Tag: Beach (Page 2 of 2)

Port Blair & Havelock Island: Welcome to Paradise

January 10, 2016 / olaf / 0 Comments

After a short flight and an even shorter taxi ride I finally arrived in Port Blair, the main gateway to the Andaman islands, more than a thousand kilometers off the coast from mainland India just 150 km close to Burma (Myanmar) India does it’s best to support the locals, lots of Bengalis who were relocated some decades ago to claim the islands for the subcontinent being a strategical outpost, politically and of course for military reasons. Although people from all over India can be found here, mostly working in tourist industry but still some indigenous tribes living in remote spots with almost zero contact to the modern world, most of them are almost extinct though, just the Nicobari tribe seems to survive as they adapted a bit to the outside world. The Andamans are actually some 600 islands most of them are uninhabited and also off limits for tourists. The close by Nicobar islands can just been entered by special permit, even for Indians, foreigners just get a chance to stay in a handful of the islands – for maximum 45 days. I’ll stay for a month and master the art of minimalism, one might call it also relaxing in paradise 🙂

Port Blair is a busy port town, it feels Indian and I book a ferry the next day and have a stroll around the war memorial beach with a lookout of Ross island the former British headquarters – all devastated by the 2004 boxing day tsunami which also hit the islands, some more hard than others though…I also checked out the cellular jail, now being a national monument of the country but back in the days it was the hardest prison for political dissidents built by the Brits. Torture and cruelty were every days life 120 years ago and the energies were still disturbed, a negative place, I could not spend much time near the cells and wanted to catch my ferry anyway, which took me to Havelock island – for many people this is Andaman, white sandy beaches, lots of nature, palms, ancient forests, lovely temperatures around the 30’s, emerald blue waters with temperatures around 28°C and also a diving paradise!
The island is big enough to get lost the first time and takes a while to explore by bike and I did the first days before my dive course started.

I explored the beach around the place where I stayed a bit, when the tides are low you can walk out the sea bed for a couple hundreds of meters – there is still so much life to spot near the sand and rocks – what a nice exploration!

Voted Asia’s most beautiful beach some years ago – Radhanagar beach or simply beach no. 7 has no doubt earned this title for real, the best white sand I’ve ever seen, the finest grain ever, it just feels so soft to walk, the waters calm and warm, on each side of the long beach a nice reef with vibrant life to spot, in the backdrop an ancient forest, so good! When I was walking I felt like Alice in wonderland with trees reaching for the sky and every now and then you get a glimpse of the beach when looking west through the mighty trees – it’s just a magical place!
All the pictures I’ve taken were so beautiful it was hard to make a choice, and I haven’t been talking about the sunsets yet, they are also one of a kind when the clouds support them even more pretty and with golden waters as a finish, best sunset in India for me!

Another beach with is further off the tourist radar and that’s why even more interesting is Kalapathar down south, the main beach is busy with tourists and rather small but the real attraction is the walk further on, here the crowd disappears and you’re completely on your own walking through jungle as the way becomes a path and the path becomes a trail through thick beach forest all along the coast, going forever and ever until you reach the most southern part. Big massive trees, some fallen down right at the beach as theirs friends still standing make a pretty good picture, the sun that cut’s through the thick bush – just beginning it’s descent behind the big hill – was illuminating as well for me. The energy levels over here were just wicked and I felt a bit dizzy the afternoon, really loved it and would have gone all the way if not the night was about to dusken in and I didn’t bring a torch, I wasn’t expecting a walk as fabulous as this one!
Also the humidity was unbelievable that day the warm breath of the ocean was kissing me wet the whole afternoon big heavy clouds hanging in the sky that made for a good sunset – even on the eastern side as the moon was rising bright – another perfect day in paradise, and it should become better and better…

