Ticking Boxes

I have memories of being a fresh faced 19 year old lad setting off on an adventure to Thailand and feeling nothing but excitement.  When I arrived, everything amused and interested me, I wanted to throw myself straight into it all without asking any questions.  Tuk-tuk sir? Yes.  You want to see my shop? Yes.  You want to go somewhere you have never heard of and pay me lots of money to take you there? Yes. You want to eat a snake? Yes.  There were no bad people in the world and I was confident in the knowledge that I was invincible.  I truly believed that nothing could harm me.  If it did, I'd laugh it off.  I took all parts of that trip, the good, the bad and the ugly and made memories that will be with me forever.  In fact, I don't think that a day goes by where I don't remember something or someone from that trip and laugh to myself.

Getting absolutely hammered at Carrom

This time around things are a little different.  I feel as though I've lost my naivety, I don't want to dive in head first, it's safer to dip your toe isn't it? The invincibility that I had back then has faded and I feel more vulnerable.  My mind works differently now, I know what I like, what kind of people I like to spend time with and I've got no patience when it comes to being in a situation that bores or annoys me.  Rickshaw Sir? No. You want see my shop? No. You want to see temple? Fuck no, please, no more temples.  If I never see another temple til the day I die I couldn't care less.
I can't put my finger on what it is that has changed inside of me and it scares me that I'm not so excitable any more.  Is it a "getting older" thing? If it is I fear that I might turn into that grumpy old man that bursts footballs when they come over the fence.  Maybe 50 years ago, that guy at the bottom of your street with a pile of deflated footballs was snorting cocaine off a Thai prostitutes tits and grabbing life (and possibly her) by the balls, taking opportunities without thinking long enough to contemplate the downside.  I need to get that mind set back.  I'm not into grabbing lady boys by the goolies, but I wish I was still stupid enough not to think of the drawbacks of decisions that I might make.  Maybe it will come back with time, or maybe I'm just different now.  The Indians (and in fact most of Asia) have a saying for this;  "Same same, but different", that's the only way I can describe it.  I feel the same, but I know I'm different.

The view from the top of Monkey Temple

Now that all the light hearted stuff is out of the way I can get down to telling you what's been going on since my last post.  We spent most of our time on the beaches in Goa.  We drank, we ate, we sunbathed and then drank a little more.  I'm afriad that doesn't make for a very interesting read but thats about the top and bottom of it.  What might tickle you though is a story of something that occured as a result of this booze filled diet.  The Aussie lads who we had been travelling with for a few weeks were real big drinkers.  Where your average Joe would cure a hangover by drinking some fruit juice, these lads were drinking fruit flavoured alcopops just to get them ready for beers at brunch. I've never seen anything like it.  However, drinking loads of beer is not the same as handling your drink.  One lad, Blair (a nice chap with a sound head on him) decided when pissed that it was a good idea to clothes line a cow from a moped travelling at 30kmh.  Any guesses who might of won?  Our guy Blair ended up with 27 stitches and a nasty infection in his arm.  As it stands he's in hospital in the UK on a drip waiting for an operation.  I suspect the drip bag is filled with watermelon flavored Bacardi Breezer so he'l be fine.

Too much time on the beach can turn your brain to mush.  I think that's why I'm struggling to pen my thoughts here.  We left the sandy shores of Goa and headed to Hampi. This place is like nothing I have ever seen.  The entire landscape is made up of huge boulders.  See the picture for an idea of it, it's difficult to describe.  We hired a rickshaw for the day to take us on the Temple tour which was a mistake.  I can't take anything away from these temples and ruin's, they are incredible but once you have seen a few you've pretty much seen them all.  We knew before we got in the rickshaw that we were a bit bored of seeing temples.  We called it a day early and chilled out in a few bars.  For me this was more interesting as we met a load of really cool people.  Intelligent people with things to say and opinions that I genuilnly cared about.  And I have a feeling that most of them weren't just regurgitating things that they had read that day in the news or NME.  You can't pay a rickshaw driver 500 rupees to help you meet interesting people, it has to happen by chance.  That said, if you made that offer I'm sure they'd take on the challenge.

It was only after uploading this pic that I remembered
I was only wearing my under-crackers.  Enjoy ladies.

Today we found a lake which was a perfect spot for a bit of cliff (rock) diving (jumping).  While I was suspended in the air between the rock I wish I'd never jumped off, and the water I was dreading entering, I had a thought;  Travelling is about experiences, not just ticking boxes.  There are a number of manuals but they don't know what I like to do or how I like to do it.  Visiting a temple is nice, but it isn't an experience.  Visiting a lake is nice, but its not an experience.  Sitting for an hour playing Carrom with the locals who sell water at the temple gate is an experience.Visiting a lake and jumping off rocks with a group of strangers is an experience.  That's why I'm here.  Not just to tick boxes.  I'll remember that from now on.

Lessons Learned this week;

1. Don't just tick boxes.  Ticking boxes makes for a dull trip.
2. As you grow older, you grow wiser (mostly).  It makes it difficult to make naive decisions.
3. You can't plan everything, that's part of the fun.
4. There is nothing like an air conditioned mall with multiplex cinema when you are missing home.