Christmas in Goa

Goa is a bubble. Much more than I thought it would be.

First things first: the food. Every restaurant here has foreign food as their main meals, indian is secondary. Also, most serve BEEF and PORK! I had a beefburger the other day! Then bacon! (I realize this doesn't sound too crazy, but for Hindus, the cow is holy, and there is a big Muslim population here too so usually no pork). There are also supermarkets here (!) with only foreigners inside, and where you can find pretty much everything from back home.

The beaches are an endless succession of bars, clubs, and restaurants pumping out psy-trance and techno all day and night. And there are thousands and thousands of foreing tourists (not just backpackers: honeymooners, families, many hippies, groups of friends here for the party...) sunbathing, drinking, and tripping. A lot of Russians and English. It's really like coastal Spain, a mini Ibiza, and this is the biggest culture shock I've had so far.

I'm staying in Anjuna, which has a lot of foreigners, but just down the coast to Baga there are more Indian tourists: Groups of hunky guys in wife-beaters with their ray bans and cigarettes, drinking on the beach. Light-skinned girls dressed like westerners, and speaking in English, while ordering the priciest items on the menu. The crowds here are so different to the people I've met on my travels, it's like another country.

I was really looking forward to a break from India, some westernness, but this is too much.

The towns of Panjim and Old Goa are nice, with many remnants of Portuguese colonialism: huge white churches, colourful villas, and Portuguese shops and street names.

The train ride down here was delayed 13 hours, but ended up being really nice. Met some good people on the train that I jammed with at night, and spent most of the day watching the amazing views; the people and food would change as well at each station we stopped at. Christmas was spent with my friend Dustin (met in Mumbai) and a few other guys just chilling and playing cards, it was nice.

2 days later I was hitch-hiking to see Dustin at his hotel and got a ride from a foreigner who had just rented a scooter. 20 seconds from leaving, and as we pick up speed, another bike approaches from the other side. My ride (an Englishman) doesn't seem to want to/be able to move to the other side of the road. Before I can say anything, we collide head-on, and we're all on the ground! No one was hurt but both bikes were pretty messed up.

Other than, not much else has happened. The days are mostly spent lazing on the beach. It's nice, but I'm looking forward to moving on. Hampi next!

Here's a picture of my hotel:

Soundtrack to my trip at the moment: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

Tansen Music Festival

The Tansen Music Festival's stage in Gwalior was set at the center of a lake, with a small area in front for people to sit and watch, and more seating on the sides of the lake. The artists played on a slightly elevated platform, all sitting on the floor.

Every performance began with the drone of the tempuras, and during the whole festival, the air was thick with this heavy, hypnotising sound that seemed like something from outer space. Most vocalists sang in the dhrupad style, with a backdrop of tempura, drums and one other instrument, and mostly sang sounds or notes rather than words.

Savita Devi, a famous classical singer performed the first night, but this was my first time really listening to Indian classical music, and much of it sounded out of tune/too high pitched/annoying.

The most amazing performance of the festival was, for me, Venkatesh. His chemistry with the tabla player and 3 other musicians was incredible, all five of them nodding and smiling and communicating throughout the show. The audience too was swept in, some people gasping or cheering at certain climatic points of the performance. Venkatesh used his hands and body to channel his voice, and often closed his eyes, seemingly in deep meditation. It seemed to me much of the singing was improvised, but then every musician would come in at the perfect moment and a repetitive melody would emerge. It was really mesmerising, unlike anything I've ever seen or heard. He played 3 "songs" each about 10-15 minutes long.

The next performer was in even more of a trance, and his vocal improvisations were sometimes too strange to grasp hold of. One sound he crafted was a very deep bass, similar to a burping sound or the sub bass notes in dubstep. He could go in and out of these as he pleased and his ability to use his voice as an instrument was impressive.

Main instruments I saw:

Tabla: twin drums, capable of producing many sounds, one of them a deep "boiing", very cool.

Saringi: Like a violin but even sadder sounding.

Harmonium: Looks like an accordion but played on the ground, sounds a lot like a jazz organ.

Western Violin: Played in Indian manner style, very interesting.

The whole event was pretty magical and was a great introduction to Indian classical music. It's easy to hear the spiritual, and psychedelic element which influenced the Beatles and others in the 60s. It also uses a different system to our do re mi, which is apparently more complicated, so I'm keen to find out more. I've filmed quite a few performances and hopefully will create a film showcasing some of these sounds.

Madhya Pradesh and the Taj

I want to write about music, but these places deserve some words, so I'll get online tomorrow to talk about the Tansen Music Festival.

