might as well

[silax]

first time i've been connected to net for a while and got through the filters that is. if i can stay connectted long enough will update

[silax]

well my internet is really doing my head in and just found out i won't be able to get proper internet till next year.
well just trying to think what i've been getting up to. the big problem with updating this only now and again is i forget things but i'll try and remember most stuff saturday seemed to be the most interesting day footy day with the mighty mags sorting out brummy albeit a last minute winner. now i went to watch it at a quiet bar and kick off was 7:00 pm here so i got in about 6:45 ordered my pint and got ready kick off approaches and man utd is on so i ask the guy behind the bar where newcastle so he fiddles about and gets sunderland on another tv (bloody marvelous) i'm in a bar with a full pint watching the mackems so i down the pint and decide i'll pop along to knocking shop bar they show all the matchs there on the way out i see the manager and ask him why he's advertising the newcastle game and not showing it. he says wait a minute and hey presto he's got it on. so 5 minutes into the game and i'm on my 2nd pint ho hum.
anyway another newcastle fan sits next to me and we get chatting and he's a single guy having a weekend piss up and whore weekend in dubai so i decide it could be interesting having a night on the drink with this fellow who comes to dubai quite often so he knows everywhere to go.
apparently a lot of the mafiosa from china russia etc. are running the prostitution in dubai now. quite an interesting guy to listern to.
well the game finishes and the mood is very good he explains all the prices of the working girls what you should be paying whats too much etc.
i get the distinct impression he dosen't listen to a word i'm saying as a few times i've mentioned to him i'm not interesting in going with one of these girls.
to cut a long story we find a hotel thats free entry into see the band playing.
now i thought the knocking shop near my place was bad but this place jesus wall to wall prostitutes pimps and clients and a band playing on stage.
band were quite good but one things for sure i wont be taking mrs silax dancing in that hotel.eventually he managed to find the right girl for the right price about 45 quid for the night and he went home so off i went as well it really wasn't the kind of place where you could sit and get drunk on your own.
got home sliced my finger open making a cheese sandwich and got no sympathy from mrs silax.
that was my weekend done. now this week on thursday going to central perk for coffee apparently gunther from friends opened it up here(not sure if thats true) with g/f abdul and indian guy and not sure who else but me and mrs s were thing who will we be i said i'd be joey but the mrs is making me be chandler bing she's monica and abdul is gonna be ross supposed to be quite expensive but how much can a cup of coffee cost.
after that i'm finally gonna get my ass to dubai races and hopefully make a few friends.
oh almost forgot to mention bought some dvd's here and they are perfect copies unbelievably good in fact some of them are the real i am. they cost roughly about 1 pound 40 so i bought 14 including american gangster
getting well into my book as well i really do recommend everybody must read it especially susan.

[silax]

phew you don't know how pleased i am that i didn't lose my internet before i got that entry uploaded.
now i've been trying to book my train ticket from mubai to goa and it would appear to reserve a first class seat they have to post out your tickets well if they post them to me they won't arrive before i fly so getting a little worried about the train.
also on the subject of indian i've been talkig to an indiaan guy who comes from bangalaw (i'm sure thats not the spelling) he was telling me you could rent a 3 bedroom house there for under 50 quid a month now if thats true i maay just bog off there for 12 months if its an ok place starting to get a bit sick of the hypockrasy that is dubai. maybe my views will change when i meet a few friends biggest problem i've got is most people round about my age work here so through the day i'm on my lonesome.
waiting for e-mail off john i'm thinking about doing an open university course and need some advise off him. hint hint john.
anyway thats enough for now will update when i next get a connection where my filters work.

[John]

I'm on it tonight mate :) what do you wanna know exactly?

[silax]

e-mail me and i'll tell you :)

[silax]

or better still have you got yahoo messenger or msn

[John]

OK darling, after I've watched Friends on E4+1. Ooh I love my life!

