We landed into Mumbai (previously called Bombay until 1996, population 16.4 million) in the Maharashtra state. It was chaos. We got a taxi into the city centre but the driver didn't know where he was going and only knew the hotels that were really expensive - we clocked on to his game so we got out and got another taxi. We're soon realising that hotels can play games, they often don't have a price board so you're free to haggle and they're free to push the price up when they think they know how much you're willing to pay.
After a day in Mumbai with the relative chaos we decided to head south into Goa away from the big city. Our train journey was 13.5 hours, which we actually slept a lot of - partly getting used to the heat I think. Its only about 30-32 degrees here, but very humid as the monsoon season has only just finished. The train was a constant buzz with people wandering up and down selling tea, coffee, curry, samosas, bhajis, etc etc. We're really pleasantly surprised by how friendly and funny the locals are, most are wanting some money from you one way or another, even if they only push the button on the lift, but that's life here and you get used to it slowly.
Goa is only just opening up for the season, so the beach huts are not open but its nice without too many tourists. The beaches we've seen have been sandy or pebbles or rock, quite a variety with a back drop of dense coconut palms. Flying overhead there are so many sea eagles and black kites and further in land hundreds of crows. We've had some great days exploring; we hired mopeds for 2 pounds and went off for the day exploring various little villages and beaches. Many houses are built in and around the jungle with brightly coloured clothes hanging on lines outside. It takes some getting used to that everything is dirty and dusty. The buildings are brightly painted but covered in a fine film of reddish dust as are the temples, but all with their own beauty showing through. There are 2 things that really strike me about India; firstly, the colours of the people's clothes and the contrasts between the blue sky, the palm trees, the red dusty pot holed roads and the dirty looking buildings, and secondly the smells, for better for worse, the spices, curries, incense, fumes, bonfires, urine - there's always something in the air.
We also visited a spice plantation which was interesting to learn about the different spice and herb plants growing in the jungle. One guy demonstrated how he climbs the tree like a monkey to collect the nuts, just using a rope between his feet, of course I tried, and failed, its harder than it looks!! Jemma then decided to 'wash the elephant' which was more like the elephant washing her! I nearly cried, it was so funny, the nelly kept spraying her.
We've just been staying at each place 1 or 2 nights while working our way south through Goa. The places we have stayed in are really variable. We've paid as little as 350 Rupees (about 4 quid between the 3 of us) and up to 1200 Rs. Price generally is a good indication of the state of the room but not always, some are cleaner than others, but we're often struggling with the musty smells as the rooms haven't been used much for months. In Palolem we stayed for a few days while Jemma and I got over a nasty 'travellers bug', not helped by the fact that the 3 of us were sleeping on 2 beds pushed together with an open bathroom in the room - not good I can tell you! It was a charming little village, a few more tourists around as it has a lovely beach. We went on a boat trip up the river and saw huge numbers of kingfishers, cranes and sand pipers.
Then on to Bangalore in the Karnataka state, which was chaos. The city is so busy and dusty my contact lenses nearly fell out my eyes with disgust. We stayed in a nice hotel which we needed after the 17 hour overnight train journey. The trains are great actually, with a class system, you can sit in a 'general' section (which we did one time for a short journey and it only cost us 15 pence!! bit of a free-for-all though), then there are the sleeper sections for longer trips, and air conditioned first, second or third class. People are always so friendly and helpful, you ask someone a question and 10 people pipe in with answers, they're keen to tell you about amazing places to visit and festivals that we shouldn't miss.
Anyway, Bangalore was a nightmare, the rickshaw drivers didn't ever seem to know where places were, so when we asked to go to the palace for example, they would wobble their head from side to side which means anything from yes to no to I agree etc but they don't actually know and we ended up in some strange places. Getting back to the hotel was another nightmare because it wasn't a big hotel so no-one knew it or the road it was on, so we spent a long time just driving around the city!
Away from the chaos and down to Mysore (nice name), which is a buzzing little place with an amazing palace and grounds, which we are going to see tonight as its the only day that they light up the palace and the whole city!
So all in all, we're having a really great time. India is unlike any other country I've been to. Total chaos, lovely people, great food, and such interesting charm and complexity.
There are so many people living on the street. During the day they are not so noticeable, the occasional person asks for food or money but its at nihgt or even by 9pm that it really hits home. There are people sleeping under every ledge and on the pavement. The families that you pass during the day where the babies and kids play together, at night are sleeping on the hard pavement. The homeless are often cripples presumably unable to work. Kids respond with a huge smile if you give them some water, a pen or something to play with.
We stayed in Mysore for a few days soaking up the chaos that took over the town while they prepared for a festival. They covered the huge intricate palace and surrounding walls and temples with lights which looked more like Vegas than Southern India! We then went over to the East coast to Chennai where we were seriously struck by a hot fume filled atmosphere. We've realised that we're not very good at the larger cities, they are mad and we have a constant battle with the rickshaw drivers to get a good price, they see us coming with 'mug' written on our heads and think they can double their prices, but in fact we now know how much to pay and wont take their scam much to their annoyance.
