I met a French guy once in China and refused to chat with me in French, even if his English was terrible.

And this is exactly the reason why he wanted to speak with you in English

MEETING JOHN IN MUNNAR

Tired of Fort Kochi after spending 4 days there I decided to head to Munnar and see those beautiful tea plantations. I woke up early to take a tuctuc which dropped me at the station. As usual I arrived too early (usually I wait 1 hour but I prefer to arrive early, just in case).

All bus stands and trainI stations have these kinds of shops that were there :



Since I left the guest house early without eating any breakfast, I ordered a few 'salted indian donuts' with a chai :



At some point an orange bus arrived and an indian man told me that it was the one for Munnar, so I left the shack and walked to the bus.

A tall white guy was also waiting so we started to tchat. Scottish man from Edimburgh, let's call him Mark. He had just arrived in India and had 3 weeks to spend there.

Another dude came, smiling and very positive. Immediately the contact with this guy was excellent (let's call him John). 30ish years old, very cool man and with a very positive energy. We discussed 10 minutes until the bus driver told us all that it was time to leave.

I had booked a Volvo bus (with AC) because it was a 5 hours ride and the heat was unbearable. I took my seat and the bus started driving to the sound of some loud Bollywood music. You have to know that this will be your punishment each time you take a bus in India.

After just 10mns ride, John came to me and asked me if he could sit next to me, since there was no one occupying the seat. I replied that I would be delighted if he joined me and this is how we spent the 5 hours bus ride together.

John is a musician. He comes from the UK and was now traveling around the world too. He had just spent 3 months in Sri Lanka and has been in India for a month.

Since I was planning to go to Sri Lanka, I asked him many questions and unfortunately he confirmed to me what I had already read : the place is beautiful but tuctucs are scams and accomodations are of poor values. You have to pay 20 or 30€ for a crappy room.

Besides, entrances to parcs and sights are overpriced for tourists. As a result, he had spent a big chunk of his world tour in this country. « I should have stayed in Sri Lanka just 1 month, not 3. I spent way too much in everything. Everything is overpriced for tourists. It is very different here in India ».

His plan was to reach Australia where he would try to get both a visa and some work, and earn his living from music creating a label and composing songs. Quite a great plan actually !

We really enjoyed getting to know each other and spent those 5 hours tchating and laughing.

At some point an indian young female offered him a bunch of candies.

- I think she likes me, he said to me
-That's a possibility, I replied
-Want one ?
-Sure !

He gave me one of the candies and ate one himself.

Guys, this is the WORST candy I have ever eaten ! At first when you start to suck it, it tastes like curry. Curry is good with chicken and rice, not in a candy. Then when the candy breaks into your mouth, there is that flavour of rotten eggs which spreads into your mouth. It was HORRIBLE and after just 2 secs after we both put the candy into our mouth, we looked at each other knowing that we had been trapped.

- Dude, I don't know what kind of love made this girl offer you this ****ty candies but fore sure it is a weird way to do so ! I said

And we laughed out loud.

After almost 5 hours the bus reached my destination. My hotel was in Old Munnar.

- Where are you sleeping tonight ? I asked him
- Don't know yet !

I gave him the infos about my hotel but he had planned to look for some hotels in New Munnar. So when my bus reached Old Munnar we wished to each other the best and I left.

Getting out of the bus, I started to feel the place. After a couple of minutes, I had a pleasant surprise...

I was happy to see John coming back. Finally he has decided to try to find a place in Old Munnar and agreed to follow me to check my hotel. Eventually he booked a room there as well and our rooms were on the same floor, facing each other.

He had to walk somewhere so he left and I enjoyed this end of afternoon walking around. First very clear noticeable thing is that it was way cooler there than in Kochi, which was obvious since we were in the mountains. Old Munnar had no charm, just a road with tuctucs and some shops. Actually the interesting part of Munnar is when you walk through the tea plantations. I needed a guide because alone I didn't know where to go

The front desk employee of my hotel was a total jerk. Not only he always gave me the feeling that I was bothering him when I asked him a question about Munnar, but he was constantly switching off the Wifi. Issue is that I had booked a room with Wifi and I needed it to keep on planning my trip. He didn't give a care about it. When I asked him to switch it on – it was 10pm -, he was laying down on a couch in the lobby using his smartphone to surf on the internet, and just told me « no internet until tomorrow 6am ». Jerk. I went out and booked a room for the following day in another hotel just next to mine and also booked a trek for the next morning.

