The end of China, told from the middle

China

Never have I been to a country with so many of its own people being such tourists. Chinese tourists do not just terrorize foreign populations but also their own. Lijiang is a shining example of this. The old town is a lot like Pingyao, apart from you can tell it is all faked, and new. It has a Disneyland feel to it, and every single building is a shop, a hotel, or a restaurant. God knows where anybody lives. We were there in December, and it was a bit cold, yet the streets were still busy with Chinese people with very expensive cameras snapping anything and everything.

 

That being said, the town is still really nice to walk around and take it all in. It may be fake old, but its still pretty. The cobbled streets wind around traditional buildings and small bridges arch over slow-running canals lined with willow trees. There are lots of impressive mountainscapes in the background as well, all adding to the effect.We tried some insects cooked on a skewer, which was...interesting. They didn't taste of much but they were crunchy and I wasn't a fan of getting wings/legs stuck inbetween my teeth.

The Tiger Leaping Gorge was next on the agenda, the highest valley in the world (maybe? I lose track. Everything seems to be the worlds something or other). We got a bus out to a dead end town and stayed the night in a hostel run by Tibetans. That's where it all went a bit Pete Tong. 

Alex was ill with food poisoning, so we agreed to wait a day to see if he would be better the next day. That was for the best as we realised we didn't have much money and the dead-end town only had ATMs which wouldn't take our cards. Ant and I had to take a 2 hour bus ride to Shangri-La just for a cash machine. The town has been renamed Shangri-La after James Hilton's "lost horizon" novel, another attempt to attract those Chinese tourists. It was a fun side trip though, and Shangri La looked nice (but not worth more than a fleeting visit). We got cash, had some yak meat noodles and got out of there. 

The next day Alex still wasn't better, and we had our first real argument as a group. 98 days in, so close to the 100 without a real dispute. Oh well. We were running out of time in China to do all the stuff we wanted to and the Tiger Leaping Gorge is a strenuous climb. Alex wanted us to wait another day, we argued that even if he felt better he would be feeling too weak etc to be up for it anyway, so we went without him. 

Turns out Alex wasn't well enough to do it the next day. I still felt guilty though. But...there must be a God, playing some sort of sick joke on me. Half way up the gorge there is a guest house where you spend the night. I spent that night throwing up and was completely drained with a fever the next day. That climb down was one of the hardest things I have ever done. When we got to the bottom I got into a bed with 6 layers of clothes, a hat, and gloves on and was still shivering uncontrollably. There is some justice in the world hey.

The first day up the gorge was spectacular though. What a great place to go visit, the views are astounding and the guest house (half way house) has the best views out of a bedroom I have ever seen and it was dirt cheap. 

We celebrated the 100 days of travelling apart, which is a shame. Ant was more interested in seeing the cities so headed to Macau and Hong Kong early whilst Alex and I wanted to see a bit more countryside. I can't really speak for Ant, so this is what me and Alex did...

We headed to Dali, which is a really cool town, although there are lots of weird ex-pats there and bars with weird atmospheres. This american guy who called himself "whisper" and dressed like a fool was one particular guy I was keen to avoid, despite him being hard to get rid of. This stop was only because of the bus schedules, so we didn't do any activities here, but I could have stayed a few days easily.

Guilin was a great place. I liked it there a lot. There we visited some rice terraces, which were nice but could have been missed out to be honest. I think we went at the wrong time of the year so they didn't look too impressive. If we had more time there were some good walks to do around the area with guest houses to stay in but we only had the one day.

The real highlight, which made fewer days in Hong Kong worth while was Yangshuo. The town itself is awesome, but mainly because of the scenary in the background. There are weird limestone peaks which I have no idea how they were formed but they look awesome.

We hired bikes and cycled around the river. Some of the best views I have ever seen, I loved that day. You are cycling down a dirt path, with impressive mountains all around you, a meandering river, and great villages. The only down side to the day was that Alex got a flat tire half way so he was really struggling to get back. We had to walk quite a bit back and cut the route short. Every cloud though...the short cut involved going over the river on a bamboo raft with our bikes. I even got to test out the underwater mode on my camera. 

Macau was okay, I didn't really like it that much. I don't gamble so I guess that doesn't help seeing as it gets more revenue than Vegas nowadays. It seemed like a city that was a bit run down but then had billions pumped into it to make these fancy casinos. However, the opulence of a few buildings does not hide the crap around it. We weren't there for long though so maybe I am being unfair and there was more to see.

Hong Kong is a great city. Its easy to see why so many people want to live there. We met up with Ant again but he was couchsurfing to save money so we didn't see him too much. He got on really well with his couch surfer and he was having a great time. We found a good hostel in a great location and not too expensive so it was all good. 

We saw a large Buddha (another) and went up Peak Hill on the tram to have a great view over the city. I had been trying to get a couch surfing place for me and Alex and one person who responded wanted to meet up although we couldn't stay at hers. Alex wasn't feeling up for it so I went alone and had a good time. We got some beers from 7-11 and sat by the harbour with an amazing view of the city at night then walked around Mong Kok night market. I may actually like couch surfing, its a good way to meet people who know the city inside out.

We met up with Ant again on the plane, it felt like a reunion.

