FEB 6, 13 .. BOBBA CAPS ASKS RHETORICALLY ..

Bobba asks rhetorically .. that is .. not expecting a reply nor an answer ..

Which is more important .. 

Having money .. 

Having water ..

I assume most of you will say with emphasis .. "Having water is more important ! " ..

Well here in India .. here in New Delhi .. here in the today and here in the now .. I MUST HAVE MONEY TO PURCHASE THE WATER ..

So when I wrote this morning that I had gotten money .. I was on the right track .. 

The ramblings I am about to now embark upon rightly deserve to be over at Baba Kaps Doxology .. my 'dot net' website .. BUT I can NOT access my 'dot net' website because I can NOT access my most imortant e-mail address BECAUSE yahoo.com is protecting me from myself and refusing to believe me when I tell them where my mother was born !  Saying to my response .. "NO that is the incorrect answer !" .. being unable to get to this one particular e-mail address deprives me of the 'hyper-link' to get me to my 'dot net' website sign-in location ..

NOW it is 8:35PM in New Delhi, India, on Wednesday, February 6th, 2013 .. we will see what day and date blogspot assigns to this rambling ..

OK .. I had one 'heck-of-a-day' today .. I got two (2) hours count them of work accomplished .. exhausted I then slept like-the-dead for well over four (4) hours .. I was able to resurrect myself from the dead and ate like a man possessed here at the Jai Singh Road YMCA dining facility .. burp !

What I got accomplished today was 100% of my 'to be done today' list .. and hey .. that is not all bad is it ? ! 

Well this is a program of honesty isn't it ?  What I really got done in my two (2) hour day today was this .. I set into motion 100% of what I needed to get done today ..

Vodafone has begun the process of re-activating my India based cell phone .. I knew better than to believe that Vodafone would be able to fully get me up-on-line talking today and I was correct .. but they are working-on-it .. I will settle for them to get my little Vodafone to connect to its cell phone tower here to at least give me the correct time-of-day .. right now my little Vodafone is telling me it is tomorrow !   

Getting myself a 'stash of Water' is a 100% done-deal .. I have five one-liter bottles of water and enjoyed a great visit with the owner and his grandson .. my friends of over twenty two (22) years .. Grandfather and Grandson .. the middle man passed away untimely a year or so ago .. leaving a void that will not be replaced .. No son for Grandfather and no father for Grandson .. 

My tailor will have my India Shirt fixed up by Friday night and let-me-tell you all this .. finding my India Tailor of over twenty two (22) years was a frightening out-of-body scary experience .. see I KNEW .. I KNEW .. I was and I had lost-it !

WHY? !  Simply because I could NOT find the Shankar Market here in New Delhi where my tailor is located .. I had lost-my-mental ability to find a place that I know as well as I know the back-of-my-hand !

BUT I persevered .. doggedly and doggedly I kept searching .. and people on the street kept asking me .. "Can we help you out Baba? " .. they .. in their infinite street-wisdom knew that I was lost ..

SUDDENLY after an hour of wandering back and forth .. up and down streets .. there it was .. the SHANKAR MARKET !  See I had even forgotten that name (The Shankar Market) else I could have told all of my MANY street benefactors that .. "I am looking for the Sankar Market." .. 

I found Shop Number 90 in the Shankar Market (this in and of itself was a job) and in I went and I was set ..  Roy Exclusive Tailor .. my tailor .. my place .. "Sahib you shirt will be ready Friday afternoon after 6PM.""

It was then I found my way back to 1 Jai Singh Road and 'crashed dead' in my bed here at the YMCA ..

I did as Vodafone told me to do .. I waited for over four (4) hours .. after which wait I turned little Vodafone off-and-on .. tried to dial Vodafone Number 117 and could not do so .. I then walked back to Vodafone in the dark of the New Delhi night .. and they studied my little Vodafone and said .. "Go home to the YMCA and call number 117 in several hours after turning your phone off and on again." 

I said in reply to them .. "I will see you here in person tomorrow morning at 10AM" .. KNOWING how to do these things after my years of experience here !

WHAT'S THAT YOU ASK ME 'ZILLA ?

WHAT AM I DOING JAY WALKING AGAIN IN INDIA ?

