Goa - First Reactions

Unlike most of India, Goa is a former Portuguese colony, which is evident mostly in the architecture in the region's cultural center, Panjim.
Of course, I wouldn't know anything about that, because I'm sticking to the beaches.
During Christmas Goa attracts the young and beautiful from Western Europe and Russia for a weeks' or even months' long R+R. Right now it is the shoulder season, being between the Christmas high season and the monsoon (dead) season, during which the beaches are instead packed with leathery skinned long term retirees. There are just a few backpackers such as myself.
Goa is a state composed of many interior towns and "beach cities". So, Anjuna, Baga, Calangut, Vagator, etc. would be equivalent to LA's Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Long Beach, except with shorter distances between and a minimum of development. Also like LA, each beach town here has its own character. Some towns are more for serenity, peace and quiet, and others are a raver's dream. I'm staying in Baga, which is somewhere in between these two extremes. To get around, I've rented a motor scooter after having earlier rented one in Pune on which to practice. (I rented my first scooter in Bali last year and loved it). I woudn't ride a motorcycle in any major city, but in the small places you can get away with it safely.
This reminds me to mention some important advice to any would-be travelers out there - get an international driver's permit (IDP) before you go! It's quick and easy to pick up at the local AAA, and you never know when it will come in handy along your journey. A lot of piece of mind comes from knowing you're driving legally, so you can focus on driving safely and not looking out for cops. I recommend laminating the IDP, as it's too easy for the thing to get wet and damaged around here (this is first hand experience).
Goa is not an expensive place to live in. The dollar/euro/pound go very far here, and the result of course is in the number and intensity of touts and vendors announcing their services or wares.
I haven't figured out where the downward price pressure comes from around here, except for the vast number of year-round Goa retirees and "lifers" who have to make fixed nest eggs
stretch as far as possible over a long period of time. Otherwise I think all kinds of prices throughout Goa could be justifiably at least double their current value if the consumers were strictly folks on holiday.
Speaking of the touts, it's disheartening to see kids selling items (jewelry, refreshments) on the beach during the day when you know they should be in school. Education is not a universal right/requirement in India. I'm told a rough cost for basic schooling is 40 rupees a month. This is about $1 US. The kids probably make ten times that in profit per day selling wares. It's hard to have to ignore them, but until I learn otherwise I think ignoring is the most appropriate response, just like with everyone else trying to get your attention with the oft repeated words, "Hallo!", "Baba! (friend)", and "'where from?". Regarding the last, as far as price negotiations are concerned, I'm from Russia. Anyways, no one seems to be able to pick out an American accent around here, probably because there aren't any Americans around in the first place. No shortage of British, continental Western European, and yes, Russians.
I'm targeting about one and a half weeks exploring Goa, a place I've wanted to visit since seeing the film "Bourne Supremacy" years ago. Remember the opening chase sequence? Took place here. Irrespective of where it was shot, they certainly got the look and feel of the place down.

Taxi Drivers Are Out to Screw

Still in Pune, even though I've been strongly tempted by a Bombay buddy's lobbying to meet up with him in Goa. Goa's beaches represent the party capital of India. The day I go there, and it's coming soon I promise, expect infrequent posts. Goa is twelve hours away by bus, only a few hours away by plane. So naturally I would fly, except Pune's airport is closed for these two weeks for runway renovations. So I've got a sleeper bus trip coming up.
Speaking of transportation, I'll talk about taxis. Autorickshaws and taxis are everywhere in Indian cities. There must be millions of them. And each and every one of them will lie to your face about the fare. The more honest among them will try to arrange an excessively expensive fare relative to the government-mandated rate before the journey begins.
[ The power just went out, and everyone left the internet cafe I was in. I thought I lost the post up to this point, but blogger autosaves! I plugged in my phone to my laptop (whose battery is running out of power - are you noticing a theme here along with the last post?) and I'm back to finish things. ]
To pick up from where I left off: I can understand that the fixed rate may not be keeping up with free market pressures, but it sure feels like it's "pick on the foreigner" day everyday here. To illustrate, while in Bombay late at night I was riding from Bandra (chichi nightlife center) to Colaba (tourist center). I asked the driver for the card to translate the meter reading to government-mandated cost. He swore up and down he didn't have it. I said no problem, I'll just calculate it, having memorized the daytime (less expensive) transfer function (mostly linear). I counted out the cash and prepared to go. However, my result was 25% less than the government-mandated "after midnight" rate. All of the sudden the driver manages to produce the fare translation card from the glove compartment that calls out the midnight rate. I told him what a liar he was, smirked to myself, and paid the midnight rate minus a bit to disincentive in the future. He argued, but I couldn't care less and left. I used to hate the post-ride exchanges, but they're getting fun now.

