Dark Canyon, hot-as-blazes

Streets of Hong Kong

Kodagu Coffee and Hampi heat

Retired Elephants and Golden Buddhas

Down the coast of Karnataka we made our first stop in Mangalore, (nothing much to say about the place except for one impressive frescoed Catholic church painted by one man in 2.5 years) and then on to the hill town of Madikeri.

The first picture is of our chop job to our "guide" book, The Lonely Planet. A few things: a. the book weighs close to 3lbs, b. other than some basic how-to-get-there, orientation maps, and common tourist stops, the book is almost worthless, c. what was once a backpacker's bible, has turned into a "guide" for middle-of-the-road, generally unadventerous travelers looking for an overpriced "Indian experience," without too many challenges to their comfort zones. So we took a knife to ours and cut it down to only to bare necessities. :) Now back to our adventure....

From Mangalore to Madikeri we endured a 6+ hour bus saga over roads under major construction or in desparate need of some. Not the 3.5 hours we expected. Anywho, when we arrived in Madikeri we stayed a few days longer and planned our stay on a coffee plantation (post coming soon!).

From Madikeri we took an early bus to Kushalnagar to hang out with some elephants at Dubare Forest Reserve who had retired from their previous work in forestry. It was a lovely time and we really enjoyed getting up close to the pachyderms during their morning baths and feeding hour.

From there we hired our autorickshaw driver for most of the morning and visited a nearby Tibetan Buddhist enclave. At Namdroling Monestary they have three golden statues with the center Buddha reaching 60ft high. While there were plenty of tourist gawkers who detracted slightly from the solitude we wanted, we still found ourselves at peace meditating in such a wonderful place.

It had been a long time since we had been in a Buddhist temple but it was nice to be back in the spiritual realm once again. There is just something about Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhist monks that I feel calm and centered when in their presence. Although we didn't have time, it would undoubtedly be quite a treat to attend one of their ceremonies at the temple. Perhaps next time...

Leaving Kushalnagar, we caught some buses heading south for our stay at Honey Valley Estate's coffee plantation in the Kodagu hills. We were looking forward to some good fresh ground brew...

Goan Beach Bums

So it has been quite a stretch since our last post. We have no real excuses except for being bums, beach bums that is.

We had planned to do a three week tour of the Indian state, Rajastan, back in January followed by a flight south to Kerala; but after freezing our toes off in Amritsar and having a little personal meltdown in the process, we cut short the desert and took an earlier flight to Goa.

Goa is a small state, probably not much over 100 miles long on the Arabian sea. It was a former Portuguese colony, so it not unusual to meet Indians with Spanish sounding names such as Armando, Rosario, or Valeriano. Additionally it is a predominantly Catholic state, so meat and alcohol are back on the menus.

We were looking for some beach time and Amalia was especially looking forward to lazing by the sea, so after a week hanging out in a beach hut, we found a small one room apartment just off the beach with a stove and refrigerator and decided to rent it for a month.

Most of Goa is overrun by tourists, predominantly of British, Russian and German origin, but we were lucky to find Agonda (thanks Amber & Kurt) in southern Goa, which was laid back and not overly commercialized.

For the first three weeks we simply hung out, practiced our yoga, drew, ate lots of yummy papaya, tried to brew the perfect cup of masala chai, read, played chess, and of course spent lots of time on the beach. It was a great time to be by ourselves and try to understand and integrate the lessons we had learned in Rishikesh. Long conversations, deep pondering and shared intimacy made for a wonderful and insightful time.

Nearing the end of our stay we reconnected with our friend, Mr. Cycle Strongman Chris Roach, who we had met earlier in Nepal on the Annapurna trek. He was taking a small break from the northern winter with his lovely Spanish girlfriend, Amanda. After a few days we were joined by a lovely German biking duo, Patrick and Peggy, who were/ are cycling around India for a month or two.

We had a blast doing yoga on the beach in the morning followed by scrumptious breakfasts on our back patio, beach volleyball in late afternoon, sundowners and g&t's over wonderful sunsets, and epic dinners back at our place. Again and again I am amazed and convinced at how the cycling crowd simply gels together and how many common interests and ideas we share. Everyone got along splendidly and it added a wonderful finish to to our Agonda beach bum days.

All said, we found that five weeks on the beach was our limit and amazingly Amalia was the first to get cabin fever, so after many days of debate we made plans to head south and do up Karnataka. As we headed out of Goa, we made a two night stopover at Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary for some birdwatching and peace and quiet. Enjoy the pictures!