited me to visit him and his girlfriend in Vatta and so I walked about 30 minutes downhill to their little hovel on the mountainside. I then crawled up the hill for about 60 minutes - fortunately I was alone and nobody saw what a wreck I really was. I found a place that made really good chicken pies and I think that because of the food I stayed in Kodai an extra day. But it was too cold and I wasn't enjoying it and so I left.

From Kodai I drove to Madurai where I spent 2 days visiting the local temple and the Ghandi Memorial Museum. In Madurai I found a great supermarket (there are a couple like that here in Pondi too) sold all sorts of western foods and stuff, Scottish butter biscuits, decaffe coffee, impoted cigarettes but most important of all - tinned meatloaf (luf!, the Israeli equivalent of spam --J.B.) and I bought a couple of tins and had a gastronomic orgasm. (okay, I admit that luf is not a reason for an orgasm but after my experience with meat in Varkala it was the best meal I had eaten in days)

From Madurai I drove to Rameswaram which is as close as you can get to Sri Lanka in India - the town is about 40 kms from Sri Lanka and if you drive east for about 18 kms you reach Adams Bridge (after a 4 km walk along the beach) which is only about 18 kms from Sri Lanka - unfortunately it is 18 kms across water and there are no ferries so you can only almost see S.L. as it is beyond the horizon - in Rameswaran I ate luf because even the dhabas were bad there.On my second night there I went for a walk around town, well there is no real around town so I walked to the temple which is the center of town and came across a ceremony with guys carrying statues of gods and of course in front a beautifully decorated elephant.

So as long as I am enjoying the food I will spend a couple more days here and then start making my way slowly north.

Shpitz - Varkala

Most of the men wear diapers for fucks sake, and I have seen them expose themselves at each other and I have noticed that all the teachers of girls wear the diapers. Makes you stop and think, right!

So I am still in Varkala, first it was because I was sick and then because the next day I was thrown out of two (yes, 2) guesthouses because they didnt believe that I had had food poisoning but I really did! And I was damned if I was going to let them chase me away. And then the fish is the best food Ive eaten since leaving Goa, I never thought I would say some thing like that but there, I have, the blue marlin/swordfish is especially tasty with an almost steaklike texture to it and very little 'fishiness'. I have stayed in 5 different guest houses in Varkala and on Saturday I am leaving for Kodaikenal.

The day before yesterday I set off with Eyal who also has a bike but it is hospitalized so he rode pillion, for the shpitz ('tip' or 'point') of India, Kunyakumari, where that night I watched the sun sink into the ocean on my right and that morning I got up at 5.45 so that I could watch the sun rise from the ocean on my left. The sunset/sunrise is a big thing with Indians and they come in droves to watch it. The sunset is watched from the beach by thousands but the sunrise only by those who dont have a hotel roof (we did), those who do have a roof gather there in their hundreds from about 6am, at about 6.45 they begin to leave but our sun only rose from behind the clouds at about 7.15, well worth waiting for. I also took a tour of the island memorial to some revered 'baba' but since I am pretty irreverant myself I didnt bother remebering his name. Kunyakamary is very pretty in a rundown, dirty sort of Indian way and for the life of me we couldnt find a decent eating place even though the town appears to have about 2000 active fishing boats!

On the way back we got lost and then hit a really deep pothole! 10 minutes later the steering begins to wobble and people to shout at us, we reach a town and by then the wobble is uncontrolable. Descending from the bike we find that about 8 of the spokes (shpitzim or slikim - what do you call them, I'm taking a census) on the rear wheel are broken - it must have started with the pothole and as the wheel weakened spoke after spoke broke, eventually 14 had to be replaced. Luckily (Its India, its the zen thing again) we were right next to a puncture-wallah who took the wheel off and sent it to the spoke-wallah by a ricksha-walla and 3 hours later (just twice the promised one and a half) we were on our way again only to promptly get lost again and then after finding the right road getting lost yet a third time! Okay, I'm not the best navigator ever! We did find a very nice air-conditioned restaurant (my first AC in India!) where I had a reasonably good chicken-liver and no food poisoning.

