IN HUBLI - STATE OF KARNATAKA - INDIA 10:00 AM

In the hotel and have already walked around the city a little. The place is a dump for the most part so far, I have left a quaint city of Dharwad for a dumpy city of Hubli. I will leave tomorrow for another cotton town, and hope it has cotton. It could just be the hotel is not as nice, I had a pretty good room in Dharwad, and this one is sort of damp like or too much concrete. This one is cheaper at 100 Rupees here in Hubli. I am going to go look for an open internet café.

HUBLI - COTTON STREET

I am excited about going to Hubli today. I saw a large truck full of raw cotton in bags go by on the road last night and this got me thinking. I went and looked at or read my guidebook about Hubli. It is supposed to be a center for textiles industry. I have no idea what that means, does it mean they make or manufacture the goods there? Or does it mean this is a shipping point. It is also a point where two railway tracks cross so for sure it is a good place for shipping. On the small map in my Footprints guidebooks shows a street labeled “Cotton Street.”

I want to see raw cotton. The land of Dixie and all this talk about cotton all my life, and I have almost never seen cotton up close. I found a little, but not a lot. So hopefully they will have a street where they sell raw cotton. It looks like I am in luck, because to see a crop like cotton you must come or go when they are harvesting the cotton. I wanted to see the cashews being harvested, but it is the wrong time of year.

But the textile…?
I looked up the word.
1 : cloth 1a; especially : a woven or knit cloth
2 : a fiber, filament, or yarn used in making cloth
- Encyclopedia Britannica

I guess they are talking about cloth that is woven or the fiber in the yarns, threads, or lines used to weave materials. I saw yesterday here I Dharwad a store that sold Hand loom materials, a loom being the machine that weaves cloth. I have not seen any looms so far, but if I get close to looms then I am getting close to very cheap labor. Machines weave most cloth though even when they say “Hand Made.” That really is not correct, only special woven designed materials are hand woven. The ones with drawings on them and unique, the ones that are symmetrical or something are done on a machine I am pretty sure.

I found a really nice cotton blanket yesterday for 80 Rupees. It was an unbleached white soft cotton blanket and looked more like a shipping blanket then a sleeping blanket, but then again it may have been a shipping blanket for all I know. 80 Rupees are about 2 dollars USA or less, and I wanted to buy the blanket to help replace the blanket that KLM lost on the flight from the USA to Turkey. I have to think about it. It is a good, but white is not the best color to carry around. I have this Duvet cover that I bought in England that is working pretty good, but if I put the cotton blanket over the top it would be just enough on cold nights. A sleeping bag is always a pain, it is too much or too little, and difficult to adjust. I presently just have the Duvet cover. If I am lucky I have a blanket provided by the room, but in these hot countries they like to assume that you never need a blanket. It is cheaper and easier for them, and makes my life uncomfortable. I am amazed at the number of people that,
“Just deal with it.”

Why would anyone just deal with being cold? I had a girl traveler the other day talking to me about being cold in the night. They often just move rooms or leave because of a blanket. The room is uncomfortable, but they it does not click in their head, that the only reason is because of the need for a light blanket. I have a sleeping bag at home, but it is awkward and too heavy, difficult to pack and all sorts of other problems. It is one of them mummy bags, but hard to use for a blanket on a cold bus. It is really good if it is real cold, but anything other than really cold and it is too hot.

I presently use the Duvet Cover, which are 2 layers of sheet materials. Which in the tropics is plenty. The hotels provide a cover about 50 percent of the time. If I get really cold I will unfold my rain poncho and put over me, that and the Duvet cover would keep me nice and toasty.

If I took or bought that cotton blanket I could put it inside the Duvet cover and have a great blanket. I can remove when I am in hotter areas and used when needed. I am going to check to see if my poncho would fit inside the duvet cover. I would be an extremely warm cover that would be good down to almost below freezing. The poncho would hold in all the body heat. Something that does not breath like plastic is for real cold times. All the body heat is heal inside, but you then have to be careful about perspiration.

Layers is what I am looking for, but easy to carry and easy to separate, plus cheap and able to be purchased anywhere in the world so when I lose it I am not frustrated. I just buy a new one. A poncho is a little difficult to purchase. Not a cheap plastic one, but the really good materials is harder to find. I can almost always find a cheap poncho. I carry an umbrella for rain, but if I were really caught in the rain I would use the poncho to protect my computer and my backpack. I have had this one for about 2 years and never opened it, but like the mosquito net, when you need it, you need it and you cannot live without it. I suppose a lot of travelers need their poncho a lot, but I am pretty experienced and do not put myself in situations, or avoid types or travel that would lead me to need the stupid poncho. Nothing is more uncomfortable than walking with a poncho on in the rain. That to me is sign of bad planning or a desire to wear the poncho for fun. A small fold up umbrella, sold anywhere the world for 1 dollars… (Cheap countries) is what is best for rain.

