MANIPAL / UDUPI / KODI BEACH

Quite a relaxing weekend, comparing to the previous ones, Gokarna et de nouveau OM BEACH ....

Yesterday, we went to Udupi and Manipal, an hour's bus drive away. The only reason to go to Udupi/Manipal is for the Subways sandwich bar there is there. Nothing interesting apart from that ... but when you haven't eaten anything decent for the last month, a sandwich is really welcome!

Manipal is a student town and therefore extremely modern by Indian standards. I realized that I hadn't seen pavements in one month! Pavements, proper roads, modern buildings and 84,000 med students in white coats all around the town. Many foreign students of Indian origin come on exchange to Manipal apparently.

In Udupi, there is a very nice temple to visit so our day was a little cultural after all. A marching procession of 10,000 people where heading towards the temple of Krishna, so we followed them. They were very happy to see us there!

Nous avions decide d aller voir un astrologue pour 101 Rp. Il faut tout d abord donner vos heure, date, lieu de naisance et votre nom complet. Emma, seule a commence, elle en est resssortie en nous disant que c etait un charlatan mais en 20 min il a reussi a lui predire qu elle aurait six enfants, avec son mari qu elle rencontrera dans un an, qu elle avait deux soeur, enfin une mais pour l astrolologue avec elle ca fait deux ! CQFD, qu elle avait eu des pb de sante (faux), un accident de voiture (presque c etait de tramway) mais surtout que le Dragon RAGOU bloquait tous ses efforts en terme de famille, boulot, amour et qu il fallait ABSOLMENT qu elle se protege avec une amulette contenant cinq metaux differents ... pour seulement 2 000 Rp. Declinant l invitation il lui a pronostique qu elle serait kidnappee et violee dans 3 mois et demi mais qu elle vivrait jusqu a 85 ans ! ! ! !

Conclusion, on retourne dans une semaine voir un autre astrologue sur Udupi, pour un grand festival en l honneur d un gourou et pour savoir si elle doit se cloitrer dans son appartement pendant un mois ! GRRRR ca fait froid dans le dos !

Today (sunday) was spent relaxing at the beach with a picnic and a book (I'm finishing my 4th in 5 weeks).

On the menu : tomato, bread and yesterday's processed cheese, crisps, mango, oreo biscuits. A gourmet meal actually!

4 little girls came to talk to us. One of them spoke English (she goes to an English medium school which is one of the private schools) We shared some mango and sweets with them. They asked us many questions, in Kannada though, so we didn't understand much!

Gotila : Ich verstehe nicht.

Then some boys came and seemed apparently jealous that we were speaking to the girls and not to them. So they started throwing coconuts at us! ... We said the only "insult" that we know in Kannada to them : Ninnu Manga! = You little monkeys!! They laughed and ran away ...

Next week, there is a festival organised by the local youth club association called Jaycees. This association is giving FSL one hour of time, where we can basically do what we want. We have no idea yet how to entertain the locals but we will all meet from 16h30 - 18h30 everyday next week to "practise" ...