Edit - Yeah - MSN Messenger... ***

[silax]

ok john i've added you cheers

[silax]

ok went to central perk for coffee on thursday afternoon was a bit dissapointing really and didn't have my camera so no photos sorry. had a club sandwich and coffee then left lots of flys bugging me. couldn't find anywhere to place a bet on the horses running at nab al sheba so me and friends decided just going to watch horses runnning round a track was a bit of a no brainer. instead met him in a bar anf got absolutly out of our skulls quite a good night and woke up on settee next to a beef curry.
also discovered a strange phone number in my mobile haven't got a clue who that can be and definatly not ringing it.
have failed in my mission to book a train ticket from mumbai to goa so looks like i'll have to leave that till i'm in mumbai

[silax]

sitting waiting to go out to watch the footy all excited the mighty mags in london for the first time this season

[silax]

had a strange thought the other day. i wonder what they do with there disabled people round here i have yet to see one which i think is a bit strange don't you. the police force also seem really good at what they do the only crimes i have seen reported are the ones they have caught somebody for i think they must have a 100 % clean up record.
went to the travel agents today see if they can get me on a train from mumbai to goa no joy there

[silax]

woke up this morning wondering why there was no hangover and realised i only had 3 pints when watching the footballmakes a pleasent change i can even remember who scored the goal last night and everything think that may be the reason everybody has to get drunk watching football.

[silax]

made it to goa via bombay sitting in internet cafe will update this whe i get the chance bombay is one scary city

[silax]

ok now i'm still in goa but have a spare hour so will update loads happened so i'll start from saturday the 22nd as me and mrs silax head off to goa via bombay we decided to take the bus from dubia to abu dhabi quite cheap about 2 quid each for a 2 hour journey once at the bus stop a huge que of indians waitng for the abu dhabi bus and a taxi driver offering to take us for 12 quid ish so we're going by style. our plane takes off at 17:30 so we're at the airport at 10:30 mistimed that one but not to worry eventually the check out opens and we can go through no probs so far and we'r sitting in the departure lounge happy and laughing.
most of my flying in the past has been around europe and apart from flight to dubai never had a ticket so somehow i forgot i had recieved a ticket anyway this very exaspeated check in guy and a few sercirity gaurds are heading towards us and for some reason we're not showing on the flight list now the guiy who checked us in is in big poo. to cut a long story short after a few desperate phone calls to the people who we booked the tickets with i have to pay for them again now i'm not a happy bunny but i'm assured that i'll get re-embursed for the ticket.
and we're on the plane 2 white people and a mllion indians on air indias best 737 nice flight one thing about the indian peple they smile a lot and have a good sence of humour in flight meal is really nice and i'm very chilled out

[silax]

thought i better post that in case i get dissconnected.
ok now anybody who's reading this knows about my history with flying but i'm chill cos in all my dreams there's never been an indian in any of my crashes and i'm surrounded by a million of them so all is cool on the crashing front. that is untill we start to desend into munbai airport and the first of a million mobile phones start to ring i don't think anybody has told india that it is dangerous to have your mobile switched on during flying. nobody seems to give a hoot and we're coming in to land and all these people are chatting to thee famillies bare nuckel stuff for me i can tell you.
anyway the plane lands and off we get through customs which is also a bit strange everybody has to have there bags xrayed well as soon as it gets busy they stop doing that so through we go un xrayed so to speak.
as it happens i've booked a hotel; for the night in bombay and speakng to people i find out who to get a taxi with so i go to the counter and nobody knows where my hotel is i have the address but loads of puzzled looks its a pre pay thing so untill i give them an area they know they can't take get me a cab. panik is setting in and thats one thing i'm good at so i over hear a guy mentioning an area so thinking pretty quick tell the guy in the office thats where i want to go. i figure that the taxi driver should be able to find it.
so out the airport i go and am led through to a load of how do you say it i hjave photo's of the taxis to post later but the best way to describe them is noddy cars. its about 23:30 so its pitch black and the area i've told the taxi driver would appear to be a load of slums. i give him the address of the hotel and a puzzled look on his face ****

[silax]

well he asks people left right and centre and on the other side of the city we find our hotel. the driving there is mad we cross this 4 lane duel carrige way in our noddy car with traffic heading to the side of us at high speed. i'm gonna be having nightmares about that taxi ride for a long time.
i forgot to add when i boked the flight ticket i wasn't aware that 2 million pilgrims were comig back from mecca after stoning some satan guy which wxplains why my flight was put back a few hours.
not to worry though made it to bombay and found the hotel now all i've got to do is get me and mrs silax up to goa we've booked and paid for a bus but giving up any hope of that so sunday will be spent sorting out the travel arrangements to goa.
will update again when i get a chance as i've got to go now got some great picks of bombay but won't be able to post them till i get back.

