Keeping a promise. The Maha Mantra

I almost forgot. Even though Charles, one of the waiters, is Catholic, he asked that I put the Maha Mantra on the blog. We had a discussion about Lord Krishna, Rama and Sita, the Ramayana and The Mahabharata (Hindu bible). He seemed quite impressed that I had read it cover to cover, as it is 9000 pages long and most Hindus only read sections at a time. The recitation of this mantra gives, and brings, favour and reverence to those that recite it and, more importantly, to Lord Krishna.

Hari Krishna Hari Krishna
Krishna Krishna
Hari Hari
Hari Rama Hari Rama
Rama Rama
Hari Hari.

More India photos

These photos are of the Park Hyatt Hotel and Anjuna Market. As I mostly recorded the trip on my digi video, the photos don't show too much. The hotel was surrounded by one big swimming pool, the biggest in India, and as you walked round, you crossed it by a series of bridges. Outside of our rooms was a lagoon with a view to the sea on our right.
Anjuna market was complete madness with everyone hassling, shouting or begging for you to buy. After a while you became immune to the mayhem. The sound of people saying "Na, Na, Na", which means no in Hindi was everywhere you went. However, when considering that you can buy a T-shirt for £1 or incense for 9p, it was a fantastic experience.

India Photos

Solstice Greetings/Hari Rama, Rama Rama, Hari Hari,etc...

Greetings one and all and may your solstice have been as good as ours!! We have been home just 24 hours now and are still a little jet lagged, but relaxed all the same. Goa was everything we expected and the hotel was brilliant. The service was more than I could believe, I swear if you dropped a bit of paper it wouldn't reach the ground before it would be caught by one of the staff, and everyone made every effort to ensure you had a relaxing time. The weather was a steady 34 degrees with a light breeze which was very welcome. We mainly stayed around the hotel or on the beach but ventured North to Anjuna one day to the market there. The market was crazy and a tale in itself, let alone the drive there on majorly potholed roads with a driver who spent most of the trip two inches from the car in front or in the middle of the road!!! We bought loads of crystal, fabrics and incense for the shop and it was good to be buying direct from source, rather than lining someone's pocket over here. We even made arrangements with this guy we met, called Farook, to send stuff direct to us here in the UK !! There were two guys at the hotel who were really friendly called Charles and Richard and we made sure we gave them fat tips when we left. The average wage, in India, is about 700 rupees per month (about £9) so they were well chuffed when we gave them 500 rupee tips on the last day ! As usual, I have shed loads of photos but will only post a few at a time.
Tree and I had a particularly good solstice, watching the sun set on the beach. It was made very special, for reasons to be revealed later, and will be one I will never forget !! Now all that is left is to look forward to the New Year and all that the future holds, a certainly brighter one than in the last few years.
Catch ya soon.