The happy Australian

We are just recovering from a 12 hr train journey from Mysore to Hampi (one night in Hampi) and another 12 hr overnight bus from Hampi to Goa. We have booked into an expensive (19 pound a night) hotel in Benaulim and it is luxury - swimming pool, 100 channel TV, beach at the end of the road. More about that later....

Hampi was a quick stop over to see the ruins of a 17th Century Indian civilisation. The ruins and surrounding scenery were stunning, but the town itself was disappointing. It was dirty with loads of mossies and hassle.

We had only been in town an hour when we we offered drugs and by 5pm the air was thick with the smoke of hundreds of young Israeli's trying to escape the horrors of their recent military service. Still, we battled through the smokey haze and enjoyed the sights and smells as much as possible.

We have taken a lesson from a happy Australian we met at Bangalore train station who was on a two week holiday. He was getting ripped off by rickshaw drivers and shop keepers left, right and centre. He was completely oblivious to this however and was loving every minute of his trip. We vowed to take a leaf out of his book, while at the same time remembering that we do not have a 100 pound a day budget.