BeShanti - Your Traveling HomePage

Subject	Posted	State , Place	Views	Rate
Goa - The art of doing nothing	06/01/2009	Goa, Anjuna Beach	1778	None
Chilling out in the Andamans	05/01/2009	Andaman Islands, Port Blair	1121	10

Well, almost a month after leaving the Andamans we are writing the Andamans post... we don't realy have an excuse except for the fact that we are on a (long) vacation after all, so you'll have to excuse us :) The Andamans are a group of islands that are part of the union of India but are actually closer to Burma than to the Indian main land. Most of the islands are pretty remote and primitive and Hagay was sure he will have to catch some fish every day to provide a descent dinner... reality was more comfortable (big relief for Inbal...), especially as we stayed on the most developed island (Havelock) for a whole month...

So as you probably understood already we can't really tell you about the Andamans too much. We were too lazy (but proud of it) to visit other islands or to do camping, but we can tell you a hell of a lot about other things, such as where is the best place to eat a nice thali, where is the best place to drink a really good mango juice (some say it is the best in the world), how to arrange the cheapest snorkeling trip (including free barracudas hunted by the boat man for dinner) and most importantly how to get to the nicest spot (AKA "the lagoon") in one of the best beaches ever (actually "the best beach in Asia" according to Times magazine - beach no. 7).

Yap, we had the best time in Havelock. A big part of it were the people we were hanging with. We met Domi and Anuk from Zurich on the ferry to Havelock, went lost in the jungle together on the way to the remote "Elephant beach" and hanged out together until they went back home 2 weeks later.

We met Dilip on our first night at the Pristine guest house, where he was working. He gave Hagay a nice present to start the Havelock shanty, kept on calling Inbal and Anuk "sister" and 2 weeks later gave them necklaces as a farewell gift.

We ate almost daily at a small dhaba (basic Indian restaurant) called "Amit's place", run by a local family that has a cool son (Amit) who is a real Bollywood films addict. When we left we tried to lift up his taste by giving him a Hollywood DVD (Lord of the rings) as goodbye present. Oh - they also manage somehow to make a really addicting mango juice...

We met Michal, the coolest Israeli from Rishon le Zion, and heard horrifying stories about her boyfriend "Shlooky" (just kidding), made technology start up plans with Michael and Matias from Poland (while kicking their polish asses in backgammon) and had so much good time with so many others.

We had a very important occasion on Havelock - Buji's 30th birthday !!! The secret plans included helicopter flight over the islands, ayurvedic massages, letters from the family and romantic secluded dinner by the best beach in Asia but due to problems related to Indian character (anyone who have been to India can understand Hagay's frustration) we had to settle with surprise breakfast, fancy lodge and nice dinner (that included an Indian champagne !). But Inbal looked satisfied and that's what counts...

Indeed, we had good life back in Havelock: our "Villa", our red motorbike (used mainly to go to the market and back), our friends, the sea and the sun... It all ended when suddenly, out of no where the monsoons arrived (10 days earlier than usual !!!). That's when we decided we should seek our fortune in Kolkata. But that story will be told in another post...

Hugs and kisses, The Bujis

Name*:
Email:
Comment*:
*Text in the Box:**	enter the letters and digits from the image

Blog of Hagay Lupesko - Chilling out in the Andamans