Monday, 30 April 2012
Friday, 27 April 2012
Georgie got the Chang in
Our current view from Th Kao San in Thailand. Shame the only song they're playing is Hopeless Place. Again. It's the only song I've heard since we left. 
Thursday, 5 April 2012
Daniels Beard Update #2
Johnny Depp-th. A steady pace wins the face and the hairs can't take much longer to grow. He looks like a celebrity - who's just out of rehab.
Lifes A Beach
Goa
We are now in the much more relaxing and liberal thinking Goa. Our first destination was Calangute in the North which is all neon lights and Red Lion bars and Daniel has cleverly named 'popadorm'. Get it?! Our drive there was one of the scariest yet with the driver thinking he was Nigel Mansell or something weaving in and out the traffic with the music on full blast (I don't know if Nigel liked loud dance music the comparison was more to do with the speed!)
The hotel we stayed at was fab! It had a swimming pool and everything and the staff and other guests were so friendly. We loved it so much we extended our stay by 5 days! We spent most of our time sunbathing by the pool or on the beach where there was an endless stream of people selling things but you got used to it.
We spent my birthday on the beach and then went for a lovely dinner and cocktails. The restaurant had some questionable entertainment on though as they played the karaoke version of songs like the birdie song! This was only bettered by the table of Danish people actually performing karaoke at a bar later on in our stay! We also found a wonderful book shop called Nicky's which we visited twice and had a lovely chat with the owner whilst buying and swapping old books with him.
After 10 wonderfully relaxing days we have moved South to Benaulim which is an area I visited once before 5 years ago. It is much quieter here in the village and on the beach which is also less dirty and with nicer sand! We went to a reggae night last night which turned out actually to be a house night. Oh well you can't win them all!
We are now in the much more relaxing and liberal thinking Goa. Our first destination was Calangute in the North which is all neon lights and Red Lion bars and Daniel has cleverly named 'popadorm'. Get it?! Our drive there was one of the scariest yet with the driver thinking he was Nigel Mansell or something weaving in and out the traffic with the music on full blast (I don't know if Nigel liked loud dance music the comparison was more to do with the speed!)
The hotel we stayed at was fab! It had a swimming pool and everything and the staff and other guests were so friendly. We loved it so much we extended our stay by 5 days! We spent most of our time sunbathing by the pool or on the beach where there was an endless stream of people selling things but you got used to it.
We spent my birthday on the beach and then went for a lovely dinner and cocktails. The restaurant had some questionable entertainment on though as they played the karaoke version of songs like the birdie song! This was only bettered by the table of Danish people actually performing karaoke at a bar later on in our stay! We also found a wonderful book shop called Nicky's which we visited twice and had a lovely chat with the owner whilst buying and swapping old books with him.
After 10 wonderfully relaxing days we have moved South to Benaulim which is an area I visited once before 5 years ago. It is much quieter here in the village and on the beach which is also less dirty and with nicer sand! We went to a reggae night last night which turned out actually to be a house night. Oh well you can't win them all!
Calmer Suits Ya: The Joy of Six - #6
Ranhambhore
There is not much to report about the actual town of Ranthambhore but we had travelled here for the sole purpose of going on a tiger safari, the prospect of which I was extremely excited about as we had read it was the best place to spot a tiger. So, we opted to do the morning safari which meant getting up soo early and waiting around at the hotel reception for our jeep to arrive. Our names were the first to be called so we shot off to get into our jeep and get going. When we got there the jeep was full of locals apart from 2 seats at the front so it was here we sat and we were then driven to the reserve. As we were about to embark on our search our guide came up to us and said sorry but everyone else on here is Indian so I will be doing the tour in Hindi, ask me if you need to know anything but I promise you I will find you a tiger and you will have to give me a big tip as the others won't. Oh, brilliant! After about half an hour of the others messing around buying 'merch' our nerves were already being tested but we set off and started to get into safari mode.
That was until our first stop when the guide said something and everyone got up out of their seats to look and we had no idea what was going on and couldn't see a thing. There was one man who was getting all in about the place and sitting next to the guide like he was in charge, it was quite annoying and I thought that's it, enjoyment over! They did get a little less excitable though after a long time of only seeing peacocks, deer and wild boar until we saw a crocodile which was so far away it looked like a log and then just stopped in the middle of the trees and everyone hurried off leaving only Daniel and I and 2 other ladies. We were slightly confused until we looked around and all the men were weeing into the wildlife. Ah, toilet stop!