We all loved China, it is an awesome place. Its very different to India so its hard to say which is better. Every place in India felt unique whilst Chinas big cities all felt a bit the same, as they are so developed. So maybe India wins, just. But then the countryside in China is amazing. I would like to go back and do a lot of hikes etc (geek, right?) Its a real shame we had to miss out Shanghai as well. The food is amazing (the street noodles are great and so cheap) and the people are really friendly. It can be frustrating when the language barrier hits you in the face. Being stood looking at someone with no idea how to communicate what you want, and seeing them wanting to know, but unable to ask. Its funny though at the same time I guess.

110 days down...bring on Thailand.

There's More to China....

Pingyao
From Beijing we travelled to Pingyao, which is an old walled town, supposedly one of the finest examples of a traditional Chinese town. It is impressive, and a lot of fun just to walk around soaking it all in. There were lots of tour buggies as a lot of Chinese tourists come here but I guess we were a bit out of season as it was fairly quiet. There is lots of things to visit around Pingyao such as the underground castle but we didn't get around to doing any of it. It was a bit expensive anyway. We spent our days wandering around the town (not even bothering to pay to go up on the city walls) watching (and sometimes laughing) at the locals going about their day. There were lots of old Chinese men in flat caps playing Chinese chess or Mahjong Tiles. The hostel was impressive, being a 500 year old building with courtyards and big rooms (and a great pool table). The dorms were in the eaves of the building and were very 'atmospheric'.

The thing I enjoyed most about Pingyao was buying a new laptop. I was getting jealous of Ant and Alex being able to watch films on theirs so I splashed out. No easy task in China when the staff don't speak English. Firstly they did not accept cards so 1 lad in the shop took me on his motorbike to an ATM. Then I had to take it back to get them to try and install Windows in English (again, hard to explain). It was solved by sitting infront of a PC on a free translation website speaking through that. I waited whilst they put English on it and sat for an hour on this free translation website with about 5 staff sat around speaking to me. It was pretty funny, especially as the free translation does not translate very well. I asked if 1 of them wanted to visit England and he 'yearns for it with his heart'...apparently.

Xian

The Teracotta Army...the eighth wonder of the world. I was left feeling a bit let down. I don't know what I expected, to.  be blown away I guess, but I wasn't. When you consider the history behind it, with each warrior being different, and how old they are, etc etc, then it is impressive. I think it would be better if you could walk closer to them (which I guess isn't possible) rather than just see them from above in their pits. It was still worth going to see, but has not left the impression that the Great Wall left on me. We met an English guy, a Dutch guy, and an English girl who we went there with, and we have been travelling with the 2 guys for a while now.

We went to the Imax to see Tin-Tin at an empty cinema. The Dutch guy, Kev also had found a snooker hall so I went and played snooker with him. The best thing about that was the electronic scoreboard with a remote so you just press the colour ball you potted and it adds up your score. Great!
Alex and I went cycling around the city walls. That was a lot of fun to do, even though it was knackering because of the rubbish bikes you get given and the bumpy ground.

Chengdu
At Chengdu there was the 3 of us and Kev and Tom (Dutch and English guy). Chengdu is famous for its Pandas.  We spent a lot of time in Chengdu drunk or hungover. One day consisted of getting a KFC bucket and watching Full Metal Jacket. Some days just drifted by watching Sopranos on my laptop. I didn't even go to see the Pandas (although Ant and Alex did) because I had seen them in Beijing and apparently its very similar.

The reason we were going out so much is because of CC club. Westerners get free entry and free whisky all night. We asked how much the whisky was...85pounds per bottle. Madness! The club was great. Every now and then a group of Chinese girls or guys get up on stage and mime and dance to Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber. Pretty funny.

We did walk around the town a lot, go out for food etc. However, we did so little that the staff at the hostel took a picture of us all on our laptops (adding speech bubbles like 'internet cafe????') and printed it out as a leaving present. It is stuck in my journal alongside my polaroid picture of the day.

I wanted to go climb Mt Emei Shan, a 3 day hike, but Alex and Ant didn't. Luckily Tom and Kev did so I left Ant and Alex at the hostel and went off. Firstly we stopped off at Leshan to see the Giant Buddha. He is the largest stone Buddha in the world and mighty impressive. We didn't have much time to catch our bus so it was a bit of a whirlwind visit. The town looked like a dive anyway.

Mt Emei Shan
I loved Mt Emei Shan, it might be my favourite thing I have done whilst travelling yet.

We left our big bags at the hostel in the village of Baoguo and set off with our day packs, ambitiously aiming to complete it in 2 days rather than 3. That was out of the window pretty early on. We got lost and ended up back at the base but at a different place. I didn't mind though because it ended up taking us through this awesome valley. The path wound around lakes and streams with clear blue waters, over rope-bridges and between temples tucked into the mountainsides. I Loved it. There were various stone carvings as well, from times the Emperors had visited. Add the fact that we dallyed about taking photos as well as getting lost, there was no way we were going to be able to do this in 2 days.

You get to a certain point walking through a valley over wooden bridges and walkways (feeling a lot like Robin Hood hah) when you get to the monkey section. There are loads of monkeys here, which can be a bit aggressive. There are staff with slingshots incase the monkeys get out of hand. We had our bamboo walking sticks the hostel had lent us so we just banged our sticks to get through. They weren't really bad to be honest, and its always fun to see monkeys so close up.