Tamil Nadu – South Indian vibes

January 6, 2016 / olaf / 0 Comments

After the bliss in the ashram I didn’t feel like moving fast so I stayed for a bit in Coimbatore, a bigger city in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, textile industry is king over here, as is the gem business. The 2 mio town has not that much touristy things to offer and acts as a major junction and transit hub. I walked the streets a bit and went to the mall to shop in the spar supermarket, pretty indianized no German things to be found 😉
The other day I walked the opposite direction, trying to get a leather string I can use as necklace – a hard mission – I talked to so many people and got checked out by so many others just by walking in the shady areas of bazaars next to the biggest mosque in town. I went further and walked past churches and Jain temples and just before the train junction I left the Hindu temple honouring the goddess Laksmi, it’s interesting all the different beliefs within an area of a 30min walk – no stress, no fighting, happy people as it seemed to me! I really liked that spirit, needed to think of Kashmir then where all the religions coexist in a good way too!
The last day I went to Gass forest museum near the forest university campus to beat the waiting time – my train to Chennai, the state’s capital was supposed to leave in the afternoon, checkout is usually round lunchtime. The museum was ok-ish, I didn’t expect much so I liked it, lots of conserved animals, mammals, reptiles, birds, insects, some plastics and paintings, all possible kinds of wood, oil, fungi, whatever relates to forest and can be found in India – it is quite a collection but the most interesting encounter was with the door guy.
I was wearing a south Indian pant that looks like a doti (long cloth, wrapped around the legs in a special way so it looks like a pant) with some Tamil words on it. What it says is “Shivanga” so the warden asked me why I wear it and if I felt it. I told him my story and of course I felt Shiva within and all around, all of a sudden memories of the BSP program popped up and filled the body with euphoria, he told me his story and we hugged after a big fat smile.
Coimbatore isn’t that bad as everyone is telling, it has a lot of heart and some real spice!
After the 7h train ride with a nice orange sunset I arrived in Chennai with high expectations, “the food capital” and “where traditional India meets the Modern” are just two of the many things I read and heard.
In fact it’s a typical south Indian town par excellence, crazy traffic, smelly rivers and streets, lots of flies and surprisingly not that much touristy attractions, they’re all away from town, the food itself was ok, I had more of an oriental/Italian tooth that time – ordering falafel and pizza the other day when visiting the mall and watching the new Star Was movie The Force Awakens.
What a brilliant film, I was entertained and the cinema was just splendid, nice comfy leather seats and the 3D goggles were big enough to fit over my prescription ones. Still some differences to a German cinema, the movie starts on time as printed on the ticket, advertisements and trailers of other movies are shown before that time, people of course come late, using their cell phone to light their way and keep talking during the movie, after the first 20min luckily that settled. There is always a break in between, whatever the length of the film, most of the time right in the middle of a dialogue so takes a bit to get back in the film when it’s running again. In the break you can go pee and get a refill – snacks and soda and of course advertisements are shown again.
Madras, as the city was called under the British rule, has one of the longest beach fronts on our planet, it’s a typical Indian town beach though, pretty dirty! Some stalls, tidy carousels and “giant” wheels the size of a trailer not operating that time of a day, pretty much everything was shut down and looked deserted – I expected more, still it was interesting to do an hours stroll along the “not safe for swimming” coastline, strong currents with crazy irregular waves, that doesn’t hinder the locals to splash into the blue waters. The sweet thing about the beach was the light house, I could actually go on top and it’s got a lookout over the beach plus the surrounding areas, good views!
The other day I wanted to spend in the Guindy national park inside the city limits, a rare thing in India, what I didn’t know before, entry is just permitted to rangers and persons with special clearance, neither am I, so I ended up in the close by snake park and chilled a bit in Ghandi memorial before I walked back.
In the end I was glad I just stayed for 3 nights and spent the rest of the time before my flight took off to the Andamans in Coimbatore…
Some legs of the trip are excellent some are just good and I was looking forward for the next one, I didn’t felt like a city boy anymore, I wanted to go to the nature and I was just about to go there…

Gokarna – between temples and beaches

December 22, 2015 / olaf / 0 Comments

We decided to move on and see something new, for me another city, for Florian a bit of the real India feeling, as Goa is not India, it has the food and the people but the Portuguese influence and the relaxed atmosphere plus no bigger town and always the ocean vibe is still different to the rest of the country. So we went further south to Gokarna, it’s just a train ride away – easy.