OUT IN THE NIGHT TRAFFIC IN NEW DELHI IN CONNAUGHT PLACE !

FORGIVE ME 'ZILLA FOR I HAVE SINNED AGAIN !

I seem unable to resist jaywalking here in India KNOWING it is a life-and-death issue period-no-questions-asked ! ..

Well at least my twenty two (22) years of experience of doing this .. jay walking in the India traffic .. stood me well !

First .. I place a woman between me and the oncoming traffic .. so the car(s) will hit the woman before they hit Bobba Caps .. and then .. for good measure .. I also carefully notice that between the woman and the oncoming traffic will be a small mob of other Indians so the oncoming traffic will have to hit about fifty (50) people before getting to Bobba Caps .. 

And I walk with one hand lightly touching the woman so I do NOT lose track of her since she may suddenly 'dart' to avoid being hit herself !

She 'darts' and Bobba Caps 'darts' with her !

Lord is this crazy or is this CRAZY ! ? .. 

Over and Out for Now with Many Smiles .. and .. Much Love .. Cap .. 

now let's us see what blogspot dates this post as .. have fun Patti proof reading this mess ! ..  do not take my two hour day literally .. I probably was out for more like three hours .. but I was not out for so long that I should have been totally exhausted ..

let the record show that today .. God of Abraham .. introduced me personally to one .. PRA THAMMARATO (PAPA MONK) .. and my life is ever enrichened ..  I may and I may NOT get  back to 'Papa Monk" ..

FEB 6, 13 .. SAFELY INTO NEW DELHI ! !

As I sit here .. it is Wednesday morning .. February the 6th .. in spite of what the Google Blogspot heading above may say!

Let's just start off basic .. I am safely into New Delhi, India ..  and that is a good thing.   Depending upon whom I ask .. it has been raining for either two or three days .. and today looks like it will continue the 'rainy trend' ..

As we landed at 1AM local time this morning .. it was raining and foggy .. and a tad unnerving .. but all is well that ends well ..

By the time I completed Immigration and Customs and was in a taxi it was past 2AM .. and the traffic .. at 2AM in the early morning was GRIDLOCK !  But again .. I got to the YMCA here on Jai Singh Road in good shape and 'over-tipped' my taxi driver because he really drove safely and sanely .. An over-tip to you reading along here amounted to Two ($2) US Dollars and let me tell you .. my driver was jumping up and down happy with that tip .. the total fare was about Eight ($8) US Dollars so I gave him a 20% tip in lieu of the common no-tip-whatsover ..

I tried and I tried and I tried again and again to call Patti with no luck .. the outside pay phone at the YMCA lacked a dial tone and my friend at the front desk .. despite about ten or more attempts .. could not get a call to go through to the USA .. either to a cell phone or to a land line home phone .. no difference .. it was about 3:30AM when I 'crashed' .. and I mean I 'crashed' ..

Busy day today .. I have eaten breakfast and gotten money .. next up I will try to activate my India Cell Vodafone so I can make and receive calls .. I must get a stash of bottled drinking water .. go to my tailors and have him do some work on one of my India Shirts .. and all of it 'in-the-rain' it looks like at this writing ..

This will-do-it for now at least .. I have got-to-tell you all .. this morning .. I am 'feeling' each of my 76 years of life .. knowing and accepting this fact .. it is critical that I move slowly and deliberately .. I am 'prone' to 'mistakes' when I am feeling as I currently feel .. and here in India .. a 'mistake' can be fatal !  Like the 'mistake' of trying to board a moving bus .. or to de-board a moving bus before it fully stops .. or to get 'casual' out in the New Delhi traffic ..

In late October of 1990 .. when I arrived in India for my first-ever visit .. I instantly 'felt' like I 'belonged' here in India. Now .. over twenty two   (22) years and 'counting' .. at 10AM local time the 6th of February 2013 .. I STILL FEEL LIKE I BELONG HERE !  The magic of twenty two years is still alive-and-well with me and with Mother India ..

OK .. it is now ..  "time to get-on-with-the-getting-on" .. and I quote Richard Petty who would say this prior to beginning a NASCAR race when I was with his team back in the early 1970's ..  WHAT A  THRILL THOSE FEW YEARS WERE !

