Hello guys !

I'm happy you're impatient to read my adventures but I'm traveling a lot and finding time to update in real time is impossible. The blog is not updated at all and I'm very far from the last article and lots of things happened since. You will get to know everything as I will keep on updating on a regular basis as I've done so far.

Some answers :

Thanks a lot. Yeah I decided to make that jump not to have any regret. But you mention having some responsbilities (maybe job or familly related ones) so congratz to you. I have no responsability so you've got more merits than I have.

Thanks, I'm happy you find the blog entertaining !

Looks like someone didn't get his morning coffee lol

AS ABOUT THE LAST ANECDOTE (being lost in India)

I never felt threatened and was very grateful to all those locals helping me.
The young fellow in the bus made me go out at a wrong stop on purpose. During the bus trip he was looking at me in some nast way, and when he told me to get out of the bus he then laughed (I was already outside the bus), and a group of young indians in the bus laughed at well. It was not a mistake.

Yeah the shopkeeper proposed me 800Rs and when I said it was too expensive then he lowered the price to 500Rs (lol) which was still too expensive.

Finding a room at 350rs was a very good price. This is NOT the standard rate for a room, at least for a reasonable accomodation without leaks, cockroaches etc. Standard is more in the 500/800 Rs range.

I keep a very good souvenir of this moment. What you remember from travels are THOSE moments where nothing goes as planned. When everything's smooth, it's just boring.

I give wrong directions all the time. I'm never going to admit I don't know something.

AWKWARD MOMENT IN ALLEPEY

Such an awkard moment in Allepey. But before getting there I stopped in Vagamon, right after being lost.

The city was not really interesting. Kind of some indian western movie like city with a main road in the center and some old and dusty shops on each sides.




damn it, where's the saloon ?!

I didn't know where I would sleep so as usual I walked around looking for an hotel.

I stumbled upon a nice one with a clean room having a patio overlooking the mountains.

Walking around Vagamon was disappointing. As I said there wasn't anything interesting there. Sights were not that close and I would need a tuctuc to bring me there. They made it impossible to rent a scooter (it would kill the tuctucs business) and I didn't want to hire a scooter so I elected to walk around the city.

I walked 9 miles and the landscapes were nice.









Alas, at the end of the day I got some new neighbours at my hotel and they were very noisy during the night.

So I chose to leave the following day. I was really tired because I had just arrived in Vagamon and being lost the previous day made me get lot of buses. But I felt that I would not rest there, plus I needed now to see others kinds of landscapes regardless how beautiful those ones were.

Vagamon is also the place where I ate with my hands for the 1st time. This indian canteen didn't have any forks&knives so I had no choice than using my hands. A group of young indians were staring at me. They were very curious to see how "the westerner" would handle this task. Since I'm left handed I ate with my sinful hand (the left one) and I could see how shocked those young indians were. Funny. Result is thatI HATED to eat with my hands. It took me 10000 years to finish my meal (not being used to eat this way) and I found it disgusting. Culture shock 1 -0 Angelo.

The next morning I woke up early and went outside to drink a Chai. At this moment a bus arrived and it was my bus for Allepey. I ran to my room to grab my stuff and luckily I came back to the bus on time.

Maybe 2 or 3 hours later, I reached Allepey.

Again, I didn't know where I would sleep. Walking around I saw a cafe advertising "free wifi". I went there, ordered a lemon juice and used their Wifi to look for an hotel. After maybe 20 minutes of researches, I decided to walk to a guesthouse which seemed quite cool.

It was very hot and walking 1 miles to reach it was painful.

Eventually I got there and saw a man in front of the house. He was the owner of the place. Luckily he had a room available. I got inside and checked it out and it was fine. But the man told me that it would get very hot at night. There was no A/C, just a fan but as the man told me it would not be enough to cool down the room.

- I have another guesthouse nearby where my rooms are cooler. I can show you.

I agreed and we went there. A big white house with many rooms available. I could feel indeed that the place was cooler so I decided to stay there.

There were 4 indians living there and working for this man and I had a real pleasure to meet them.

I enjoyed Allepey. This city has nothing spectacular, but for some reasons I really liked it to the point that I decided to stay 4 days.