SATURDAY MORNING

I was awoken by a lone dive-bombing mosquito. I must be alert to mosquitoes after reading about a couple of hammocks that are also tents on the Internet yesterday. Mosquito nets are so lame, they are irritating and difficult. I spend about 80 percent of my time in the tropics in areas where they have malaria or other diseases carried by mosquitoes. But the rooms are not designed for safety from Mosquitoes, about the only real protection I can be guaranteed is a fan. A good overhead fan will keep mosquitoes down to a minimum, but the problem last night is it was too cool for a fan and I would have froze, plus if possible I avoid the fan because the constant blowing dries my eyes and makes them hurt or red. So I had a diver bomber this morning. Just one, but enough to wake me… buzz in my ear.

I have a large double bed mosquito net I carry with me all the time, even in Europe and the USA. It has 4 corners with a loop for rope on each of the 4 corners. The idea is to tie a string or rope to each corner and hang up. In a thatched hut or cabana made of bamboo or other types of wood materials it is pretty easy to find something to tie the corners too, but the problem is I am in the 4 square concrete rooms 90 percent of the time, and there are no hooks. This is one reason to have the heavy-duty gaffer tape or something to hook on the walls, especially when I am staying over a couple of days.

You would think they would have screens on windows, but that seems to be a USA thing, and the rest of the world does without.

I have about 80 percent of the time 2 corners to connect, but I do not have all 4 corners. I suppose you think well what is the big deal, and just let it hang down on you while you sleep. The big deal is that mosquitoes can bite right through a mosquito net, a sheet, or a hammock. If you are really in a problem area the mosquitoes will come in any hole or bite through any cloth. So you must not have the net touching you. Plus a mosquito net is hot, and normally with the heat comes the mosquitoes. I normally tuck the net in on the edges of the bed and put my backpack or something large on the edges to hold the net away from the sides. But in the end it is best to have all 4 corners tied up. Then the mosquito net is wonderful.

TOMMORROW HUBLI - Friday night 7:25

I will leave Dharwad for Hubli tomorrow; it is about 20-27 kilometers away and should be a quick trip. So tomorrow shall be a leisure travel day, but probably not very interesting along the road. Dharwad has been interesting as I went further away from the hotel I discovered lots of fun and exciting stuff. There is a hoop maker, or a person that makes the steel hoops that go around a wood wheel like they would have on a Conestoga wagon. There are plenty of oxen pulled carts around here, mixed in with the noisy trucks and motorcycle.

I just returned from having Egg Fried Rice for 10 Rupees or about 25 cents USA. This is a very healthy and nutritious meal. Very spicy. I had watched the man cook and new he took great care in his methods, and that attracted me to this roadside diner.

The town is very modern in most ways, but the roadside food stands have only a gas lantern, and a gas pump stove for cooking. They have what looks like oversized woks for pans. For 2.5 Rupees I can have some Chai or Tea with milk. I had this my first night but decided tonight to pass on the Tea. He served water for free.

I have a rule of thumb on water. If the locals will not drink it, I won’t drink it. But if the local drink it, then I will drink it. There is a presumption that people are ignorant in the world and would drink water even if they got sick. Bottle water is very cheap where the water is bad and is not a big expense if you buy in the very large bottles like a 5-gallon jug. This makes the cost almost nothing.

But I am impressed with the water system of India so far; they are very far ahead of Thailand or South America so far. But this is a big country and not that easy to make such large sweeping statements.
I am sure each state is a little different.

It would be so easy to focus on one really nasty person drinking out of a river and call that the whole country, but this is not true. They have water taps for free located around the cities.

I did see a very ugly sight today, and almost took a photo, but decided that it was too disgusting. A man was lying on his side with his butt facing the road, he had his pants down and it looked like hundreds of ants or insects were attacking his rear. I won’t get more graphic, but I started to stop, and then just kept walking, it is possible he was dead, but I have no idea. I do not think so, but I was not going to go up close to check.

This memory is much more powerful then the very modern hotel and internet café across the street, so if I wished I could allow that memory to fill my brain, and exclude all the modern aspects of life her in India. I think the water and sewer system so far are better then Thailand by a long shot.

My room has 2 big mirrors. I cannot remember when I have been in a room with 2 wall mirrors and this is a treat. My table is covered with marble and all of this for 160 Rupees. I am staying at the Karnatak Bhavan Boarding, Lodging, and Restaurant on Poona-Bangalore, Road, Dharwad - 580-001. I could give you the telephone, but why would you want that. There are lots of nice hotels around.

