24 April, 2005

Sawat dee!
Well, it's a hard old life as usual, lazing on a sunny afternoon..........we're on the gorgeous island of Koh Pha Ngan (pronounced Ko pang gan). Got here 6 days ago, stayed in a, er, "basic" wooden hut on stilts among the coconut palms for 5 nights, and yesterday we moved next door to a swanky place which is all stylish and lovely, for a couple of nights. No basic huts here! Have a look: http://www.sarikantang.com/.
So, island life is lovely. The main reason for coming to this one in particular was that there's a Full Moon party every month, so that sounded like a laugh. We'd heard it was legendary - 10,000 people or so. Bring it on!
The party was last night. We met up with Joy and Luke, our Vermont friends, who have been staying right on the beach where the party happens. In fact, there's a party there every night, bars all along the beach thumping out music and loads of people having a good time. We have been staying on the other side of the peninsular, where it's lovely and quiet! But only 5-10 mins walk over to party central. So we've got the best of both worlds, no sleepless nights!
So the 4 of us went for a good dinner, and then we hit the party around 9:30. It was a lot of fun. A lot. The tipple of choice is a "bucket". It's a little plastic bucket, about a pint and a half, into which they put loads of ice cubes, a can of coke, a small bottle of Songsam, which is Thai rum, and a bottle of Red Bull. So it's a bit of a lethal cocktail once you get going! You also get a load of straws so a group can share a bucket.
So we had "a few" of those and did some crazy dancing (the buckets make everyone think they're the best dancer on the floor), and took a few strolls up and down the beach, stopping in at a few bars. Towards about 3 a.m., Rob and I left the dancefloor to cool off a bit, and decided to go to this particular bar for a cocktail. I ordered some ridiculous concoction, the kind that sounds great on the menu and then turns out to be NOT great when you take your first sip!......and Rob ordered a Sangsom and coke, expecting a glass, and they brought him a whole bucket! Oh dear. we sipped our drinks and soon realised we wouldn't last much longer if we didn't take a break from the party. There was plenty time till sunrise, so we headed back to the ranch to have a nice cold shower and freshen up a bit, then we could go back to the party.
By now it was about half past 4, so we thought we'd have a nap for an hour or so in the meantime...................and I woke up at 9 this morning!!!! oops........we missed the rest of the party. I got up straight away and lounged in the hammock on our verandah (told you it was a hard life) and read. It's half past midday now, I've had some scrambled eggs and coffee and juice and came to do some email, while Rob is still out of it. So we partied hard, it just ended a bit soon for us! A brilliant night. Today will be a hangover day.
Now that the party's been and gone, the island will apparently get much quieter, but we want some real seclusion, so we're going to head to a nearby island, Koh Tao, which is meant to be really nice. Hope to do some scuba diving or snorkelling.
Thailand is fantastic after India! We're having so much fun here, the food is so gorgeous (including great food where we're staying), the weather is divine, the sea's warm and blue........much more fun and MUCH less harassment than India. (It's just different, of course, that's all.) So we're having a really good time and having a proper HOLIDAY!