At the train station we bump into Philippe from Italy a really heart-warming guy who already traveled Asia some 20 years ago. The track takes us along the coast crossing river outlets and lush forest, after 2 h we arrive in the holy city and Phillipe takes us with him to his friends place, a real tranquil oasis away from the city across a small hill, unfortunately no more free rooms, we still enjoy a chai and the easy chatter after going to Kudlee beach to spend the night. A couple of restaurants and bars spread across the whole beach, it felt a bit like Goa…

Reading about Gokarna beforehand almost made us not to go. Police men throughout the whole country are even paying to work here during main seasons to fine tourists with incredible high amounts for almost everything, smoking and drinking in public or on the beach, riding a motorbike without a helmet and so on, in the end we had no issues but were prepared and the police was omnipresent for such a small town. The main reason for this: The place should not become a second Goa, that’s why the drastic measures…

Gokarna has two main attractions, temples and beaches. Mainly tourists come for the beaches (Kudlee, Om, Halfmoon and Paradise) Gokarna beach is not nice and pretty dirty! The town itself hosts the temples, some more than 1000 years old but unfortunately no entry for foreigners and non-Hindus, we tried but got sent away soon after entering the compound 😉 The town itself is pretty small 2 main roads, both one way traffic, one leading into town the other out. All in walking distance, but the beaches are a bit further away across some hills, it’s a nice days walk from Kudlee until Paradise, we did it from Om beach though as we stayed in Kudlee for the first night but decided the morning after to move to town, enough beaches and the humidity was killing us.

Om beach got its name because of its Om-symbol like shape, rocky ends and a couple small restaurants as we walk further on the trail some 20 minutes later and a few nice views from high above the water, we reach Half-moon beach, it’s getting more and more basic, electricity is generated by solar panels, no big restaurants and bars, just 3-4 small shacks some with attached wooden huts to stay, a perfect place to rest and beat the burning sun, it really gets hot and humid in the afternoon those days.
After a small nap we went on a rocky path we sometimes lost as there is no proper way marked, the only advise we had was just, don’t go up the hill try to round it and it was such a sweet walk / crawl on a rocky coast line with marvelous lookouts, after 15 min we found the path and went towards Paradise. No bars, restaurants whatsoever, just some people with hammocks having the time of their lives, we joined them for a bit in Paradise, perfect waters, although it was not safe for swimming it just felt natural to dip in.
A Jungle walk further south and a rickshaw ride brought us back to town – perfect timing for sunset – a great day!

The last day we spent with Philippe, he proposed to rent bicycles and ride to Honey beach up north and so we did. Riding the Indian Hero bike feels different but I got used to it, along small village roads and fields we went to a river crossing with a ancient ferry, a small boat for max 20 people and a 100 year old engine, of course motorbikes are taken across too, the ferrymen do the bike lifting from the jetty to the wooden vessel.
On the other side the terrain got hilly, we pushed up hill and went really slow down, our brakes could just handle the slope, only Florian’s didn’t, he needed to walk down to prevent any serious injury his brakes were barely working on the flat ground.
An hour later we arrived at a lonely beach, just 2 fishermen out on the rocks trying their luck, the former restaurant barricaded, there goes our lunch…
After swimming we managed to get some coconuts from one of the fishermen – yumm and the flesh inside so fresh and tasty, after all best lunch ever, if you think you won’t eat anything and out of the blue you’ll be surprised, that’s a quality of this country and I love it!
We took our time and enjoyed the good company talking about travelling, paradise travel destinations and so much more, we could have been sitting still there as the topics didn’t run out, but we had to leave, we wanted to be back in town before sunset, well as it goes we got late but the last 20 min in darkness were another adventure I won’t forget that easily! Another brilliant day, Cheers to Philippe hope to see you again!