Much Joy from a 'wired up' Captain .. Love too .. 

Now Patti my dear one you can go to work and assist me to clean this up .. sorry I could not get a call through to you last night but you KNEW I was into Delhi safely ..  

JAN 30, 13 .. I AM SAFELY INTO HONG KONG ..

Wednesday Evening The 30th of January 2013 .. 9:49PM ..


I am only one .. But Still .. I AM ONE ..

I cannot do everything .. But Still .. I CAN DO SOMETHING ..

And because I cannot do everything ..

I WILL NOT REFUSE TO DO THE SOMETHING I CAN ..

Edward Everett Hale ..

Those wonderful words get me UN-stuck when I AM stuck !

Too much to say and where to begin ..

YESTERDAY .. Monday and Tuesday .. January 28th and 29th ..

THE FLIGHT(S) HERE ..

Getting out of Detroit, Michigan..  we were blessed with a snow and ice 'storm-from-hell' .. Danny 48073 picked me up at 4:30AM and we were off .. I boarded the flight to Chicago 'just a tad late' .. we all sat and we sat .. then we all DE-BOARDED the flight to Chicago .. back inside the terminal we all sat and sat .. then we all RE-BOARDED another aircraft at another departure gate .. en route to take-off we had to stop and get the aircraft 'de-iced' .. then we  flew to Chicago .. arriving about two hours late ..

It took me one-good-hour to get from Chicago O'Hare Domestic Terminal 2 to O'Hare International Terminal 5 but get there I did ..

THEN THINGS WENT FROM CHALLENGING (Yes 'Zilla? Re-read the above 'Zilla.. ) TO THE ULTIMATE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE I HAVE EVER IN MY ENTIRE LIFE EXPERIENCED ..

In spite of being several hours late into Chicago O'Hare .. I was so early to the Cathay Pacific Airlines Check-In-Desk in Terminal 5 that no Cathay Pacific staffers were on duty yet !

So I waited about half-an-hour and checked in ..

"Sir .. you are in Business Class Sir .. Please go to our Cathay Pacific Lounge before boarding Sir !"

International Security is tough .. but I made it through ..

And then HOO-BOY the trip was off-and-running ..

Into the Cathay Pacific Lounge I went and what did I see ?

A FULL BUFFET .. Lemon Chicken .. Bow-Tie-Pasta with Cheese Sauce .. String Beans with Slivered Almonds and Onions .. Wonderful Roasted Potato Quarters .. Greek Salad .. Fresh Fruit .. and more .. every liquid you could imagine and all you wanted .. Beer and Wine .. and Gatorade and every possible soda pop ever made .. Water too .. and some desserts too !

Arrrrggggggg .. ten plates of food and one hour later I was stuffed beyond-the-beyond ..

We boarded .. we took off on time .. we leveled off .. the Captain turned off the seat belt sign .. I reclined my bed in Business Class and SLEPT FOR OVER FIVE (5) HOURS .. I awoke .. burped .. refused the gourmet dinner .. well I took the Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream ! .. and SLEPT ANOTHER FOUR (4) or so hours ..

Hot dog .. because I'd slept for Nine (9) Hours .. I had ONLY Six and one Half Hours (6-1/2) more to fly !

We landed in Hong Kong on time .. 7:35PM local time on Tuesday the 29th of January ..

It took the usual two hours to pass through Immigration and get my baggage and pass through customs and then get the train to Hong Kong .. then get the bus to the YMCA at 41 Salisbury Road in Kowloon in Tsimshatsui ..

Then I 'crashed' in my room AFTER riding the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island and back and getting two gallons of bottled water to drink and bathe with and getting international telephone calling cards .. and making some telephone calls and (?) I keep myself busy ! I hit-the-sack after mid-night !

WEDNESDAY the 30th of January ..

So what did I do all day today .. Wednesday the 30th ? .. I got up and made some more phone calls and ate SINGAPORE RICE NOODLE FOR BREAKFAST at 9:45AM ..

After my breakfast of SINGAPORE RICE NOODLE .. I went back to my dorm room at the YMCA and ? ..

I lay down at 10:30AM this morning to 'refresh and take a short nap' ..

I SLEPT LIKE THE DEAD FOR SEVEN AND ONE HALF HOURS (7 1/2) ..