[silax]

hotel room was ok very basic but ok got up early and thought we'd get the train to somewhere for tickets for a bus bought train tickets then while waitig on platform bottled it and took a taxi. found a tourist box and bought a couple of bus tickets to goa woohoo
now thats the plane and bus paid for twice and we have a day to kill as the bus dosen't leave till 8 pm there is a good reason for this its a windey road all the way to goa and the bus can see the headlights of oncoming traffic in the dark so its sfae to overtake. now i've worked out they have a horn code over here for overtaking basically when a buss is overtaking its 2 blasts to let the driver of the whatever in front know we're over taking another 2 blasts of the horn to tell him to slow down there's something coming and if it gets to another 2 blasts gt off the road we're pulling in scary stuff indeed.
anyway we ask the nice guy at our hotel if he can find us a taxi for the day so we can see a bit of bombay.
taxi arrives and the driver can speak loads of languages apart from english which is a shame

[silax]

anyway we did a whirlwind tour of bombay stopping at the gateway to india and getting bombarded by holymen and beggers of all desciptions.
we get out taxi driver to drop us off near we're we bought tickets and had arranged to meet the guy who sold us them. he's late so i explain to another guy whats supposed to happen he laughs and wobbles his head very funny indeed so this one adjusts our tickets and sends us with this old chap who takes us to the bus stop and we get on and we're leaving bombay woohoo.
we arrive in goa at about 9 am shaken but not stired and frigging knackered.
off for a beer will start again maybe tomorrow.
mrs silax managed to save the life of a young indian boy who got into trouble in the iffy currens of the sea then she had to be saved will explain that one tomorrow

[buddhabee]

silax If you're having internet connection problems, just write your blog out using notepad. You can copy and paste it onto the net when you have connection. That bit only takes a few seconds.

[silax]

now thats a good idea budd will do that when i get back to dubai but should have a proper connection before end of jan with any luck

[silax]

ok almost forgot about a strange incident on the bus down from bombay to goa the bud was a big volvo thing with reclining seats well i was quite happilly dozing when i felt something poke my bum then i felt it again and again looked at girlfreind and realised it was somebodies feet in the seat behind well i didn't want to look around so i asked mrs silax who was sitting behind me she said an indian woman thats a bit of a releif and i told her i could feel her toes she didn't believe me so i lent forward and there they were 10 little brown toes mrs silax pushed them back and all was ok untill 20 minutes later and they started massaging my back again it was kinda erotic but not if you know what i mean well i put up with it for a little bit then let mrs silax push them back again and they dissapeared for the rest of the journey.

[silax]

we're staying at a resort in goa called canungute now when we booked the hotel g/f told me book somewhere quiet and relaxing in the north well because of limited hotels with vacancies and the price i found this place which is a bit like blackpool on a sunny day beaches are crowded and its so busy could be summed up in 4 letters really hell.
but we're making the best of a bad job and we've found a beach that is ok and freindly enough.
now as the sunset starts to come the tide goes out and with it you get pretty bad under currents but me and mrs silax sussed this out the first day and were aware of how dangerous it could be and as my swimming is not the best a width of a pool on a good and a lenght in a panic so i'm quite happy to stay at nipple height g/f is a good swimmer so anyway there is this bunch of indians a bit further out then us and obviously they don't realise as all we can he is there cries for help g/f (silly billy) shoots off after them and i venture to chin hieght before my brain kicks in and says **** this back to belly button height for me. anyway girlfriend gets this young kid and manages to stop him panicing and sends him on his way oyut when she gets hit by a few big waves and she's in trouble but thankfully a few people have realised people are in trouble and a jet ski thingy goes over and helps girlfriend get her breath so she can swim back.