Now’s the time, Florian’s and my ways will part, his vacation is over and he’s flying back, I’ll take a train further south and keep on going.
Cheers for the company and for coming along the path with me Flo, let’s repeat that somewhere else in the world!

Goa – Agonda: The relaxation

December 17, 2015 / olaf / 0 Comments

Arriving here was just a nice feeling, I knew where to go, Dersy was just great the last time, small huts right on the beach, an ocean facing restaurant for 30 people with one of the best chefs in Goa, so good food, very relaxed and super friendly staff made us stay for 4 days, but wanting to stay much longer. We were relaxing to the max, starting the day with a swim in the splendid waters of the Arabian sea, followed by meditation and a big fruit müsli, lassi and chai for breakfast – life can be very tough sometimes 😉
The day we arrived was also peak day of the Geminids meteorite shower, the moon – waxing crescent, setting early over the ocean left the sky dark – perfect time for observation. First we saw a couple here and there but it got more and more as the night commenced.

All of a sudden a power cut occurred, the surrounding lights and the ones from town went dark, but the lights in the sky were just blossoming, millions of stars out there, galaxies, nebula’s, the milky way what a show, I could just laugh as it was so beautiful!
We stopped counting at 101 shooting and falling stars, some were massive with a tail of smoke covering half of the sky, some tiny, just shooting for a millisecond, we saw two in a row and even tree in a row and soooo many more it was just an unforgettable spectacle those 8 hours, connected with the universe!

The beach itself is not crowded, just a few restaurants and shacks, all closing early, going with the rhythm of nature, when the sun comes up again you’ll see people jogging, meditating or doing yoga, just a perfect spot for relaxing. On each side you’ll find rocks to explore and the northern end has a river mouth from where you can see the fisher boots moving in early in the morning – not that we got up that early but I knew from my previous stay as Katja was helping the fisher men to get their boat from the ocean into the river beating the everlasting current.
The last day we rented a scooter and explored the area north we went to Cabo de Rama and walked along the ancient walls of the fort, although the walls are the only remains from the place it’s still worth the trip and the lookouts were pretty spectacular, overlooking the cliffs and the wide ocean. Later on we found a perfect spot – Mi Amore a small restaurant that just opened this year – to beat the midday heat, so we chilled in the shadow for a bit and saw nothing but perfect catalogue like beaches around – what a beauty! Another challenge was laying in front of us, I really needed to convince Florian to trust me as he was sitting on the backseat of the scooter when we were riding the 20 min dirt road up and down to Cola beach, thinking of it now, yeah it was a bit dangerous with all the sand and rocks and the steep hills but it was a fun drive and it was worth it, we saw another perfect beach, the ocean a bit too strong for a smooth splash though.

2 weeks in total relaxation mode, interesting talks, amazing food and some beer & good Old Monk, a 7 year old Rum you just get in the south and Goa has the cheapest alcohol to offer as there are no taxes.

Goa has been good to us, just the perfect continuation of the Hampi feel after the Hyderabadi party times…

Sri lanka – the wedding festival

November 25, 2015 / olaf / 0 Comments

With Bene I went to Sri Lanka for Shika’s and Vishwas’ wedding. Both from Hyderabad but decided for the green island down south being a perfect place to marry.
After a short flight we sat in the bus taking us from Colombo down south to Bentota. The island feels nice, temperatures in the 30s with a humid breeze, not that much trash lying around and the clouds are just as amazing as in Cuba.
All wedding guests checked in the Taj hotel, which was booked for the following days, round 400 people were invited, a big happening! The following days felt actually more of a music festival than a Hindu wedding 🙂