Off again and we picked up an old wise safari man (we knew he was wise because he had a beard and a stick) who was on the trail of a tiger and he pointed out fresh tracks for us to follow. We raced through the forest until we came to a clearing with a lake and there he was on the other side of the water, sitting there looking all majestic, a tiger! We had done it against the odds (apparently it usually takes 3 or 4 visits usually to see one) and it was very exciting especially when a wild boar turned up and the tiger went for it although he was unsuccessful and they both went their own ways. By this time we had overstayed our welcome and we literally shot back out of the forest stopping only to ask if any one else had seen a tiger that morning, they hadn't it was only us. And so we drive back to the hotel, the guide with a greedy, smug smile on his face and us with our pockets a little lighter but still feeling warm with excitement!
There is not much to report about the actual town of Ranthambhore but we had travelled here for the sole purpose of going on a tiger safari, the prospect of which I was extremely excited about as we had read it was the best place to spot a tiger. So, we opted to do the morning safari which meant getting up soo early and waiting around at the hotel reception for our jeep to arrive. Our names were the first to be called so we shot off to get into our jeep and get going. When we got there the jeep was full of locals apart from 2 seats at the front so it was here we sat and we were then driven to the reserve. As we were about to embark on our search our guide came up to us and said sorry but everyone else on here is Indian so I will be doing the tour in Hindi, ask me if you need to know anything but I promise you I will find you a tiger and you will have to give me a big tip as the others won't. Oh, brilliant! After about half an hour of the others messing around buying 'merch' our nerves were already being tested but we set off and started to get into safari mode.
That was until our first stop when the guide said something and everyone got up out of their seats to look and we had no idea what was going on and couldn't see a thing. There was one man who was getting all in about the place and sitting next to the guide like he was in charge, it was quite annoying and I thought that's it, enjoyment over! They did get a little less excitable though after a long time of only seeing peacocks, deer and wild boar until we saw a crocodile which was so far away it looked like a log and then just stopped in the middle of the trees and everyone hurried off leaving only Daniel and I and 2 other ladies. We were slightly confused until we looked around and all the men were weeing into the wildlife. Ah, toilet stop!
Off again and we picked up an old wise safari man (we knew he was wise because he had a beard and a stick) who was on the trail of a tiger and he pointed out fresh tracks for us to follow. We raced through the forest until we came to a clearing with a lake and there he was on the other side of the water, sitting there looking all majestic, a tiger! We had done it against the odds (apparently it usually takes 3 or 4 visits usually to see one) and it was very exciting especially when a wild boar turned up and the tiger went for it although he was unsuccessful and they both went their own ways. By this time we had overstayed our welcome and we literally shot back out of the forest stopping only to ask if any one else had seen a tiger that morning, they hadn't it was only us. And so we drive back to the hotel, the guide with a greedy, smug smile on his face and us with our pockets a little lighter but still feeling warm with excitement!
Calmer Suits Ya: The Joy of Six - #5
Taj Mahal
Architecture rarely rouses me but the splendid delicacy and satisfying symmetry of the Taj Mahal at dawn left Georgie and I agog. Pretending to hold its central minaret and posing on 'Diana's seat' were mere tourist formalities as we wandered slowly in wonder around the greatest grave ever completed. We walked shoeless through the tomb, followed the rare stone carvings with our fingers and rubbed the cold marble. It's a magnanimous and magnificent monument and my favourite place in India thus far.
Architecture rarely rouses me but the splendid delicacy and satisfying symmetry of the Taj Mahal at dawn left Georgie and I agog. Pretending to hold its central minaret and posing on 'Diana's seat' were mere tourist formalities as we wandered slowly in wonder around the greatest grave ever completed. We walked shoeless through the tomb, followed the rare stone carvings with our fingers and rubbed the cold marble. It's a magnanimous and magnificent monument and my favourite place in India thus far.
Calmer Suits Ya: The Joy of Six - #4
Jaipur
Jaipur was a big scary city a bit like Delhi but not nearly as bad and as we had the wonderful Raj with us we felt much more confident. Most of the buildings were also pink which helped to make it look more welcoming. We did the usual looking at temples and forts here but we also got to ride on an elephant which I was well excited about until we turned up to this barn and they were all in there chained up by their enormous feet. It was a sad sight apart from the fact that they had all been painted with bright colours which made them look like they were from the circus. We decided to go ahead with it anyway as we were there and were led on to a high wall where the elephant was driven (by a man who sat on his head and got up there by grabbing his ears and climbing up his trunk) to us and we sat on a seat on his back.