Then I went out and ate in a so so indian restaurant . While waiting for my meal I saw John with 2 guys outside, tchatting on the street. He saw me and they all came to me. We discussed a bit then agreed that I would join them after my meal. They were going in some place to drink some Chai teas.

And this is how I ended the evening until midnight with John and those 2 spanish guys. We laughed and shared our stories drinking Chai and it was great.

After we parted ways with the 2 Spanish men, John and I went back to our hotel and kept on discussing for a while before I felt that I had to sleep. John was leaving early in the morning so this time was the moment to say good bye for real. For the 1st time since I started this world travel I was sad to say goodbye to someone. John was really a nice fellow and I would have happily spent more time with him. Meh... that's part of the journey I guess.

The following morning I woke up at 4:45am to be at 6am sharp in front of the second hotel, the one where I had booked a room the previous evening. The front desk employee of my hotel was still sleeping on the floor of the hotel (???), so I packed my things and move them to the new hotel. Once done, I waited outside for the hotel's guide to come at 6am.

2 others dudes arrived to do the trek. 2 polish men. They had almost 1 month holidays to travel in India. Both in their thirties and very nice. We went along quite well during all this day. Oh yeah, the trek lasted 8 hours. 8 hours walking in the mountains.

Our guide was fantastic, he really took all the time needed to show and explain us things. We stopped for a breakfast in the mountains, then in the middle of the afternoon for a tea. When we returned to the hotel, I was exhausted. It was only 3pm but we had been walking and trekking since 6am.

To my surprise, John was getting out of the hotel.

- John ! What the heck are you doing here ? I thought that you were leaving early this morning ! I said
- Well, it took me some more time to get ready. I'm leaving now.
-Ok, happy to see you again ! Give me one moment, I've moved my things to this second hotel but still have to pay this jerk for the night.
-No need to pay Angelo, I've paid your room
-What ????
-You're genuine Angelo and I enjoyed a lot your company, so I'm very happy to buy you the room.

Guys, can you imagine how I felt ? I wanted to cry. I felt some huge emotion rising up. I was so moved ! This guys, John, had worked 1 full year in the UK to afford traveling around the world and none the less he had decided to pay my room ! I was so touched, so moved, so embarrassed !

This dude was radiating so much good energy, he was so smiling and positive and kind that it hit me on the face like an uppercut.

-John, I'm not done with you. I owe you. Anytime anywhere, you need something I'll be there, I said
-You owe me nothing Angelo. This is a gift, he replied still smling at me.

We walked together to his tuctuc. Obviously I insisted to pay the ride and I also bought some drinks and food at the closest store for his long train journey.

The tuctuc turned on the engine and started to go away. John looked at me a last time and with a big smile on his face he said in french « au revoir Angelo ! ».

I found myself alone at the side of the road, stil moved, feeling sad that he left, and still hit by this lesson of generosity and kindness.

John, as I said, I'm not done with you and one day we'll see each other again..

This is the beauty of traveling the world. You get to meet great people. People you wouldn't have ever met otherwise.

The next day I did another trekking session with the same guide and the 2 polish men. 6 hours ride this time. It was great.

Munnar is gorgeous, pictures don't give justice to this place. I've taken hundreds of pictures and I can't post them all here. So, just a few to give you a feeling of the place :


















Munnar was an awsome experience. Because of the beautiful lanscapes. Because of an incredible man that I met and hope to meet again.

After 2 days I decided to leave. I thought that things would be smooth. I was wrong.

LOST IN INDIA

Getting lost in India. Something I really didn't want todeal with. Meh, **** happens..

After a few days spent in Munnar, I considered going to Vagamon. I asked to my guide in Munnar how to get there. He told me that I would have to take a bus to Nedumkandam, then another one to Ramakkalmedu where I could spend one night since this city was "nice and interesting". The following morning there would be a bus for Vagamon.

