Ouch!

So I had my first bike accident and I have to say im pretty happy with it. I've grown up around lots of people who ride motor bikes of all shapes and sizes from hulking great beasts to buzzing little nuisances and the one thing they all seem to have in common is their intimate knowledge of bike related crashery. I can honestly say that I've heard stories that would chill most men to their very core and turn anything with 2 wheels and an engine into an object of sheer terror. Bearing that in mind I wasn't surprised to find myself relived when my first crash which had always held an aura of inevitability in my minds eye finally came and left again taking with it only 2 small portions of skin which had previously made their homes on my left knee and left palm.

The incident occurred this morning at around 9:30 and did so only due to my own folly, for which I am happy as it allows me to learn from what was admittedly a pretty fatuous mistake. Last night and this morning it had rained fairly heavily which was somewhat of a departure from the norm, as a result this morning the road and more importantly my wheels found themselves in a state for which they were quite unaccustomed, wet.
Unfortunately when I got on my bike this morning with the intent of driving to the beach for an early jog I was more focused on the amusing and pleasing quality of the unexpected rain than the added danger it provided.
In my morning stupor I neglected to account for the reduced traction the tires of my bike now provided and the fact that I had never driven in the rain before, both of which conspired against me when I came to a sharp bend in the road which I attempted to navigate in my usual manner, to my shock the bike suddenly and without warning slid out from under me, withdrawing the support it had previously provided, the result was a swift and definitive collision with the ground, immediately dispelling any reservations I may of held about the existence of gravity.

Anyway all is well, the wounds were superficial and I was easily able to return home via the chemist to clean and treat them. Furthermore the bike and the road were undamaged so all in all I consider my first high velocity physics lesson a success.

              An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field. 
                          -Niels Bohr

New Layout.

Right I've changed the template to something a bit more functional. There's a lot of stuff that needs going through and changing so for a little while there may be a couple of dead end links and out of place descriptions but I should have it cleared up by tomorrow.

So what do you think?

Public Service Anouncment: It is HOT!

Hey I know this blog is meant to be at least partially about travel, so here it is, Albi's Insight for the day.
In the month of April, Goa is HOT! I mean really, really hot. Not to say this is a surprise, Goa is meant to be hot at this time of year and the raise in temperature has been a gradual one. I havent really noticed  up untill now because the heat dosent generally bother me all that much, usully.
Last night however the heat managed to edge over the line of tolerance and into the much darker territory of frustration. The realization came at about midnight last night while I was laying in bed on my side when I notice that there was a constant trickle of sweat running down my back. Despite having every window in the room fully open and having the fan whirring away at full power.
Now just in case that didn't get through I'll say it again, a CONSTANT trickle. I lay there for a good half an hour, hypnotized by the feeling of bead after bead of sweat running down my back. It was like someone had tapped into a fricking natural spring back there!
Now I'm not exactly OCD about things like bodily hygiene but it verges on the absurd when I could probably have a shower when I wake up using only the water squeezed out of my bedsheets in the morning.
This has only served to confirm in my own mind that while I will miss the beach, the food and the sunshine, there is a reason why more and more people are leaving ever day, shortly I must join them.

Now on a less sweat soaked note. I would like to thank the few people who have been reading this blog up untill now, thank you and I hope you continue to stick with me.
In the interest of expanding my new social network I would like to invite anyone reading to add me on Facebook and Twitter. If you have any feedback or opinions or you would just like to chat please leave comments on either of these sites or any of my post's or send me an E-mail at alibi-albi@hotmail.com.      
Thanks to all.

How many roads must a man walk down?

My plans at this stage in my  life are an a constant state of change and any possible perception of the future on my part is at best a vague guess based on a passing glimpse of either inspiration or opportunity.
And so once again I find myself at a the crossroads in my life at which I have to decide what it is i'm going to do now, at least in the short term. Of course the simple solution is always to stay stationary for as long as possible with an ideological hope that everything will work out in the end. This a route that I believe everyone -myself included- chooses far to often. Unfortunately in my experience the path of least resistance is rarely the one with the most desirable outcome.

As it stands at the moment my limited comprehension of the intangible phantom future that lies before leads me to believe that the most reasonable means of advancement at the moment is for me to either leave the country for the moment and head to Nepal to meet some friends with the hopes of returning in a couple of weeks and then heading up to Manali in the Himalayan mountains where I was born. or alternatively to just go straight to Manali, bypassing any possible complications that could arise from leaving the country.
The complications I'm referring to are of the idiotic kind, specifically the new rule brought in by the Indian government in response to the the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks which states that you are no longer allowed to reenter India within 2 months of the last time you left regardless of whether you have a visa or not.

Painfully I've already been caught on the wrong side of this rule when going back to England to see friends and family for Christmas, needless to say the frustration caused by this unexpected change of plans has lead me to vow not to make the same mistake twice.
However recently there has been increasing reports that they have stopped enforcing the rule, mixed with an equal number proclamations to the contrary. At the moment no one seems to know for certain exactly what is going on. Not the travel agents, the travelers, the government, the internet and least of all me.
As best I can guess the rule is still in place and will remain so for the near future so that those involved in its creation can save face, but in general they seem to have stopped enforcing it due to its sheer stupidity.

I will need to be 99% sure I wont get exiled again in order for me to risk leaving but I will continue to research the possibility for the sake of variation as I did just spend 5 months in Manali prior to my departure to England. As it is now I can 100% say that I will almost definitely, possibly, maybe be doing something that I do not plan to not do at this point in time.. soon.

     The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
            -Bob Dylan

Farewell iPal.