I have a double room, the single room was 100 Rupees and I decided it was not secure enough. India has these extremely huge deadbolts on room and the double had these locks, while the single just had a skeleton key for the door, and I had to depend on the owner not having access or a worker not wanting to enter. With the double room I replaced their lock with my lock and I am good to go. India has the most secure rooms I have lived in so far compared to the rest of the world. The most insecure rooms are in places like Europe and the USA where the hotel always demands that I trust the clean lady, the manager and anyone they want to be able to enter the room as they wish. I love the lock system of the lower end hotels of India. I am pretty certain that if you pay more you can have less secure rooms…. Hehehe. Most 3-5 star hotels allow anyone to enter, of course they have more to steal there too.

MY PLAN. ? Who knows for sure?

I am thinking I will stay around here for one more day to see if there is any textiles or clothes being manufactured here. I have not seen any, and the center of the city is not the place for this to occur, but normally people have road side stands or market areas where they sell the things they make, even if they do not sell well. There were assorted factories spread out inside the dense trees, or jungle as I rode from Goa to here. They looked pretty organized at a high level, but at a low level India are very underdeveloped. There appears to be a lot of factories and industrialization that employs workers that have very little or no education. Although I do think they educate the people very well, it appears that there are some really rich people in this country that have factories. It is amazing to see a factory inside a predominantly farm community and wonder why they chose the location. It is hard to see the factories, and there are very small signs that they exist. I notice the good carrier trucks on the road and wondered where they were coming from, and also the smoke stacks and the architecture of the factory buildings. There is a saw tooth construction, and a… I am not sure what you call it construction of factory roofs. They really high ones have a vent or roof vent system that is large. Like a ridge row on houses, but ten times larger and the vent is about 15-25 feet away from the peak.

Outside of this city were some smoke stacks where they dried clay bricks. I would like to visit one of the clay brick manufacturing places, but I would need a motorcycle to get there or take a taxi and the taxi driver would fight me the whole time trying to take me to the pretty stuff and not what I want to see. Don’t think for a minute that a taxi driver does not spend time steering the tourist. He makes his money by taking you to his uncle, aunt, brother or someone giving him some extra commission. That fare is just half the pay.

MORNING MUSLIM PRAYER CALL
I was not sure, but I am pretty sure now that I am in a very Muslim city. It is about 5:30-5:45 in the morning and they are having mass prayer calls around the city. This is normally done with the assistance of loudspeaker systems strategically located in the city. Plus in the larger cities they compete or are in opposition. It is very pleasant in some countries where there is only one Mosque in the city. The sound of the litany is pleasant here in India, but in Iraq it was a very obnoxious sound due to the harshness of the Arabic language. Thailand could be very nice to hear also.

There is an indoctrination or extreme ritual with the Muslim and Catholic, Buddhist faiths that to me causes a lot of people from fear, shame, or coercion to feel a need or compulsion bridging on obsession to obey.

The clothes in most countries indicated the religion and are like motorcycle clubs or gangs wearing their colors. If you are not a member of the correct club or gang it could be a problem.

I have left the State of Goa, which was influenced by the Portuguese to be Christian to the State of Karnataka that I am not sure. It is a lot larger and the Encyclopedia does not make it clear on the religion or religions of the region.

Bill Gates of Microsoft and Sun Systems have set up large computer industries in Bangalore and Hyberdad. This is probably one of the greatest ways or best ways in my opinion to fight terrorist and win in the long run. In the short run they will increase, but religions need to secularize or stop wearing their colors and fighting with each other. The business world creates a different style, fashion, or dress code and abolishes the obeying of dress codes of religions.

Some would say this is bad, but business people do not normally go round killing each their workers and their clients, or potential customers, while religions do kill anyone that does not agree. It would make sense that the opposite is true, but in reality the religions kill more people then the business. Now sometimes the business, especially a few hundred years ago utilized the religious to create profit. This was a lot of a reason for the crusades.

Terrorism to me is similar to the French not wanting to talk English. The French know they are in a losing battle and will eventually all speak English in a few hundred years. The Muslim religion is having compatibility problems with the modern world of televisions and in the end will probably become a dead religion. Both are fighting back to retain their control. I do NOT think that all religions should exist and I do not think that a language must exist. Cultures will change and that is guaranteed. I do hope that people stop using cigarettes; it is part of the cultures of the world and should end, not by force but by people slowly learning they are killing themselves.