Interesting city with some good vibes and a temple right at its very center :







Living there with those indians in this house, getting to know the locals in the neighbourhood and spending all those days there was great. I really enjoyed this experience. I lived in a residential area, just 10 minutes walk away from the very center of the city, living with adorable indians.

Everyday I was eating in this indian coffee house and food was both cheap and great !



Indians came to me everyday to have a tchat, to get to know me more, and it was great.

One day and while I was eating in this coffee house, a man who was eating on another table stood up and seated right in front of me to talk to me. This is how we lunched together and the guy was very interesting. I asked him many questions about Rajasthan (since he was from there) and he gave me many informations about India in general.

The only incident (if I may say so) was one night after having my dinner. I was walking back to my hotel room when some men called me. A group of 4 guys. One muscular one and 3 others. I was used to indians people talking to me in the street so when they called me I stopped walking to talk to them.

It started well with the standard questions (who are you, what's your name, where are you from etc) until I realize that 2 of them were drunk and started to get quite agitated. One in particular. He was speaking louder and louder and started to touch me several times. I remained very calm and joyful :

-Hey man, calm down ! Why are you so excited ? I said laughing (to keep a relax stance)

The dude apologized still shouting though and the others, seeing that this dude was getting very nervous started to reprimand him.

The tension started to rise up. Actually there were not mean, but the situation was like it could explode at any moment and for no reason. I was facing those men, 2 of them were really drunk and their reactions were unpredictable.

Things became even more awkward when they all insisted to know where my hotel was. I tried everytime to dodge the question but they were asking over and over. They REALLY wanted to know where I was sleeping.

-We come in your room to drink alcohol ! they said very excited
-Could be nice guys, but I'm living in a guesthouse and the owner won't let you in. What a shame !
-Ok so come with us, we're bringing you somewhere to drink.
-Maybe some other day. Don't worry you will see me everyday, I've just arrived (which wasn't true, I'd been there for 3 days already) and I'm staying for quite a while so next time we'll go and drink somewhere. But tomorrow I have to get up at 5am so I have to go to bed early tonight.

They didn't insist but still the tchat was becoming darker and darker and I could feel the tension rising up.

-What is your prefered vodka ? asked the most excited dude
-Couldn't tell. What's yours my friend ? I replied
-Do you prefer black or white one ? he said on a rough tone
- What about you ? Which one do you prefer ?
-Black !! And you !!!! he asked very excited

I asked the others men which one they did prefer and they all said black.

-Well, if you all prefer black vodka so I will drink black vodka with you then ! I said with a big smile
-Where is your hotel ? We come and we drink !
-Dude I told you, I'm not alone there, the owner won't let you in.
-So you come with us !!

Now it was no fun anymore. They started to be quite rough and I could feel that replying again that I couldn't go with them could be a reason for them to be really angry. They were not listening to me anymore, they were all focus on their idea to either come to my room and get me somewhere.

Fortunately, remaining calm, confident, and always friendly and smiling allowed me to get out of this situation.

-Guys now I really have to go, tomorrow I'm waking up early. Call me next time you see me and we will go and drink some nice black vodka !
- Take my number ! said one of those guys, which I did not to offend him.

I shook their hand but the most agitated man refused to shake mine. I responded with a big smile and went away.

3 minutes later, the most muscular one called me. He was on his bike and had followed me.

- Tell me where your room is, I'm coming !
- Man, I told you, I'm there (and I showed in the - wrong - distance where the guesthouse was), but there are the owner and 4 guys with him guarding the house.
-Ok so get on my bike we're going to drink.
-Ok let's do something, I have your number, I call you tomorrow and in the evening I will come with you.
- You call me, right ?
- Without a doubt, I really want to taste black vodka ! I replied with a big smile.

He nodded and went away.

I walked until my guesthouse stopping a couple of times just to be sure that they were not following me. All was fine.

I will never know what did they exactly want from me. Maybe they had no ill intentions. But their strange and quite agressive attitude at some point didn't gave me the will to get the answer. I was happy that I could manage this situation remaining calm and friendly. The more you're smiling the less bad things can happen. At least, this what this story tells me.

Oh and speaking about alcohol... Kerala has some very strict policy regarding it. So, I was not surprised to see plenty of men waiting for their turn in front of this shop. At 1st I wondered why so until I realized this shop was selling liquor.