The 5 star resort was just splendid, a bit maze like though, lots of ways to get around, you actually need a map to navigate the first time 😉
The day we arrived, a pool party was just about to start, big sound system, professional lights and a live band warming up the scene, to be followed by Hyderabadi DJ’s playing the songs I came to know in the Telangana state’s capital. The bar just a hand reach away and the buffet with some nice seafood being a good introduction to the place. We met a lot of interesting people and enjoyed to the max, well we enjoyed so much that we missed the wedding ceremony, which took place early in the morning the next day right at the beach.
Feeling a bit hangover and embarrassed we took it easy stayed away from the big crowds and went along the beach to watch the sun go down followed be a spectacle of colors in the sky, orange to greenish until the last rays of light vanished from the sky.

The beach party was already kicked alive during that time, same sound system, twice as powerful as in a usual Hyderabadi club the bass was pumping hard, trying to drown the waves that crashed some 20 meters afar on shore. Same DJ’s playing the same songs, interrupted every now and then by some drummer guys playing traditional music and even using the didgeridoo entertaining the crowd with natural vibrations. Most of the friends we made the day before and the ones we already known from Hyderabad (Cheers Arjun! ) were enjoying the breeze of the ocean as much as the one from the sound.
Ninja like security guys dressed in black were taking care that no one of the party people will go down to the ocean or more far away from the party as eye sight, it’s dangerous we were told, still we went a bit away talking to the nice guy and taking him with us so he still can fulfill his duty in watching us. From afar the whole party looked and felt like a space ship landing with all the lights and dark sounds.
Another highlight that evening, the seafood bbq and buffet, oysters chilled on ice, lobsters, king prawns and many more delicacies fresh from the sea on the grill made for a perfect diet! Yum…

We went to see another place the next day with our room just a stone throw away from the ocean. Arriving there we discovered the place being German and the local waiters greeting us in our native tongue, a bit weird but hey they had Schnitzel on the menu of course we ate, and it was good! Sometimes it’s nice to get a taste of home if you’re traveling the world 🙂
We found out that this day will be an after party thrown by Raju a good friend of the freshly married couple for their honor. On a full moon night – also being an important Buddhist holiday, a dry day – a handful of people hopped in the bus and 90 min further south started drinking at a nice resort right at the ocean, a perfect surf spot with big waves moving in parallel. With DJ’s flown in from Mumbai and another delicious seafood bbq the party got started, a traditional Sri Lankan music group played the drums and flutes while professional fire jugglers went crazy on lighting the beach, peaked by fireworks I felt being taken back to Diwali night.

We partied hard, till the morning came…back at our place we gazed the orange moon setting over the ocean just at the same spot the sun set a couple of hours ago, of course we had a swim in the splendid waters with powerful waves crashing in before the new day arose.
The last day we took it pretty easy, enjoying beach life. In the evening though, we went to see some Buddhist temples to get our blessings and to ask for forgiveness for drinking and celebrating the previous night and not obeying the rules…

Cheers to Shika and Vishwas for having us, unforgettable moments and a nice introduction to Ceylon as the island was called during the British colonial rule.

Thailand – Same same…but different

April 21, 2014 / olaf / 0 Comments

With Eric, the catalan I met in Jordan three times I went to Thailand, first time properly asia for me, but supposed to be a nice start, everyone was saying, so we started in Bangkok and after the tempels and the royal palace we went to the former capital of the country called Ayutthaya.
More temples to be seen over here, but it felt really nice!

Further we went north to Chiang Mai to celebrate Thai New Year called Songkran, a water splashing festival, 3 days you definitely et wet when walking the streets – we had our fun 😉

Also we did a trip to the tallest mountain in the country called doi inthanon, on more than 2.300 meters the temperature is perfect with 15 degrees, Thais are freezing, we finally can breath after all the heat and humidity, normal to the country.

Next leg is down south, with a domestic flight we go to Ko Lanta, a very laid back island with beautiful beaches and a small national park and we even went further to Ko Rok, a tiny island in the national park with actual dragons living there, very impressing! And the waters just splendid!