3 ports of India

A lot of people I know have spent time in India... I cannot say that... for me India seems to be a universe of universes... each state is like a different country... I did not travel around as most I just spent 14 days in 3 ports and a day in Mumbai, over all this period I was only with locals (only seen non-Indians at airports), which was perhaps the coolest part of the trip.

Dhamara
This is literally the end of he road, true rural poverty... Orissa is one of the poorest states in India... Dhamara was done in the late 70’s to help the development of the area... a fishing port at the end of a 1 lane road along rice fields.

The main change since them is that there is a lot more of people now... (and they put a missile base in the near).

Getting there is a 4 hour trip from Bushaneswar... the trip confronted me with a whole new concept in anti-road safety. Motorways with everything from trucks to bicycles going against the traffic anywhere anytime, cows wandering around, busses with staggering amounts of cargo and people... absolutely incredible... beyond anything I have seen so far...

Dharama fishing port has been setup for a modification and working on that was my job there. Once there life takes another pace... the port is off season... so is the village/slum surrounding it... i stay at the port administration house inside the port (which is the only place to stay) and was a good way to see the day and night life of the place... the landings, the supplies, the shipyard...


The big event of the day was my morning run along rural roads along mud huts, people looking at you as if you were a alien... (why would someone run for sake of it?).

There is me, with my ipod and gear that is worth their annual income, running along paths in the mud, avoiding the poo of people along it... (no toilets, a BIG problem)

I could see death lurking around many of the people looking at me... Is not an easy feeling when you look into the eyes of misery...

Mumbai
I never took coke and acid at once... but I imagine that must be like my hours walk around Mumbai... I never been anywhere soooo busy. It beats Mexico DF (the busiest city I have been) by miles... is a whole new level!

The density of Singapore is 6500 people/sq Km... Mumbai as a whole has 18000... and in some areas goes up to 45000... (that must have been where I was)... It is a constant stream of people, three-wheelers, taxis, and more people, processions, drums, and a constant car horns... I just could not deal with it... I was feeling like a giant fist gripped my soul... I just went back to the hotel and waited for my flight to leave



Mangrol
Mangrol (in guyarat) is a true shit-hole... I really cannot say anything good about it... a fishing port designed for 200 boats in the 80s that now crams 900... what can you do? (except hoping it burns). Lowest standards in terms of fishing cosmos I have seen anywhere...

Diu
Here is a surprise... I always had “a thing” for former Portuguese colonies, they make interesting places (not always for the right reasons) but cools places anyhow. (think Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Cabo Verde, Macao, Timor, and so on).
Goa was the only I knew about in India... but here is Diu... which has a MASIVE fort and very laid back feeling about it... no one is in a hurry... in some areas you could be in Lisbon (before the EU revamp)... see the pictures on a link below... fishing wise... not much

The food the people
I was travelling with 2 Indian local colleagues, very cool people and vegetarians... so I spend the 2 weeks eating with them...
I had things I have no idea what it was, and in places I would have not know existed without locals... and the food always was fantastic (the first week a bit to much of rice and dhal, that is all).


So... I didn’t see any worthwhile tourist attraction... but then I seen a slice of that universe called India that most not Indian would never grasp by living and dealing only with locals and it was a worthwhile experience.

For some of the pictures I took with my new Nikon D40x (I’m very happy about that) see this link


The sad note, on my last day in India... Vibeke’s father died back in Holland after a sad disease that melted him down... he went peacefully with Vib on his side...