I staggered awake at 6PM ..

So what to do ?  THAT is a no-brainer .. go have a dinner of SINGAPORE RICE NOODLE .. ride the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island and return to Kowloon AFTER exploring the Hong Kong 'Central District' ..

And ? 

Write and Post this !  Oh my I do hope it makes some sense and there are not too many 'typos' and errors in thinking .. to be honest .. I still feel sort of 'fuzzy' from the trip over here .. and from sleeping far too long than was healthy !

With that I will sign-off .. 

THRILLED-BEYOND-BELIEF AT BEING IN HONG KONG IN CHINA !!

If the Good Lord 'takes me during my sleep tonight' I will .. 

'CHECK-OUT ONE HAPPY-CAMPER !!


Much Love from Bobba and from all of the Travelling Bobbseys here on-the-road again with me !!    Cap ..
  

JAN 25, 13 .. AND PEOPLE .. AND FRIENDS .. ASK ME ?

The other  day .. 'Zilla and I had another of our 'Why India Cap?' visits on the phone .. and .. as usual .. I have written over four hundred pages trying to explain to myself .. 'Why India?' .. I could not give poor 'Zilla quite the specific answer 'Zilla always seeks .. read on my friend .. read on 'Zilla ! 

As part of my 'process' before I leave for a trip to India .. I send post cards to my closest friends and associates in India .. 

TELL ME .. YOU JUST TELL ME .. "No Cap .. I am not .. in any small way .. 'touched' by the following e-mail" ..

Respected MY Legendary GRAND Father GOOD MORNING h r u & FAMILY

GRAND FATHER I AM Receive your HAPP
Y NEW YEAR WISHING I AM RECEIVED

SOME LATE SO I AM VERY ..VERY SORRY MY FAVORITE GRAND FATHER

PLEASE PARDOM ME . I HOPE & PREY TO GOD YOUR GOOD HEALTH & HAPPINESS YOU AND your family . SIR I AM SEE YOUR ALL BLOG AND YOUR CMMITMENT ,GUIDANCE SO VERY GOOD AND VERY RARE,AND SPECIOUS E PHOTO . YOUR FAITH-FULLY

Thank you Mister Shivam !  Thank you Sir !

You have no idea of how much your tender e-mail has touched my heart ..

God be Willing .. I will see you soon !

Your Friend and Your Ally .. Baba Kaps .. 

JAN 16, 13 .. STUNNING !

STUNNING !

ABSOLUTELY AND POSITIVELY  STUNNING !

In some odd-sort-of way .. I feel sort-of-sorry for those of you who do not deal with mental illness on a day-in-day-out basis.  You simply do not have a clue as to the absolutely 'giddy highs’ of the Roller Coaster Ride of Life you are missing!

WHEN I GET A ‘CALLING’ .. IT IS SO SWIFT AND IT IS SO SUDDEN AND IT IS SO ABSOLUTLEY INSTANTANEOUS THAT IT TAKES MY BREATH AWAY !

And I ‘just-now’ got one ..

CLARITY !

RAZOR SHARP PRECISE CLARITY ! 

It has been written for me that on ..

May 20^th .. God Willing .. I will fly from Hong Kong into Chicago O’Hare .. this trip IS BOOKED and paid for.

May 20^th .. or May 21^st .. or May 22nd .. around there sometime .. and it is NOT YET BOOKED .. I will fly from Chicago O’Hare NORTH TO ALASKA!

I will ‘summer’ in the NORTH .. and in late November or in early December of 2013 .. God Willing ..

I will return to Hong Kong and to India ..

ALL OF THIS GOD WILLING ..

“There it is my little ‘Captain’, there it is!”  .. “Got it God!, I have it !"

Oh somewhere .. somewhere out there .. I can hear it playing oh-so-clearly .. they are singing MY SONG just for me !

In an Ocean, ‘way out yonder, (As all sapient people know)

Is the land of Wonder-Wander, Whither children love to go;

It’s their playing, romping, swinging, That give great joy to me

While Cap’s Dinkey-Bird goes singing in the amfalula tree!

“Oh God of Abraham .. should I really publish this?” .. “Oh yeah Captain!”