14 April, 2005

we are SOAKED. At this exact moment, we are actually dry, but being in Bangkok this week means that if you're not indoors, and even if you are sometimes, you get pelted with water from every angle imaginable, and also from some more that you hadn't imagined as well. On Monday the Songkhran (new year) celebrations began, as I said last time, and we knew it was a big water fight.........but nothing could prepare us. I did buy a water gun before the fights even began, thinking I'd be ready for the onslaught. So we went out into the street, armed with our weapons, and within 5 minutes I went to get money so i could buy a bigger gun. You need to be able to retaliate in style. Oh dear, I sound like Donald Rumsfeld.
So we played! all day! Like summer holidays! It was so much fun, just literally walking up the street, then back down, then up, then down.........for about 4 hours. We could not have been any wetter. And you can buy ice-cold water on the street, so that goes in the pistol, or people just tip it down your back. So you are constantly getting freezing cold water chucked at you - but in this heat, it's actually really gorgeous in a warped kind of way. It's damn hot, nice breeze though, and all this water keeps you lovely and cool.
So, what have we done? Very little. You can't! It's a major mission just going into the main street. Yesterday (Weds) was so busy that it felt like there would be a crush, there were so many people and it was really claustrophobic as you couldn't see anything but the crowd. So I bid a retreat to the guest house. By the way, nights 1&2 we were in a double room, night 3 in a single, sharing a bed (luckily we were drunk that night so slept well), and then yesterday we moved again into a double....but it has a 4-poster and a gold satin quilt! So it's luxury! Tonight is our last night in Bangkok, then tomorrow we'll go down south.
Anyone who's headed to Bangkok (Joy and luke included) - try the SHAMBARA guest house where we are...I can't imagine a more lovely place to stay. It's beautiful - only been open a year, too, so all the beds and linen and decor are nice and new and fresh. You can't book on the phone, for some reason, but we had success booking through the Internet.
And the food.....it's wonderful. We've spent all our time in Khao San Road due to the water and crowds - there's no point trying to get anywhere! - and so have eaten all our meals here too. And it's all been fantastic, even in this most touristy of areas. It's really good at the g'house, too, so that's doing us proud.
We're having so much fun here - it's impossible to avoid it! And to think we were going to hang back and wait till it had died down, and go to a national park near Rishikesh! I'm so glad we came here at this mad time! We'll come back to Bangkok on our way up from the South, so we'll do all the cultural stuff then. So it all works out really well. Thank god for that one-way ticket to Delhi - I'm so glad we're not tied to an itinerary.
There's a dangerous ice cream parlour down the end of the road. last night I was writing my journal in the lounge, and Chris, the guy who joint owns the gueat house, was off on an errand to get some ice cream, and asked if I wanted some. So I said yes, and gave him some cash, and off he went. And he came back with an amazing sundae for me, for about a pound - chocolate ice cream, chunks of choc brownies, sliced bananas, whipped cream, a cocktail cherry (which I adore), fudge chunks, choc sprinkles, and broken pieces of sugar cone (like cornetto). It was heaven. I felt very sick afterwards. :0)
Sarah, I'm so glad you're in touch!
Happy birthday Ange!
Rachel, thanks for the hints on Bangkok, I'll keep your mail and try to do those things when we're back here and the streets aren't awash.
Oh, as well as the water, people have tubs of chalk or flour or something, mixed with water, and they smear a bit on your face and say Happy New Year. So you are gungey as well as dripping wet.
Well, that's all from me this time........will write more soon.

Mon, 11 Apr, 2005

Hello everyone,

Well, we made it to Bangkok! Flew here from Delhi yesterday morning at a quarter to five and got here at 12-ish, another 24-hour journey, as we had to check out of our hotel in Rishikesh at noon the day before. We're staying at a lovely, lovely guest house, which Rob found on the internet - a great find. (www.shambarabangkok.com.) So we settled in around lunchtime, had some lunch, then slept loads. Rob's not so well - came down with a bad tum on the morning we were leaving india. Poor him! - all that travelling to do - he got through it, though, and is getting better.
The photos on the guest house website are a bit misleading, by the way - we're in the shoe flower room, though, if you're looking. It's only been open a year and is owned, as far as I can tell, by a Thai girl, and her boyfriend who comes from Devon. So it was good to chat with him and find out what's what. it's a lovely place, very clean, very homely too, as it is actually a house. It's just down an alley off Khao San Road, the travellers' hub of Bangkok, but it's nice and peaceful. Until tomorrow, that is..........Thai New Year celebrations begin then, and apparently it's a national water fight. It would have been handy if there'd been one the day after Holi in India, to wash that evil paint off. So, we hear that Khao San is a crazy place for New Year......we'll find out tomorrow!
The heat here is quite amazing. I knew it would be hot and humid, but just like reading up on India beforehand can never prepare you for what it's like to be there, you can't prepare yourself for the heat here. It's like being in a steamroom. So we're both sweating like mad! Most places have good fans and/or air conditioning - it's being outdoors that's the killer! So the water-fights should cool us down a bit.
The guest house does great food, which is good to know - we had a lovely dinner here last night. Looking forward to getting some amazing street food at the night markets, too, so we'll do that when Rob is properly better.
There's a train that takes us all the way down South in about 15 hours, and I propose that we should make that journey and then work our way up through Thailand. So we're staying here for 5 nights, and if we don't extend our stay in Bangkok, we may well take that train straight down. Hit the beach and have a holiday! (Well, another one.)
We ventured out today to the Grand Palace. It's unbelievable. I've rarely seen anything so ornate. Have a look on a website, there'll be loads of photos, whereas we tourists weren't allowed to take any inside the buildings.
Note to the Muppettes: last night, as we were sitting in the garden, "Dream a little dream" came on the stereo! Aw. I said, "hello girls!"
I sent more postcards from Delhi airport, so watch your letterboxes! I think they take about 3 weeks, though.
Val and Ken, lovely to hear from you! Your trip to Bangladesh sounded, er................but you will be glad to know that the Japanese restaurant in McLeod became a firm favourite, and we even went with Joy and Luke in a kind of "remembering Val and Ken and Bharatpur" way!
Dave, I'm glad you had a great ski trip! In the parcel I've sent mum, there's a big poster of the Himalayas for your classroom.