The next bit was a bit hellish. There were endless steps, forever winding up the mountainside. You would turn 1 corner to see steps as far as the eye could see dissapearing into the mist. That was demoralising. The views were ace though. Eventually, out of the mist appeared the monastery where we were spending the night. It was certainly an impressive setting - a Chinese style monastery set infront of misty mountains. It felt very surreal. Saying that, the rooms were awful. The whole place was very quiet and felt a bit like a horror film. The rooms were shitty and it was so so cold that high up that I piled about 5 blankets on me.

The next day was more climbing steps still. The scenery began to change, and I spent the 1st of December surrounded by snow covered forests with no-one else around for miles it seemed (apart from Kev and Tom). The monasteries we passed looked even more impressive covered in snow, and I think I took more photos than the rest of China put together. The monastery we stayed in that night was less basic than the first, and the beds had electric blankets which were a welcome addition.

The last day was an easy climb, resulting in the most impressive summit I have been to yet. Everywhere you look there is something to see. In front of you in the distance are snow-capped mountain ranges. To your left the other peak of the mountain with a temple perched perilously on the top. Below it the cliffs vanished into the blanket of clouds. Then you look behind you, at 'the golden summit' which has a huge golden statue of Buddha and a golden temple. I think I had a grin on my face the entire time I was up there.

Okay so its a lot of steps, whereas some people like to be on more of a trail. And the peak is busy as it can be reached by a bus then a cable car. But it's awesome to climb, the views are amazing and you still get that sense of acheievement. Its over twice as high as Snowdon.

When we got back to Chengdu we had another night out at CC (so much for the 3 day detox) and then moved on. Next stop...Liajiang in Yunnan.


Again...Phew. Hope you all enjoyed it. I cannot upload any photos as the internet is a bag of s**t here. I hope everything is good (and christmassy) at home.

Beijing

The flights were horrible from Delhi to Beijing. We had a 5 hour flight, an 18 hour stop over in Bangkok airport, then a 5 hour flight to Beijing. It was a bit shitty...literally as we all had upset stomachs leaving Delhi. Bangkok airport is great though, and we found some sofas to sleep on.

We arrived in Beijing and immediately got offered a taxi. We haggled him down from like 50 pounds to 12 pounds. We realised as he walked us to the car park that we should have just gone to the taxi rank instead of getting in this plain car. The ride was fine though, luckily.

Beijing was foggy. Well it looked foggy but its all the smog apparently. It made it very atmospheric driving into the city. It was also cold, which felt awesome. I never thought I would enjoy putting on a pair of trousers so much. The first thing I did at the hostel was to have a shower. Man, I have missed hot showers a lot. It felt so good, and I could literally feel the dust and dirt of India washing away.

We ended up staying 2 weeks instead of the 4 days we originally booked. You don't need 2 weeks to see Beijing (although there is a lot to do) but we had a lot of time just doing nothing in the hostel. We all loved the hostel. The staff were amazing, the bar area was very cool and they had a program which streams films, even ones that are still in the cinema, and in good quality as well. We spent a lot of time just sitting around in the bar watching films or sitting on the internet. The internet is a bit annoying, it's hard to get onto facebook because of the great firewall of China but when the government aren't blocking the site you want it works well. We met a guy called Shaun from Singapore who lives in the hostel and works as a photographer near by. He was a hero and we spent a lot of time with him.

When we actually did venture out there is loads to do, we didn't even do it all. We went to the zoo and saw some pandas (thats a first for me I think). Loved them. All the lions and tigers were in their small cages for the night and you could get so close to them, that was very impressive. Alex took a picture of a lion and sent it into the national geographic who posted it on their website. If voted for enough it gets published in the magazine (I think it may have finished by now but heres the link http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/your-shot/daily-dozen I think its November week 1 or 2).

We did see all the classic sites as well, like Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, The Lama Temple. I wasn't too impressed with Tiananmen Square, I expected it to be bigger for some reason. I can't believe it can fit 1 million people in it. It was there we experienced our first "tea scam" where Chinese ladies pretend to be students and chat to you eventually inviting you to get some tea with them from a teahouse. Once there they charge you a fortune and rip you off. It was pretty convincing, good job we knew about it before hand unlike our friends Briege and Gary who fell for it. The Forbidden City was interesting, but very busy. We probably would have benefitted from an audio guide but we are travelling so we don't get things like that! There is a hill nearby made from the earth dug out when the moat was made, which has great views over the Forbidden City and was probably better for us. We did the Lama Temple later on in the second week. It had a huuuuge statue of Buddha (although we have been promised bigger later on in China) and lots of incense burning. The Summer Palace is in a huge park which is more impressive than the palace, and is good to walk around.

We went to a few museums, well I went to the National Museum, Chairman Mao's Mausoleum and the Natural History Museum alone (Geek) and we all went to the Military Museum. The Natural History Museum is pretty lame, with just a few big dinosaurs to keep you entertained, and the National Museum of China is only great because the Soviet style building it's in is awesome. Chairman Mao's Mausoleum isn't really a museum, you get ushered through very quickly (and shoved along if you stop like I did) by the guards and it's just a quick glimpse of his body. The Military Museum is massive, and has a lot of exhibits (if you like guns). The highlights were probably the flame thrower, the flame thrower tank, the rocket launchers and the heavy machine guns.

