Traveler Wine, Strange Beach Creatures and Really Long Fish Dinners…
Our first few nights we slept in something that resembled a chicken coop. They were little huts on stilts, made of bamboo and palm fronds with stumps from a coconut tree set into the sand to use as steps to get into them. The first thought that went through my mind was elevated chicken coops. On the inside was a twin size mattress made of some kind of straw material, that felt a bit like a stiff futon and a mosquito net.
Traveler Tip: Always carry a sowing kit, it comes handy for many things but you will especially love it when your mosquito net looks like swiss cheese.
After we settled and went down to the beach, we didn't think it was all that great, I mean we had just see some of the prettiest beaches in the world (at least for me to this day!), but in the end of course it was amazing. We were on a point, so there was volcanic rock on one side and washed up drift wood with random debris on the other and sandy, more or less. When we first got there it was low tide, so all we could see was rocks and No Swimming was going to happen!
We were just checking things out, but once we took showers and ate, we went back to the beach. The tide had come up and there was no problem swimming here at all! We set up our hammocks and chilled out under the trees until sunset.
As I can't sit still all that long on a beach, I decided to play with all that beautiful driftwood laying around. This is where a relationship with strange creatures started to take form...
We ran into Tibo, who we had met in Havelock at a resort named The Sunset, a ten minute walk from the shore. He was staying there, and it was sort of hidden in the woods and away from the main road. We had to walk through and in between other people's properties to get there on this tiny path that wined up and down on the more volcanic side on the area.
The owner of The Sunset was genuine and really a great cook. This was for sure one of these places that is so chilled out, you could stay for ever, if that's your kind of thing! He made us all a snapper each with rice that tasted more natural than brown rice, and the fish was just amazing with veggies from the land right where we were eating!
It is definitely the place to go if you want peace and quiet...only thing is that it is a good ten minute walk to the bit of sand that we had at the resort we were staying at.
Across the street from this building we saw a small pack of wild dogs devouring another dog in the same way wolves feast a something they just hunted down... sorry for the image in your head but it puts a new meaning to It's a dog eat dog world. And I don't really know what happened, nor did we try to find out but I did look at it long enough to have it my head for a very very long time!
We rented bicycles to tour the island every day. We found a really beautiful area that had a natural bridge formation that looked like the moon with the help of Serge, our Russian neighbor who'd been here almost a month. You can get a 30 day tourist pass very easily to go to the Andaman Islands at the time, and to visit some of the more remote islands you really need a special permit. I could never find out if Serge had a visa for a longer stay of not, he was mostly quiet.
Serge always made his own meals, cooking with an electric heating coil, boiling water in a tiny pan, never would he go to the few restaurants that existed on Niel Island back in 2013. He was quiet but he was very nice and we got him talking a little... Serge was a retired Soviet Communications Engineer who referred to Russia as the Soviet Union. He also really liked wine, so he made his own while traveling!
A big plastic bottle, Crushed Red Grapes, Sugar, Heat and...Time (about a week I think he told us)
On the opposite side of the island was a deserted beach where we spent an afternoon swimming and fornicating...it was our honeymoon after all! Don't worries, there are no photos...we were too busy! We also met a cute little Festival Girl from Italy and Czech Republic all dressed up in her modern day hippie gear full of colours.
Anna is her name and of course she gave us a few pointer for which festivals to go to in Europe in the Summer. That was someone we would see in Europe and I was sure of it. She really liked the idea of The People's Caravan and wanted to be a part of it giving Jewelry Making Classes. That was very exciting, people were interested in the Caravan.
The thing on Niel, is that life is slow, very slow. That means that we sometimes waited over two hours for a fish dinner to be served. And then another half an hour just to get the bill, and you'd better have the exact amount or you would have to wait again for change!
But you know what, the food was always so good and delicious, that fresh fresh fish cooked in coconut masala was worth it every time!!!
Though our meals were mostly just a couple dollars, it came a time when we were running out of rupees. On Niel Island there were no banks, no cash machines and no currency exchanges, and so we had to start planing our next move. We thought we'd go back to Port Blaire with Jen, who was this lovely girl from Canada, Jessica and I had become friends with. Once in Port Blair we would decide where to go for the rest of our time in the Andamans.
We were thinking about Little Andaman but heard too many horror stories of sand fleas, so we thought perhaps going back to Niel Island for Holi Festival which is an ancient Hindu ritual and play of colours. The other thing we were interested in was a "God Power" festival, I have been looking for the official name but unfortunately cannot find it. It involves men walking on fire, pulling carriages with meat hook pierced through their backs and pushing arrows through their cheeks.
That sounds like it will be fun...
Here is the Proof again:
Proof of Hammocks
To Be Continued...
Episode 01 ~ Episode 02 ~ Episode 03 ~ Episode 04 ~ Episode 05
Next Week
Delhi Belly in Port Blair... Thankfully, we have running water!
~ QUOTE OF THE MONTH (@Olawalium) ~
I want love to be the trend and laziness to be a thing of the past.
~~~
Up-Vote, Re-Steem and Reply. Your comments are always welcome!
Don't forget...
#DreamsComeTrue!!!