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Hello everyone,
Sorry for the long delay, we've been all over the shop for the last few weeks and i wanted to wait till we were sorted, but were still not so i thought i'd better show willing! So last blog we were on our way to Kovalam beach, we made it there alright. It was a nice place but lots of tourists, us included. As soon as we rode down the steep hill to the beach front area a big Indian dude with a lungy on or nappie as i prefer to call them ( like Gandi used to wear!, not mr thacker!) pulled up on his scooter and before i got of the bike he offered us a room, " you want room i have good room very cheap" so i climbed off my bike straight on to the back of his and he took me to see the room. It was an ok ish room but the view from the balcony was straight out onto the back of another hotel. But the next day he offered to move us to one of his other six hotels! He was a nice guy but a very serious face and a proper buisness man. We decided to book in for a while to sort our selves out a bit, do a bit of washing and stuff ( pants were getting crusty!)
The beaches at Kovalam are very nice, the main one lighthouse beach has shops and hotels all along the front and obviously a lighthouse at one end. To be honest though it hasn't got alot of character, for a start there were no cows on the beach and not much rubbish about, i think i preffered the rough and ready look of Goa, it was all a bit like Majorca for my liking. The surf was pretty big on the first day we got there which was worrying as i'd already said i would give it a go. The next day it didn't look quite as terrifiying so i hired a board and paddled out. I haven't tried to surf for quite a few years now and i'd forgotten how tiring it is ( alright i might have let myself go a bit!) I spotted a local guy who looked like he new what he was doing so a paddled over and said hello. His name was smile and he had one hell of a stutter, nice lad though and after a bit of a chat he offered to give me a few lessons. I couldn't help thinking if i'd tried the same thing in england i probably would have gotten told to f**k off!
Since just after we got to India Dad has been complaining about his left eye being all clouded over, i didn't think much about it as he's a right hypocondriact at the best of times. But after a few days at Kovelam he said it had gotten worse so we went to the opticians up the street. Unfourtunatley they said he had a cataract starting and advised him to go to a specialist eye clinic in Trivandrum the nearest city. We were a bit worried as it was starting to put a strain on his good eye and riding the bike was getting a bit dodgy, you really need eyes in the back of your head over hear anyway. The eye clinic confirmed that it was a cataract. They said it could easily be sorted with an operation but it wouldn't hurt till we got back to england. He wasn't sure riding the bike was such a good idea though! So we were in a bit of a pickle really with two bikes and not really able to go any further. We toyed with the idea of trying to sell the bikes and get an open top jeep so i could drive, or i suggested he go on the back of my bike but he didn't like that idea at all! There weren't many bikes in Kovalam unlike Goa where we could have easily sold them so we thought we'd ask the Hotel owner as he looked like a right del boy! He said he was interested and would get a mechanic to look them over and let us know. Unfourtunatley it all fell through when we told him we had no insurance, apparently for us it was fine to ride around with no insurance but for an indian it was a problem. He told us that if we didnt have an existing insurance document there was no way he could get a new one so he wasn't interested. Our only hope was to sell them to a tourist.
The next week or so was a bit s*** really, we didn't know what we were going to do and appart from attempting to surf there wasn't a lot to do at Kovalam so we were bored s***less. We decided to go back to the opticians and see if Dad could get a new pair of riding glasses made which could compensate for the bad eye a bit. A couple of days later they were ready. At first he went cross eyed as soon as he put them on but the guy assured him after a couple of days his eyes would adjust. I found the next two days highly amusing but i'm not sure dad did but they soon sorted themselves out. The next day we thought we'd go for a ride and check them out. There are some tea plantations up in the mountains a couple of hours from us so we headed that way. We managed to get about a hundred yards up the road and my chain link broke, luckily i had a spare so ten very oily minutes later we headed off again. To get out of Kovalam we had to go through the city of Trivandrum which was a complete grid lock of buses tuc tucs hores and carts and every other bloody vehicle you can think of. After about twenty minutes of this carnage the clutch overheated on dads bike. I looked in the mirror to see a policeman driecting traffic jump out of the way of dad as he couldnt stop. Eventually we managed to pull over and let it cool down. We didnt know how much longer the traffic would be the same so we decided to head back and try and get it fixed. All in all it was a bit of a disasterous day out! The Hotel guy said he would take us to a garage to get it fixed the next day. While we were waiting for him a crazy looking english dude in a nappie came over and started asking us about the bikes. He said he'd always wanted one and asked if he could buy them both. He came out to India every year for about six months and wanted one for his son. Before we got dads new glasses and weren't sure what to do we talked about selling them and going to another country so we decieded to say yes and if it all went through we'd go somewhere else. To be honest he was a bit of a bulls***ter full of wild stories about this and that ( reckoned he was going to climb everest one day, the way he got out of breath climbing up the hill from the beach i was a bit dubious!) he reminded me of someone, can't put my finger on who though!! So i wasn't sure if he would actualy come up with the money or not but after a few days messing to my suprise he did get the money.
