Danger Abounds in a small beach town.....
As usual, I got stuck in a few more places for longer than I expected due to great people and beautiful beaches and incredible food (so no regrets). I didn't wind up doing the backwaters tour because i got tired of waiting for people to meet me there. So my American friend Julie and I left and I went to a place called Gokarna with the beautiful beaches and cheap mouth watering food and all. After being there for 4 or 5 days and playing guitar and hanging out in my new hammock that i bought for 3 dollars and swimming and gorging myself on various delicacies, I decided to pry myself from the beach and leave to another beach further north.
A German friend of mine met me in Gokarna and then we left to Northern Goa to a place called Arambol. We were in Arambol for a few days and had a pretty nice time which was only marred by one potentially disastrous experience whcih I will descibe in a moment. I found a place there called Arambol hammocks (www.Arambol.com) where a german man designed, made and sold hammocks; one of which was a hammock unlike any i'd ever seen and i had to buy it (2000 rupees which is about 50 USD). It was shaped kind of like a normal sitting hammock but it had a section that hung down lower like a foot rest and when you put your feet into it, you had a really comfy chair. And if you laid back and straightened your legs it would go flat and you could lay in it like a normal hammock. Plus it was for two people. So enough rambling about intelligently designed hammocks.
Now for my moment of danger and excitment! While in Arambol, my German Friend Marike and I were walking down the street chatting and looking at shops when there was a "traffic Jam" in the narrow street which involved a couple rickshaws and a mini-mini van and we couldn't get past until they worked it out. While we waited, I stood up on the back bumper of the mini-mini van, looking over and just messing around. The driver didnt seem to care, but the man next to me on a bike did. He immediately freaked out and started berating me, saying things like "this isn't your father's car" and "what were you thinking" and kept repeating "why did you do it" rather aggressively. Even though I told him I was just fooling around and it didn't matter cause it was a bumper and meant to crash into things and my weight really wouldn't hurt it, he carried on ranting shouting "why did you do it" and getting all up in my face. So I went past him trying to pay him less attention and as we walked away after the traffic jam cleared, he shouted many things at me; one of which was "you mother fucker!" which i though was strange and rare for an indian to say and i replied stupidly, yet not very loud in the direction i was going "whatever, you're the mother fucker" as we kept walking. About a minute later he pulled up and cut me off on his motorbike and jumped off shouting and pushing me around, screaming "why did you do it, tell me why you did it". Obviously i thought this whole thing was utterly absurd and this guy getting on my nerved so i told him that i already told him why but he wasn't listening and i told him again. But he wouldn't let me go past him even with the explanation given and kept pushing me. So i told him to "fuck off" and leave me alone, but he wouldn't. He kept getting more aggressive and I wouldn't up having to shove him away from me to get past him. Then he ran to the side of the road where a pile of rubble was sitting next to a wall.. I knew instantly what he meant to do by running over there even though i couldn't see the rubble. So i booked it in my flip flops and my bag to the restaurant that we were heading to with this loony chasing me with a decent sized jagged rock. I cause a bit of commotion in the restaurant b running in there and asking for help cause there was a nuts Indian guy chasing me, but he stopped outside the place. The guy called up a bunch of his buddies and when the waiter and owner got me to go out and apologize to him to calm things down,even though i had no reason to apologize, there were a dozen guys out there ready to stone me to death. So i came out in the protection of the staff and tried to make peace but the guy wasn't having it. He was screaming and other guys were coming towards me and one was poking em violently and accusing me of strange things. SO when it was clear that no apology would be accepted, i was ushered back into the restaurant where i remained until 11 or 12 that night because the mob stayed outside until late into the night waiting to bludgeon me. With thew aiter escorting us back down the road a little ways, we amde it home safely, but quite alert and prepared to run. It was the strangest thing i think has ever happened to me in terms of aggression being directed at me and my friend and i were both a bit disturbed by it.
I stayed in the town, cautiously walking where i would for the next couple days before heaidng north to Mumbai where i stayed for 3 days with a fellow couchsurfer in a hosts flat. The guy had just moved into a new flat but still had the remainder of march for the old one so the two of us Americans had the flat all to ourselves. It was cool. I spent my days down in Colaba (the really touristy area where movie extras are hired). I was offered a job doing a voice over for a film for 500 rupees (about 12.50 USD) but i wound up missing the guy and didn't make it. Then I headed north to rajasthan. But i will update that part a bit later.