Probably one of the best things we did in Beijing was going to the 798 Art District. If you go to Beijing make sure you go there. It is a lot of old abandoned factories which artists moved into for the cheap rent. As with most places it became cool, so became expensive and now has lots of fancy galleries. It's just a very cool place to wander around. There are crazy sculptures everywhere along the streets (google image search it) and lots of free galleries. The galleries have lots of great work (and I don't even like art). The shops were selling lots of weird tat, which if I was just on holiday I would have bought a lot of. Unfortunately living out of a bag for 18 months doesn't let me buy tat.

We went on a couple of nights out in Beijing with Shaun and these 2 guys we met from Chile. One of them lives in Shanghai selling custom vintage bycycles so we may be able to meet up and get a free guide round the city there. The nightlife is good. There is 1 Hutang (I think it just means alleyway) which had lots of bars on. The Vampire themed bar was a lot of fun. All the drinks are just named after a blood type and served in fake syringes. All the furniture is Vampire-Chique (my favourite type of chique).

The "greatest" thing we did whilst in Beijing though was go to The Great Wall. Infact, it's my highlight of travelling so far. We went to a section called Mutianyu (I think) which I would recommend to anybody doing it. We headed up in a cable car to one of the watch towers (nice and relaxing) with 3 hours to do the wall. We did the 4 watchtowers to our right first which were an older section of the wall and very very steep. That only took about 40 minutes so then we went left and did the 15 or so watch towers there. For a change it was a really clear day with a bright blue sky and the views were just spectacular, I loved it. The steps could be a little steep at times but I don't really mind that (though Alex was a bit miffed at one point). Instead of going down on the cable car you can go down on the steel taboggan which takes you down right back to the entrance. That thing is great. It puts the one in Llandudno to shame. It takes about 3 minutes and you can get some real speed up on it (if you ignore the Chinese people with megaphones shouting at you to slow down). I got stuck behind some American woman (women drivers) half way down so it was a bit stop start but still...lotta fun. Big thanks to Briege and Gary for recommending that to us.

On a more somber point I felt a bit homesick occasionally (I think doing nothing gives you time to think about what you are actually doing travelling around the world). I would have liked to sit down and have the Sunday roast that my family told me they were having whilst I was on Skype with them. I would have liked to have been in England for Bonfire night and I am missing the Christmas build up.

So we loved Beijing, it's a great city and we were all a bit sad to leave. It felt like we were going on holiday, we had got to know the staff and Shaun at Sunrise hostel pretty well. I think Ant especially could have stayed there for months and months. We headed to Pingyao next but I will leave that for another update.

Reflections on India

Part One

I can't remember where I was up to on the blog and I can't get onto it in China to check. I think we had just left Varkala, so lets go from there.

Pondicherry is a town that used to be a French colony so it is supposed to have a different feel to the rest of India. It isn't exactly a district of Paris but the promenade is really nice along the sea front. It still has the standard Indian feel, with cows roaming the streets and that unfinished feeling to all the buildings. The town is very religious, belonging to some weird sect set up by someone called “the mother”. That kind of gave the town a weird feeling, but definitely not French.

It was Ants 25th Birthday so we bought party hats and a cake for the room. Alex, Briege, Gary went out to get the cake and in true Indian style when Ant asked the reception desk where they had gone he just replied “to buy your cake”. Good one. We had a few beers in the room then went out for a steak meal (one of the only places you can get it in India) which was amazing.

The highlight of Pondicherry was getting invited to an Indian wedding. Gary didn't like it because we got invited because we were white but the rest of us didn't mind. A french lady dressed in Indian garb (who lives in India doing the casting for The Life of Pi film) invited us, so we said yes.

The wedding was great. The sitting around was a bit boring but then we got a free meal which was awesome. The brother of the groom came over and asked if we wanted any alcohol. Because no-one else at the wedding would be drinking he sent someone out to get wine and whisky and took us all into a store room behind the kitchen to have sneaky drinks. The best bit was the dancing though. They dance like madmen. I got some great videos. No girls were dancing because they aren't allowed to dance infront of other men.

From Pondicherry we went to Hampi, probably the highlight of India. Its a fantastic place, a boulder-strewn landscape littered with temples. The temples seem so ancient, but are only 500 years old. India just don't look after things. The place is like the set of the flintstones movie, or jurassic park, or any other fantastical place. I'd recommend it.

We spent our days here wandering around the temples and relaxing. There is no alcohol or meat allowed inside of the town of Hampi, so its not exactly a happening place. One of the highlights was a walk to a waterfall. It was a bit risky in places, jumping over boulders across fast flowing rivers, but well worth it. We had got a bit lost but stumbled across a “meditation centre” full of half naked middle aged Germans. They showed us the way and a good spot to swim. That was a great day.

We got the train back up to Delhi where we got drunk with a group of guys who looked Chinese but were Indian and were absolute hero's. They made the 35 hour journey more bearable.

New Delhi was exactly that, new. They seemed to have cleared it up a bit, probably for the F1, and Diwali. It also helped the monsoon season was over so the streets were not so muddy.