We did a bit of research on the internet and decided that Malaysia would be good as the flight only cost 99 quid and we didn't need a visa, also the f1 grand prix was on there in april!! So we booked a flight to Singapore the next day and off we went.
Singapore was incredibly clean and tidy compared to India, the buliding were impressive and it was nice to get a mcdonalds and a KFC, and then another mcdonalds! We booked into our first proper Hostel there called the rucksack inn, i wasn't sure what to expect but i loved it they had a kitchen you could make your own tea and toast and a laundry room. they also had free wifi and 3 pc's. We slept in bunk beds in a big dorm but that was ok. I'd recommend it if you ever go to Singpore, but i wouldn;t recomend Singapore though its very boring and very expensive, four pound fifty for half a bloody lager!!! We stayed for a couple of days then went into Malaysia to a town called Johor bahru. We got a taxi to a local hotel and mentioned to our driver that we wanted to rent some bikes and he informed us that you couldn't rent bikes in Malaysia as far as he new! He was a bit of a wide boy and started ringing freinds whilst driving to see if he could find some cheap bikes for us to buy. I didn't really trust him, there was just something about him that stunk of a rip off so we took his niumber and told him we'd ring him the next day. The next day we left on a coach to a town near the coast. To be honest we werent really feeling Malaysia, it seemed to be very lacking in culture everywhere we'd been, it was all very modern and dull. We walked around bike shops all the next day and were very dissapointed. Every bike in Malaysia looks the same, there all 125cc weener scooters with a shopping basket as standard issue! Everywhere we went we got the same answer that for some reason they would only sell us a brand new bike " no second hand! solly!" unfourtunatley the new ones cost about 1200 quid which seemed a bit over the top for 3 months. To top it all it seemed to rain everyday since we'd been in Malaysia! After another emergency meeting we decided to head for Kuala lumpar on a coach the next day and if things didn't improve there we would go to Vietnam instead. So to cut a long story short it didn't and now we've just got our visa through for Vietnam and were off in a couple of days to Ho chi minh city formally known as Saigon ( me love you long time!) As i write this were in a hotel in china town which is a pretty cool place, it,s so packed with market stalls we get lost just going for a coffee! the foods good too, these chinks now how to cook!
Well thats it for now speak to you from Nam! ( as long as we don't get tsunamied!!)
P.S. were going to have to give the grand prix a miss now so don't feel too bad boys!
- comments
Mum Glad your both safe been very worried when we saw the devastion in japan, hope the tsunami dos'nt reach you. Contact us soon love you loads. Mum & Dad
g glitter look forward to seeing you both when you arrive. i've got the tour all lined up for you.
Pimp master miccy t A gridlock of buses, tuc tucs and w****s eh? Sounds like your kind of gridlock!
Pimp master miccy t A gridlock of buses, tuc tucs and w****s eh? Sounds like your kind of gridlock!
Beans I just dont no who to turn to shavers my secret is driving me mad I'm gay a 100% man lover I crave the warm man sausage I just don't n what to do I thought you could help me thro this bad part of my life as you are in the same boat theres so many questions I need to ask! P.S don't tell any1
Beans What they Oriental men like
Shavers To be honest beans I've suspected this for along time. It's the way you look at banks, mentally undressing him, I think that's what they call it! I can show your photo around the ladyboy district if you want but I wouldn't hold out too much hope I mean let's face it your no brad Pitt are , you, I hope it doesn't sound too nasty nut perhaps you'd ne better off a bit closer to home and a bit more your in your own league. Between you and me I think a short tubby little blond fella not a million miles away might make you happier! Good luck on your new path beans I wish you all the best!