DHARVAD INDIA - Friday Morning
Woke up this morning wishing the stereotypes about countries were closer to reality. They would portray India as being very hot, but this morning it is very cold. I am very happy I purchased a sweatshirt in England of good quality; it is really needed in the mornings or very late at night. But this is winter for the Northern Hemisphere and I am in the Northern Hemisphere.

ARRIVED IN DHARVAD, INDIA
I arrived about 1:30 in the afternoon. It seem to have taken me about 7 hours to go 75 miles. Now that is slow moving. This is about the same type of speed as Guatemala. But I had a lot of connections to make to arrive here.

I saw everything along the way. Rice, cows, water buffalos, goats, farmers, people living in teepees. The number of single axel dump trucks was astounding. There was very few cars or motorcycles after we cleared the city, but the trucks were everywhere.

The people on the bus were nice and polite and helpful. No problems at all, and I think that most traveler just take the normal tourist bus, so everyone is quite excited to see me. I am starting to learn the way that travelers move from place to place and it is very predictable and a track more or less.

I did not take many photos because there was a guy between the window and he and me did not help. But I am sure I will get a lot soon of the countryside.

I left Goa State and entered Karnataka. As you travel from Goa to Karnataka you climb the mountains, then after you cross the border between the two states it become level or you start to go down. At the border they checked the bus, and it was similar to leaving a country. They had something called excise police. They grabbed a couple of boys that looked like they were smuggling whiskey, but I am not sure, they also have water in Whiskey bottles. Plus upon arriving in Dharvad they also sell whiskey here, so I am not clear on the problem.

THURSDAY MORNING - LEAVE ON BUS
It is nice to decide to leave. I have been very indecisive and now I am comforted by the thought of leaving and finding new places. This is difficult to do sometimes because I get into a comfort zone where I am safe, secure and know the territory. That makes life easier on one side, but often boring on the other. It is a compromise between boredom and security. I am not talking about safety. I am in a very safe country for the most part, but the security of knowing what to expect on a day-to-day basis.

But in the security of know the routine is the boredom. I have better watch my complaints though on trains or the Hoboes of the world may go on an attack. There is a conceptual idea that trains only travel by train.

I will leave today by bus from Benaulium Beach to Margoa. This will take about 20 minutes, upon arriving I will go get some money from the ATM and then I am off to what I think is Ponda. I am going to go check that. Yep, I am going to Ponda.

How this will work? I will go to Margoa, which I already know how to do and understand. There is a small bus stop just off the garden. I will walk around in there with my backpack on, and all the touts or hawkers that want to sell bus ticket will descend on me. I will say the word,
“Ponda.”
That may or may not understand that word. The may mean nothing to them and if it is not the place they are selling a ticket for, they will just try to convince me that is the place I should go. They will not really be selling tickets, this is a local bus, and they just take the money on the bus.

But maybe I will find the right bus. There are 3 locations in the center of Margoa to catch a bus. There is suppose to be another one north of the city, but they will probably put me on a bus toward there if that is the way I should go to go to Ponda.

The big problem in this whole mess is that they may try to point me to a train or something. The also will think in terms of a specific city. They may think that “Londa” is the place that you go, and even though “Ponda” is on the way, they will not put 2 and 2 together and say that I need to get on the “Londa” bus. In the end if I can get their brain to connect, I will find the right bus. The ticket hawkers in the entire world are sort of brain dead, they only hear or can think about city they are saying, and I must say it correctly or they do not understand.

But the great part about this is one I start to go east out of Margoa by bus, and then east is the only way to go by road. The road leading to the state of Karnataka is a big road and I will be able to keep on that road easily… I hope.

I have just drawn a paper map. I would use my guidebook map, but that has too many cities and information on it, and that is too confusing for them, they would take hours to just look at the colors of the map. I have maybe what you would call a stick map, or a line and dot map. It is much better to show a ticket vendor then a full on color map with all the highways and such. They probably have never seen one and this just confuses them and gets them all excited. They have seen maps, but they really only know Margoa and they would like to look at the map of all the state and the country and everything. But their world only exists in terms of Margoa, so why would I confuse them and show them the rest of the country or world. Plus I am trying to get on a bus, and that is my goal, not to try to teach them Geography.

The key to travel is to find what word is their hot word.
The words that could be the hot word here are…
“Ponda” = the next bigger city I would go to…
Or maybe Karnataka = this is the state I am heading towards. The problem is I could go south and find the state also.
I could say “East” but I have never found the North - East - South or West directions to be of any help.

I need to find the correct word. So I will say them all. But first Ponda and maybe Londa. If I get really worried I will show them the map. But I will for sure show the map after the guy says I am on the right bus, this will be to reassert that he knows where I am going. If I can get him with the big plan he will maybe help me to get on the next bus.