He dropped me to the bus station and I waited for 1 hour. It was 3pm and in the morning I had walked for 7 hours in the mountains. So, no need to tell that I was quite tired..

The bus arrived and 2 hours later I was in Nedumkandam where I had to catch the 2nd bus to Ramakkalmedu. After another hour waiting, the bus arrived.

Unlike Europe you don't have any sign with the name of the bus station, so either you know when to get out of the bus or you have to ask to someone. This is what I did. Unfortunately the person I asked some help tricked me and when I got out of the bus I realized that I was in the middle of nowhere. It was just a road with nothing around.

It was 7pm, and I was alone and lost.

I knew that freaking out was useless. I needed to stay calm and to think with a clear mind. I was on a road so at some point someone would come. A road without drivers is not a road, right ?

Less than 10 minutes later, a man driving a bike arrived. I waved my hand with my best smile and he stopped. I asked him whether I was in Nedumkandam and of course he replied that I wasn't.

-This city is 5 miles away from here, he said
-5 miles away ?? Well, looks like someone gave me some wrong informations. It's quite far from here and it's getting late now, I replied
-No problem, get on the bike !
-Nice thanks !

Less than 10 minutes later we arrived in Ramakkalmedu.

Good news is that I had reached my destination, the famous "nice city" where I would spend one night before catching the bus to Vagamon the following morning.

Bad news is that Ramakkalmedu wasn't at all as described. It was just a road with 2 shacks on each side. Nothing more. Again, I was finding mysef in some no man's land :


what a lovely place to spend some holidays !

It was almost 8pm, I had been traveling for hours, I was hungry, lost, alone, had nowhere to sleep, didn't know how to reach Vagamon, and no one there talked English.

Besides, there was no bus stop, no tuctuc, no taxi, I was stucked in this place and had no clue about how to get out.

One shopkeeper came and in some very bad English proposed me to rent a room for 800 Rs. Not only this was overpriced, but it wouldn't resolve my issue : the following morning I would still be stucked there with no idea about how to get out and reach Vagamon. Therefore, renting his room wasn't an option.

Again, it would have been easy to freak out or get pissed. But what for ? How could it help me ? I remained calm, quite confident that life would send me a sign, some help, something.

But for now I had to drink something. It was a good 91°F inspite of the late hour. The shopkeeper was insisting that I rent his room. I just told him :

- Sir, I don't think I'm gonna rent your room, but I wil be very happy to buy you this wonderful cold Pepsi !

He didn't find it amusing and mumbled something while giving me the drink.

I looked around still trying to find a way to get out of this place. Then I saw a cop talking on the phone.


Ponch from "Chips"

Five minutes later, surprised to see a westerner in his town, he came to me.

- What are you doing here ? he asked

I explained him the full situation and that I needed to reach Vagamon. I had been told that I could catch a bus from here.

- There is no bus here. You can catch a bus to Vagamon in Thookupalam.
- Where is it ? I asked, ready for the bad news
- 6 miles away from here.

Now I had to find a way to go to Thookupalam.

- 6 miles away ? Not that close ! I replied
- Where are you going to sleep tonight ?
- Probably on the road. Unfortunately it is late and I am too tired to walk to Thookupalam right now.

He looked at me for maybe 10 seconds then told me :

- Ok come, I have my car, I will drop you there. Tomorrow morning you will have many buses to Vagamon
- Thanks a lot, that's really nice of you.

We got along quite well during the ride and he asked me many questions about me, why I was traveling in India, if I was married or had children etc. I also asked him many questions about India and Hinduism, and he was very happy to provide some insights to someone showing some interest to both his country and religion.

We arrived to Thookupalam but there was just 2 hotels and he wasn't sure I would find a room for the night.

As about the buses to Vagamon he then told me that they were coming there from time to time only. In short, good news is that I had found a way to get out of Ramakkalmedu, bad news is that I was now in another city but with probably no bus to reach Vagamon.

Seemed like my struggle would never end. It was more than 8:30pm now, still had no place to sleep and no idea about how to reach Vagamon.

Then an old indian shop keeper who was around arrived and asked to the cop the reason of my presence there. The cop explained him the situation.

