Beach, ships and cheap beer.., 12.10.03

Hello Everybody

So, after some interesting days in Morbi, including a visit at the Durga (a Festival Site where they celebrate some dancing called Nuvratri) and a lot of Hollywood (not Bollywood) films in my Hotelroom, my Bike was fianally ready to hit the road again.

I was intending to see the last asian Lions in their sanctuary, but when I arrived there, I discovered, that the park was closed to give them a rest from the curious visitors, so I went directly to Diu, in the south of the Peninsula, a former portuguese colony situated on an island, surrounded with beautiful beaches and a inviting arabian see... and, cause Diu does not belong to Gujarat, beer and all other spirits are here available for only a few Rupees (1 bottle of Beer for Rs 30), so it is a bit like Mallorca in Gujarat...

So I enjoyed a holiday within my holiday and spent some days with hanging on the beach and bodysurfing in the waves, and drinking beer in the evening with some other travellers, which was a nice change in conversation compared to the former weeks, where I havent seen any non Indian person and hardly anyone who could speek english...

One night we went to the beach and were setting up a big fire, the remainings where still smoking on the next day when we came back to swim...

But after some days this beach life gets boring, so I went to Bhavnagar to try to catch a glimps of Alang, the worlds biggest ship breaking yard, but they charge you 75 Dollars and it takes about 3 days to get the permit from a city 200 km away, so I just went there without any permit, and tried to smuggle myself in, but the workers where afraid of the police and only one wanted to help me, to take me on a side road to the site, but it didnt work, so I drove by myself to the other side over some small streets through the fields and got finally a basic view of the ships, there where some farmers around which showed me the best spots to get a good view...and I had a little adventure, and the exitement of not getting caugh, so I was leaving in a good mood

On the way back the street was lined with shops who are selling the remains of the ships, like lifeboats, Diesel Engines, ropes, toilets and everything imaginable which could come from a ship....

Anyway, tomorrow I will leave, and head towards Ajanta, a world heritage site with famous buddhist cave temples, nearby are also the Ellora caves, a similar thing, but with Hindu and Jain Teples in it. So I wont go to Bombay, cause time is running, and I will fly back from Bombay, so I will see It just before I leave.

After the cave temples I will head to Hampi in Karnataka, in this Village are the remains of the Capital of an ancient Hindu Empire...

and then will be already November, and my holiday will come to an end, so I will go for the rest of the time to Goa (before putting me and my bike on a train back to Delhi), for going to Kerala and Tamil Nadu there is unfortunately no time left, but one should always leave some nice places for the next time...

Martin

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