Sat, 2 April, 2005

Hi folks. We're still up here in the hills, our last few days. It's lovely and hot and sunny, and the storms are pretty non-existent now. On Tuesday we had the best day out of our trip so far. A Tibetan guy, Rabi, who now lives here, took us and our 2 Italian friends Rino and Rosie out to some hot springs. It was quite spectacular! We had a 1-hour taxi ride (tho' it was really a mini-van) and then walked 30 mins to the springs. This included wading through the river - the water was just melted snow from the Himalayas, and was freezing cold! But the valley was just stunning. Cannabis plants carpeted the valley floor - a strong smell -and 2 cows were grazing on it. We said that the milk from these cows would be great at sending babies off to sleep!

So we got to the springs. There was a tiny Hindu temple there, and the pool was about 6 feet square and 4 deep. There was a pipe about 2 feet above the water, spouting the constant flow from the mountains into the pool. And it was such a nice temperature - just like a lovely warm bath. We soaked in there for a while, then got out and basked in the sun while some local boys enjoyed the water. It was even hotter when we got back in. Total bliss!

On the walk back to the taxi, we obviously had to cross the river again, but this time we swam in it first to cool off from the sun - and just for the sake of swimming in it, too. It was beautiful, not as cold as all that, and just the location was breathtaking, with only a few young guys splashing around, otherwise it was just us...... with the Himalayas towering above us. Got back in the taxi and set off back, which made me quite sick - you would not believe the roads and the drivers around here! The hour's trip was almost constant hairpin bends - anyone who knows of my problems with that will understand. If you've been on those mountain roads in Greece, well, it's like that but even more nailbiting. It was a really fantastic day out!

Apart from that, I have been suffering with my stomach ever since - it's been 5 days now - so 2 days ago i went to the local Tibetan doctor to get it sorted. Thought I'd give traditional medicine a try, rather than getting more antibiotics as before. i took a number and waited my turn. The doctor is an old monk of about 80, apparently world-famous, and he's the Dalai Lama's doctor as well as having treated the Spanish royals, among others.

In his office was an English-speaking man at the desk, and the doc has a stool next to the desk. (A stool as in a SEAT........!!) And I had to sit down on another stool facing him. The English-speaking guy asked me what the problem was, what were my symptoms, etc., and he relayed this to the old doc, who felt the pulse in my right wrist and then in my left. This took about 10 seconds. Then he said something to the guy at the desk, who wrote me out a prescription and told me what to eat and what to avoid, and that was that! So funny and bizarre!

We'd been told that Tibetan medicine was rabbit poo, or at least looked like it. And it is true. It's these smooth round pellets, in varying shades of brown, that are the size of aniseed balls, and they're all stored in big jars like a sweet shop! The man in the dispensary counts out what you need and puts a little instruction slip in each bag of different pellets (I was given 4 separate kinds). So it's 2 of 1 kind at least half an hour before breakfast, then 2 of a different sort at least half an hour after lunch, 2 others at 4 p.m., and 2 of yet another kind at least half an hour after dinner! Quite precise. And they taste indescribably revolting!!!!!! i cannot quite express it. Maybe they ARE from little bunnies' bottoms...... You either "chew them up properly and swallow it down, or else if the tablets are hard to chew you can crush them and swallow it". 1st time, I had them crushed in a pestle and mortar by the lady in our favourite cafe, so they turned to powder, which I then had to tip into my mouth and wash it down with hot water. Man, I was nearly sick! Nothing can prepare you for it! next time, I chewed them up, and that wasn't quite so traumatic. But it's vile. I actually gave up the ghost this morning, after 2 days of trad medicine with no real improvement, and filled my normal prescription for the drugs I'd been prescribed when I 1st had this trouble in India. I know it's lame of me.......but hopefully i should be better quite quickly and (as a bonus) won't have to eat rabbit poo 4 times a day...... I'm keeping theTibetan medicine so I can show it to you readers whenI'm home! you can have a taste too if you like???????? The husband of the woman who runs our guest house works in the Tibetan Health Centre, it turns out, and we'd seen loads of little round pellets of something drying out on the g'house roof when we 1st got here........so it appears that they were actually medicinal remedies - maybe he makes them. he must have a massive complex of hutches.........