The shopkeeper then looked at me and talked to me in Hindi. At some point he repeated "Kattappana". I looked at the cop, silently asking him for some translation.

- Yes, he is right. You can also go to Kattapana and from there you will get a bus to Vagamon.
- How can I go to Kattapana ? I asked, ready for another not so good answer.
- By bus.
- Tomorrow ?
- No, now, he replied checking at the clock.

A bus arrived. Timing couldn't have been more perfect, it was a true miracle !

The cop went talking to the bus driver, and then told me to get on the bus. In less than 1 hour I would be in Kattapana.

I thanked him warmly for his help and got into the bus. I was the only westerner with no one besides me :



Then some indians got into the bus, all staring at me. Not in some evil way, just because they were curious.

45 minutes later I reached my destination. I was in Kattapana. It was almost 9pm and now I still had to find both a place to spend the night and a restaurant to eat. Since it was a little town, many shops were closed and I couldn't find any hotel.



I saw a man in uniform, (another cop ?). I asked him where I could find a cheap hotel and without saying a word he just pointed his finger in one direction. I thanked him and walked there. After 5 minutes I stumbled across a sign "lodges".

The door was open and a young man was there, standing up behind the counter and talking to another indian. I asked if there was any room available and he replied that I could spend a night there for 350 roupies. It was a great deal and at last I had found a place to spend the night so I paid for the room.

Noting fancy but more than enough, and at least I wouldn't have to sleep on the street :



After dropping my things, I looked for a place to eat and found a nice restaurant full of locals :



I ate some nice indian food there :



Long story short, I slept like a baby. The room was very simple, smelled curry and others spices, I could hear all the noise from the street and the corridor, but it was fun !

The following morning I woke up very early, drank some Chai teas with some others locals there as well :



Then I took the bus. 3 hours later I was on the patio of my hotel room looking at the mountains :



Stories like this one are very common amongst travelers. You get lost, it's night time, you're tired, hungry, alone, don't know where you are, where to go, where you're gonna sleep.

I shared this little anecdote to show you that even when a situation is bad, it is never fully bad. There is always a solution.

Being lost at night in India could seem scary but keeping a positive attitude goes a long way. Besides, it is also part of the journey.

Wanting to have control over everything is a waste of both energy and time. You have to accept that sometimes, things won't go as planned. What you have to do then is just go with the flow and let go. This is also where you can meet great people !

Never forget that we're never alone when traveling and as long as we remain confident and open to the people around, we'll be just fine.

Every person you meet in life is a possible opportunity, a possible gate keeper holding a key to open a door.

This is what this little story taught me.

Just read the whole lot .... i have the up most respect for you and wish you well in your journey.

I wanted to do this kind of thing 20 years ago and never got round to doing it before responsibilities kicked in.

Well done you.

"Unfortunately the person I asked some help tricked me and when I got out of the bus I realized that I was in the middle of nowhere."

That is exactly why I never ever would travel to India again unless I have to. You were really lucky. The chances get robbed and killed in this situation are really high.

edit: for me it is interesting how different the perception of the same situation can be. I have seen exactly this India, that you described here. People who try to trick you, con you and try to get every possible dollar from you. I have hated every single of such encounters. You seem to find something positive in it.

lol no it isn't. The murder rate in India is lower than the US.

Yes, it is. Yours, for example, seems ridiculous.

I don't know how the stats are. I mean murder and robbery rates of white western. I know only that where I have been (2 hours drive from Muri) my indian driver refused to drive in the night, because people layed down on the road to stop the car and when cars stopped people have been robbed and also killed. I was prohibited to leave the construction site on my own, because white female without a male was basically an invitation for rape. This are not my words, but rules and explanations that were given to me by indian workers.

And about "ridiculous"...... You are free to have your opinion about my perception.

Are you from India?

I am not from India, but have spent time there. India's crime rates are very low across the board, and its rape rates in particular are considerably lower than most European countries.

It's a shame you were led to believe such ridiculous things, and combined with your culture shock it prevented you from experiencing and appreciating the country as it truly is.

Very enjoyable read.

One person told him to get off the bus when he shouldn't have. This may have been a setup for a robbery, or it may have just been a practical joke.