As about Allepey's beach, you don't see it in those pictures but it was dirty. Another dissapointment regarding how indians do not take care of their natural beauties.





After 4 days in Allepey, I felt that I had to go in some other place.

So, one morning I woke up and booked another train ticket, ready to keep on exploring Kerala.

I have visited Sri Lanka... your images remind me a lot about it. monkeys in the hotel rooms man with gun protecting he hotel stayers etc. and in the tea fields up the top of the mountains

thanks for the memories, and good to see you're enjoying your life of travelling. if only I was in that financial situation.... I'd be doing what you're doing but i may hitch hike across to eastern europe some time and visit india via buses etc. meet new people without money and seek generosity of strangers .... i think money is mostly meaningless if you can learn to function without it.... but i would be lying if i said i wasn't semi-scared at the prospect. Maybe I'll take it slowly

anyhow, bon voyage, look forward to hearing where you're headed next

Thanks for your message !

Did you enjoy SL ? As I told in a previous article, I've been told that this place is not good value because of the expensive costs of sights and accomdations.

I'm not sure I wanna go to SL because sounds to me that it will not contrast enough with India. When I leave India I want to see complete different landscapes.

You have a great plan, do it ! Money is important even if you dont need that much to travel. But not being worried about it is a big plus indeed.

So you never call them back during the day time?

What do you think I should have done ?

yes SL was beautiful, I was there when black friday went down

where do you think you'll go next?

I think you done the right thing for your own security, but made the wrong thing if you wanted anecdote that you almost got killed

everybody knows those are the most highly prized anecdotes

I'm very fine with THIS anecdote. No need to dig deeper haha. But please people, go in risky areas in your own cities, do dumb things and come back here report

SEXY VARKALA

Leaving Allepey was not an easy decision because I felt really good there and enjoyed very much my stay. But I can't stay in a same place for too many days, something I should work on I guess.

So, I took another train for Varkala.

I had heard the best thing about this place, how beaches are awsome there and how Varkala is one of the pride of Kerala.

Tuctucs... they all wanted to charge an incredible fare to get from thetrain station to where my guesthouse was. Thought that I would never find one asking for a reasonable price. Eventually I found one but as we were almost arrived he told me that the fare would be more expensive than the price we agreed upon. Of course, he got **** from me and I paid the agreed original price. He was not happy about it but **** him, I'm not gonna let tuctucs constantly rip me off.

The owner of the guesthouse greeted me. He was a nice man. It was 7pm when I got there and I was fairly tired. He told me how to go to the beach and as soon as I had put my stuff in the bungalow I went out heading to the beach.

My bungalow btw, simple but cheap (10€) :





I'm not gonna lie to you I've been very disappointed by Varkala. Although the beach is nice, the place is just a bunker for tourists.

People criticize Goa not being India but I'll tell you what : I found Goa to be way more indian than Varkala !

You have a cliff where all the tourist shops and expensive restaurants are and from there you can see the beach you can reach taking some stairs.









I was coming from Allepey where I had been living for 4 days with indians, and generally speaking I had always skipped the tourist places to live and be with the locals. No need to tell you that being in such a touristic spot hurt a lot. When I got back to my bungalow I knew that I would leave soon.

But I couldn't leave the following day. I had taken too many trains and buses in the past few days and now I really needed to relax and rest. So, even if I didn't like the place, I decided to stay 2 or 3 days there.

Restaurants around the cliff were charging 3 to 4 times the standard indian price for meals. There was no way I would eat there. Plus I was sure that their food sucked. I walked around and found in the vicinity a familly restaurant with usual indian prices so this is the place I went to have my meals.

While having my lunch a black woman arrived and seated. Black is not really the proper term, her skin was light black to the point that I wondered whether she was from Reunion Island. It made me be curious.

-Excuse me, where are you from ? I asked her
- Hi ! I'm from the UK

She saw the surprise on my face.

- But my parents were from Jamaica.
Ok, I was plain wrong then, thought you were coming from Reunion island ! What's your name ? I asked
Why care about names ?
- Dunno, I guess this is part of the protocol when you meet someone.
- Let's not care about names. Or if you want to know it, let's say that my name is....hmm.... Belinda.
- Nice..
- Actually an awful name ! she said laughing
-I guess you're right, I would feel bad if it was mine.
-Why don't you join me ?

