Well, it's official, I have finally left the beach! I am in Pune now at my friend Paul's house. I left Anjuna last night after saying goodbye to Danel and Huan. It really feels like the end of an era, as i've been travelling with Danel now for a month! It's amazing how fast you get to know someone when you travel with them. You spend almost every minute of the day with them and even share a bed! Anyway, Danel, you've been a great travelling companion, cheers! Maybe see you in Rajastan..... And Huan, see you in Chile!

So, I got the "sleeper" bus last night at 7:30 pm. At about noon I had started getting diorreah, which incidentally I can't spell, and I had to take some immodium, as the thought of having to piss thru my ass for 12 hours on a bus that stops once every 3 hours was not an appealing prospect... Anyway, the dam held until I got here....

When I arrived, i stupidly fell for a taxi driver's scam which I had already seen in Goa: I had just woken up and I saw that we were in Pune. Then the bus stopped and someone started walking up and down the bus shouting "Pune! Last stop! Pune! last Stop!"... So I got up and got off the bus, which promptly drove off, leaving me in the middle of nowhere..... Then I remembered that this was what the rickshaw drivers do: they get on the bus when it stops and start shouting last stop in order to make you get off and then try to offer you a rickshaw to get to wherever it is you wanted to go in the first place... bastards. So then I try to find a phone, and the drivers all follow me, refusing to take no for an answer... i eventually find a phone, and call Paul on his mobile. I tell him what happened and he asks where I am. I haven't got a clue, so i ask the group of drivers that still surrounds me... "Cartharage Bypass" says one of the men, and so he takes the phone and starts giving Paul directions. So, I go and wait by the roadside, and the rickshaw drivers continue to try and hustle me.....

After about 10 mins, a guy comes up to me and says "this one not cartharage bypass baba, this man he a cheater, i am no cheater, I am walking man, no cheat you". So it turns out this guy had deliberately given paul wrong info in the hope that eventually i would give up and take a rickshaw! Luckily, my new "walking man" offered to give paul new directions, and so eventually paul found me. So now I'm at Paul's house, nursing my rather sore stomach... In fact, I think I need to go the the toilet again..... wish me luck! :)
posted by Billy at 12:58 PM