[silax]

g/f has had a touch of dheli belly so not much been happening have decieded after visiting what used to be a really quiet place that northern goa has been spoilt by tourism not gonna come back to this neck of the woods ever again.
maybe will try southern goa next time but obviously a lot of research is needed i think goa has replaced the likes of greece for a cheap beer holiday.
its new years eve and off out tonight getting the bus back to bombay tomorrow and hopefully air india back to dubai i'll proberbly not be able to update this for a while.
all the best to everybody and a happy new year

[silax]

New years eve
Now before I tell you what happened I need to fill you in on a few things. The hotel where I'm staying is called the colonia de Braganza by Indian standards its quite good but proberbly only a 2 star at best by European standards well as you enter in the foyer is this picture on the wall of mother Teresa and matthew Braganza (owner of the hotel)must have been taken about 30 years ago. every morning and evening me and mrs silax pass this picture. On news years eve the hotel is throwing a party with a free buffet. To cut a long story shorter we had planned on spending new years eve there the g\f's dodgy stomach a major factor in this descion. We took our table about 8:30 just in time for them to start the food. There was a band playing and the kind of stuff they were doing reminded me of when my parents took me to featherstones carvan site in the 70's (really)
When the band finished for food I noticed the bar guys putting a tv onto the bar. Well who should get on stage with a microphone a rather inhebriated Mathew Braganza who goes through the formalities of welcoming us all to his hotel and thanking us for spending new years eve in his company. He then starts rattling on about meeting mother terreza and what a wonderful women she was and its at this point that we realize the guys had more then a skinful as he starts crying with emotion and then points to the tv on the bar he only has a video of mother terresa when he met her. So the video starts and he wobbles over to the bar juggling his microphone. Video starts and he starts explaining whats happening in the video which would be ok if he wasn't standing right in front of the screen so you have to picture the scene of some drunken guy babbling on with his back to everybody pointing to a tv screen that nobby can see.
This is too much for us two so I suggest going down to the beach and escaping this sharade funny as it is and anyway we've had the free food. So we sneak off and leave Mathew Braganza talking to the telly.
As beachs go calangute beachs is a bit like benidorm beach only full of Indians but as we've been here for quite some time now we've discovered a much quieter beach about 15 minutes walk from the hotel so that’s where we are going to see the new year in. on arriving at the beach there's a few people there but quite quiet really and just about right for us. The sunloungers have been left out and we sit on 2 together (very romantic stuff) and watch the waves breaking.
As we're sitting there a youngish Indian chap stops by and starts chatting to us. He's had too much firewater already and asks us all sorts of questions. He's quite harmless really and as he's about 5 foot nothing not a threat or anything like that. As it turns out this chap has sex on the brain what you have to remember here is the Indian boys are very sexually repressed and believe me if mrs silax had been Indian this chap proberbly wouldn't have been able to chat with her. He's after a threesome or a onesome or anything really but we're both pretty sussed with this and we manage to keep him at arms length. By the way the guys name is ram which is quite appropriate for him.
At About 10 to 12 the fireworks start don't really know what it is about the Indian race or maybe its just all the dodgy watchs but the fireworks are early and nobody seems to mind it’s the start of a major party and that’s what counts. It’s a great display of fireworks not the best I've ever seen spain holds that title but very good considering and they seemed to go on for about 30 minutes which is quite good and the whole length of the beach is lit up. So we say our goodbyes to ram who still wants to go swimming with us but has to make do with goodbye. We decide to walk back to the hotel along the beach rather than the normal way as it's quite dark and a bit iffy that way and the mood ram is in we don't want to tempt fate.
So along the beach we go and the further down we get the more busy it becomes finally we make it to the steps which take us off the sand and onto what we call brick lane which is a main road leading eventually to our hotel the steps are mobbed with Indians and mrs silax gets a few gropes off them as we make it up the steps funny enough I didn't get any gropes its just a mass of Indian chaps all the way with the odd white European amongst it all the strange thing is the lack of Indian women or maybe not so strange for me now.
Back at the hotel the bands in full swing with agadoo or something and I see mr. Braganza weaveing his way to the toilet to the amusement of some of the waiters. Its bed time for us and I'm sober the one downside to the evening is I've started smoking again normally people give up on new year so I'll have to asses that problem when I get back to dubai.