A German friend of mine met me in Gokarna and then we left to Northern Goa to a place called Arambol. We were in Arambol for a few days and had a pretty nice time which was only marred by one potentially disastrous experience whcih I will descibe in a moment. I found a place there called Arambol hammocks (www.Arambol.com) where a german man designed, made and sold hammocks; one of which was a hammock unlike any i'd ever seen and i had to buy it (2000 rupees which is about 50 USD). It was shaped kind of like a normal sitting hammock but it had a section that hung down lower like a foot rest and when you put your feet into it, you had a really comfy chair. And if you laid back and straightened your legs it would go flat and you could lay in it like a normal hammock. Plus it was for two people. So enough rambling about intelligently designed hammocks.
Now for my moment of danger and excitment! While in Arambol, my German Friend Marike and I were walking down the street chatting and looking at shops when there was a "traffic Jam" in the narrow street which involved a couple rickshaws and a mini-mini van and we couldn't get past until they worked it out. While we waited, I stood up on the back bumper of the mini-mini van, looking over and just messing around. The driver didnt seem to care, but the man next to me on a bike did. He immediately freaked out and started berating me, saying things like "this isn't your father's car" and "what were you thinking" and kept repeating "why did you do it" rather aggressively. Even though I told him I was just fooling around and it didn't matter cause it was a bumper and meant to crash into things and my weight really wouldn't hurt it, he carried on ranting shouting "why did you do it" and getting all up in my face. So I went past him trying to pay him less attention and as we walked away after the traffic jam cleared, he shouted many things at me; one of which was "you mother fucker!" which i though was strange and rare for an indian to say and i replied stupidly, yet not very loud in the direction i was going "whatever, you're the mother fucker" as we kept walking. About a minute later he pulled up and cut me off on his motorbike and jumped off shouting and pushing me around, screaming "why did you do it, tell me why you did it". Obviously i thought this whole thing was utterly absurd and this guy getting on my nerved so i told him that i already told him why but he wasn't listening and i told him again. But he wouldn't let me go past him even with the explanation given and kept pushing me. So i told him to "fuck off" and leave me alone, but he wouldn't. He kept getting more aggressive and I wouldn't up having to shove him away from me to get past him. Then he ran to the side of the road where a pile of rubble was sitting next to a wall.. I knew instantly what he meant to do by running over there even though i couldn't see the rubble. So i booked it in my flip flops and my bag to the restaurant that we were heading to with this loony chasing me with a decent sized jagged rock. I cause a bit of commotion in the restaurant b running in there and asking for help cause there was a nuts Indian guy chasing me, but he stopped outside the place. The guy called up a bunch of his buddies and when the waiter and owner got me to go out and apologize to him to calm things down,even though i had no reason to apologize, there were a dozen guys out there ready to stone me to death. So i came out in the protection of the staff and tried to make peace but the guy wasn't having it. He was screaming and other guys were coming towards me and one was poking em violently and accusing me of strange things. SO when it was clear that no apology would be accepted, i was ushered back into the restaurant where i remained until 11 or 12 that night because the mob stayed outside until late into the night waiting to bludgeon me. With thew aiter escorting us back down the road a little ways, we amde it home safely, but quite alert and prepared to run. It was the strangest thing i think has ever happened to me in terms of aggression being directed at me and my friend and i were both a bit disturbed by it.
I stayed in the town, cautiously walking where i would for the next couple days before heaidng north to Mumbai where i stayed for 3 days with a fellow couchsurfer in a hosts flat. The guy had just moved into a new flat but still had the remainder of march for the old one so the two of us Americans had the flat all to ourselves. It was cool. I spent my days down in Colaba (the really touristy area where movie extras are hired). I was offered a job doing a voice over for a film for 500 rupees (about 12.50 USD) but i wound up missing the guy and didn't make it. Then I headed north to rajasthan. But i will update that part a bit later.
posted by Unknown at 8:49 PM
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