We met up with Charlotte and Mcin who are in India for 2 weeks on holiday. It was great to see some familiar faces and also receive the care package they had brought from my parents (including my new camera and my kindle). We went to Connaught Place which is really nice compared to what we saw of Delhi the first time, and then the Red Fort.

The next day we went out to the Lotus Temple. Charlotte and Mcin had more bad things happen to them in 1 day than we have had in 2 months in India.

Firstly the metro was packed, and Charlotte ended up getting onto a carriage on her own, never a good move for a western girl. When she got off she was shaking after having an Indian guy rubbing his crotch up and down her leg the whole journey. Lovely. You should have stuck with us Charlotte!

At the Lotus Temple queueing to get in some guy tried to pickpocket Mcin but he caught him. He then had to sit in the Temple in silence whilst watching the man leave out of the other exit. That made him angry. To make things worse later on some guy tried the classic shit on the shoe scam. Its as simple as it sounds. A guy throws shit on your shoe without you noticing, then tries to charge you to wipe it off. Mcin had the lovely job of wiping it off himself with wet wipes.

I was a bit sad to leave Charlotte and Mcin, I got used to having them around again very quickly, but we were on our way to Beijing, so it was goodbye again.


Part 2

I'm not going to get pretentious talking about my “experience” in India and how spiritually developed I am or anything like that. But, India is a great place which everyone should visit. If you really can't handle the noise, dirt, poverty then you could go on tours to all the major tourist attractions, and still see lots of beautiful things. Seeing it all through the windows of your air conditioned bus and hotel is one way to do it. I would probably do that if I had children with me.

I don't think that the highlight of India was the Taj Mahal, or any other historic site, but the people (and the food). If they aren't trying to sell you something then they are great people. They are super inquisitive and friendly and will happily just talk to anybody. People who sit next to each other on a train chat like old friends, and everyone gets on with everybody else. It can grate on you a little bit, especially when feeling particularly reserved and British and just wanting to be left alone. However, most of the time its just really nice. In the little towns everyone knows everybody and they all muck in and help each other out with jobs. They have some great little communities. People in China won't speak English as well so I think I will miss that.

Onto Beijing next...

Goa finally released us

Goa, the place that was going to be a quick stop off, the place that none of us had really researched or knew much about before going to India, ended up keeping hold of us for nearly 3 weeks. But....we finally escaped.

We stayed 8 days in Benaulim. The place was beautiful, the weather amazing, the people interesting. We just lay about, soaking it in, not really living the traveller lifestyle. It was genuinely an effort to get up and leave that place. Whilst there we met a Scottish guy and a Irish girl who are a couple, and with whom we have been travelling ever since (well, we met up again in Palolem and then travelled together after that). We get on with them really well (Gary and Briege). They are doing a very similar trip to us apart from they end in Vegas instead of LA. In Vegas they are flying their parents out and getting married by the King himself, Mr Elvis Presley. I thought that was pretty cool.

After dragging ourselves away from Benaulim we headed for something completely different, a complete change...another beach, even more idyllic than the last. Palolem is awesome. The beach is amazing, with a little island at one end you can get to in low tide. There are little rock pools, a little sea water river that runs inland with the tide. Its got everything you want in a beach place basically. We ended up staying here longer than anticipated as well.

We were just walking along the beach and decided to do a fishing trip the next day. 2 hours, and only 150 rupees (I think). As we were heading back along the beach these 2 German girls asked if we wanted to join them on their fishing trip the next day as the bigger the group the more fun it would be. Their trip was more expensive and shorter so they ended up joining ours.

There is one bar in Palolem, which is open 24 hours a day, and is where all the travellers hang out. A really good place to meet people. We were in their in the evening and met up with the 2 Scottish girls which we had first met in Agra. So we had a few drinks and they decided to come on the fishing trip the next day, a good little crowd we had got together.

The fishing trip was awesome. We caught about 10 fish, and the guys who took us out caught a baby shark. Plus it was just a good laugh. We got to keep the fish, and took them to a restaurant on the beach who cooked them all up for us in a variety of ways. Afterwards I think we all went to Silver Star Bar and got hammered.

The next day was Gandhis birthday, which means it was a dry day...until 11pm, when we started drinking again. We met Gary and Briege again, and a couple they had come to Palolem with, and we all decided to do the fishing trip again the next day. We ended up with a group of about 11 of us, including this funny Israeli guy who just cracked me up. It was less successful as we only caught like 3 fish. Oh well.

That night was funny though, we met a crazy Austrian called Mickey who had driven through the middle east in his VW Polo on his own. Some of my favourite quotes include "yes...it is hard to find diesel in the desert" after telling us how he had run out of diesel and just been stuck in the middle of the desert until a truck came and bailed him out by chance. He also claimed there is a place in Oman which he wants to visit that has zero gravity. If you drive up a hill, and switch your engine off, then the car will actually accelerate up to 60kmph even though its going up hill. Great guy with some crazy stories.

We left Palolem with Gary and Briege and headed to a place called Gokarna which had been recommended by a guy dubbed "Wise Colin" who we had met in Benaulim. He was about 50 and had lived in India for like 20 years.

Gokarna was nice. The problem was that the beach was only accessible by a 20 minute walk over hills, and thats where our accommodation was. Luckily, rickshaw drivers would brave half of the "path" so it wasn't quite as far. The highlights of Gokarna were probably sitting on the beach at night with a fire going, just drinking and chatting. People came and joined us at times, sometimes with a guitar. All very cliche, but still really nice.