So far the India people are as about as helpful as rocks in this type of thing. They do not connect their brains up fast. The think of money and this is a problem, because they also consider any or bad, or just talking to be worth money. The act of helping is worth money even if they took me to the wrong place. I do not pay people for talking. I will give a tip or bribe, or baksheesh or whatever you wish to call it if the person can turn on the brain switch and really think. This is not common in the world. Most people think about what they are thinking about and do not think about what I am thinking about, even though it would help them to sell a ticket to me.

So I am going to pack now and leave. Bye - It is 6:25 here in the morning, by the time I get done, the sun will be up and they may actually have buses to Margoa. It is difficult to be sure.

I AM IN DHARVAD

Hello,
I am directly east of Margoa or Goa about 75 miles in a city called Dharvad. I probably am spelling it wrong. I do not think tourist come here and everyone is watching me, but it is very nice and the internet cafe is good.

My room has HOT water.... woopee.
Will write again. All is very good.

NEWSLETTER TODAY FROM BENELIUM BEACH - STATE OF GOA INDIA

http://www.hobotraveler.com/newsletterhobo135insert.shtml

Tips is about what will break on your laptop.

SNITCH FROM THE RESORT

I talked yesterday with a couple of snitches from a resort. They live in a very originally name resort here in Benalium Beach India.
“Ocean Palms.” I am being sarcastic.

But they snitched on the people in the resort. They said,
“They are afraid to leave.”
“They sit around the pool all day, and only leave maybe with a taxi, they are told that it is unsafe to leave the resort.”

A older and very nice British couple told me this, and was quite disgusted with the inhabitants of the resort. Why go to India if you never leave? Spain is much closer. Fear is a strange thing, and very powerful. But the desire to say you visited something or the fame and maybe fools prestige of saying you was there is more powerful then fear.

CHICKEN FRIED RICE - Wednesday Morning.
I went with the four boys last night to eat at a Chinese roadside food stand. What a funny experience.

We are walking down a highway that is dark and full of crazy cars going way to fast. The boys start to sing in English that stupid song called,
“My Dingaling” Something about playing with my dingaling.
I have no idea where the learn this stuff, but they knew a lot of words to the song.

The restaurant they called,
“Rough and Ready.”
I thought the restaurant was perfect. Three sets of the world renown sets of plastic chairs and tables that are everywhere I have ever visited. That had them set up next to portable kitchen, that was positioned along side the road. Nice and cozy, and open air. Yea that is it. It was an open air restaurant. The Chicken Fried Rice cost 30 Rupees or about 75 cents U.S. and they paid for me. Very delicious and I was content.

I would like to make an observation….
Outdoor restaurants are nice.
Outdoor restaurants are enjoyable.
But in most corners of the planet they are normal, and cheaper because the owner does not have to pay overhead on street space.

This applies most of the time in Europe, Paris, and all the places where they have sidewalk cafes. So when you walk into a sidewalk café think… Maybe the owner should be cheaper and not more expensive. They are using public property for nothing and doubling their business. It is NOT a benefit offered by the restaurant, it is a benefit taken from the public, and paid for by the public tax money. I like a roadside or sidewalk cafes, but do not feel like the owner is doing me a favor, he or she is doing themselves a favor.

So if you want to start a restaurant in some cheap country. You can often just set up some table. All you really need is one covered area for the kitchen and fresh vegetable and food. In most countries that is all they have anyway. Everything must be fresh because there is very little refrigeration. I tend to not eat at restaurants that have very little business. I know they do not turn the food over enough to keep it fresh. The more they sell the fresher the food.

BIKE RIDE AROUND BENALIUM - Tuesday Afternoon
I rented a bike for 30 Rupees for the day from the owner of my Guesthouse and went for a ride around the area. It is full of resorts, but for the life of me I can not see how they get to the resort or leave. They must come only in buses, because I have saw thousands of units in resorts and have only seen about 10 foreigners, and the ones I do see, I see over and over again. There are lots of resorts or hotels in the world though that live for the time from December 22 to January 6th more or less, this is when they make money. If you would ask the hotel or resort though they would say the are full from November until March, but this is crap. The only time there is every some trouble with rooms in a beach area is from December 20th until about the 6th of January.

So this place is ready for people and no people. It may be that the people that come here are from northern India and rich, and maybe my supposition that they are foreigners is incorrect..

But thank God for the 2 Calcutta girls and the 4 Calcutta boys in my guesthouse or I would be even lonelier then Margoa. At least in Margoa I did not sit around thinking I would meet somebody. I was just resigned to look at them, and them look at me.

