We have now started on our travels, by car, round South India but had a few hiccups to get going. Family all now safely home after a great time together. We think our oldest grandson (17) has fallen in love with India 😀🌴.
First prob we both had a bad night spending a lot of it in the bathroom 😟. Very unusual for us to affected by Indian food but all good now.
All packed ready for driver to arrive the next day at 10am. Then found out that the company, supplying this service, had sent him to our destination (3.5hrs away) not to Agonda. Not impressed.
Now in India every driver has to have a separate licence for each state (7000rs -£70 approx yearly) and as we were going to drive into another state, Karnataka, it made getting a taxi was little problematic as most had only licence for Goa. But the locals were great ensuring we were looked after with a great CAREFUL driver. Off we went a bit delicate but nice to be on the way.
Not explained India main highways yet so here we go.
First of all they are building a major highway from Mumbai to Kochin so a FEW work force plus diggers, Tarmac machines and barriers are the first user of this major highway we were using. This is being done in bits including taking rock filled hillsides down. They say two years to completion ummm that might be totally optimistic.
So now we have road work traffic and workers (no hi vis here) with cones made out of hessian sacks. Then we have heavy overloaded decorated lorries, cars, buses,  Tuk Tuks, motor bikes, pedal bikes, pedestrians including bunches of school children wondering around. All this plus sacred cows and lots of dogs. Plus the occasional policeman well camouflage in brown uniforms and again no hi vis but a they do have loud whistle as means of defence. Standing in the middle of the above chaos directing traffic 😏🤔🙃. Oh and by the way there are solid white lines in places but let’s not mention the rules for those as they don’t exist.  It’s scary, mad, interesting and fun in its own way.
We are now in Murudeshwar (time for tongue twisters) where a huge statue of Shiva is placed plus one of the highest temples in the world at 265ft. Looks a bit like a block of flats at night with plastic windows and lights. It’s also has huge beaches on both sides of a peninsula. As we are here on a weekend there are hundreds of people one beach in particular. PLUS decorated buses, cars, cows, fishing boats, stalls selling every bit of plastic you can think of and food outlets. The noise and colours are spectacular. All ladies are in the water fully clothed and men mostly underpants and white vests. School children in full uniform as well even on a Sunday. . Our room overlooks this fun and it starts at 6am till late. The main thing in this town is the temple and a huge Shiva (a God of Hinduism). There is a lift to the top of the temple but so glad we were not in it as it broke down today and around 10 people were trying to fix it with little spanners and hammers !!!!. Loads of people wanting selfies with us old grey hair oldies and this meant we meet all sorts of people including monks, doctors, school teachers and lovely dressed ladies. Cuddles as well. 😀😉
Now it always pays to not look right in front of you at all the rubbish and dirt and go on an adventure so off we went. Walked right up to a lovely estuary which was beautiful. Found a little shop and bought crisps plus some for the children around. Had great conversations with hands and nods of heads due to language barrier but great fun.
Back to eat in a local eatery and had our first Tali. A large plate with lots of bowls of different sauces plus Naan and Popaddum. Well that is our first day here. One more then off we go again. Driver has arrived now in the right place. 😉🌴