Bleughhhhhhh.

The day after tomorrow we're heading off to Dehra Dun,and then on to Rishikesh, and then eventually to Delhi to fly to Thailand - flights seem to be quite cheap. So we're ready to move on. I'm ready to leave here but at the same time i'll be sad to. But - onwards and upwards! Or downwards, really.......but you know whatI mean.

Fri 25 Mar, 2005

hello again.
Today is Good Friday, but here in McLeodganj it's HOLI - a Hindu festival. It basically consists of throwing dry powder paints at everyone. And I mean EVERYONE. There's no apparent religious reason for the festival - just any excuse for a good party. Rob and I were in the street for maybe 20 minutes, and we got absolutely covered in colour - red, pink, green, yellow, dark blue......you should have seen us! people just come up to you with a handful of paint and squish it right in your face, custard pie style. We got laughed at so much! Rob has a scalp full of pink, which will shine through his hair nicely. And of course there happens to be no hot shower at our guest house, and it's gone noon so we can't get a bucket of hot water! Damn!
Apparently today is the least of it - the blokes will have been drinking all night and then tomorrow they do more paint-throwing and also lots of groping. Fun. I've already had a load of paint tipped down inside my top.
Anyway, it's all part of the fun!
We walked up to the nearby Bhagsu waterfall yesterday - quite a climb, but really worth it! I got quite emotional as it was so overwhelmingly beautiful, and because I keep RE-realising that we're in the Himalayas!! It's just so crazy! The Shiva Cafe is further up, and there are loads of painted pieces of stone and slate that people have done and left there leaning against the rock face. It's really lovely. (We did one too.) We'll go up again and take a photo of each stone. We got chatting to about 10 lads from Amritsar who have come here for Holi. They were all about 15 or 16, and insisted on having their photos taken with us. Then a thunderstorm got up - quite spectacular as we were so high up in the mountains, and the rumbling was amazing. We sat the rain out and drank hot chai tea, sweet and spiced. Then came down the hill which was quite treacherous - thank god there was a proper path.

We finished our massage course yesterday - it's been brilliant. We got a certificate and everything! May well do the advanced course.........after the Indian cookery course we're doing next week. aaah, the stress of it all.......(couldn't be further from the truth)! I'm also going to actually HAVE a massage from our teacher tomorrow morning - it should be great. I might not be able to get back up the hill to the guest house afterwards, though - I'll be pummelled and stretched and god knows what!

Not much else to report that I can think of. Of course, gorgeous things happen all the time. And we're gonna spend about 3 more weeks here anyway, so we have all the time in the world. It's a great place, loads of people here, fresh air (a blessing after those polluted cities), endless fantastic food (really good), beautiful scenery, cheap living, good shopping, just a good place to get away from it all. Haven't been to see the Dalai Lama's teachings yet.

We connected our digital camera to the computer today and tried to get our photos onto CD, but there was a problem with the computer and we lost some photos. Nothing major - we still have most of them - but really annoying. so we'll have a look for a better connection before we try again. The ones we looked at were great, though, so we'll get them onto the net and you can all have a look.

I need to get out of this internet cafe - they're playing Celine Dion. I'm stArtiNG To tWitCh.

Weds, 16 Mar, 2006

Hello! here we are in the Himalayas, of all places! we came up yesterday from Amritsar, and are staying in a village called McLeodganj near Dharamsala. We have a nice room which has no en-suite bathroom, but there's a bathroom along the terrace which is fine - it's so cheap to stay here that we don't mind. Only 90 rupees a night for the room, not per person (current exchange rate is 83 rupees to the pound)!!!!!!!! It's nice and clean and comfortable and central, and the views are unbeleievable! being in the Himalayas is unbelievable enough! Good places to eat here, too, and loads of fellow travellers. I think I've got a bit of sunstroke today though, so after a nap I'm feeling really nauseous and got a headache. Maybe it's mild altitude sickness - we're so high-up here. I've just got over my second bout of exploding-bum syndrome, too.
Anyway, at the price we're paying, we think we may stay for 3 or 4 weeks. It's the perfect place to relax and get away from the city stress and hassle and pollution.