Done deal .. With Much Love ..

Now YOU all love one another! .. That is what it says for us all to do !

 Cap ..

Would you rather believe and be wrong ? .. or NOT believe and be wrong ?

JAN 4, 13 .. THE JIGSAW PUZZLE ...

The term ‘jigsaw puzzle’ provides a good visual image of what-it-takes for me to put together a trip of several months duration out of the United States traveling to Hong Kong, China, and then on to India and the return trip back to the United States.

With any jigsaw puzzle you have certain techniques that you will follow .. one of my techniques is to find and to separate all of the puzzle pieces that have a straight edge ..  these pieces will form the outside circumference or edge or frame of the puzzle .. so I will begin by completing the ‘framing’ of the puzzle-about-to-be constructed.  Then I will look for pieces with similar coloring etc.

OK .. with regards to a major trip for me .. do I want to assemble yet another jigsaw puzzle of what-it-takes to make a major trip?

So I must decide that I am going to travel or that I want to travel.

This decision is an absolute no-brainer IF .. I RECEIVE A POWERFUL, CLEAR, ‘CALLING’ to travel.  This is my most common trigger to travel.  I will not test your theological beliefs nor bore you with whom or with what sends me the message to GO NOW.

Lacking the clarity of being ‘called to travel’, I have to make the decision that either (1) I am going to make the trip or (2) I think I want to make the trip and that I will explore my options.

This upcoming trip is of the second category .. it originated more of an ‘I think I want’ endeavor than that of a  ‘calling’.  Frankly it is more of an ‘oh oh .. IF I don’t make this trip now I may never again be able to do so’ ..

SO I AM GOING TO .. GOD WILLING .. RETURN TO INDIA VIA HONG KONG ..

Now to the ‘jigsaw’ puzzle analogy ..

Puzzle Piece Number One .. MAKE MY ROOM RESERVATIONS IN HONG KONG .. IF you have ‘brain one’ .. you do NOT want to fly into Hong Kong with NO ROOM RESERVATIONS .. UNLESS OF COURSE you are willing to pay .. literally .. hundreds of U.S. dollars a night for a room.  My ‘speed’ is thirty five ($35 U.S. Dollars) a night ..

My last trip .. leaving August 30, 2011 .. was so sudden that I did NOT have the advance notice time to really ‘shop’ room reservations .. well I did ‘shop’ but I had to use Orbitz and Travelocity search engines .. and I paid well over one hundred U.S. Dollars a night with ABSOLUTELY NO FLEXIBILITY TO MAKE ANY CHANGES .. the good news being I did have a nice hotel room in a very  interesting and new-to-me district in Hong Kong.

This being my upcoming eighteenth trip into Hong Kong .. spanning over twenty two years .. one round trip I went via London and Paris .. ol’ Bobba Caps has learned ‘how-to-do Hong Kong’ in Bobba Caps fashion.

FIRST ACTUAL PUZZLE PIECE .. contact the YMCA Hong Kong in Kowloon on Salisbury Road and connect with an associate in reservations that I have been dealing with for some-many-MANY years .. I NOW HAVE a bunk bed reservation in the Dorms for January 29^th leaving February 5^th seven nights (their maximum stay in the dorms)  .. and returning on May 13^th leaving May 20^th a second seven night stay ..

TO ACHIEVE THE ABOVE TOOK several days of back-and-forth e-mail conversations believe me .. these dorm reservations are tricky and ‘dear’ .. many chinese youth visitors and educational youth tours get the dorm beds  locked up months and months in advance .. find me a better deal in Hong Kong and I will tip-my-hat to you!

Next puzzle pieces .. THEN working with what I had set up with the YMCA .. I tried to ‘fit’  airline reservations into the YMCA reservations .. they would NOT QUITE fit so I had to get back to the YMCA Hong Kong and ‘wiggle’ things there around.

The airline reservations were tricky .. here-to-fore I have always originated in San Francisco, California .. except the trip through London and Paris .. here-to-fore I have always flown on one single carrier .. Cathay Pacific .. United Airlines .. Air India ..ONE carrier .. not so this trip!     

