Back in action

I've been waiting to get to a computer where i could upload some photos but having tried a few times i've given up. This is a shame because i have some pictures of me after i went to a barber in Pokhara after the trek and got him to shave off my 3 week beard and also cut my hair as short as possible with a rusty pair of scissors, turns out that was pretty short. Also got a back and shoulder massage while i was there which is nice. We left Pokhara and got a local bus to the border town of Sunauli, this town is only there as a border town i think, it lies in both Nepal and India and it's a real dive. We stayed in Hotel Deep because i thought we should be trying to save money, it was terrible. Next day we walked across the border back into India and got a bus to Varanasi. The roads were awful and the bus broke down in some random town for a few hours, we didn't get to Varanasi until 11pm and some dodgy rickshaw man led us through the old winding streets to our hotel.

Varanasi is an awesome place, down by the river there is heaps of action and the old streets are like a maze. It's really mad and busy though and after 2 days we decided to head south. Our friends Paschal and Laila were in Mysore in South India so we decided to head there, the options were 55 hours on a train via Chennai or we could fly for twice the price. We decided to take the flight via Delhi and Hyderabad to Bangalore. We had a day in Bangalore before our bus left for Mysore, this was cool because Bangalore is the only place i've been in India that has anything almost western and it was nice to have some normality for a day. We got the bus to Mysore and arrived in the evening and met up with the guys. Mysore is the home of ashtanga yoga so we found a yoga place and decided to check it out. A tiny Indian man led the class and bascially beat the crap out of us for and hour and a half. It seemed everyone else in the class had been doing yoga for years and went to Mysore for several months for serious practice so we felt a little out of place. We ended up staying the in an old hospital around the corner from the yoga place, basic but cheap. The yoga place did great food so that was good. I decided to do a beginners course in the tabla while i was there for some reason. This was 10 lessons and was cool ahough i looked like a real hippy traveller with no hair and a set of Indian drums. We ended up staying in Mysore for about 9 days doing yoga before we'd had enough.

All of that yoga relaxation and chilling disappeared as soon as we had to try and get a bus ticket. The station there is mad and we decided it would be easier to get a train ticket and head back to Bangalore before heading on to Hampi. Train station is even crazier, people trying to jump on the train while it was still going. We ended up riding in first class with a second class ticket, the ticket inspector bascially charged us half of the upgrade fee and just kept the money himself, i guess that's a win win situation.

Back in Bangalore for the night and Diwali festival has started, Lonely Planet says it's one of the happiest festivals of the year. This is probably true but not if you are trying to get transport out of Bangalore, all trains and buses were full for 2 days but this is not very clear, they still sell you tickets and tell you to go and see someone else and apply for the emergency allocation. Possibly 2 of the most stressful days ever followed while we were stuck in bangalore, we eventually found the government tourist office and they sold us 2 bus tickets to Hampi. The time in Bangalore wasn't a complete waste, Mei managed to spend lots of time shopping and she assures me the jeans she bought are much cheaper than they would be in London or Sydney.

Hampi, after an overnight bus ride we arrived in the small town, famous for it's ruined temples and chilled out style. It's definitely cool and chilled out and the temples are better than i imagined, they're spread out for miles around the town and the landscape is covered in massive boulders. We discovered the mango tree restaurant which is along the river under a huge tree with great food. Only problem we've had here was yesterday morning i decided to go for a run, i haven't run for ages so though i might manage to if i went down the river to the quiet roads down there. I went out early in the morning and walked past the town out into the quiet, before i had a chance to start running a scary dog covered in scars and with a spiked collar started barking at me and then followed me down the road. It kept getting closer and i was pretty scared because no one was around, i picked up a rock amd a stick and it eventually left me alone. A bit further on i started running and straight away i saw a dog running toward me from the other direction, i turned and ran back and it stopped following. The 3 other dogs started barking and running towards me, these ones came right up to me and one started clawing my legs and biting me. I kept trying to walk past them but this dog kept biting me, only softly, i think it was playing but all i could think of was rabies. Eventually all 3 of them turned on each other and i took off back to town. I had a few red marks on me but no actual broken skin. I was a bit worried though so we got a rickshaw to the nearest doctor and he checked it out and said there was no broken skin so i would be fine.

Anyway, head back to Bangalore on the overnight bus today and then off to Bangkok via Delhi on Saturday. We have discovered there is an Octoberfest in Bangalore starting on Friday, sounds funny, i can't imagine seeing a field full of Indians drinking litres of beer.

Bye