Sat, 12 Mar, 2005

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO.............here I am again with another bulletin from the road.

It's now Sat 12th March and we've been here 2 weeks. It's been a bit mad and has turned our plans on their head a bit, BUT it's all fine and working out well. As these things tend to do!

We left Delhi and took a train to Jaipur - were planning to stay just 1 night at the hostel but then Rob got ill and then 3 days later I did too. Nothing much with me apart from the runs, but poor Robbie had it baaaaaaaad. Fever and the whole thing. So we rested up and had one day in particular when we laid in our sick bed and watched Back to the Future at about 9.30 in the morning and then they obliged by showing Gladiator at night! So we ate chocolate and drank....well, water really...... So that was the day of hell and then we went to see the doc next door, about 70 years old and used to be the Senior Medical Advisor to the Indian Air Force. We were in good hands. He sorted us out with medication and we were soon all better.
Had some good times in Jaipur, but didn't make it to the farm. We got there (middle of nowhere) and found where we were staying - a real, live mud hut! That would have been fine really, we weren't expecting comfortable accommodation, but it was as basic as basic can be really. One other WWOOFer was there, a guy called Alexis from Belgium, and he'd spent 3 or 4 days alone, as the couple who went there with him had left the next morning, and none of the farm workers had spoken to him. (Not their fault - they couldn't speak anyhting but Hindi, so there was no way for them to communicate.) There was no one on the farm to co-ordinate the WWOOF workers and give things any structure - to say "hello, welcome to the farm, here's where you'll be sleeping, this is the rooutine of the day".....etc. Just nothing really. We had a conversation with a painter-decorator bloke who was there, by finding phrases in our phrase book - that went quite well.........UNTIL he got his mate to take Rob over "to look at his bike", so that he and I were left alone in the room. He got the idea that as Rob and I weren't married, it was open season - he pointed to his cheek and said "kiss?", which was NOT happening, and offered me a massage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which was also not happening! It was all just very uncomfortable and out of order, and I made a hasty exit from the room - Rob came bounding over, as he hadn't liked the way things were going, and we thought about what to do. All things considered, we decided to just leave - there was just no structure there and it was so, so different from what we'd been expecting. The owneer of the farm, who we'd been in quite close contact with by email for the past few months, wasn't even there - he lived 500 or so miles away! So it was all a bit of a farce.
No worries - we made our decision and set off to the main road to get a bus back to Jaipur, hitching a lift to the road on the back of a pick-up truck - bit of a godsend! We did get the bus, and on the journey Rob realised he'd left his wallet containing passport, credit card and a wad of money at the farm. Shit! So the next morning we got a lift back there with this old Brigadier who was the farm's agricultural consultant - he was going there, as it happened. Got the wallet back - all intact.
Now that the farm was out of the question, we decided to go to Bharatpur (consult atlas) as it sounded nice and less hectic than where we'd been so far. So we did go there, and we met some great people at our lovely guest house - Joy & Luke, in their 20s, from Vermont, USA, and another couple, Val & Ken in their late 50s from NZ. We had so much fun with them - great chats and laughs and telling of stories around the dinner table. We shared music from Rob's iPod too - that proved very popular. The Muppettes d'Amour may like to note that I played them the recording of us that I made that night, and they said they will buy our CD when we are famous!!
We had fun in Bharatpur cycling around a national park tho I nearly broke my bum on the crossbar of one of the bikes I got on! Ow!
And now, after 14 hours on the train (1st class!!!!!!!!) yesterday, we are in Amritsar to visit the Golden Temple - we're staying in a nice guest house after checking in and then straight back out of a scummy (to say the least) hotel down the road from this one. It was GROSS. We tried to get a refund as we'd paid for a night upfront, but they would NOT refund us not matter how hard we tried. So we walked 5 mins down the road and checked in here instead - we stayed here last night and tonight too and then tomorrow we're going to the Golden Temple to visit there and stay the night in one of their gurudwaras (Sikh temples) - you can stay there for free, tho it's meant for bona fide pilgrims - but they open their doors to anyone. (If you saw the Michael Palin "Himalaya" series, you probably remember him staying there.)
Then on to Dharamsala in a couple of days to see the Dalai Lama, and we may be leaving India sooner than we thought for THAILAND - we shall see.