Woe is me...
A dear friend of mine has recently died, although I had only known him for the past four years we developed a strong bond that only death could break. Alas! fate has conspired to take my dear iPod  from me.
He was a close companion through thick and thin,
When I was waiting to receive my final collage exam results, he was there to sooth the worry from my bones.
When I ascended the great Himalayan mountains, explored the splendid caves of New Zealand, wandered the beautiful rain forests of Australia and ambled along  the divine beaches of Indonesia , he was there to help enhance their beauty.
When I began to miss my friends and family so far from home, he was there to remind me of the great times I had experienced and the even better ones that were to come.
When I began to write this blog, he was there.

I feel like a part of my self is missing, sometimes the beginings of a tune or the lyrics of a song breifly enter my mind and I begin to search around for a way to satisfy the idling of my brain only to remember painfully that such a solution is no longer available to me, at least not in the way that I would wish.

I would hold a funeral for my dear departed friend with all the pomp and ceremony of any other were it not for a dwindling hope that the cold and lifeless remains of my friend could not at some later date be revived through the miracle of technology. Or if not then perhaps at the very least the memories contained inside could be retrieved and used for the good of all mankind.
Perhaps i'm just a dreamer, but sometimes dreams come true.


        It takes a long time to grow an old friend.

           -John Leonard 

Lifes a Beach!

I couldn't sleep last night.

That's a lie,
I did sleep last night, for about an hour and a half, then without rhyme or reason at 2 o'clock in the morning I was wide awake again, my eyelids propped open with some sinister psychological sellotape. no hope of getting to sleep without a lot of wasted time staring at the ceiling.
I was struck by an odd mood, one which comes around seldom and always at the most unexpected of times.I couldn't sit still I had to move, my mind was filled with a constant whirlwind of thought about the past and the present but mostly the future.

I've been staying in Goa, India for the last month, down south where the weathers hot and getting hotter every day, It's time for me to move... soon. another couple of weeks and I'll head up to the mountains where I can walk around outside at midday without ending up as a puddle on the side of the road.

Last night the air in my little room seemed hotter than normal and the ancient fan that struggled away did little to change it. I had to do something, I was bouncing of the walls in my room so I came up with one of my many half baked and often disastrous ideas which I can confidently say "seemed like a good idea at the time". I decided to get on my bike, drive to the beach and go for a run. It really did seem like a good idea and when I arrived a was rewarded with the fresh cool sea breeze making it all seem worthwhile. Wasting no time I set of down the beach at a slow jog, taking my time, enjoying the air and beginning the long process of sending myself to sleep through sheer exhaustion.

After about 15 minutes I came to the abrupt and shocking realization of just how stupid I was being. My rude awakening came in the guise of 4 vicious dogs rushing towards me at an alarming speed barking and growling maliciously. Now I don't claim to be particularly brave or tough but I grew up in India and other countries where dogs who would as soon take a bite out of your leg as fetch a ball for you are a way of life and they do not normally scare me. However I defy anyone to go up against four angry dogs on a deserted beach with your back to the sea and keep a steady pulse, I did not. I did however keep a steady head. Now the trick with these dogs is that they are always more so than anything else, cowards. This factor becomes significantly harder to exploit when they are in a group but it is still their biggest weakness.

And so my side of the confrontation involved me shouting and yelling at them as loud as I could in order to keep them as bay while offering up a couple of mild but effective kicks to the nose whenever one ventured too close, my exit strategy involved me tentatively back stepping away from them down the beach and away from the territory they were guarding, every now and again I would pick up or pretend to pick up a handfull of wet sand and threaten to throw it at them to keep them from following me.
Needless to say once I was a safe distance away I hastily headed back to my bike, preferring to be restless in my room than get anymore training as a dog dualist.

However my mood had not passed and after sitting through a couple of truly mediocre films with an almost unbearable amount of adverts I was back down on the beach again having a relatively undisturbed jog as the sun rose. I have to say this second jog was the highlight of my ...day? The strange twilight hour I rarely get to see except after the occasional all night party had a strangely pleasing quality. The dogs still owned the beach and they traveled around in packs, however they were much more amiable and went so far as to share their domain with the many heard of cows that also roamed the beach as well as a few early rising locals who were fishing on the incoming tide, or taking down the beach shacks that were closing for the season.

Needless to say I'm shattered and could well do with my sleep. Except there is a party i promised id go to starting in a few hours so I guess sleep can wait :P

              "Common sense is not so common."
                                      -Voltaire.

Meet Albi

Greetings interweb and all those who inhabit it, I wish to join your ranks, the near infinate legion of faceless names of which I am now a member. Of course this is not my first excursion into the unpredictable internet social arena, this is however my first blog. The tales I plan to tell are not of any great import, certainly they will bear near to no significance for the majority of you, however I hold out hope that if I write for long enough at least a few of you will find something worth remembering.

You can call me Albi. It's not my real name, nor is it a nickname, I have never been called it before, however for the purpose of this blog it will do. I am 19 years old and of British decent I was however born in India. I am as you may of guessed male.

Before going any further I should warn you, although up until now everything I have told you other than my name is true, much of what I tell you now may not be, I have chosen not to use my own name for personal reasons, likewise any other names which appear in this blog are also likely to be changed in order to protect the privacy of those involved. While I will be bending the truth rest assured that every occurrence I refer to in this blog will be based on real life events, or at least the parts of them I choose to tell you.

The stories I tell on this blog may not be those you expect to read, which is to say the stories I tell on this blog are not likely to be the ones I expect to write. I enjoy writing and find it a pleasent way to expel some of the many goings on in my brain. Unfortunately what and when I write depends entirely on my situation and state of mind and therefore a can make no promises, to you or to myself.

Farewell.
     
     "All her hours were yellow sands,

     Blown in foolish whorls and tassels;

     Slipping warmly through her hands;

      Patted into little castles."