Burn out

The crew had set up camp on a stretch of beach, this was one of our first opportunities to sleep in such a beautiful surrounding. The ocean lapping in front of us and behind us we were shaded by dense palm groves. The best about the camp was that it was a desolate piece of coastline, just a little village a few km away, for the rest it was just us and nature.
The dusk was drawing closer, the evening on shore breeze had picked up, providing the fishermen with their natural power to sail home with their days catch. We were just settling down for our evening meal. Our tents were up and we ready to bid the day fare well. I stretched back and just absorbed the beauty around me. Twisting my tired sore feet into the cold sand, stretching my body back releasing the stiffness and pain in my mussels as I slowly wound down after the days run and my body began let the tiredness slowly switch off my mind and invite in the sleep.

Bombay

Call it Mumbai or Bombay; it’s a city that has no time to sleep. A massive mega city, some was planned and build , but the rest just evolved, sprawling over about 70km of islands and mangrove swamp. It has a population of 22 million but was only build to sustain a population of about 4 million. It expansion has been so rapid, that it has been impossible for the building of the infrastructure to keep up. If you want to get anywhere in the day you have to leave by 7-30 in the morning as by 10 the city has hit near gridlock and to travel a mere 30 km could take 4 hours. A city with mega slums which have been build in layers, one community above the other. These are home to some of India’s poorest people, but they are also neighbours to some of the richest. There is also a population of street people who have no home, but live from morning to night on the street, eating, sleeping and foraging off it. There is also a unique population of cattle who have never in their lives grazed in an open field, but live of the streets, fed by the inhabitants of the city.

Goa. The happening spot.

This is India’s equivalent of Mauritius except there is no French influence; this area has the architectural and culinary tastes of Portugal. A small province nestled in palm groves, interleafed with rice paddies and rolling hills of natural jungle. Small bays are fed by massive river estuaries. Little fishing villages are dotted all along the coastline. Goa has a vibe that is found no where else in India. Rave and dance are a huge part of the culture here as well as the birth of the new rave/dance crazy that is about to hit the rest of the globe, “Sunburn” the newest thing in high tech party.

Gun runners

There was about 10 km to go and we were going to call it a day, as we had the drive back to Mumbai for our few days of media interviews. Nick and Ramveer the driver were looking for a place that we could leave our steel trunks of gear that were always on the roof of the van, as they always cause problems with officials at check points. I was giving the last few km a real push with Andrew, we were running under 5mins a km as we km it was now a good rest period that lay ahead.

The cow finally looses it

I have been watching the cow with much interest over the past few months. I must admit I still do have a few unanswered questions, but there is one thing that does stand out with this sacred beast. It is so chilled. There is absolutely nothing that manages to fluster a cow. From quietly walking through the manic traffic of Bombay or crossing an intergalactic 6 lane freeway with trucks and busses flying past hooters blaring the chilled beast will still just wall along the freeway grazing on the odd plastic bag or carton. There are even those down south who just walk in to shops, especially bakeries and just help themselves to a bread roll as the shop keeper goes ballistic trying to chase the cow out. No, not until he has had his roll, he stands firm.