[silax]

The journey home
Woke up new years day without the normal new year hangover (strange feeling).
Now the journey home was never going to be very straight forward as we'd tried to do the holiday on the cheap but somehow managed to pay for everything twice. On the bus up from Bombay we were in seats and sleep was pretty impossible and female toes up my bum was although erotic not really what I was looking for so we booked a sleeper bus with a bed and all it cost quite a bit more about 26 quid each arriving in Bombay at roughly 9:30 in the morning with the flight not till 23:30 the plan was to sleep on the bus then do another sightseeing tour of Bombay through the day.
As luck would have it I had the hotel room booked an extra night so we wouldn't have to leave our hotel room until the last minute the taxi was picking us up at 5:30 pm so we went out and had a nice lesurly breakfast overlooking the bustling street. Now I don't know what it is about british people on holiday but they seem to think that safety is only important in the uk . an example of this and I have a photo which I'll upload when I get the chance is the scooters and mopeds now india is the most dangerous roads I've ever seen but for thelocals and we've all seen it a family of 4 all on a moped fair enough they have grown up in this environment and understand it. So what poseses a middle aged british dad to put his whole family's life at risk by hiring a scooter and riding it with wife and kids abored the photo I've got is not the worst example I saw.
Anyway back to what happened on the last day in calengute got back from breakfast about 12:30 and told reception we would be checking out a day early the girl behind the counter said we should be out of our room by 12:00 but I tried to explain to her I had the room booked for an extra day eventually I told her I would go get the paperwork and show her so back in the room I found my booking form and shock horror today was our last day well we needed showers and everything so the next 90 minutes was all boxers and g strings and we did a panic pack went down to reception and popped our bags behind reception. We'd decided to go to mapusa (where our bus was picking us up from)early to ensure not missing the bus which left at 9:30 pm taxi came and dropped us off this has to be one of the most expensive taxis I've ever taken when I booked the accomadation in goa for some reason it took 60 quid off me for airport transfers well we didn't arrive at the airport and took a bit of hassle to arrange for a transfer to the bus station instead so a 30 minute taxi ride had cost me 60 quid. We got to mapsa at about 6:00 pm and had a few hours to kill so we fed the moscitos outside this park for a bit then found a hotel with a restaurant where we could get fed before our 12 hour bus journey up to Bombay. Going into the hotel the first thing we saw was this bloody poster of mother Teresa with Mathew Braganza again I deeply regret not taken a photo of this poster now 
Anyway we went up to the 3rd floor and found the restaurant and had a really nice meal got taking to one of the waiters there and he was going to be a bollywood star eventually once he got his portfolio finished. We managed to spin the meal out until 8:30 then set off to confirm our bus booking at the office on our way out who should we see but the kareoki king himself Mathew Braganza sober as it happens.
Now we checked in at the bus depot and everything was in order bus duley arrived on time and there was a mad rush for people to get there cases in. now rushing isn't something me and mrs silax are good at so we are quite happy to get on the bus last we've got our bed numbers and that’s all that counts or is it no it ******* well isn't it would appear that blankets are in short supply and its every man for himself so being last on the bus means no blankets bugger.
I don't know what it is about buses in india but it would appear that the a\c is permanently on you have a little switch in your berth which you can turn the air blast off or on that’s cool but when some sod has smashed a hole through the vent right above your head you have permanent freezing air blowing on you. By the time me and mrs silax arrive in Bombay we are like 2 penguins numb and knackered.
We get off the bus and get the bags now the plan has changed we gonna get to the airport and take things from there the taxi drivers are all over us so I find one and agree a price to the airport but I've made the fatal mistake of not asking him what kind of taxi he has. Its one of those open air 3 wheeler rikshaw things. So we are blasted by cold air all the way to the airport and the 2 penguins have made it alive and we only have 14 hours till the plane leaves 
Checking the flights I notice there is a flight to dubai with air india leaving at 14:15 so I decide to see how much it will cost to change our flights back. The guy in the office tells us it will cost nothing to change them so i'm one happy penguin now but alas there are no spare seats .
So we resign ourselves to 14 hours in the airport we're too tired to do the tourist bit so we try and make ourselves as comfortable as possible we end up sitting outside watching some guys working. Time passes and about 1:00 mrs silax comes up with an idea why don't we check to see if everybody has arrived for the 14:15 flight to dubai so we find a chap and ask him and he says not yet but put our bags through the x-rays just in case as it happens 2 people haven't made it in time woohoo we're now rushed through and can't believe our luck the queue at security was big so we thought better get to the front of this an Indian guy stopped us and asked why we were jumping the queue to which we reply we might miss our plane he said don't rush it won't go without you. He then explained he worked at dubai airport and once you had your boarding card the plane couldn't take off without us they have to come and find us if we don't get there in time.
All chill now and a nice leisurly stroll to the plane and can't believe it we're taking off almost 10 hours early and instead of going to abu dhabi and facing a 2 hour taxi ride we're going straight to dubai 
I take my hat off to air india even though they charged me double for not having my tickets I should be able to claim that back. But it took them all of 3 seconds to change our flights from the 23:30 plane to abu dhabi to the 14:15 to dubai for no extra cost.
Mobile phones going off as we landed even to the extent that the pilot had to come over the announcer will you stop using your phones it is interfering with my instruments.
Got through visa control no probs and the control person nearly fell off her stool when I told her we had been to Bombay for xmas. Anyway went for a taxi and queue was huge what you have at dubia airport is illegal taxi's which charge twice as much but no queing I normally won't use these people but a 30 minute wait was a no no so I gave in to all my scruples and took an illegal taxi got home and for the next few hours all I could think of was we could still be in Bombay what a clever girl she is.
I've missed a few things out so this is where I'll put them
Stupidest comment of the trip has to go to mrs silax while in Bombay in a taxi she asked the driver what festival are they celebrating to which he replyed Christmas do you know of it.
Another funny comment came from me we went to this book shop in goa where the Indian girl behind the counter thought I was a customer who had orded a book and was here to pick it up and she was convinced it was me so I said to her "we all look the same " to which she laughed and said yes you do I replyed we're just like sheep and that was too much for her "yes yes you do "
This a quotation from a book which I now kind of understand "why should I go to india? Indians don't even want to go to india! Everyones leaving india, or else wants to, and I don't blame them. I understand why – I'd want to leave, too, if I lived there, which I don't, nor do I ever want to go to that shitty place again"