INDIA COMPUTER SKILLS & EQUIPMENT
Just because you hear that India is very good with computers and they have their own Silicon Valley do not equate that this means they are good or have great Internet cafes. They are a little farther ahead because of the use of the English language, but the basic lack of communication, manners, and general view of people is still in the developing phase or underdeveloped. They do have people though that are on par as the fully developed countries, but on the average the country is still underdeveloped computer wise. You are not going to be able to buy, analyze, or maneuver in India very well. I believe everything is available in the country, but only in pockets. That is like saying you would have to travel from New York to Denver Colorado to find the equipment you want or the skills.

Ordering something or asking is still on the very underdeveloped sense of the world.

CLASSIC PACKING PROBLEM
I pride myself in packing efficiently. I write tips on ways to travel effectively and efficiently. I have just spent the last 15 minutes in the dark, luckily with the help of a flashlight looking for my candles. I have put them away too good. I did find my extra eyeglasses so that it even better or great. But what would I do if I really needed the candles? I would be out of luck. I try to keep candles and a lighter in a place where I always know how to find, even in the dark. But here I am looking and cannot find the candles.

Well, at least the sun will come up soon and I will hopefully be able to see. I was looking around for the electrical breaker earlier, it does look like there are some around the building, I did not recognize them at first because they are different in design, but they are very good and the some easily accessible.

CALCUTTA HOTEL UNIVERSITY
There is about 6 people living in the guesthouse besides me, they are all from the Calcutta area of India. They are all working at one of the expensive hotels. There must be a hotel Management University in Calcutta and all the 6 people have come here to work and train. They take it very serious and work very hard. Most of them are doing kitchen, or cleaning work, and seems very serious for what could be considered menial labor. The hotel are all supposed to be 5 star hotels and that must mean something in this part of India.

It is great to talk with them; they all speak very good English and even speak English between them. There are so many languages in India that they must. The official language is “Hindi” or something like that and most also speaks that, but the English language is more useful so it is dominant.

It is great to discuss the country with educated students. There are 2 girls and 4 boy students, all between 20 and 28 years of age.

PALMS OR NO PALMS
I chose a place that was shady and cool to live. I have noticed that a lot of the building and guesthouse here are directly in the sun and look very hot. Palolem was idyllic in this area because all of the Huts on the beach were under talk and shady palm trees. Colva and Benalium Beach are not very shady so far. There may be places that are, but I have not discovered them. The huge housing developments on this beach are in the sun, but are constructed to have shade and security. They have guards at the gates.

JULIES PLACE ON BENALIUM - Tuesday Morning
I am now located at a small guesthouse on Benalium Beach. It is just 8 kilometers directly west of Magao. It would be best to assume that all the towns, villages or cities are essentially beach cities or port cities. Although many are a few kilometers away from the ocean they are built from a strategy point of view to be close to the sea. I do no know of any river in Margao, but that doe not mean there is not one. Normally there will be a fresh water river somewhere along the city to provide drinking water.

I BLEW THE ELECTRICITY
I woke up this morning and started my normally get a coffee, turn on my computer, and start my day thing. This guesthouse is new, and I have not used the electricity to make coffee yet so when I turned on the switch it blew a fuse or breaker. I am not sure and have yet to see any breaker boxes in Goa. This is the first time in India that I have blown a fuse or breaker. I am hoping they have breakers that make life easier for me and for them.

My coffee cooker use a high amount of electricity for about 20 seconds then I am done, but in that 20 seconds it put a jolt on the lines. I am always very careful but it is impossible to know what will happen. Quality and type of construction will change from Hotel to Hotel although the same basic wiring has been in all of my rooms so far. This is good, because there does appear to be some building standards in India. In fact it is a very organized country so far.

I would have to say it is dirtier in an obvious way more then Thailand, but the infrastructure of electricity, water, and gas is better. I only know Goa and I could cross the state line and the whole world could change. Each state may be really a separate country in essence.

I am typing by battery and I am extremely happy for this. My last computer with the Nichol Cadmium battery was worthless. If there was not electricity, I had to stop, but now I have about 2 hours of typing before the battery on the laptop is dead.

I AM ON BENALIUM BEACH OR CLOSE

Hello,
Lights went off in my room. It was my fault... hehehe.
So small blog today.

I am in a great Guesthouse near Benalium Beach Goa. I took the bus into Margao to use the internet. Very cheap and very fast. Plus I am publishing 50 megs of Hoboguide.com that was down for the last year.....aaagh.

But it is up now.