One of the guys who joined us was an Indian who helped us actually leave Gokarna. We couldn't find a train or a bus out of there. But he got us a bus to the train station (which he paid for) and then got us onto a train, which he was also getting on. Legend.

We left to go to Kochi in Kerela. Its a nice town, very geared towards more high market tourism I would say. We got to have a go at some Chinese fishing nets which was cool. We saw a Kathakali dance, which brought mixed reviews from our group (I personally liked it), and did a cooking course which was hilarious. I don't think I will be remembering any of the recipes (Ant wrote them down so its all good). The food was awesome so it was still worth it.

We got a bus up to Munnar after Kochi, which was pretty hairy. The roads are tiny, and potholed, the drops on 1 side are mammoth, and yet the bus just canes along regardless. If a bus comes the other way, why slow down? Infact, maybe speeding up would be a better option? Gaps that in England two cars would slow down and edge past each other, in India 2 buses don't even bat an eyelid. The views were awesome though, loved it.

Munnar has some of the highest tea plantation in the world, and it was cold, England cold. We all loved getting our jumpers and trousers on. We decided that the bus ride was sightseeing enough so just left the next day, but I don't regret going at all. We also invented the Hilltop masters card championship, which involves 3 games of shithead, a game of blackjack, a game of estimation whist and a game of pontoon (we also are going to incorporate chinese poker into it). I think Ant won that one, with Briege coming last.

Munnar to Alleppey, still in Kerala. These are the famous backwaters. Where you hire a boat (and guide) and drift down the backwaters, being poled along. They are like tropical canals, with little villages on the sides of them, lined with palm trees. I personally loved it, some other people complained it was a bit boring. We stopped for breakfast and lunch at the guides house, where his wife made us an awesome meal. The lunch was on a palm leaf, with fresh fish, fresh mango, fresh rice etc. It was all sourced from right near their house. We tried toddy (a coconut beer) at a toddy bar, and its horrible, don't do it!

From Alleppey we got a bus to Varkala, which is where we are now (phew, the blog is almost over, sorry for the mammoth update). Varkala is amazing, we all love it here. We are staying on the edge of the cliff, which is what Varkala is famous for. There are big red cliffs overlooking a nice beach with some scarily big waves. We haven't been on the beach though. Along the cliff face is a footpath, which is lined with hotels, restaurants, bars, shops, supermarkets. Its just a lot of fun to walk along there. There is also a lot of travellers here so we have met a few people.

Today we are going to find a way to get to Pondicherry tomorrow, get a full body massage (only 250 rupees for an hour) and do some body boarding. This is the life. We are all having a great time at the moment.

Anyway, thats that for now, missing you all (a bit), I hope everything is going well at home. I need some sort of Congleton/Leeds blog/newsfeed.

Tom

We survived the mo-peds then...

Back to Tom again.

Mopeds were fun, and none of us 3 got hurt. 1 English guy we were with, Hugh, fell off and grazed his arm and knee but that was it. It was real fun pedding round real quiet roads, palm trees either side of you, heat in your face. And that's only the travelling part of it. The destinations are even better.

We headed to Vagator which has an old abandoned fort on a hill. We trekked up there (well, if a 15 minute scramble can be called a trek) and had some great views of the coast line.

Too be honest, I can't really remember much else of staying in Anjuna, even though we were there for 4 days. Thats what Goa does to you, its a lazy place. We just walked around, drank beers, soaked in the sun. Oh, we went to Candolim beach which is real nice as it has an old massive cargo ship shipwrecked about a mile from shore and it is all rusting slowly away.

After Anjuna we got a taxi down to Panjim which is the capital of Goa. It is a real nice place, as it used to be owned by the Portuguese colonists so it has a bit of a different feel to it. I was feeling pretty ill which put a dampner on things but its still a nice place. Found a pub simply called "Ace Pub" which was pretty good, and dirt cheap.

We got a bus out to Old Goa the next day which used to be the capital and apparently rivaled Lisbon in its day (like the 16th Century). Now it is essentially a collection of old churchs and no buildings around it. They are pretty impressive though.

We got a bus from Old Goa, back to Panjim, then onto Benaulim. We just used public transport as its so cheap, but I was feeling so ill I had a pretty shocking time.

Benaulim is a lot more chilled out, and its a place where a lot of travellers spend quite a while away from other tourists. The beach is amazing, the place we are staying is right on the beach, and is amazing. I will try to upload a picture of it at some point. We have been here 3 days now, and we are staying for another 4 at least. We haven't done too much here. Just swam, and relaxed, and eaten, and drank.

Every time we go to the beach we are told by the lifeguards not too swim out past our waist height really, as Indians can't swim and if they see Westerners they follow them out there. The current is very strong as well, but we kinda always thought it wasn't that bad. However, 3 Italians went swimming 100 metres down the beach from us and got into trouble. The lifeguards were quick and pulled 1 guy out, but the other 2 were missing, caught in an undercurrent. 1 was found dead a few minutes later and the other guy washed up the next day. It put a bit of a dampner on things but has made us take the current a lot more seriously, as those guys were probably as strong swimmers as we are (well, probably stronger). I think we listened to the lifeguards more than those guys though and never really went out deep at all.