Eventually, about 9 hours after setting out we arrived back in Varkala - WHICH I AM LEAVING TOMORROW!!! It only took us 4 hours to get there. Mind you, on the way we saw an elephant being washed in a river by his mahout and when I stopped to take pictures he invited me to join them, some stupid 'Polish" prissiness prevented me from doing it, the water was dirty, I didnt have a change of clothes, and other stupid shit. Ten minutes later I was overcome with regret but by then it was too late. If I believed in anything I could say that they broken spokes were punishment for not joining the elephant, you know, karma and all that shit.

Thats all for now folks, I have to get back to my exceptional Kerala-grass of which I have a goodly supply. Ha!

...at last I can fart again!

I have decided to grow a long white beard and speed through India like some insane portent of disaster driving women and children to weep and wail and grown men to huddle behind locked doors.

After my sister Paula (who still owes me a testemonial for my wonderful treatment of her during her visit here) departed carrying 32 kilos of gifts - thank you Paula - I spent one more night in Cochin and after finally receiving my authentic Motorcycle Owner Papers, I headed off to Varkala in the belief that once again I would be eating meat, albeit of a lower quality than I am used to but meat, red meat, delicious red meat!

Due to circumstances beyond my control I had to leave at 2pm which was pushing it a bit as I dont like to drive in the dark but I knew the road and I reckoned that I could make the 180kms in just over 4 hours and I was right,though I did have to forgo a photo op with an elephant which I hate to do, I made it just before dark. Arrived here tired, had something light to eat and went to bed happily. Spent the next day relaxing and reading (now that Paula has left I have no incentive to buy anything!). In the evening met a couple of honeymooners who I had met in Munar and we went out together nand of course I ordered steak. Well what I got was not exactly steak and it was badly burned but best of all it was off.

As I ate it I could tell that there was something wrong, it tasted wrong, it looked wrong but could I stop eating it? No way, and I ate it all to the bitter end. 20 minutes after the meal I started shivering and 20 minutes after that I was emptying myself haphazardly all over the place - I will spare you the gory details - in adittion I was in excrutiating pain and moaning like only a sick guy can moan. Some of my young friends here became alarmed for some reason at my absence and came to look for me. When they got no answer at the door they became even more worried and then with the help of Zamir, Yafit's dad, who somehow persuaded me through the window to let them in which I apparently did though I have no recollection of that or of next few hours as they rushed me to the local version of Sisters of Mercy Hospital. I vaguely remember fighting the the insertion of a IV (Which turned out to be a massive dose of antibiotics, so massive that I can see the two little sores I got in a most undinified fall in Munnar about 14 days ago). And then it was morning and I felt almost human. And Eyal and Inbal were with me all night in the hospital, they grabbed an hours sleep on the ground outside before making sure I was alive and kicking. And I was never alone, Yafit was there and Ziv was there and Eyal was there again and Shai was there and if I have forgotten anyone "Mia culpa". And if Yafit hadn't bought me a pair of shorts I wouldnt have been able to leave the hospital, I do have some dignity! So I love you guys.

The hospital is reminiscent of Tel Hashomer in the early 50s but 50 years back again. Everything is very basic and I believe that if the guys had not brought me food I wouldnt have gotten any. I guess however that the medical staff are competent because here I sit at the computer typing this bullshit (no Freudian). It is the non medical side that is more interesting, I was an instant tourist attraction, they came in their droves to gape and gawk and stare, usually from behind the door but at least one guy brought his three kids into the room and they all stared at me while wagglig their heads in the Indian way and smiling inanely. I smiled and waggled my head back at them for about 5 minutes but then gave up in exaustion, they continued for another 10 minutes without uttering a sound and then got up and left. Then there was the baba who said he identified with me because the moslems had tried to kill him too. And the student nurses of both sexes who came in 3s to stare at me (which is weird because girls usually travel in pairs). They seem awfully young.

So I will not be eating meat again till I reach Nepal!

Our story continues, at some stage of the prehospital proceedings somebody called "Habait Haham (The warm home) which is an Israeli organization funded by the government and some anti-drug organisation which does great work with kids who "Flip out" - mitfalpim - OD on something or other and they follow the Israelis in their migrations from north to south and back again trying to help the "mitfalpim" get home again. So the next thing is that my son Roy gets a call from the foreign ministry or the embassy in Delhi suggesting that he get on the next flight to carry me home - I still don't know where they got his number, did they call all the Barels in Israel till they found one who would admit me as his father? Well I understand that that upset Roy who is quite used to my foibles and eccentricities by now and he and Paula got in touch with cousin Ariel in Goa who got the number of the hospital and still shaking from the after effects of my desperate illness I was called to the phone to hear cousin Ariel and 30 minutes later again to speak to Paula.

