Cycling the south coast of India (January 24th - February 4th)(continued)
I continued down the coast to the town of Gokarna and met up with my old friend Thomas Anderson from Denmark. We met back in mid-December when crossing the Turkey/Syria border and cycled together to Aleppo, Syria. We have remained in contact as we were both heading to India and he extended his stay here by a few nights to spend the next two days with me. It was wonderful swapping stories of our different experiences in the Middle East and his time in Egypt where he met his family for Christmas.
Gokarna is another of the nice beach towns along the coast and we spent Sunday walking through the town, visiting a nearby beach and eating. We walked from the town over a hill to a nearby beach and here is the view en route.
The beaches have a mixture of locals, foreigners and animals.
On our way out of the hotel one evening an aggressive monkey was sure we were after the leaves on this tree and we walked right by him while he was sitting on this wall. He eyed Thomas as he passed within a few feet without realizing it. He appeared ready to defend his dinner with his life, they are very aggressive and you would be wise to keep your distance.
Here is a picture of the beach at sunset.
I am keeping up with my plan to read about each country I cycle in and my book list for India is Shantaram which I mentioned earlier and a book by Edward Lice called, "In Spite of the God's - The strange rise of Modern India." It is an excellent analysis of how India is rising to become a much stronger influence on the world stage, focussing on the years subsequent to their independence from Britain in 1947. I also have a book I have not started called "An Indian Summer" a travelogue of one man's experience in India. It will be interesting to compare it with my perceptions.