Window or aisle?

Mister Mosquito: "I know I asked for a window seat, but this is ridiculous..."





Mister Mosquito stuck in airtight window. Taken on the flight from Bangalore to Goa, Tuesday 17th of February 2009

Quick status update

The last couple of days were almost without internet connection. So just a quick post to let you know everything is more than fine!!! A lot of travelling went on: trains, plains & automobiles...which resulted in some really great and unforgettable moments with keywords like: jungle, leopard, resort, elephants, wild boar, stunning sunsets, gin-tonic, safari, sushi, Bangalore, fish curry, extreme couchsurfing in the jungle, swimmingpool, Christer Elving, Ganesh, Mysore, more gin-tonic (many mosquitos...;-). I'll get into detail later on.

Arrived yesterday in Goa for some R&R on the beach. Life's good and relax here and you only need simple things... a swimming short and a cold Kingfisher in reach ;-).

I,ll try to get some picture of the hippies around here (which are actually a lot older than I imagined...).

Peace to you all!

Diarrhea problem solved...

Do not try this at home

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS EXPLICIT PICTURES. NOT SUITABLE FOR THOSE WHO WORK FROM 9 TO 5!!!











Tarkarli Beach, 10-11th of February 2009

Cockroach count

7

Search for water

Stop searching for water...Gogola mineral water finds you!

The only gay in Bombay

Shot in Cobala, Bombay at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival.

Later in the afternoon we saw a Argentine movie called "Quién dice que es fácil?"

Live at the Bollywood Bowl

Meet the neighbors of Marlies: Chloe Papazahariakis and Puneet Vasistha. Chloe is an Australian fashion designer and Puneet is a Bollywood star. I guess that qualifies them as a bit of a glam couple...

They invited us to the set of a Bollywood production in which Puneet plays the leading role.

In Puneet's "VIP box"



Just us hanging around on the set




It takes a lot of Indians to make a movie...


.

Suspense and action: knives, girls tied in ropes, sticks to hit the villain,...

Street cricket

What better way to spend your day with some Sunday afternoon cricket with Puneet and his gang?






Pictures by Natalie Lycops

iPod Punjabi

Recipe for chicken massala

Chicken masala is very easy to make...


Just follow these 3 steps:


Step 1: go to the market to buy some fresh veggies and a chicken.








Step 2: convince the chicken




Step 3: The chicken will surrender immediately and marinate itself in a mixture of yogurt and spices, jump into a hot pan with a simmering curry in.





The alternative is to ask Maria, the cleaning lady of Marlies, and her daughter in law to cook a wonderful and delicious chicken masala. She also made 6 or 7 heavenly dishes which names I can't remember...we enjoyed this fantastic food together with our neighbors. It turned out to be a very joyful evening!

Le bureau nouveau est arrivé

First day in Mumbai finished with a scene of a Tarantino movie. I ended up with Marlies in a little advertising company (oh irony...) where we met Donald Woodrow, an Antwerp based photographer who's specialized in diamond photography. So a very colorful figure with many amazing stories (sometimes a bit full of himself, but hey I didn't mind in this kind of weird setting...). And Imman, a local media figure. Donald has big plans of taking over the advertising industry!!! Donalds view on advertising companies was very clear: they are too expensive, too many people, too many meeting,...And you know what? He might be right.

So before realizing it, I witnessed the birth of a sparkling fresh business idea. Meet the newest advertising agency, nouveau style of Mumbai!



Donald, Marlies & Imman
The lean & mean fighting machine (worktitle). Good luck to you guys! And give them a call if you need to advertise something!


PS: this is how a (very small, but oh so friendly) agency looks like in Mumbai:



Visage Studio, Mumbai

Mumbai magic

Fantastic first impressions, love at first sight! Mumbai really has got some magic in the air...

I couldn't stop smiling from the minute I got into the cab at Mumbai airport.


Oh yeah...taxis in Mumbai look like "Vitamientje" in the stripalbums of Suske & Wiske. Thousands of little black and yellow ,cartoon lookalikes, cars are speeding across the (bumpy) roads. And never mind about the lanes...just drive wherever you want.







And a very warm welcome from Marlies, lots of kudos to her for the hospitality and relax atmosphere!!!

Sitar hero

You can go Indian style in many ways...sitar hero is one way. Check out the karma meter!

rucksack

The Deuter ACT Lite 40 + 10 chose me to be his travel companion for the next 3 months. I'm grateful for that...

He says he will keep me clothes dry when it rains (like that would happen...) and prevent my back from sweating like a horse. In return I will stuff him with useless memorabilia and cheap local booze. I think that's a fair deal.

Slight concern about this little paragraph on their website:

"1939
The dark years
All equipment and tent production was taken over for the armed forces."

Hopefully this will not be picked up by a certain magazine of a certain religion...