Romours of my demise are greatly exaggerated - I mean me mitfaleping, it aint gonna happen!

I will not be meat again till I reach Nepal!

Zen and the Art of Riding a Motorcycle in India - Part 2

Okay, I know I have written about this before (thats why its part 2 dummy) but I have now been driving for and a half months a bit more and I am more aware of what the whole thing is about - Zen course, with a smidgen (kortov) of thown in!

It is important to mention the animals first, and there are many animals of course; dogs, pigs, monkeys, an elephant! Chickens, crows, and of course the ever present supreme ruler of the road and anyplace else; The Sacred Cow! Cows have automatic right of way, after all, they are holy. And they take their right of way, they walk into the middle of the road with no consideration or care for vehicles of any size, shape, direction or speed. Sometimes they just stop in the middle of the road and in the early morning they are often found to be sleeping on the road as it is apparently warmer than not-road. You either have to wait for them to move - which may not be this week, or you can try to manouver around them which is not always easy with oncoming traffic. The Indian drivers are less considerate of the cows than most Westerners and bear down on them hooting loudly which the cows of course ignore. Somehow though, we do all manage to get round them and continue on our way. The dogs are in many ways worse than the cows which although they are sacred, are also terribly stupid and cowishly ignorant that anything is going on around them. The dogs however, seem, unlike dogs everywhere else, treat you the driver with absolute disdain and ignore you deliberately obviously hoping that as you near them you will panic, lose control and end up at the side of the road in a burning wreck - well that is the impression they give (as an aside let me say that it seems to me that the mdogs, usually reffered to as "pariah dogs" are becoming increasingly feral and in a couple of generations India will be flooded with their own homegrown variety of dingo - thats only my opinion of course but who knows the wonders of nature - the fuckers can be really agressive at night when you are alone). And a week ago on the road from cochin to Munnar we were passed by a work elephant dragging a log through the center of town (Don't ask how it passed us!).

Okay, now we come to simple rules of the road - traffic lights, stop signs, circles, right of way, driving on the left, policemen! All recommendations - you should never feel obliged to obey them - the Indians dont! As you drive along with your Israeli (Yes, even Israeli) driving habits of more often than not obeying the law, you are lost, you are non existant, are dead in the middle of the road! If there is a policeman around he will often look amazed that you are obeying some stupid rule such as keeping to the left lane even though the right one is empty! And if you are a traveller from a land where people do not look Indian and do not speak any of the 13 (!) local languages or 200 odd dialects you do not want to be involved in an accident - you are automatically to blame, no need to discuss this, its your fault because you are so very rich! You may get to a traffic light which is green and find that you are the only one who cares as other drivers cut you off from every direction, you may be driving along a highway (and I only call them highways because the locals do - some of them are like a back road leading to the back of beyond on the road less traveled) and you will meet a bus barreling down your lane as he overtakes a truck on a blind hairpin turn and all you can do is get off the road and hope there is a hard shoulder.

And of course there are roadsigns, generally those giving directions will be in English, not all the time of course but enough to help you (with a measure of Zen) to get to where you are going. But that is not enough so i will give you a couple of examples; two nights ago we arrived from Kottayam to Aleppi by ferry the tale of getting the Enfield on and off the ferry would be a chapter on its own and a picture being worth a thousand words I will try to send one) after dark when I dont usually like to drive as the Indians have to positions on their light switch, bright and off and they use them both at night. but we had been recommended a hotel by Uri ( we met him in Cochin where he had come to make sure his daughter was not having too good a time) and even though we were offered hotels nearby I insisted on going to Uris hotel, after all, he is an Israeli! (Never trust the recommendation of an Israeli over 30). So we phoned and they had an empty room and we were in. But where was the hotel? Oh, about 13 kms from here, just get on the National Highway and then turn left and ask. And I did, and without one wrong turn and after much twisting and winding and avoiding homicidal and suicidal Indians and negotiating a goat track on the banks of a river and all this in the dark we were there (and despite my recriminations against Uri it was a charming place with awesome food for my sister Paula, not for me) but it was not suitable for a stay of less than a week. how did I get there, I am certainly not the worlds best navigator. Zen!