Sat, 12 Mar, 2005

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO.............here I am again with another bulletin from the road.

It's now Sat 12th March and we've been here 2 weeks. It's been a bit mad and has turned our plans on their head a bit, BUT it's all fine and working out well. As these things tend to do!

We left Delhi and took a train to Jaipur - were planning to stay just 1 night at the hostel but then Rob got ill and then 3 days later I did too. Nothing much with me apart from the runs, but poor Robbie had it baaaaaaaad. Fever and the whole thing. So we rested up and had one day in particular when we laid in our sick bed and watched Back to the Future at about 9.30 in the morning and then they obliged by showing Gladiator at night! So we ate chocolate and drank....well, water really...... So that was the day of hell and then we went to see the doc next door, about 70 years old and used to be the Senior Medical Advisor to the Indian Air Force. We were in good hands. He sorted us out with medication and we were soon all better.
Had some good times in Jaipur, but didn't make it to the farm. We got there (middle of nowhere) and found where we were staying - a real, live mud hut! That would have been fine really, we weren't expecting comfortable accommodation, but it was as basic as basic can be really. One other WWOOFer was there, a guy called Alexis from Belgium, and he'd spent 3 or 4 days alone, as the couple who went there with him had left the next morning, and none of the farm workers had spoken to him. (Not their fault - they couldn't speak anyhting but Hindi, so there was no way for them to communicate.) There was no one on the farm to co-ordinate the WWOOF workers and give things any structure - to say "hello, welcome to the farm, here's where you'll be sleeping, this is the rooutine of the day".....etc. Just nothing really. We had a conversation with a painter-decorator bloke who was there, by finding phrases in our phrase book - that went quite well.........UNTIL he got his mate to take Rob over "to look at his bike", so that he and I were left alone in the room. He got the idea that as Rob and I weren't married, it was open season - he pointed to his cheek and said "kiss?", which was NOT happening, and offered me a massage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which was also not happening! It was all just very uncomfortable and out of order, and I made a hasty exit from the room - Rob came bounding over, as he hadn't liked the way things were going, and we thought about what to do. All things considered, we decided to just leave - there was just no structure there and it was so, so different from what we'd been expecting. The owneer of the farm, who we'd been in quite close contact with by email for the past few months, wasn't even there - he lived 500 or so miles away! So it was all a bit of a farce.
No worries - we made our decision and set off to the main road to get a bus back to Jaipur, hitching a lift to the road on the back of a pick-up truck - bit of a godsend! We did get the bus, and on the journey Rob realised he'd left his wallet containing passport, credit card and a wad of money at the farm. Shit! So the next morning we got a lift back there with this old Brigadier who was the farm's agricultural consultant - he was going there, as it happened. Got the wallet back - all intact.
Now that the farm was out of the question, we decided to go to Bharatpur (consult atlas) as it sounded nice and less hectic than where we'd been so far. So we did go there, and we met some great people at our lovely guest house - Joy & Luke, in their 20s, from Vermont, USA, and another couple, Val & Ken in their late 50s from NZ. We had so much fun with them - great chats and laughs and telling of stories around the dinner table. We shared music from Rob's iPod too - that proved very popular. The Muppettes d'Amour may like to note that I played them the recording of us that I made that night, and they said they will buy our CD when we are famous!!
We had fun in Bharatpur cycling around a national park tho I nearly broke my bum on the crossbar of one of the bikes I got on! Ow!
And now, after 14 hours on the train (1st class!!!!!!!!) yesterday, we are in Amritsar to visit the Golden Temple - we're staying in a nice guest house after checking in and then straight back out of a scummy (to say the least) hotel down the road from this one. It was GROSS. We tried to get a refund as we'd paid for a night upfront, but they would NOT refund us not matter how hard we tried. So we walked 5 mins down the road and checked in here instead - we stayed here last night and tonight too and then tomorrow we're going to the Golden Temple to visit there and stay the night in one of their gurudwaras (Sikh temples) - you can stay there for free, tho it's meant for bona fide pilgrims - but they open their doors to anyone. (If you saw the Michael Palin "Himalaya" series, you probably remember him staying there.)
Then on to Dharamsala in a couple of days to see the Dalai Lama, and we may be leaving India sooner than we thought for THAILAND - we shall see.