[silax]

tuesday 8th been off the cigs now for 4 full days and its not been too bad weather is a little nippy out here at the minute. i've moved pc out to my terrace as it would appear i get a good signal there but i'm frigging freezing. now as my connection seems pretty good out here i'm gonna have a go at poker. not a lot has happened since i got back from india although i seem to have brought a cold back with me.
me and mrs silax have been trying to think of something interesting to do and we've come up with the idea of climbing the worlds tallest building which per chance is still under construction and not too far away from us. so i rekon that if we bung the builders a few quid they might just take us to the top of the thing now i really don't like heights but feel this could be too good an opertunity to miss anyway we're thinking about it watch this space.

[silax]

well finished my first game of poker for quite a while it was a 10 seat stt and was doing ok 4 left in and i had pocket a's just when i was gonna raise it with the other 3 playing the hand lost my connection still managed to finish 2nd in the end so not to bad but i'm getting cold out here and for the first time since i got here its raining thats typical isn't it i've got a cover on my balcony\terrace so not too bad but i could do with a pair of gloves or the sun to come out

[silax]

wedensday 09th january
back out on the balcony sun is out now and again a bit like the perverbial turtles head. its not raining today which is a bonus but there are plenty of clouds so that might happen yet played 2 games of poker yesterday finished 2nd in the first and went out early in the 2nd my pocket kings getting beat by pocket a's always a bugger when that happens and a sign that its time to stop poker for the day think i'll upload some holiday snaps while i've got a good connection

[silax]

where it all started from after the 2 hour taxi ride anyway

[silax]

the airport taxis and the famous gateway to india