Then another person came along on a bike and gave him a free ride into town.

Then another person gave him a free ride to the next town.

Then another person helped him figure out how to reach his destination.

Then another person offered him a great rate on a room.




It is indeed interesting to see the different perceptions on what happened. You see a reason to never ever go to India. I see demonstrated proof that most Indians are kind and helpful to foreigners.

Are there lots of scams targeted at tourists in India? Without a doubt. Is the aggressive nature of some touts and shopkeepers different from what many foreigners are used to in their home countries? Certainly. Does this mean that all of India is bad and should be avoided? Absolutely not.

I completely agree with your last paragraph.

But before you forgot to mention the shop keeper, who tried to overcharge him about 5 times and was mumbling not so nice things, when he didn't take the room. You forgot to mention that the guy who gave him a car ride was policeman, who didn't need another western hurt in his area. You forgot to mention the very first guy who described this village as a nice city, where you can spend a night. You forget to mention that 300 for a night is a pretty normal rate, not a great one. You forget to say that the guy, who helped him to figure out his destination, was answering to the policeman. Without policeman, he would never get this info. Basically without the policeman, OP would be in trouble and in the best case would end-up paying 3 to 5 times as much as normal for his way out of trouble.

But again. I agree with your last paragraph. I think it is realistic.

Yes, often times economically struggling people in economically struggling countries will try to take advantage of wealthy western tourists. Especially when a significant portion of those tourists (not necessarily OP) consider that lack of wealth to be part of the appeal of visiting, treating the country as a challenge or novelty and its residents as animals in a zoo, their culture to be gawked at and marveled over like poverty is something exotic and exciting.

And sometimes some of those tourists get angry that they aren't being treated like royalty by those ungrateful colonial peasants, thinking the locals should be overflowing with hospitality because a White Person has deigned to visit.

Just to add, it also may have been an honest mistake. You're going to get wrong directions in any country pretty frequently, because many people suck at giving directions.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opini...rticle6931835/

NANANANA! Don't even start me on that! I was not a tourist. I was working my ass off, harder than most of the indian guys around me were. I was working on a construction site with 12 hours shifts without weekends or so. All indians around me have seen that. My cook and my driver still tried to take every opportunity to take advantage of me. And don't you dare to roll your eyes at me having a cook and a driver! If I could I would so let them go and do everything myself.

The thing is, that I could never trust no one. There is certainly a certain percentage of locals that are trustworthy, but when you have been scammed to many times, trust just disappears. You have to have you guards constantly up.

Did any of those things not make you considerably more wealthy than the Indians around you? What do you suppose your pay ratio was to theirs? You were probably earning more in a week than they did in a year.

That is not the question/problem. The question is trust. My cook stole on the regular basis everything he could. If I would not have my guards high and catch him from time to time red handed, he would have stolen more. And he didn't get, that if I had the feeling that I could trust him, he would have in tips significantly more than he had stolen.

It is really not a question of me getting poor from all this scamming and stealing. It is a question of me being able to let my guards down. And of them not having any line. Basically everything I did let locals around me take, they have taken.

And about pay ratios..... I think it could be right that I have earned in a week more than my cook in year. But don't forget the difference in the education and even more - work ethic. I worked my butt off. My cook definitely didn't. He used EVERY possibility to avoid work. I remember we had problems at the plant and came two hours to late to the dinner. He tried to refuse to give us something to eat. Luckily the guys with me were not in the mood for such treatment after 10 hours working hard without any food.

zikzak - good point, it definitely could have just been a simple mistake. Or a communication error.

lapka - I should have included the Pepsi seller trying to get him to take the room for 800. I'm sorry you had such a horrible experience in India. People constantly trying to scam you or steal from you can really wear you down quickly, and I certainly don't fault you for feeling the way you feel.

I'm just unsuscrubing with no more words. Only thing besides all,
you are still conserned and busy as ur ******* in Varanassi. Dude nothing gonna change, it is just you/ not the place or people around you. I have so many bad words to say, Id just leave.

It's been 5 days since OP last post.

I checked Google for possible articles about dead French backpackers in India over the last week and got no results. OP might just not have easy internet access at the moment.