I stood up and we lunched together. She was a writer. 43 years old which surprised me, I would have said 35. She had been in India for 2 months and was planning to stay 3 more months there. She was in India to write a book. She was very interested by my story, me hitting the road, ready to enjoy life to its fullest after quitting everything.

At some point she tasted my food with her hands. I found it odd and quite a 'private' gesture that you don't normally do with strangers. Still, I laughed and encouraged her to keep doing it.

-Would you go to the beach with me ? she asked
-Sure thing.

We left the restaurant and reached her hotel which was just 20 seconds away from there. We agreed that I would go back to my place to grab my towel and come back to her hotel so that we could go to the beach together.

It took me a bit longer to get back there, maybe 10 minutes, so when I reached her place there was nobody. I waited 10 minutes before leaving and spent the day on my own.

That evening and while I was having dinner she appeared walking on the street. When she saw me she came to me. At that point I was tchatting with a dude from New Zealand, a traveler as well. We were sharing our experiences.

- I think that we missunderstood. I came back but you were not there, I said
-Indeed, I was waiting for you at the beach.
-Too bad !
- I'm going to a party nearby, do you want to come ? she asked
-Why not !

I finished my meal, said goodbye to the NZ guy and followed her. We arrived in a guesthouse with 3 people : a frenchman, a spanigh guy, an old english lady. Also the 2 indian young males ruling the guesthouse.

They were celebrating the departure the following morning of both the French and Spanish guys. They both were heading to Sri Lanka.

They had planned to eat and drink alcohol all night, with music and all that jazz.

The French man was 60 years old and we sympathized. He had been traveling the world for 4 years now. At this age I found this awsome.

- Life has taken off everything from me. But doing so, it allowed me to be free and travel, he said
- Don't you miss not having your own house ? I asked
- I thought so but finally not at all. My life is to visit this rocky stone (this is how he called the planet Earth). I'm walking on it and this is what my life is now. I could have bought some land in India where some of my familly is staying now but finally I changed my mind. Why have a steady place ? How boring is that ? What I love is walking on this rocky stone.

Then he told me :

-After 2 months you might feel bad. This is standard when one decides to travel the world. Don't be too scared when it happens.

The spanish guy came :

- What's your name ?
- Angelo

'Belinda' was there and then she turned to me, giving me her hand and in a smile told me :

-My name is Jamie...
- Nice to meet you Jamie. Angelo... I responded smiling at her.

During the 1st part of the evening we all drank. Well, we... they... because I didn't that much. Jamie then seated on my knees and started to act clearly as being interested. She took my hand, put her hands around my hips, these kinds of things you know.

At that point her intentions were not a mystery anymore. To be honest I was quite embarrassed because dating her had never been on my mind. I was quite distant toward all her gestures and at some point she asked me : "are you gonna kiss me tonight or not ?". Not really the question I wished she asked me. "That is a possibility" I responded and I saw on her face that this wasn't the answer she was expecting.

Her behaviour changed. She started to become authoritarian and harsh. Actually she is the kind of woman who loves to be in the center of all attention, she speaks a lot, has a very strong temper, give orders, and I guess that she is the kind of woman who scares some men.

After a while they all decided to eat.

- Ok we're gonna eat now she said to me
- I can't ! You met me at the restaurant, I've had my dinner already.
- Are you telling me that you will be unpolite and not join us to eat ??? she said on a rough tone
- You saw me at the restaurant, I've already eaten, I repeated.
- THEN EAT AGAIN ! and she left

In my book this was an order. If there is something I really hate is people giving me orders, especially women. I chose none the less to remain calm. I stood up and sat on the table but elected to eat **** ! **** dat ! If I don't wanna eat I won't and you can be the Queen of the UK, you won't make me eat, period.

They were all eating sea food with their hands and it was so gross. The smells, the noises that they were all making, oh my !

Jamie grabbed a prawn for me to eat.

- No thanks, I said

She stated at me, killing me with her eyes.

Later on she turned to me and said :

- Are you gonna keep on disappointing me ?
-That is another possibility, I responded smiling.

