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...
Saturday 24 September 2011
Friday 16 September 2011
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
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
Sunday 11 September 2011
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.
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.
Sunday 4 September 2011
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.
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...
No photos...hardly dare leave the hostel let alone take the camera out! Delhi is insane. Best go get our bearings...
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