After Jaipur, I headed to Agra. I coughed up the 750 Rupees entrance fee (and almost cried when I saw the Indian Price: 20 Rs.) and walked into this seventh wonder. The story goes that Emperor Shah Jahan was so heartbroken by the death of his wife that he decided to make the world's most beautiful tomb for her. Years later, his son overthrew him and he was confined to Agra Fort, condemned to watch this beauty from his cell. So it's an incredible symbol of love, but also one of tragic hate. Ok, it's pretty amazing, pale white and looming against the blue sky. But still, overated. Anyway, I had to draw it:

Much more fun where the sexy (and, at times, downright wrong) carvings at the Khajuraho temples, my next destination, and a Unesco World Heritage Site.

These temples were also some of the most amazing I've seen in India, really incredible to try to imagine (I can't) how much work and time went into these. Next up I headed for Orchha, a small town on my way North, where I met this baba, smoking ganja and chatting to friends in front of his wooden hut.

Now, I'm in Delhi, the chaotic capital. A 30 minute walk around the center will leave you exhausted. For me, it's crazier than Mumbai, really insane crowds and markets, bazaars, traffic... but so far I really like it. It's so fun and has so much personality, from the Hindu Temples to the churches and mosques, the colourful and delicious street food, the businessmen, holy men, touts, gangsters, street kids, cows, goats, dogs, rats, cockroaches (one fell on my head this morning) all sharing the same streets. It's breathtaking and exhausting and sad and exciting and dirty and smelly and loud and annoying and fun: it's INDIA.

I've decided to head South to Goa for Christmas, Delhi was so cold at night, I don't think I could handle the North. In Bhopal now, and I'm waitlisted for a train in two days so hopefully I will get a ticket!

Too much, too much

SO much has happened since last post! First: Jaisalmer... So I decided to couchsurf there and found someone to host me fairly easily. However, when I arrived at their place, and noticed it was a guesthouse, I was a bit suspicious. The whole turned out to be a scam to sell me a camel safari with the hotel's company, worth much more than the room they were offering me for free. Anyway, I booked with a different company and left early the next morning with a group of 8 foreigners and our guides into the desert on camelback. The first day, we rode for 4 hours in total, the camels trotting along at their lazy pace, causually pooing and farting as they went. It was fun, but ooooow I can still feel the pain! We watched the sun set on sand dunes, started a fire, cooked up a meal, and sang some songs into the night. There was no moon that night so we could see so many stars, it was pretty magical, until the VERY PAINFUL camel ride back next morning.

It was also really nice for me to talk to foreigners and exchange travel stories. After Gujarat, which had very few tourists, I was losing it a bit and really needed that!

I ended up travelling with three of the guys to Jodhpur, visited the fort, chilled out in the blue city.

I next headed to Bundi, a really small town in southern Rajasthan. There's mountains around the city but a strong breeze flows through, and all the little kids rush to the rooftops to fly their kites and battle it out in the air. The more daring ones will write messages to their rivals, or love letters to girls and maneuver their kites to their terraces.

I also took some art classes, here is my first attempt at Rajasthani Miniature painting on an old Indian postcard:

At this point in my trip, having visited so much of Rajasthan, one of the most touristy states, I was a bit tired of the endless calls to visit people's shops, the insane prices for westerners, and people who you thought were being friendly, but really were just after your money. When I arrived in Jaipur, I was pissed off and tired, and the touts and rickshaw drivers didn't help. Then I met Amir and his friends Jeff and Faris, who saw I was a bit lost and invited me to stay at Jeff's place. They bought me food, drove me round town (through tiny backstreets and alleys) on motorbike, and were just genereally amazing. We played cards and smoked beedies into the night, and there was a rule of no saying "thank you" or "sorry", which I've heard before amongst dost (friends) here.

Next day Jeff and I headed to a mall to get some coffee, and this "cool" guy started chattin to me. He was dressed in very western styles, mid 30s, and speaking loudly in English. Once he had studied me a little he called his friend Ricky, who came over, sporting expensive rings and clothes, and then suggested we go to somewhere quieter to chat. Me and Jeff tought "free drink, why not" and we headed up. Next, Ricky outlined a business opportunity for me: to purchase (on paper, not for real) his collection of gems and jewels (they own a business in this field) and fly them over to Australia. Once in Sydney, my job would be to deliver the goods to his contacts there. They were willing to pay for my flights, hotels, a minimum 4000 USD pay, and change my Visa status so that I could come back to India. They assured me they found a loophole in the law, but it sounds like smuggling to me, some mafia shiz.

Anyway I've booked my flights to Sydney for next Monday. JOKING I'm planning on going to Agra tonight, have a quick peek at the Taj Mahal tomorrow, then head into Maddya Pradesh, and hopefully I will be writing about Music next time, as I'll be visiting the Tansen Music Festival in Gwalior.

Soundtrack to my trip at the moment: Patti Smith - Horses.