This trip I am on American Airlines (Detroit to Chicago) .. Cathay Pacific Airlines (Chicago non-stop to Hong Kong) .. Jet Airlines (Hong Kong to New Delhi and return to Hong Kong) .. Cathay Pacific Airlines (Hong Kong back to Chicago) .. and finally the Chicago Illinois Rapid Transit ‘Blue Line’ into Chicago Union Station and AMTRAK Railways (Chicago to Detroit) ..

I am using 90,000 American Airlines Award Miles flying first with American Airlines and then Cathay Pacific Airlines .. I am paying $875 U.S. Dollars to a company named Jet Airlines to fly out of Hong Kong and return from New Delhi .. it will cost me $2 on the Blue Line out of O’Hare International Air Port in Chicago and free AMTRAK reward miles from Chicago to Detroit ..

BELIEVE THEE THIS !  Just the above ‘airline travel reservations’ were .. in and of themselves .. a ‘jigsaw’ puzzle within the jigsaw puzzle ! .. on the return I could NOT get all the way back into Detroit from Chicago try-as-the-mileage-agents could try!  We spent about three hours over several days trying to unravel this silly condition with no results!

More puzzle pieces!

UNLESS YOU WANT REAL TROUBLE IN HONG KONG AND IN INDIA .. YOU HAD BETTER TELL EACH AND YOU HAD BETTER TELL EVERY SINGLE BANK AND CREDIT CARD COMPANY THAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE IN HONG KONG AND IN INDIA AND WHEN you will be there ..

OR? .. (with the exception of American Express .. the ‘Big Time’ International Travel Credit Card Company) .. WHEN you whip out your Visa or Master Card in Hong Kong or in India .. you will be stopped-short-and-firmly-and-suddenly and will have to ‘go-to-jail’ without passing ‘go’ .. your credit card will be DENIED!

Stolen credit cards travel-the-world-over with lightning speed and your credit card company is not a ‘mind reader’ as to why your card is suddenly being used
halfway-around-the-world in Hong Kong or India !

And more puzzle pieces!

It is a good Idea to set-the-wheels-in-motion to order up all of your prescriptions and other necessary items you will need or just want ..

AND?  At 4:30AM on Monday the 28^th of January .. Danny 48073 will pick me  and the Bobbseys up here at ‘1709’ and take us to Detroit Metro Air Port  for my 7:15AM American Airlines Flight to Chicago .. connecting at 2PM on a fifteen hour and thirty minute (15 hour 30 minute!) non-stop Cathay Pacific Flight to Hong Kong .. BUSINESS CLASS WITH LIE-DOWN-FLAT-STRETCH-FULL-OUT sleeping accomodations a first ever EVER for ol’ Bobba .. that ‘little perk’ cost me 20,000 additional miles but hey .. I decided to ‘just-go-for-it’ and I had the miles to spend.. my American Airlines Rewards Miles now stand at 615!  I wanted to and I ‘successfully zeroed-out’ my mileage balance.

IF I survive another three-month-trip in India .. and that is no-gimmie believe thee me .. I will return in economy class with my knees against my chest!  I stand a greater possibility of making the outbound trip than the return trip and IF I don’t make-it-back .. as I ‘breathe-my-last’ somewhere over there .. I will quietly ‘giggle’ thinking about the ride over in business class!

AND?  I haven’t even left yet on this trip and I want to stay longer and I am already ‘craving’ another trip after this trip!

What are we talking about here?  Incorrigible Travel Addiction?

Well ‘that-is-that’ says your correspondent ol’ Bobba Caps!

Signing Out With A Wink And A Smile!  About To Be ‘On-The-Road-Again’!  And I can hardly wait to get going!

Truly I feel oh-so-blessed!  THANK YOU OH GOD OF ABRAHAM MY CREATOR !  ..  Cap ..

DEC 28, 11 .. GOA ..

On November the 27th.. I ventured north of Arambol Beach to see what lay beyond the main beach to the north .. of course I had heard that there was another beach up there (somewhere) and a somewhat mystical 'hidden' lake there as well .. well on that day .. I got to the next beach .. I now know this beach is called 'Sweet Water Beach' and .. on November 27th .. I ONLY briefly noted 'some water to the east of it' .. when I tried to go past the sandy portion of 'Sweet Water Beach' back on November the 27th.. I ran into trouble .. I did NOT have (1) hiking boots on and (2) I did NOT have raw hide gloves with me .. I only had beach sandals .. so I was TOTALLY UN-EQUIPPED to really (safely) go too much further north because I ran into an extremely ROCKY section .. and I (sensibly) retreated and headed back to my apartment .. thinking .. maybe one day I will return fully equipped (hiking boots.. raw hide gloves.. water .. etc ..) to do what I wanted to do .. I also did a post .. FWIW..  78.. November 27th ..