Power out in Pune

In Pune, and the power's out - or at least a fuse is blown / circuit breaker tripped on my floor of the guesthouse, since everyone else seems to have power. Add to that I have only one bar on my cell phone, so I think I'll have a very pretty cell-phone sized brick to carry around with me tomorrow morning. This also means I have one bar's worth of time to get this post out. Let's see if I can make it.
Pune is an important IT hub for India - all the majors are here, Infosys, Patni, and a dozen other outsourcing firms. Try googling Infosys and Pune, and you'll see some interesting architecture in that company's IT park here.
I mentioned earlier that India was pretty hard on the senses - Thankfully Pune by contrast is quite livable, boasting a much more even dist

ribution of wealth and quality of life than Mumbai. There is a well known ashram (like a temple+school) called Osho Ashram. It caters particularly to foreigners. Its late leader was known as a "sex guru", touting tantric sex as a key to enlightenment. The members all dress in maroon robes by day, and white robes by night. I toured the ashram this morning (no tantric sex), and they have all kinds of courses on different kinds of meditation. The grounds are beautiful and relaxing, and if the whole cult aspect of things didn't bug me, it might be cool to learn/participate in some Tai Chi.
I think I'll hold out for another cult, or as a few people close to me suggested, start my own! ;)

The next Shah Rukh Khan?

On Wednesday I took my shot at stardom by being in a Bollywood movie. I was an extra! The scene was a colorful Indian wedding, and the star was crashing it to get the groom she loves. There were a lot of foreigners there from all over the world. It was excessively sunny and there was a lot of downtime, which allowed me to get to know all of the other foreign and local extras!

Local casting crews like to get fair skinned extras from the touristy area of Bombay for movies where the location requires it. I made 500 rupees - over three times the average daily income of a mumbaiker of 135 Rs (of course, there are a lot of questions you could ask about how this number was generated). This remuneration paid for my (decent) dinner that night, which should tell you something about the aforementioned average income. Don't tell the Indian government that I violated the terms of my non-work visa.

Bombay

Greetings all. Have finally managed to set aside some hours in a Bombay internet cafe for setting up the blog. While it's true that one of the first things I did when I arrived in India was to get set up with a local phone plan and Internet connection via the mobile phone, the connection is slow, similar to modems, and makes blog provider research, registration, etc. a rather painful process. I'll try and backdate posts to cover past experiences in more detail.

Few things to get started - this is an anonymous unsearchable blog, so if you have the URL you probably know me or someone closely familiar with me. Even so, I'm paranoid and not ready to open my identity up to the whole online world. So, if you want to post comments, you should feel welcome, and I will request that you not address me by name. I would even suggest that your own handle (name) for your comments be anonymous as well, but that's up to you. If you lapse, it's ok, but I'll have to remove the comment, so don't be offended. Also, I'll state that final editorial control over whether comments are kept or removed rests with yours truly. There's always email . . .Lastly, you should feel free to pass the URL to familiar interested folks. (Don't worry, the content will be commensurate!)

Mumbai and Bombay are the same thing, and locals use the words interchangeably. I've picked up this bad habit. I've been in Mumbai for a week and a half, after having spent a week in Malaysia. In a few days I'm headed to Pune, which is a three hour train trip away. Of travel interest I've seen the Gateway to India (see photo) and Elephanta Island, which contains 1500 year old carvings of Shiva. Elephanta is to mumbaikers (people from Mumbai) like Alcatraz is to San Franciscans -- locals have never been there. Also saw the Federal Reserve Bank of India's coin museum, which chronicles the history of money in India.

Meeting lots of backpackers and locals on the ground. Everyone has their own itinerary, so it's challenging to be in the same place as another for more than a few days. Been staying in a simple hostel. Cold showers and shared toilets are the norm. I'm keeping a running tally of the number of times I get sick from food ("Delhi Belly"), and the count is up to 1 for now. I'm taking the malaria antibiotics religiously now in the hope of getting a protective effect from the food borne illnesses. Doxycycline is so strong that I have to be careful when/how I take it, or I'll get sick from the medicine instead of the illness. They should sell pepto-bismol here. If any of you decide to up and fly out to meet me, go ahead and bring a few bottles or ten.

OK, I have to get ready to go - It is Friday night after all, and Bombay has a pretty serious night scene, which is one thing I'll miss about the city when I leave for other parts. This has been a fairly superficial post, but you have to start somewhere, right? I hope that future posts will have more depth and introspection. In the absence of said depth, I'll post a link to a funny past Slate article that has summed things up pretty well so far. It doesn't speak for me, but I do share some reactions with the author.

http://www.slate.com/id/2107063/entry/2107071/

For those among you of subcontinental origin, don't be offended that it's taking time for the place to grow on me. There is plenty to see still!

I'm not sure yet how often you ought to be able to expect updates, I'm still figuring out the rhythm of doing this. Maybe we'll even get a few images up too ;)

Hope that all are well!