Today I hired a ped again (sorry mum and dad) and went off to the spice plantations with Ze Germans (2 germans we have met and been hanging around with for about 5 days). It was pretty good and I saw my first Elephant. Alex and Ant had a lazy day by the beach.

Tonight we are going to a bar in the next town down (Colva) to watch Man U vs Stoke.

This is a bit of a holiday away from travelling really, so not too much of an exciting blog update. Yes, we are lazing around on a beach, with glorious sunshine, coconut trees (which scare the crap outta you when 1 falls nearby) and cold drinks. I hope you are all enjoying work and the English weather!

I think that we plan to do the same thing, but slowly travelling down India, for a while. I'll update next when something interesting has happened and we are not just lying on beaches.



Enough of a downer though...

Camel Safari

It's Ant here, looks like its my turn to write something!

Early start this morning for the camel safari, but had time to have some chai tea before we left. One of the hotel staff drove us out into the Desert in a Jeep, stopping along the way at Temples, cemetaries and gypsy villages, none of us were bothered about these though...the longer we spend looking at temples the less time we would have on camels.

I imagined being dropped off at a camp where our guide is waiting for us with our camels, ready to greet us. Instead we were dropped off in the desert with a box of food and a big container of water and then left there for maybe around 10 minutes until our guide came into view with our camels 'HOW ARE YOUU?' was our sign that this was our ride. Alex had a camel that looked like the 'camel cigarettes' camel, I had a cute camel called Papu. Toms was probably the most haggered ugly looking camel I have ever seen...its bottom jaw didnt quite fit in his mouth.

We trekked for around 1.5 hours before we stopped for some food. Our guide Ibrahem made us some vegetable curry with chapatis along with some chai tea and a banana which wasn't really that good at all. We then sat there for almost 4 hours whilst the camels grazed on the vegetation that grew from monsoon season. The second leg of the trek was more interesting than the first, we started scaling sand dunes and had some amazing views. We could see a little hut in the distance, this was our accommodation for the night (we thought) we actually were sleeping outside the hut on little beds...the hut was full of beetles and a range of other insects. After some exlploring around the dunes it started to go dark. Ibrahim asked if we wanted some cold beer and other drinks. We obviously said yes but we wondered where he was going to get some from. A quick phone call and an hour wait and an indian man was coming into view across the desert with a sack...with cold coke and beer! Only 150 rupees per beer and 30 rupees per coke, so cheap for the effort that went into bringing it!

The sleep sounds nice...under the stars and in the middle of no where. It actually started raining so Ibrahem got literally body bogged us up head to to in plastic sheeting and shouted 'YOUR WELCOME!' I wasn't that thankful, I could hardly breath, Once the rain stopped we made a campfire and chilled out until we were tired. It was still only about 8.30 so had a long night ahead of us. A friendly desert dog got close to the fire to keep warm, once we fell asleep we woke up to a 3 way dog fight at the foot of our beds. That was a bit scary but our desert dog was keeping the others away.

The next day was an early start and we were given control over our Camels so we made them run for a good amount of time which isn't the most comfertable experience at time, but was a great feel to race camels across the desert. I even managed to get some good communication between myself and Papu, with a little 'chuck chuck' command he was sitting on the floor so I could get off. The Jeep picked us up after maybe 3 hours trekking and we were were taken back to the hotel.

After a much needed shower we organised our next transport to Mumbai...the longest journey yet. It consisted of a 23 hour journey by sleeper coach and a train in a terrible class...little tip. First Class on Indian trains is not what I would consider First Class and I'm certain that Alex agrees (Tom was asleep) It felt like a mobile Jail and couldn't wait to get to Mumbai.

To my great dissapointment Mumbai is horrible. Densely populated, densely polluted and densely disgusting! Our hotel was the worst we had stayed in yet and within a minute of standing in our room our eyes were stinging and we all acquired a wheeze, its a sorry state of affairs when i'm putting my head out of the window for a big deep breath of fresh Mumbai air. The sooner we were out of Mumbai the better, so we booked a coach to Goa and some nice, cheap accommodation and just needed to get through one more day of Mumbai. We got a taxi to Film City where they film Bollywood but as with most things in India, it doesn't go as planned. Our taxi driver obviously didn't know how to get there, took us up a sketchy dirt path to what looked like a back entrance to Film City then continued to tell us that we had to pay a bribe to the security guards to get in. An Indian Minister was visiting that day so we were told it was not possible so the taxi driver took us to the national park instead. Even when we saw what was the right exit off the motorway and told him to take it 'Erm, no...we go natonal park' The park was good but he just wanted more money out of us I think. The park was great actually,lots of dense forest and even a mountain in the middle. If we knew we could have timed it better and done the 7k trail to the caves, but we had already booked our bus ticket.

The coach to Goa was fine, a/c is probably too cold so next time I will put some more layers on for it. The first day in Goa was great, it doesn't feel like India at all. Very relaxed and even cheaper. A bottle of Tuborg is 30 rupees and 700ml of 42% Rum was 125 rupees. I don't think I need to go into detail of what we did on our first night in Goa. We met some nice travellers. Two British guys who are staying in this hotel for as long as we are and a Polish Girl and Guy who have left this morning.