Sat, 12 Mar, 2005

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO.............here I am again with another bulletin from the road.

It's now Sat 12th March and we've been here 2 weeks. It's been a bit mad and has turned our plans on their head a bit, BUT it's all fine and working out well. As these things tend to do!

We left Delhi and took a train to Jaipur - were planning to stay just 1 night at the hostel but then Rob got ill and then 3 days later I did too. Nothing much with me apart from the runs, but poor Robbie had it baaaaaaaad. Fever and the whole thing. So we rested up and had one day in particular when we laid in our sick bed and watched Back to the Future at about 9.30 in the morning and then they obliged by showing Gladiator at night! So we ate chocolate and drank....well, water really...... So that was the day of hell and then we went to see the doc next door, about 70 years old and used to be the Senior Medical Advisor to the Indian Air Force. We were in good hands. He sorted us out with medication and we were soon all better.
Had some good times in Jaipur, but didn't make it to the farm. We got there (middle of nowhere) and found where we were staying - a real, live mud hut! That would have been fine really, we weren't expecting comfortable accommodation, but it was as basic as basic can be really. One other WWOOFer was there, a guy called Alexis from Belgium, and he'd spent 3 or 4 days alone, as the couple who went there with him had left the next morning, and none of the farm workers had spoken to him. (Not their fault - they couldn't speak anyhting but Hindi, so there was no way for them to communicate.) There was no one on the farm to co-ordinate the WWOOF workers and give things any structure - to say "hello, welcome to the farm, here's where you'll be sleeping, this is the rooutine of the day".....etc. Just nothing really. We had a conversation with a painter-decorator bloke who was there, by finding phrases in our phrase book - that went quite well.........UNTIL he got his mate to take Rob over "to look at his bike", so that he and I were left alone in the room. He got the idea that as Rob and I weren't married, it was open season - he pointed to his cheek and said "kiss?", which was NOT happening, and offered me a massage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which was also not happening! It was all just very uncomfortable and out of order, and I made a hasty exit from the room - Rob came bounding over, as he hadn't liked the way things were going, and we thought about what to do. All things considered, we decided to just leave - there was just no structure there and it was so, so different from what we'd been expecting. The owneer of the farm, who we'd been in quite close contact with by email for the past few months, wasn't even there - he lived 500 or so miles away! So it was all a bit of a farce.
No worries - we made our decision and set off to the main road to get a bus back to Jaipur, hitching a lift to the road on the back of a pick-up truck - bit of a godsend! We did get the bus, and on the journey Rob realised he'd left his wallet containing passport, credit card and a wad of money at the farm. Shit! So the next morning we got a lift back there with this old Brigadier who was the farm's agricultural consultant - he was going there, as it happened. Got the wallet back - all intact.
Now that the farm was out of the question, we decided to go to Bharatpur (consult atlas) as it sounded nice and less hectic than where we'd been so far. So we did go there, and we met some great people at our lovely guest house - Joy & Luke, in their 20s, from Vermont, USA, and another couple, Val & Ken in their late 50s from NZ. We had so much fun with them - great chats and laughs and telling of stories around the dinner table. We shared music from Rob's iPod too - that proved very popular. The Muppettes d'Amour may like to note that I played them the recording of us that I made that night, and they said they will buy our CD when we are famous!!
We had fun in Bharatpur cycling around a national park tho I nearly broke my bum on the crossbar of one of the bikes I got on! Ow!
And now, after 14 hours on the train (1st class!!!!!!!!) yesterday, we are in Amritsar to visit the Golden Temple - we're staying in a nice guest house after checking in and then straight back out of a scummy (to say the least) hotel down the road from this one. It was GROSS. We tried to get a refund as we'd paid for a night upfront, but they would NOT refund us not matter how hard we tried. So we walked 5 mins down the road and checked in here instead - we stayed here last night and tonight too and then tomorrow we're going to the Golden Temple to visit there and stay the night in one of their gurudwaras (Sikh temples) - you can stay there for free, tho it's meant for bona fide pilgrims - but they open their doors to anyone. (If you saw the Michael Palin "Himalaya" series, you probably remember him staying there.)
Then on to Dharamsala in a couple of days to see the Dalai Lama, and we may be leaving India sooner than we thought for THAILAND - we shall see.