As we left the barn there was a guy taking loads of pictures of us which was slightly awkward and we then walked through the town for about 20 minutes with children waving at us and we felt very grand. When we returned we tipped the driver and the photographer came up to us straight away with our 5 best shots already printed out and all we had to pay was 600 rupees for them all. Luckily Raj had already given us a heads up and told us not to pay more than 100 so that's the price we gave, he was not happy and said we could only have 1 for that. Fine we said, we didn't ask for them anyway before grabbing the photo we liked and getting out of there quickly as the photographer and elephant driver (he wasn't happy with his tip) were getting prett irate. It was his own fault for printing off the photos without asking first!
Apart from the elephant my favourite thing about Jaipur was McDonald's. Only joking of course but it was nice to eat something that reminded us of home, the fillet o fish tastes exactly the same! It was actually when Raj took us to the Raj Mandir which is a famous cinema to watch a Bollywood Movie. It was a massive cinema which only had one screen but could seat something like 1000 people and the chairs even reclined! The foyer was all pink and art deco and you could buy all the usual popcorn (only salt though, yuck) and snacks.
The actual film was pretty much all in Hindi and was also nearly 3 hours long but there was an interval and we managed to follow the story with a few exceptions (he was a poor boy and now suddenly he is rich, huh!?). Everyone (including Raj) was whooping and clapping and laughing their heads off throughout which was quite funny but also made us enjoy it even more as everyone was having such a good time!
Jaipur was a big scary city a bit like Delhi but not nearly as bad and as we had the wonderful Raj with us we felt much more confident. Most of the buildings were also pink which helped to make it look more welcoming. We did the usual looking at temples and forts here but we also got to ride on an elephant which I was well excited about until we turned up to this barn and they were all in there chained up by their enormous feet. It was a sad sight apart from the fact that they had all been painted with bright colours which made them look like they were from the circus. We decided to go ahead with it anyway as we were there and were led on to a high wall where the elephant was driven (by a man who sat on his head and got up there by grabbing his ears and climbing up his trunk) to us and we sat on a seat on his back.
As we left the barn there was a guy taking loads of pictures of us which was slightly awkward and we then walked through the town for about 20 minutes with children waving at us and we felt very grand. When we returned we tipped the driver and the photographer came up to us straight away with our 5 best shots already printed out and all we had to pay was 600 rupees for them all. Luckily Raj had already given us a heads up and told us not to pay more than 100 so that's the price we gave, he was not happy and said we could only have 1 for that. Fine we said, we didn't ask for them anyway before grabbing the photo we liked and getting out of there quickly as the photographer and elephant driver (he wasn't happy with his tip) were getting prett irate. It was his own fault for printing off the photos without asking first!
Apart from the elephant my favourite thing about Jaipur was McDonald's. Only joking of course but it was nice to eat something that reminded us of home, the fillet o fish tastes exactly the same! It was actually when Raj took us to the Raj Mandir which is a famous cinema to watch a Bollywood Movie. It was a massive cinema which only had one screen but could seat something like 1000 people and the chairs even reclined! The foyer was all pink and art deco and you could buy all the usual popcorn (only salt though, yuck) and snacks.
The actual film was pretty much all in Hindi and was also nearly 3 hours long but there was an interval and we managed to follow the story with a few exceptions (he was a poor boy and now suddenly he is rich, huh!?). Everyone (including Raj) was whooping and clapping and laughing their heads off throughout which was quite funny but also made us enjoy it even more as everyone was having such a good time!
Calmer Suits Ya: The Joy of Six - #3
The Great Ganges
Varanasi has few spots of pure tranquility, but witnessing the sun lazily un-haze it's eyes from a silent rowing boat along the great Ganges was blissful. We drew past hundreds of people cleansing their bodies and souls in the holy river, as others slapped washed clothes against the steps and spread them out to parch dry. Elsewhere relatives led orange-clothed goodbyes for other relatives by cremating them at the many ghats along the river banks.
Varanasi has few spots of pure tranquility, but witnessing the sun lazily un-haze it's eyes from a silent rowing boat along the great Ganges was blissful. We drew past hundreds of people cleansing their bodies and souls in the holy river, as others slapped washed clothes against the steps and spread them out to parch dry. Elsewhere relatives led orange-clothed goodbyes for other relatives by cremating them at the many ghats along the river banks.