I HAVE DECIDE - I go to Benalium Beach

Sitting here and working or typing on my computer I have finally got in touch with what I really want to do. I want to go see what is happening in Benalium Beach. I seem to in the back of my mind have some unfinished business or something I wish to do in Margao and do not want to jump too far away from this city.

I suppose you think I should go be a tourist and that is fine, but I am not a tourist. I am a traveler that goes to different places and stay around and lives, although I do a lot of tourist things, that is not my goal, my goal is to enjoy the day doing what is fun to me and to have a nice life. Looking at thing of beauty or history is fun, but not always that exciting. Sort of looking at home movies. After about a half hour you have had enough. The same is for tourist attractions, in can only look at things for a half hour and then I am kaput. But do realize that looking a culture is time consuming in itself. To just watch the people of India walk down the street is amusement park of thrills and chills. I am in a skuzzy part of the city and there are a lot of characters around. I have to be careful I keep my brain in balance and do not stupidly think this is the normal life. I am in living in an area that is maybe only 20 percent of the city. Not very normal in many ways, but it is normal for this part of the city. It is very easy to go see the skuzzy part of a life, but to find out how a good respectable person lives is extremely difficult. You cannot just walk down the street and look into their window. You have to be invited. They are respectable.

Note on the Hindu or temple thing. I have no understanding still of this Hindu religion or all the temples and archeology stuff of India. I am still researching and trying to learn. Not much fun looking at stuff when you have no idea why it is significant. In the end you go away saying,
“That was nice.”

COMPUTER WAGES
I was talking with a woman the other day next to a large India business. She is the executive secretary for the head of what appears to be a very large business here in India. I think she was transferred here from Bombay or Mumbai as they wish us to call it.

But I asked her,
“I want to be fair, and I am trying to pay a boy. Well, he is not a boy, he is 24 years old, but appears awfully young to me. But back to the point, I want to pay him to do computer work. What is a fair wage for helping on my page?”

She said,
“I cannot tell you per day or per hour, but I can tell you per month. A good worker of this type would get 3500 Bucks per month.”

She then changed the word to Rupees, because they call a Rupee a buck here also. I then went over this price about 5 more minutes to be positive she said this amount of money. I think this is for a 6-day workweek also, but I forgot to ask her about that, although she is working 6 days. I asked another guy how much a few weeks earlier and he said 200 Rupees per day.

So I would guess that a fair wage for a computer programmer is starting is between 3500 and 5160 Rupee per month.

The 200 Rupees represents the 5160 number I cam up with. The boy said he wanted 500 Rupees and this is fair to me providing he does the work.

Let put that in to perspective, I will convert this to U.S. Dollars. The Euro is almost the same, so just think of it as the same.


3500 = 80.45 Dollars USA
5160 = 118.62
200 = 4.59
140 = 3.21

So if I paid him 500 Rupees a day. I would be paying right around double the normal wages to triple.
11.49 Per DAY

Now that is what I had to pay a worker per hour in the USA to just get them to show up, and they did not show up good for that amount.

It is not hard to understand why they are exporting or sending business to India. I know these sounds cheap, and it is, but there are a lot of miscellaneous costs involved here that should be thought about. I cannot talk to him the same as I can a person from the USA. They also have a quality concept that is different. The cost of dealing with another culture will at least double the time it takes to do this job.

But a lot of brilliance is more about perspiration and not brains. So I am looking for time spent on this project thinking. I believe that mentally the India people are just or somewhat the same in innate mathematical powers as the USA person. There is a difference, because all breeds of animals are different and have different aptitudes. We are not all the same. But thinking, planning, and considering all the possible problems is a computer. I am making what they or I think they are calling a “Vortal.” A Portal is like Google.com where it is everything to everyone. I am making a “Vortal” of travel. This is similar to Google.com but only has to do with travel. Now in some ways it would be easier to have a Portal because I can include everything. In a Vortal I must somehow draw the lines or explain the relationships of ideas.

Like how does mobile or cellular phones relate to travel? Do I put them under communication or do I put them under gear? Is there a need? Yes there is a need, especially when we talk about Satellite telephones, but the lines all get fuzzy and the person doing the submitting has one goal and that it to convince that that company is special and provides some “World Class” service that really is needed by every travelers. The problem is 90 percent are lying. So how do I create a way to cull out the liars from the good pages quickly? How do I keep the serious and helpful people away from the spammers and slammers that wish to overwhelm with hyperbole and marketing slogans.

There is a way I believe and that is one of my projects here in India. To get the page up to third generation level.

I suppose I really do not know how many generations my webpage will have. I would think just a hotel webpage would be a first generation, and when the page is in someway interactive it would be second generation, and when I can by AUTOMATION not by manual labor delete, manage, and control the information it will be third generation.