After dinner I went in the courtyard to smoke. She arrived and looked at me harshly then kept on walking to the gate.

-How are you feeling Jamie ? All good ? I said laughing

No answer.

- You know, it's too bad you're standing up because those chairs ar so comfy ! Ahhh.....

No answer. She was still turning her back away from me, standing up at the fence, looking I don't know what.

I took some fresh water.

- It's so damn hot now. I wished I could offer you some fresh water but you're far from me. Hold on, I'm gonna drink a bit. Ahhh... it's so refreshing... Sure you don't want some ?

No answer.

- Ugly part of the story you know is that you can't stay all night sticked to your fence. You will have to come back to me at some point..
- I HATE you ! she responded laughing and turning to me.
- I love you baby, I said

From that moment she totally changed. She became quite nutz and as sweet as a sheep. Seeing that none of her little games worked, impressed or pissed me off, she totally lost control. She couldn't stop being sticky and tender.

- Jamie, why are you protecting yourself that much, acting as a tough guy ? I asked
- I'm black Angelo. When I was a child, once I got molested because of the colour of my skin. I then grew up protecting myself fighting.
- I see..

It was now late and time to say goodbye to everyone. Jamie wanted me to wait for her which I did. After she said goodbye to everyone too, we were outside the house.

- Ok I'm coming with you at your hotel. Not a risky place but who knows. You're a lady, it's night time so...
- Thank you Angelo

We arrived to her hotel.

- Ok, have a good night Jamie. Thanks for the party, it was fun.
- Angelo, are you gonna kiss me ?

I grabbed and kissed her.

-I want to come to your bungalow... she said
- We'll see tomorrow, I will come to your place.
-No, I want to come to your bungalow now. Tomorrow I will leave Varkala.
-Will you ?
-No I don't know haha.. But I really do want to come to your place now..

I knew how it would end, and this is not something I was looking for, but after all why not ? Life was bringing me this on a plate, why turn away from it ?

-Ok, but we won't sleep together.
-No problem, I'm just coming for 1 hour, she said
- Let's go.

We hit my bungalow and smoked outside on the patio, keeping on talking about each other's life. It was something like 3am.

-I didn't come here to **** you know, she said.
- Don't worry, I don't want to **** you anyway.

Then I stood up and went into my bungalow. When I turned back, I saw her standing up right in front of me, totally naked, looking at me with a guilty face.

-9 months that I've not had sex with a man, she said..

Oh boys, what could I do ? Would I leave a poor woman naked with the risk of catching a cold ???

****

The sky was clear with many stars, the air was warm. It was 5am and we were back on my patio, both smoking (and vaping for me).

The moment we spent together was quite wild. Can you imagine how does a woman who didn't have sex for 9 months can behave ?

-Angelo, come with me
-Excuse me ?
-Join me, I have still 3 months to visit India. I want you to come with me.

I responded nothing.

-I see... she said
-You have your journey, I have mine.
- I understand. Tomorrow I want to take you somewhere to lunch.
- Sounds like a plan.

I stood up.

-Can I sleep here ?
- I told you that we wouldn't sleep together. This is a too private thing for me. Don't get offended. I'm taking you back at your hotel. It's getting real late now.
- Ok, I understand.

We walked back to her hotel and kissed each other one last time.

-Tomorrow for lunch ? she asked
-Yup.

And I went back to my bungalow.

I don't know if she came to my bungalow the next day because I didn't wait for her to come for lunch. I kept on visiting and walking so we didn't see. Did she leave ? Was she still there ? I will never know.

I spend the day wandering around as usual and the next day I paid the owner of the guesthouse and headed to the train station.

I wish you the best Jamie. Thanks for this moment, it was nice to meet you.

Fire at Kerala's Puttingal temple leaves 75 dead

That's about 5 miles from OP's last known location. Looks like he left just in time.

I've always been a lucky guy

I don't get it. What does busing around India have to do with seeing the world?

travel and live with locals and maybe you will get it. India is the 1st stop. Many countries will follow. Besides, you don't spend 1 week in India because of its size and deep culture.

ON MY WAY TO MAHABALIPURAM

After Varkala, I found myself really annoyed. There was nothing I wanted to see further in the south. Going back to the north was not possible because of the huge distances. The only thing I could do now was to cross the countryin order to reach the east coast.