And today I wanted to buy stamps so I hopped onto my trusty Enfield, drove about 3 kms and stopped by a ricksha driver (they know more about how to get there than almost anybody in the country and asked him where the post office was, he pointed behind him and there it was, right behind him. There you are, the big Z again.

the other kind of roadsigns, those that tell you about the condition of the road are almost non-existant. from time to time, after doing 50 kms on a winding, badly maintained, narrow mountain road with no signs at all beyond those selling expensive saris or gold jewelery or women's underwear, at the end of a long, straight, level stretch of road you will suddenly see an internationally recognised sign for a curve and nothing further for the next 50. I could live with that but all the signs extorting you to 'not drink and drive', 'speed kills", 'drive slow, arrive safely' etc are in English and very few drivers here can actually read English.

Two days ago I had a breakdown, the gas cable snapped and Paula (my crazy sister who has been riding around with me for the last two weeks) slowed quickly to a halt. Luckily I had spotted a "2 and 3 wheeler garage" a short time before so leaving Paula to guard the bike I hopped a ricksha and went back there. I told them what had happened and one of the mechanics put on his shirt, wrapped a bunch of tools in a newspaper and accompanied me back to the bike. After opening it half up he agreed that it was the gas cable and we, the riksha, the mechanic and I set off to find one. The first place didn't have it so the ricksha-wallah and I went to another place which had it (I bought a spare as well - you never know and at 25 rhp you cant go wrong). When we went back to collect the mechanic he wasn't there but we found him 50 meters down the road looking at the bike of a large Indian gentleman who turned to me and said, and I quote "Actually it was me who ordered the mechanic, he only tended to you because he saw you on the road as he was coming to me" I looked at him and smiled - You stupid lying fucking wanker! Do I look that stupid? Okay maybe I do but there is no call to take advantage of me. Anyway the mechanic couldn't do much for him there and taking his (the liar's) battery we were off to poor Paula again and 20 minutes and 120 rph later we were happily on our way again.

I leave it to you.

Travels with my sister

I am now in Thekkady in Kerala at the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary with my sister Paula who came to India to ride around for two weeks on the back of my motorcycle. She must be mad.
It is a cold and dirty day, the first I have had since arriving in India and we got up at 6 in the morning to catch the first tour boat at 7AM. We did catch it and spent a freezing 2 hours sailing around the park on a dirty old tourist boat but we did manage to see a few animals, some boars (of both sexes and all ages), a deer, a bison and 3 jackals tearing apart the carcass of a dead deer and the trip was calm and the scenery breathtaking (forgive me if in the continuation of this I use that word again but the last few days have been filled with breathtaking sights) so despite the cold a good time was had by all. Tomorrow we are going trekking and rafting through the park and we will definately take jackets!
Before coming here we spent 3 days in Munnar which is due east from Cochin but high up in the mountains and is a major tea growing area. The drive from Cochin to Munnar took us from the teeming city of the coast on a long winding, climbing road to high up in the mountains where it gets really cold (I ended up buying a jacket! Me, who never feels the cold). As we were entering Munnar I saw Gali (from Hampi and Cochin) by the side of the road and she sent us to the Aida hotel which was lovely with a great view out into the mountains and tea fields (fields?) which are breathtakingly beautiful even when you notice the tens of Indian women bending over and doing backbreaking labour so that we can all have our cuppa when we feel the urge, in fact they even add a certain rustic, pastoral beauty to the whole scene. Yup, thats what they do, add romance, I hope they never find a way of doing it mechanically
On the way from Cochin the view was breathtaking and we met our first close-up elephant who was a working stiff, it was pulling along a log right through the center of a little town. Along the way were many beautiful homes but one stood out, they kept a pet elephant! I would love to have one too.
From Munnar to Thekkady was just over 100 kms but it took us about 5 hours due to both the difficulty of the road - narrow winding, climbing, descending, potholefilled and various traffic coming at you from all directions at all angles and at sometimes death defying speeds. But the route was magnificent and we stopped often to take pictures! And more pictures! And then still more pictures. Of course when I print them out to put in albums I no longer remeber wher they were taken!!
Today was a shitty day for me, we booked and went on a bamboo-rafting and hiking tour through the reserve and I saw no bllody animals except for one deer and I was expecting to see elephants frolicing along the river banks or at the least doing the dance intro for The Simpsons show. Nada, nothing, zilch, I was screwes, I wanted to see elephants. I suddenly felt sympathy for all those Americans who stand there yelling "But I paid to see elephants (pigs, cucumbers, pine tres, factories or whatever). I thought that if I was paying the Indian equivalent of two weeks worth of a working mans wages, at the very least I should see one lousy pachyderm! I will never go to another Indian game resrve, never.
Tomorrow we are off to Kollayam to visit and cruise the famous backwaters of Kerala.
Wait for the next exciting episode - I will be back.

