So we left off our blog Saturday when we were leaving Colva for Om Beach, which is located in Gokarna. Before leaving Colva, we said goodbye to our new friend Harish, who watches over his parents shop at our hotel.
He was a brilliant little man who was also very insightful. He was teaching us about the symbols common to Hinduism. In the shop we were looking at all the symbols hanging on the walls. We would point to a symbol and ask what the symbol represented, one of the symbols being what looked to us like a swastika with an Om sign in the middle. We asked what it meant and he said, "That's Om." Here and in other ancient cultures the swastika is a 3,000-year-old symbol meaning good to be. In Sanskrit the word is svastika, "su" meaning "good", "asti" meaning "to be" and the suffix "ka" as a reference to diety. Unfortunately, thanks to the Nazi party, when we see it the first thing that comes to mind is evil.
The train-ride took us approximately two hours south of Colva, and we arrived two hours later than we were supposed to . We are beginning to understand that just because the train is supposed to leave at a certain time doesn't necessarily mean it will. I have decided to always expect the train to be two hours late. That way I will not be disappointed or have negative thoughts about India's railway system. The important thing was that we made it to our location safely, and more or less comfortably.
Once we arrived in Gokarna we hired our first rickshaw to take us to Om Beach. We took some video of the ride, which was all very exciting to us at the time. Our rickshaw driver took us right to Namaste, which was the hotel we had planned on checking into upon arrival. We walked down a long path to get to the main restaurant area. Everything looked very peaceful and green, and we could hear the waves of the ocean as we hiked down the path.
Once we made it to the restaurant/bar area, we walked through toward reception. The restaurant was right on the beach, and it was dark, but had small lights above the tables. It looked inviting, and we were happy with the ambiance. We decided to take the cheapest room for two nights after taking a quick look at the lodgings. We had dinner and a couple beers after putting our backpacks in our small room, and then retreated to bed. Once we got back to our room we started noticing little details that we didn't see when they initially showed us the room. For one thing, the wooden cabinet in our room had mold on it. Our bedding was damp and it had dirt on it. The "bed" was also as hard as a wooden board. We were thinking that it was too bad we already gave money for two nights.
The bathroom was another issue. It happened to be on the other side of the property. SO - if you had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (which I did), you had to crawl under the mosquito net, put on some shoes, and walk about 100 feet to the facilities. I did all of this shortly after we decided to go to bed. As soon as I made it to the bathrooms, and started "business" it started to rain. Hard! Unfortunately my bathroom only had half of a roof, so I got soaked. When I got back to the room I cursed my luck. As soon as I changed and got back into bed, the rain stopped. Of course. A couple hours later Kale and I both had to go to the bathroom. We decided to go together, we climbed out of the mosquito net, put our shoes on, and hiked to the restrooms. What happened next really pissed me off! No sooner had I settled into my squatting position over the whole provided for voiding waste than I started to hear the raindrops come. Of course! After I finished what I had gone there to do, I exited the outhouse in a violet rush of anger:) As we walked back to our room, I told Kale that I was convinced the universe was against me. I was a little dramatic. Kale told me that it was happening for a reason, and it was supposed to teach me something. I guess it taught me to bring an umbrella to the bathroom from here on out!
He was a brilliant little man who was also very insightful. He was teaching us about the symbols common to Hinduism. In the shop we were looking at all the symbols hanging on the walls. We would point to a symbol and ask what the symbol represented, one of the symbols being what looked to us like a swastika with an Om sign in the middle. We asked what it meant and he said, "That's Om." Here and in other ancient cultures the swastika is a 3,000-year-old symbol meaning good to be. In Sanskrit the word is svastika, "su" meaning "good", "asti" meaning "to be" and the suffix "ka" as a reference to diety. Unfortunately, thanks to the Nazi party, when we see it the first thing that comes to mind is evil.
The train-ride took us approximately two hours south of Colva, and we arrived two hours later than we were supposed to . We are beginning to understand that just because the train is supposed to leave at a certain time doesn't necessarily mean it will. I have decided to always expect the train to be two hours late. That way I will not be disappointed or have negative thoughts about India's railway system. The important thing was that we made it to our location safely, and more or less comfortably.
Once we arrived in Gokarna we hired our first rickshaw to take us to Om Beach. We took some video of the ride, which was all very exciting to us at the time. Our rickshaw driver took us right to Namaste, which was the hotel we had planned on checking into upon arrival. We walked down a long path to get to the main restaurant area. Everything looked very peaceful and green, and we could hear the waves of the ocean as we hiked down the path.
Once we made it to the restaurant/bar area, we walked through toward reception. The restaurant was right on the beach, and it was dark, but had small lights above the tables. It looked inviting, and we were happy with the ambiance. We decided to take the cheapest room for two nights after taking a quick look at the lodgings. We had dinner and a couple beers after putting our backpacks in our small room, and then retreated to bed. Once we got back to our room we started noticing little details that we didn't see when they initially showed us the room. For one thing, the wooden cabinet in our room had mold on it. Our bedding was damp and it had dirt on it. The "bed" was also as hard as a wooden board. We were thinking that it was too bad we already gave money for two nights.
The bathroom was another issue. It happened to be on the other side of the property. SO - if you had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (which I did), you had to crawl under the mosquito net, put on some shoes, and walk about 100 feet to the facilities. I did all of this shortly after we decided to go to bed. As soon as I made it to the bathrooms, and started "business" it started to rain. Hard! Unfortunately my bathroom only had half of a roof, so I got soaked. When I got back to the room I cursed my luck. As soon as I changed and got back into bed, the rain stopped. Of course. A couple hours later Kale and I both had to go to the bathroom. We decided to go together, we climbed out of the mosquito net, put our shoes on, and hiked to the restrooms. What happened next really pissed me off! No sooner had I settled into my squatting position over the whole provided for voiding waste than I started to hear the raindrops come. Of course! After I finished what I had gone there to do, I exited the outhouse in a violet rush of anger:) As we walked back to our room, I told Kale that I was convinced the universe was against me. I was a little dramatic. Kale told me that it was happening for a reason, and it was supposed to teach me something. I guess it taught me to bring an umbrella to the bathroom from here on out!
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