Its 11:30am and we have all just hired mopeds. It seems to be the only way to get around. I'm looking forward to it...will definitely be interesting. Tom wants to apologies to his parents for this.

Lets hope we get to write another blog.

Ant

Biiiiig update

So....the internet in India is pretty crap. Getting to a PC is not that easy, and when you finally do its so frustratingly slow that after booking our next hostel we are ready to give up. Ant has promised to do some blog entries, but for the moment you are stuck with me.

So we had a pretty alright time in Delhi. We ended up getting a tour from a rickshaw driver called "stranger", so we avoided a lot of the hustle and bustle and saw some nice sights. We even bought him a mcdonalds.

We still left Delhi pretty gladly, and headed out to Agra.

Our hostel there was amazing. It had the best view of the Taj Mahal from the rooftop that we could have hoped for. I will hopefully be able to upload a photo at some point. There isn't too much else to do but see the Taj Mahal (which is pretty special to be fair) and Agra fort. We were only there for a day before moving on.

We then went to Jaipur (the pink city) which we instantly loved more than Agra and a lot more than Delhi. I actually can't remember many stories from there, it seems ages ago and I am pretty tired. Maybe I need to look through my journal which is back at the hostel. We went on a bit of an amble around the old city (after finding our first KFC! YES! Served by mostly deaf people as well). We went with 2 scottish girls, Helen and Kim and it was a lot of fun just walking around soaking it all in. They played music from most lamp-posts and I am a big fan of a city with its own soundtrack. The Observatory was awesome, Danny and Dad you would have loved it, very mathamatical. It looked cool as well though, it had the staircase that "The Fall" used for filming.

After Jaipur we went Jodhpur, which we probably loved more than Jaipur. It is the blue city, and again we had a great view from the rooftop of our hostel of a maze of blue houses and the fort. Our hostel owner was a bit eccentric and would NOT shut up once he started talking. It is the hostel that Owen Wilson and Adrian Brody stayed in whilst filming the Darjeeling Limited. We stayed in the bed which Adrian Brody stayed in, and also had a play with the walking stick Owen Wilson has in the film (which he gave to the hostel owner).

The hostel got a little creepy when a Ukranian girl said she was posessed by a ghost/demon so the hostel organised an exorcism which we got to take part in. Quite an experience, but a bit creepy sleeping nearby a crazy lady. Luckily we were leaving the next day!

Today we arrived in Jaisalmer after a horrible bus ride which seemed to have been overbooked by about...1000 people.

Jaisalmer is a little desert city apparently (though it is 100,000 people). It is a lot more relaxed than most cities. Tomorrow we are going on a camel safari where you spend all day on a camel then sleep in the desert under the stars. Then it is onto Ahmedabad where hopefully we can stay with a family.

There it is, the whirlwind tour of our last week from what I remember. India is a lovely place once you get used to it. The people who aren't trying to sell you something are inquisitive but very friendly (one guy said he had the best night of his life playing chess and cards with us in Jodhpur). The cities are mental, a million mile an hour places, but we are getting used to that.

See you in a week, when we find an internet connection faster than my 7 year old phone.

From Jaipur we went to Jodhpur.

Don't Give Up

I think me, ant, and alex all had about 4 hours sleep on the Friday night before we left, thanks to drinks in town. Spent the entire of Saturday travelling and we didn't really manage to sleep on the plane. Arrived in India 10am Sunday morning very tired and disorientated.

We found our taxi pickup and got into a pretty run down looking van, all fine so far. However, the ride over to the hostel was pretty terrifying. The driving style over there is pretty much a free-for-all. Whoever beeps the loudest has right of way it seems. Everywhere you look there is something to see, although most of it is people pushing carts or beggers in pretty extreme poverty. We all just look at each other, pretty overwhelmed.

The taxi driver stops in what can only really be described as a slum. He seems to just pick the most piss-soaked, dodgy looking alley he can see and leads us down it. I think it was about this point I thought we might have got in the wrong taxi. But he takes us to our hostel, which we gladly pile in, and as quickly as we can find our room and lock the door. The room is fine, it has 1 giant bed for the 3 of us and is clean.

We venture out onto the streets, where you are accosted by people trying to "talk english" to you, aka take you somewhere to sell you something. And we quickly head back to the safety of our hostel. We are about ready to give up on Delhi, and think about finding a train outta here.

After a sleep we get up feeling a lot better about 6pm Saturday. It seems pretty apt when we ask for the wireless password to find a train that the guy behind the desk tells us it is "Don't give up". We have a quick search, and also look for more things to do in Delhi. Turns out there is probably quite a lot, we just need to explore a bit more, and learn to ignore the touts.

We had a pretty good Saturday night, met some people in the hostel, went for a few beers in a few bars, and kinda got used to our surroundings. We are going to try and find the red fort today, maybe see a few mosques. It isn't as bad as it first seems, and hopefully we can get into the swing of things today.

Anyway, its Sunday morning and I'm about to go try the free breakfast included with the room. Hope its good, considering the room only cost 2 pound 50 a night.

India is Bazaar!

Finally arrived safe and sound!

No photos...hardly dare leave the hostel let alone take the camera out! Delhi is insane. Best go get our bearings...