Calmer Suits Ya: The Joy of Six - #2
Pushkar
Pushkar is one of the holiest cities in India with no alcohol or tobacco or naughty things like that allowed within its boundaries. It is full of temples including one of the world's few Brahma temples but a lot of them are for locals only with foreigners strictly confined to walking round the outside.
Our guide took us round and showed us through the extensive markets (which were extremely tempting but I managed to resist!) ending with a trip to the holy lake. It was here that we met the very affable priest who proceeded to take us down to the lake with a tray of holy items (rice, paint, string, flowers and a coconut) and bless us. The blessing consisted of him chanting in Indian and us having to copy what he was saying which was extremely difficult with absolute no grasp of the language and pretty comical. He then sprinkled us with water, put some of the paint on our head then stuck some rice on it, wrapped the string round our wrists and made us hold the coconut whilst making a wish. Finally we had to throw a flower in the water to make our wish come true and tada! We were blessed... well not quite. There was of course the matter of payment for the priests services and the gods blessing. How much would we like to give? Remember that there are 3 main gods! Ermm 100 rupees? That is not enough, it will not please the gods! Why not give 500 for each god? We ended up getting away with paying 500 each which we thought was a massive rip off but compared to our friend Martin we got away lightly.
He visited on his own and when he tried to refuse payment the priest started screaming and in a second he was surrounded. He had promised the gods 1500 rupees apparently but only had 500, they followed him all the way back to what he pretended to be his hotel where he laid low for a few hours before creeping back to his actual room. Scary mad priests and it's still to be seen if our wishes will come true...
Pushkar is one of the holiest cities in India with no alcohol or tobacco or naughty things like that allowed within its boundaries. It is full of temples including one of the world's few Brahma temples but a lot of them are for locals only with foreigners strictly confined to walking round the outside.
Our guide took us round and showed us through the extensive markets (which were extremely tempting but I managed to resist!) ending with a trip to the holy lake. It was here that we met the very affable priest who proceeded to take us down to the lake with a tray of holy items (rice, paint, string, flowers and a coconut) and bless us. The blessing consisted of him chanting in Indian and us having to copy what he was saying which was extremely difficult with absolute no grasp of the language and pretty comical. He then sprinkled us with water, put some of the paint on our head then stuck some rice on it, wrapped the string round our wrists and made us hold the coconut whilst making a wish. Finally we had to throw a flower in the water to make our wish come true and tada! We were blessed... well not quite. There was of course the matter of payment for the priests services and the gods blessing. How much would we like to give? Remember that there are 3 main gods! Ermm 100 rupees? That is not enough, it will not please the gods! Why not give 500 for each god? We ended up getting away with paying 500 each which we thought was a massive rip off but compared to our friend Martin we got away lightly.
He visited on his own and when he tried to refuse payment the priest started screaming and in a second he was surrounded. He had promised the gods 1500 rupees apparently but only had 500, they followed him all the way back to what he pretended to be his hotel where he laid low for a few hours before creeping back to his actual room. Scary mad priests and it's still to be seen if our wishes will come true...
Calmer Suits Ya: The Joy of Six #1
With a lucid lack of anything resembling an internet connection, it's been a neck-reddening, eye-sharpening few weeks for us to reassemble as a blog. So here, we each pick some memorable moments and do away with entries about the lake of Udaipur, the monkey temple, spice markets and karma sutra carvings.
The Train
Trains may undoubtably be the greatest way to travel around India, but the gangling and endless carriages certainly aren't the simplest to figure out. As everyone needs a reserved seat, we've sweatily strutted the lengths of different platforms and stressed about missing the train altogether. In Varanasi, we boarded at night by walking off the end of platform five, along another train track, and then hulking our bags far above our heads to get them on.
The Train
Trains may undoubtably be the greatest way to travel around India, but the gangling and endless carriages certainly aren't the simplest to figure out. As everyone needs a reserved seat, we've sweatily strutted the lengths of different platforms and stressed about missing the train altogether. In Varanasi, we boarded at night by walking off the end of platform five, along another train track, and then hulking our bags far above our heads to get them on.
Font Change
Apologies for the lack of blogging; it’s been a real trial juggling cocktails in the sun, pawning second-hand books and trawling through hundreds of emails requesting a font change.
We’ve now changed the font to something a little more legible. The downside is though we’ll have to make our entries read a little clearer from now on and we can’t promise that when we’re knocking back the mojitos!
We’ve now changed the font to something a little more legible. The downside is though we’ll have to make our entries read a little clearer from now on and we can’t promise that when we’re knocking back the mojitos!
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