Fourth would be when the categories grow independently of me.

I just went and put that into my collection of thoughts on my page. So here it is again maybe more clearly.

FIRST GENERATION - A business card type webpage.
SECOND GENERATION - Interactive a person looking at page can submit information.
THIRD GENERATION - I can by AUTOMATION not by manual labor delete, manage, and control the information.
FOURTH GENERATION - When the categories grow independently of me.

BENAULIUM OR GOKARNA? Monday Morning
I am leaving my room today. I am trying to decide on whether to go to Benaulium or Garkarna. I have even considered Anjuna one of the famous party beaches. It would be nice to be in the center of the state of Goa near Panjim or Old Goa so I could see more Portuguese architecture

WENT TO BENALIUM BEACH

I cannot say the beach looks that interesting, sort of a long drawn out thing and with a lot of thatch restaurants. There appears to be 2 large sets of very nice house or resort development just off the beach. These are really nice houses and I expect they are expensive. The small village is quaint and very nice. I may go there for a couple of days. It is only 20 minutes from Margoa and only 5 Rupees by bus; I can live there and still come in and get some Internet work done for a few more days.

I also have my eye on a few more sample type packages to send home now that I know the system and also understand Margao.

The room at Benaulin is only 100 Rupees and I am paying 180. The room where I am in right now is real dodgy looking at night, and I do not like to walk around. Benaulin would allow me to roam around at night better.

SQUAT TOILETS
Sometime I just go to the restroom to take a break and think. I miss the normal type. This squat has nothing to do with “Rest.”

STILL IN MARGAO
I have so many little things to do, and Margao is very convenient to perform these tasks that I am having trouble leaving. I am still here doing all sorts of little items. I did go to a beach Colva just 8 kilometers away. It was very or extremely touristy and not a very interesting beach. I can almost tell how a town is constructed or laid out whether I will enjoy the situation. This place seemed to have resort type hotels more then Mom and Pop types. Palolem has the Mom and Pop type. All are small or say less then 50-meter or yards wide on the beach, or basically as wide as a large restaurant. This makes all the places close and cozy, but if they spread out then it is impossible to meet anyone and to know people. The social life comes down to only the bar scene and become boring. Koh Samui was the resort type in Thailand while Koh Pha Ngan was more the Mom and Pop type. The layout of Hotels is very important to my enjoyment of a place.

I want to talk and enjoy the place, and not just be there. The Hiltons, Sheratons and Holiday Inn type mentality is that you go to be in THAT hotel. Like the Hotel is the reason you go to a place, and in reality this is probably true for 90 percent of people. The visit a Hotel and not a place, or they visit a Resort and not a country. A resort is not the country, it is a resort where you get away from a countries problems. Where you are pampered, coddled and fed food. Oops and spend lots and lots of money.

Most of my great memories are about place where I have visited that groups of people sat around and had fun together. Like in La Paz in the Carretero Hostel, or Ecuador in the Grand Hotel Quito in the old part of Quito or in Pie De La Cuesta Mexico. I suppose I could say the same for the Barmy Badger in Earls Court of London. The fun was meeting a few people and the group going somewhere or sharing some laughs together.

Palolem beach could be a lot like that, but not good for me because I am not from England. Sort of a Brit thing.

LOST SOME PHOTOS
I was sitting in my room here in Margao trying to arrange some of the old photos and WebPages. I cannot find some photos on my computer. I am getting very annoyed, frustrated and angry about this situation. I do not want to think about it much, but it all comes down to me trusting another person with information. I have lost so many photos because I trusted a person or company. I have a friend Brett that has helped out a lot and has always done a good job, but I can tell you anyone else or company that I have ever entrusted digital information with has deleted, erased, or improperly managed information.

Fortunately the cost of backing up information has become cheaper, easier and quicker so no I can do all my own. In the past 50 Megs of information was a tremendous amount, but now it is nothing.

I am not sure where is safe?
I have lost tons of information backed up on the internet because a company has went out of business or just deleted it.
I have lots tons of information that I paid to have copied because the techies did a sloppy job.
I have lost information burning a CD Rom because the recorder in Cuczo did not record the data.
I have lost information I sent to the Internet because a satellite connection glitched the files.

I must have 4 locations for all information or I would never feel safe.
1. Internet
2. CD Rom (2-3 copies minimum in different locations - different houses)
3. My compute.
4. A friends, family, or second computer.

Note: Copying a hard drive is not done perfectly. If it stops for any reason there will be a problem. If you have a lot of information it will stop. A corrupt file will stop it. You must be there the whole time.