I wasn't that thrilled because it would require 16,5 hours by train to get there. But I felt that I had no other choice.

When I booked the train, all classes were booked except the sleeper class. The one I DIDN'T want to book. You have no AC, peope are packed like crazy, and it is all but comfortable. For a couple of hours ride I wouldn't mind, but for 16,5 hours ? Nope !

But I had no other choice, so I booked a side lower berth but got the side upper. Bastards ! You have to be a gym world champ to climb up there or get down, plus the ceiling is so close to you when you're laying down that you have the feeling to be inside a coffin. At that point I was sure that I would die during the trip. 16,5 hours spent this way. 16,5 damn hours !

I waited 1 hour for my train to come and when it did I looked with sadness and despair the AC class compartments passing by.

The sad and ugly sleeper class compartment showed up with already 1 million indians people inside. It really made me want to puke. But hey, this is also part of the travel ! And at least it would make some good souvenirs (*hopefully*).

I got inside the train, it was damn hot, noisy and stinky. I walked till my berth and it was as painful as I imagined. It took me a little while to understand how to climb up there and once done I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. Acutally I didn't. Not one minute. I was too uncomfortable :



This IS how I did spend the whole ride. But before you say you're sorry for me, have a look at how the people were 'on the ground floor' :



Finally my luck wasn't that bad, right ?

Still, the trip was painful. 16,5 hours packed like this, with no AC, the noise, the various smells etc was not fun. At least at that time because oddly now I keep quite a good souvenir of this experience.

Not being able to sleep in such conditions, no need to tell you how in a wreck I was when I reached Chennai.

Since my plan was to go to Mahabalipuram, I had to take one bus from there. Oh, sorry, 2 buses, because from Chennai railway station there was no direct bus. I would have to first take a bus to Kelambakkam and then another to Mahabalipuram.

To make it short : 16,5 hours in a train and almost 3h in buses. I love India !

But you know what ? I made it !

As soon as I got out from the bus I found myself harrassed by tuctucs and taxi drivers but I just told them to **** off (with a big smile of course) and started to look for a place to spend the night.

I had left Kerala for good. Now I was in Tamil Nadu, a new state, a new city, exhausted but satisfied.

Enjoyed the bit where you said that Jamie chick suddenly became crazy. Dude you just met her for the first time ever earlier that day, her behavior towards you had already been crazy for a while before that point.

But a least you did **** this one, that was good. Pretty sure you could have ****ed that Mirna chick, or whatever her name was aswell. She did ask you to come to her place twice, sounded like she was DTF to me. And she was 15 years younger than you, not sure why you passed that up.

You might be right about Jamie being crazy since the beginning. At least I told that touching my food with her hands was inapropriate lol

I thought that people would ask about the other chick. You're the first one, so I'm gonna give you the end of the story.

I DID go to her hotel the following day after we met. Even had some condoms in my pocket. But she wasn't there. It was a very small guesthouse with only 4 rooms. I knocked on each door. Just one opened with a rasta guy inside. Obviously not her haha. The very next day I decided not to go, being lazy, and I left the following day.

First s3x story and the pervs from the thailand thread are starting to show up 5555

I must admit at first I tought you were going to have s3x with an Indian girl working at the French guy hotel.

Hey there lonelybox, you post in those South East Asia travel threads a lot more often than I do.

Lonelybox, you perv' !

THE GREAT MAHABALIPURAM

I was so happy to reach Mahabalipuram. My friend Aymeric advised me to go there and am so grateful for this tip.

This city has everything : the beach, and the city with so many various atmospheres.

My 1st night was in a bad guesthouse which made me feel like being in a prison. Plus, I didn't have any wifi in my room, being obliged to go downstairs in the lobby to try to catch some. I left the following day.

I spent 1 week in a room located on the rooftop of a 3 floor building, overlooking the Gulf of Bengale. Waking up and going to sleep to the sounds of the waves was pure bliss.

A quick video about the hotel room :




The owner was a very nice man and when the 1st day he proposed me a thai massage I understood that he really 'liked me'. But he felt that I was reluctant and never bothered me anymore with that.

