Intrepid as F*&k

Fellas. Fellees.

Hows it all? Been a while since we've had any form of reasonable internet access. Mumbai internet cafe's all packed (burgeoning middle class); Goa pretty much never had both electricity and internet online at the same time, and it was all just too much of a mish trying to find a place with the net in Navsari.

Think it was up in the desert town of Udiapur that I last logged in. Probably all of two weeks ago but it feels like many more moons that that have passed. From Udiapur we flew in to Mumbai (via a few hours and massive feed at a city called Aurunabad). Arrived a Mumbai circa 9pm on xmas eve and, after finding out (super-shitty) hostel, proceeded out to Colaba (tourist district of mumbai) on what we'd decided was gonna be a huge night. Pretty warm all throughout our time in Mumbai - with lowest temperature probably being around 30'C.

And it was. Despite being quoted Rs4000 to enter one club (over NZ$100) and Jimmy and I holding hands to get us into a 'couples-only' club, we ended up at the pub above Leopold's (mighty Colaba restraunt bought to fame by Gregory David Roberts' book 'Shantaram') and got amongst it. Was a pretty solid backpacker/local mix, and we proceeded to get pretty smashed. No one can rememeber the walk home to the hostel; though Dom and Jimmy woke up with a few 'surprises' in their shower and a familiar sour stench. Was stoked that my vision cleared after I hit street level in the morning, so mike and I spent the day exploring on foot. Found this mint cafe/deli real close to our hostel, and went there often enough that figured it was okay to use their hospitality toilets as often as we wanted. Okay I did anyway. Faaaaaaaaaarrr better than the communal bathrooms at the hostel

Xmas dinner was at that deli... pretty low key affair as we were all fazed from the night before and just getting back onto solids. Everyone bar Jimmy that is, who was AWOL in the hostel. Think it was something to do with food aswell, coz he was sick as f*&k.

Ahh.... skiping a few more days in Mumbai; which we realised is a city of HIGH rollers (Mercs, $400 US per night hotel rooms. etc etc) and LOW rollers (beggars and the lies, a guy that [i] actually rolled after us on his board-on-wheels to try get some rupee) Crazy contrast - probably the place where the actual poverty hit us the hardest. Went out for a flash feed on the night of the 26th, as it was Jimmy's final supper before he headed back home. Ended up at a lounge bar / restraunt called 'Indigo' which served up some pretty decent lobster bisque, prawns, duck and the likes.

On the 27th we left the hotel before 8am (RIDICULOSULY early for us) for the 2 hour trip to the airport so Jimmy could get to his flight back to Aoteroa on time; and so we would be there to pick up cuzzies B (Bharat) and V (Vas), fresh off the plane from Aoteroa, for the trip to the beach state of Goa. Had 6 odd hours up our sleeve and figured it want worth missioning it back into a sane part of Mumbai, so made our way to the convenient Hyatt Regency; ordered a few beers and pizzas and proceeed to overstay our welcome in their restraunt before making our way to the domestic airport for the flight to Goa. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

Goa pretty sweet, though rekon i was probably at varying stages of nausea throughout, which was a bit of a bummer! Some totally sweet beaches though, especially if you grab a car and drive away from the main spots. Our pad was rigthin the thick of it, and only 3min walk from the Out at night was a bit of a laugh, especially with the hoardes of middle-aged (and young) indian males from across the world converging. Like a Diary Owners Association Conference. But worse. I survived new years only till about half an hour into 2008, before I went home to spew my guts out and deal with my stomach cramps by boofing a cocktail of pills. Good times.

Did I mention they were trying to charge in excess of like $NZ150 cover charge to most of the clubs on new years night? Tried to sneak in. They had the place locked down with security gaurds. Tried to bribe the bouncer: have a few words with him, show a bit of cash. No luck. Dammit, where the corruption when you need it?

Caught a sleeper train from Goa to Mumbai. Late, as usual. But a whole lot of fun when you board at 5pm and reach your stop at 3 in the morning. Enjoyed lots of cool scenery, bridges and tunnells before it got dark. After which we mucked around in our 'sleep class' carriage until arrival in mumbai...keeping our fellow passengers awake, trying to throw peanut shells out the window and inventing even more new sports. Followed this up with another train, whcih was meant to take us to the town/city of Navsari..... but didn't actually stop here. So ended up getting off the train 40-odd kays further on and negotiating with a van driver to get us to Navsari for a decent fare.

okay im spent. would love to go on but its going on 2.30am and i'm planning to try get comfortable near our luggage for the next 4 horus until we check in. Navsari was awesome - totally different to everything that we'd experienced in India so far and it was awesome to be part of village life. Met lots of rellies who I never knew existed and had to try get by using my broken gujurati.... even playing translator sometimes. next update will try post up more pics too. Until then we've got about a day's worth of transit time ahead of us as we go from Mumbai to Calcutta to Bangkok. Ye-yah!

Nick