Sun, 27th Feb, 2005

Hi again,

india continues to amaze, enthrall and bemuse us!

Hope you are all well. today we got up at 5 and caught the 6.10 train to Jaipur, the city near to the farm we're going to. Binod the farmer has a friend who owns a guest house, and suggested we stay there before going to the farm. We were planning to stay one night here and go tomorrow, but we've decided to stay 3 nights.
Well, Delhi was an amazing place. I loved it very much but it was wise to get outta there after the 3 days. It is indescribably hectic, and the constant barrage of hassle and traffic and pollution got to us a bit! we still had a great time there, tho, and have vowed to return, this time knowing what we're letting ourselves in for!
On the train this morning we got chatting to a woman who was sitting next to us (the conversation suddenly began when I jumped at the sight of a mouse running past my foot, down the side of the carriage......!!!!!!!). She was lovely and very interesting to talk to - she's a lawyer, working in the interests of women who need legal representation, and one past job of hers was presenting the breakfast show on Delhi's biggest local radio station. She'd launched the careers of 2 or 3 national pop stars by playing their demo tapes on her show! Anyway, she gave us her business card and said to call her when we get back to Delhi and we can go out for dinner. Aah, the people you meet!

(Note to Lady badwill and Leonieonieonie........I have now seen a shop named "Boney Tours and travels" and a restaurant called "Kathi Kebab"!!!!!! I did larf!!!!!!!)

The hotel we're in in Jaipur is real nice, with a big airy room with windows on 2 sides and a bathroom en suite. We've mainly been resting since we got here tho we did pound the streets with a map to find a particular restaurant that our guidebook recommended.....then more resting, as Rob has had a dodgy tum today. So here I am, looking parTICularly chic and crropped trousers and red knee-socks!!! (to ward off the bloody mozzies - not a sign of any in Delhi, but a baptism of fire here to make up for it!) typing away and feeling like I'm really travelling now that we have Delhi under our belt and are on to destination #2. No Delhi belly for me, we did branch out and have some real street food from a stall, which was fantastic, and cost Rs.40 for both of us (1 quid = 70 rupees).

OH, I could go on for pages! But anyway, we are both fine, bit of colour to our pasty English faces............it's great!!!!!

Fri, 25 Feb, 2005

Hello y'all,

Well, we're here and loving it! The journey was ok on the whole, 25 hours door to door! We got to the hotel and basically had a good sleep, then had some food and did some reading and journal-writing, then turned in for the night. Woke up 12 hours later, as no real windows in our room so no morning sunlight thru the window! But hey, we needed it.
Headed out on our first foray into the city - it's a crazy place and you risk life and limb just walking down the road - the traffic comes out of everywhere and nowhere! but we got on just fine. People everywhere trying to sell you something or sell you a tour to somewhere, or to take you in their taxi/tuk-tuk. We found a bit of lunch and were approached by a guy selling postcards who then became our self-appointed guide for the next 2 hours. He took us to the Emporiums whiich sell gifts, spices, art work, and fabrics & clothes............I was nearly persuaded to buy a sari and was dressed in one! Rob is having some trousers made and they'll be ready in a few hours' time!
back at hotel now, realxing a bit and will go out again later.
So all is very well with us and we're really enjoying the experience of our first day in Delhi!

We're leeeeeeaving on a jet plaaaaaaaaaane.........

Hello to all you lovely folks out there. Hope you're well and having fun.

Well, for those of you we haven't told, just letting you know that on Weds 23rd Feb, Rob and I are jetting off on our world travels! First stop Delhi, then to an organic farm near Jaipur for a while to work and get a real feel for the country. Then some Northern Indian travels, on to Thailand and Vietnam, then thru Laos to China, get on the train in Beijing and go across Mongolia to Russia, and maybe coming back thru Eastern Europe. We're so so so excited and looking forward to it so much. We're just in the process of moving out of our little house in Bath, staying with friends for a bit and setting off real soon! I'm now at home Up North, coming back to Bath on Monday 14th, maybe? Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.............