I loved my room because of the great view and I could catch some great moments from the rooftop :








One day and while I was on the beach a man came to me. A gypsy. Actually there were many of them there. Didn't know there were any in India. We became friends. His name was 'Gypsy King' and I really enjoyed his company.

One day I bought some tea chai for him and his children, another day I gave him some cigarettes. I did it because he never asked me anything. Which was not the case of one of his fellows, a tall man, gypsy as well and constantly whining. One day I decided to buy some rice to him. This is what he wanted me to do so I called him and told him to follow me. We hit the shop and I told the shopkeeper to give him 2kgs of rice. He was not happy with that, asking me for 5kgs. I told him that I was not obliged to buy him any food and that if he didn't appreciate the gesture I could still forget about it. He didn't insist and got his 2kgs of rice for him and his familly. At that moment another gypsy arrived and asked for some rice as well. Oh boys, should I feed the entire community ?... Didn't buy anything for that guy.

I met many people during that week. Mainly locals, but also some travelers. I remember of that old man,a frenchman who had been visiting India for more than 40 years.

- Never rush when you're in India, you have to take all your time. Don't try to hurry up, never forget that the travel that you're doing is within you. You don't have to go anywhere, you are already 'inside'. And everything around you is just a mirror of yourself.

Quite a great encounter.

Another man - French - was now living in Pundicherry with his familly. He told me that he would never go back to France. I coud relate.

Locals were very nice with me and everyday we would tchat together. At first they tried to sell me things but once they understood that I was a traveler and not a tourist, they stopped bugging me and just came to me to discuss.

The food was great and I used to almost have diner in the same place. If you go there go to "Guru Hotel", you won't be disappointed :


seems like I've been caught !

The part of the city that I enjoyed the most was this residential area with houses of many colours. While the houses were not as beautiful than the ones in Goa, they were still very nice :















This city has deep spiritual roots, iIn the monuments in the city :

RANDOM TEMPLES :












VISHNU TEMPLE :







Great monuments around the city as well :

ANJUNA'S PENANCE :







5 RATHAS :







SHORE TEMPLE :







In the city itself you can also see how they do worship Ganesh, the one who removes blocks and opens doors. Many houses have his pictures at the main front door :







The city was really fun and I remember this morning while I was having breakfast, I felt someone watching me. I raised my head, and... :



I tried not to pay attention, thinking that it would leave me alone but I was wrong :



It wouldn't leave me alone ! Actually it got closer and stayed there 10 good minutes just staring at me. I admit that I freaked out a lil' bit !

Another funny thing was that hair dresser's shop. I loved how naive and childish it looked like :



Another funny encounter was this indian sculptor who insisted that I contact Apple to show them his work, especially his Ganesha working on his Mac (lol) :



Indians loved to gather in this park with HUGE stones ! I enjoyed joining them and chill out a bit :





The beach was not the greatest but it wasn't as dirty as the ones in Calicut or Kochi, and I enjoyed spending my times there.

One day I decided to go further and got lost, finding myself in some kind of no man's land. There was nobody but me :




just me...and my shadow..

I walked for a long time and it was almost the end of the afternoon. I stumbled upon this incredible scene :


Pigs ?? Really ?!?

Then I saw 2 women. I sec I thought that I was in Africa :





I kept on walking and to be in such a place with almost nobody was great :



I started to hear some noises and I saw some crowd. I walked in that direction. There was many many people there :





I kept on walking and turned back, looking at them, it was quite impressive :



I walked for maybe another 30 minutes before I hit my beach :



I asked to the hotel manager about this group of indians and he told me that they were there for a ceremony at a temple. I remembered that when I walked along this secluded beach at some point I saw it :



Then after the ceremony they just hit the beach to have fun.

As you can guess with the lenght of this article and the high number of pics, I really did love Mahabalipuram. Reason why I stayed there a full week.

After a week I felt like it was time for me to leave. Couldn't go to Pondicherry because once there I would have to wait 6 days before there was a train to go back to Chennai and I didn't want to stay there that long. There was nothing interesting further in the south, I didn't want to take some others train to go to Madurai, and I saw no point reaching Kolkotta neither, distance was too huge.

So at that point I decided that it was time for me to leave India after almost 2 months there.

Where the hell would I go now ??

China imo