Pictures!?

Arie has sent some pictures. The captions aren't very detailed, so I've dismissed them.
They're from Mngalor, Goa and Om Beach.
Dad, looks like you're having fun, aren'tcha.

J.B.

Om Beach to Cochin

God am I sorry I left Om beach (mind you Im not completely sure because Ronit told me that all the garass has dried up - which of course I dont believe) the beach was great and the living was easy. but I did leave Om Beach and now, after 6 days on the road I am in Cochin.

The first day from Om beach to mangalore was easy, good road and not too much traffic, using my trusty "lonely Planet " I ended up in a truly middle class hotel in the an obviously middle class town - from Mangalore to here I began to see the presence of an Indian middle class. After checking into the hotel I decided to go outside and check out the town and ran smack bang into the middle of some sort of fancy dress parade, very coulorful and musical and photogenic though I have no idea what it was in aid of.
What struck me most about Mangalore was the fact that for the first time since arriving in India I did not have to worry about stepping in cow shit, it seems to me that that makes a hell of a difference, I find it difficult to move into the 21st century if I am forced to manouvre around cow shit and have to stop on the highway, literal and figurative to wait for the cows to move. I dont wait for them to decide to move because they are cows and dont make decisions, they just move or dont.

Mangalore is biggish with many modern 'conveniences' such as a mall and.......oops, thats about it but still more madern than most. I did manage to get little boxes for my bike rack made by hand from scratch - perfect 18th centuary hi-tech. But beautiful work and fascinating to watch in the creating.

From Mangalore to Calicut where I spent christmas and ate shwarma, beefr shwarma, not up to israeli standards but beef shwarma nevertheless. Nothing to add about another large coeless city.

From Calicut to Thrussir, on the way, almost blocking the road i came upon a huge cattle market. I stopped the bike to take pictures and all around friendly farmers made way to let me through to get the best view. I esked whether the market was for racing bulls, due to the huge crowd, excited interest and good looks of the beast. But no, they were all going to be eaten! And indeed im many places in Kerala beef is on the menu though not always available. Thrissur itself nothing special (okay there is a chapter on culture in the town in the Lonely Planet but that is a bullshit book anyway) except for a beautiful church and an important temple off limits to forigners (shit, how do you spell that?).

from Thrissur to Cochin - Of course I looked it up in my trusty (ha!) lonely and they say that Fort Cochi is the coolest place in this city more than 1.3 miilion but only give the names of about 3 budget level guest houses and warn about the narrow winding streets etc.. So of course i took a room outside the fort. Then I went to the main area and was stunned, a roomy friendly town with guesthouses and homestays at reasonable prices all over town. I also bumped into Gali (from Hampi) who told me that Efrat and Yitzhaki (also from Hampi) were in town and I then took a room in there guest house/homestay and we are planning a new years eve BBQ (I have offered to make mashed potatoes - surprise!).

Cochin, for those who dont know was home to several tens of thousands of Jews who all emigrated to Israel in the 50s and 60s and they can now be found there playing cricket every weekend. There is a "Jew Town" here and a few synagogues so I am doing the jewish connection thing.

As soon asIi arrived here a young guy with a baby in his arms struck up a conversation with me and 20 minutes later I had grass in my pocket and a smile on my lips. I like Cochin and will spend a few days here waiting for my sister who arrives on the first for a 2 week holiday with me. Thank goodness she is bringing me de-caffe and shoresh sandals.