Well it took me one full month to go back north .. but last Monday .. December the 26th .. off north I headed .. EQUIPPED .. hiking boots.. raw hide gloves .. water .. electral for de-hydration .. beach sandals in case I got into tidal waters and had to do some serious wading ..  towel and wash cloth to wash my feet IF I got into the sand and water and wanted to put my hiking boots back on .. etc ..


And on Monday .. the 26th .. I achieved one goal .. I got to 'Sweet Water Beach' and really looked at this mystical 'hidden' lake .. to the POINT of having climbed up a (mountain) small hill and photographed the lake from high above it .. I also photographed Arambol Beach from the top of this (Mountain) small hill and down I came .. TOTALLY EXHAUSTED from the climb up the (mountain) small hill .. and I headed straight back to my apartment .. to have begun to put one foot onto the rocky section north of 'Sweet Water Beach' would have been insanity for me.. I was 'toast' .. I have talked to some others who have climbed the (mountain) hill and they agreed with me .. it is difficult and tricky and dangerous .. oh yes.. by the way.. I snapped (more than a) few photos ..


Tuesday .. much to my surprise .. I felt fine and fit and so off I went back north in the early morning mist .. COOL mist .. and I accomplished two goals on Tuesday .. I got as far north on the rocky coast as I wanted to and I got to the Banyan Tree .. another mythical feature of Arambol Beach .. as in .. "Oh you MUST see the Banyan Tree" ..  and by the time I finished that exploration .. again .. I was EXHAUSTED .. climbing around on the rocks and up to the Banyan Tree really took a toll on me .. and back to my apartment I went .. having taken (just a few dozen) more photos .. (lots more) ..


So here I sat Tuesday night with a lot of photos .. a lot got edited out believe me .. and I got to work posting some of (18) them .. FWIW.. 114 to 116 .. of my journey to 'Sweet Water Beach and Lake' .. I also (since I was at it) posted (9) photos of some of my favorite shops in Arambol Beach .. see FWIW..  113 ..


Well .. wonder of wonders .. today .. Wednesday the 28th of December .. back I went yet again to 'Sweet Water Beach and Lake' and to the rocky coast north of the beach ..


So in FWIW.. 114 to 119 .. I have managed to post 36 photos .. including FWIW..  113 .. 45 photos in the past two days .. 


I have done the best I know how to do .. in an ideal world I would have laid them all out.. and in proper order .. posted them .. the problem is THIS .. you do NOT want to even think of trying to post anything even closely approaching (for me the number is 10) this number of photos in one post .. the web site does odd things and suddenly .. I have this happen .. I have lost photos I had SAVED .. and had them jump out of place for me .. so you end up having to post the photos BACKWARDS .. since YOU will be reading them backwards also .. you will start here with FWIW.. 120.. and go down .. so since I am posting only six to eight or so a post .. to take you chronologically in order I have to start with FWIW..  114 .. as the end of the line .. and FWIW .. 119 as the beginning .. 


The photos in my camera are NOT in the order I will post them .. so it is a real challenge to get something even closely approaching what I would like to have .. so as you read down here .. you will see a few photos several times and some will be out of order .. today the 28th I took more photos but I had written and published FWIW.. 114 to 116 last night .. so I just plopped them into FWIW.. 117 to 119 .. out of order .. IF I had gone back and inserted them into FWIW.. 114 to 116 .. I risked losing the entire post .. I would have had to delete some to do what I wanted to do and just was not going through the  hassle ..


I DO sincerely hope you enjoy the results of my past three days (daze) .. in order or out of order .. some of them are really nice .. well I like them .. much joy and much love.. cap ..

Well what's another photo .. this was taken in Agra Cantt back in October .. I mean I think that I 'have the hang of' posting photos !