I have christened her "Rosemary" and she is a beauty - about the same vintage as me, she wear a gently faded shade of pink and unabashedly sports a banner reading "Miss India"...she is my bike - a big tired, big saddled, basketted marvel of Indian simplicity - no gears and only the crankiest of handbrakes....Nevertheless, Rosie and sail along the beach daily - at the lowest of tides, the sand is concrete hard. I happily share the sandy superhighway with all manner of folks, hawking ice cream, icy beer, cigarettes, kleenex, sarongs and well everything and anything or as one woman put it - miffed because I refused to buy from her..."all manners of cheap rubbish". it is just part of the enderaring charm and aggravation that is India.
Goa is remarkably gentle and laid back - here on the spectacular beaches or taking the plunge at the foot of stunning waterfalls, I've had the time to reflect abit on what I've experienced in this rollicking ride of a country. More than any memory seared into me - (despite the devastating poverty - slums that snake like some surreal river throughout Mumbai - their corrugated iron roofs are so close together that you can't see the ground from above) - is the overwhelming kindness and humor of the people I've met along the way. Yup - i have been 'ripped off" in the grandest of ways - if you count a few rupees, less than price of coffee a grand ripoff. What I will remember is the many folks who enthusiastically and in great numbers came to my rescue any number of times, wanting nothing more than to exchange hi's and handshakes...and the beautiful beautiful children dancing along side me as I walked - practicing their hellos and begging for nothing more themselves than to see their enormous smiles captured on my camera screen. I'm overwhelmed, overjoyed and well, overweight at the time spent here and in Nepal. A certain niche of my heart has been firmly taken over by this glorious place.
and so here I find myself, perched again in the uber-cool of the Amsterdam airport...I've showered and had sushi (!! I almost couldn't remember how to use the chopsticks after a month of eating my "utensils" - the delicious, fragrant naan bread used to scoop up your food) and my flight home to Vancouver is almost ready to board...so I will end this with a thank you to those who chose to walk along with me along the way. It has been an extraordinary pleasure and comfort to know that you are with me. This is going to be abit of a tough journey to re-enter my 'real' world from so I look to you to share my experiences and photos with me if you will. With enormous, happy and at the same time, very sad hugs...Deli.
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ps....Cambodia and Laos next year anyone?????