We head south to Pondicherry and Mamallapuram which were both nice coastal towns with a French influence when the French were over here. These places are hippy central and all offer massages and alternative treatments. Jemma and I decided to try one of these 'Ayurvedic' massages, the Lonely Planet said to 'leave your modesty at home' and not really thinking about what this meant, we went for it...i'll spare you the details.
The countryside in India mostly looks unmanaged and full of jungle scrub and trees. Ocassionaly there are sections of flat land with rice paddies and women double over working the fields and pulling weeds. Water buffalo graze under the watchful eye of Egrets and shepherds sit under an umbrella keeping an eye on their herds of cattle or goats.
Back to Chennai and we caught our flight over to Sri Lanka! We stayed just outside of Colombo. It is so different here to India, the roads are mostly hole free, buildings are slightly more built up and sturdy and things look cleaner, less dusty and with more dense and diverse trees. The people are different, the women wear more western clothing; t-shirt and a skirt and the men are stockier with friendly faces. Even though the dress sense here is more relaxed than India, we are finding that we are attracting more unwanted comments, which seems a bit backwards. The tsunami in 2004 hit Sri Lanka hard, killing 30,000 people and leaving 1 million injured, orphaned or homeless. They set a 200m buffer around the coast as a precaution but after the 2005 elections the buffer was softened or abolished so the rebuilding is happening where the houses stood before. Fishermen were given new houses 8km inland, but without transport other than their boats, it was not practical. Its not very obvious to see what the damage was, but there are still houses that are blackened with water damage with jagged edges where walls used to be.
We spent a few days on the Western coast and then head over to Kandy, which was beautiful to be in the forested hills and windy roads, and monkeys everywhere. Kandy was a nice place with a picturesque lake in the middle surrounded by trees, cormorants, large monitor lizards and kingfishers. We watched some good Kandyan dancing, although dismayed at how many tourists we had found ourselves amongst! We visited an Elephant Orphanage which as great, about 40 old and young elephants in the river washing and playing. Off then to Anuradhapura, which was free from tourists as there were some bombings last week by the Tamil fighters at the army base killing 9 people. Due to Tamil attacks all the National Parks are closed sadly and there are constant road blockages searching buses and trucks. Loved Sri Lanka, really nice people and very green and cheaper than India too!!
Anyway, we're flying to Delhi tomorrow and looking forward to seeing the northern part of the country.
Namaste!
Had the scare of my life going through airport baggage x-rays; they pulled me to the side and kept checking through my bag and checking the monitor, i kept asking if it was the tea I'd bought that was showing up dodgy, until they showed me the x-ray screen and my face dropped...it was a gun shaped object...i couldn't believe it and immediately went into body shakes. I frantically searched through my bag, worried that something had been planted during a roadside bag search I had 2 days ago...then finally a guy asked if i had a hairdryer...of course the plastic cover doesn't show up, just the slender metal insides!!!! Couldn't believe it, started to breath again!
We flew into Delhi and got out of there the next day as it was seriously manic and huge. On to Agra where we visited the Taj Mahal, incredible structure and beautifully ornate, looking magical in the hazy atmosphere, built nearly 400 years ago and looks brand new.
The north is very different from the south, the land is flatter and drier with less trees, there are more different animals; more cows, buffalo, ox,monkeys, camels, chipmunks, peacocks, a larger breed of rabid dog, and even saw a painted elephant walking down the highway.
A bum numbing 7 hour bus trip with a brief stop to eat some samosa style street snacks and use a 'communal toilet' and on to Jaipur - the pink city. It was really chaotic- the greatest amount of hassle we've had yet. The huge bazaars lining the roads selling anything from roasted monkey nuts to large tin pans. We visited a hilltop temple which had amazing views of the noisy city and the painted cuboid buildings housing the 2 million people.
Next on to Pushkar, with our most nightmarish journey yet having to wait ages for the bus, then we were all sent off in a rickshaw to try and find the bus, then a 4 hour journey and dropped on the side of a road and had some seriously angry drivers who were annoyed that we knew how far things were and wouldn't be ripped off. We ended up doing a fast get away helped by a nice man...phew. The next bus into Pushkar took us through a hilly desert region with rocky slopes and shrubs and cacti. Pushkar is a holy area with a lake surrounded by painted temples where people bathe and pray,we were given a blessing and were slightly annoyed that religion is based on how much money you donate. The Hindu Diwali festival kicked off which was fun but we were quite scared by the constant bomb sound of fireworks going off in the streets, set off by tiny kids, dancing in the sparks. Some firework bombs came a bit too close for comfort!!
On to Jodhpur, yes where the horse riding trousers started, the city overlooked by an enormous fort on the hill. The buildings here are painted blue, traditionally to signify the home of Brahmin but non-Brahmins have got in on the action too. The fort was amazing and often we were more of an attraction to the Indian tourists than the temples!! Families wanting a picture, until we were cornered by loads of people and trying not to be rude while we escape!!
A spine bruising day long journey on to Udaipur, in the upper deck of the bus in booths that felt like being in the boot of a car or a reptile tank and equally as hot. Udaipur is where James Bond's 'Octopussy' was filmed and of course the movie was being played at every opportunity. There are palaces and hotels in the lake that Jem and I went around on a pedlo, although told off more times than necessary as we tried to get into the 'restricted' areas. You can't make a quick getaway when you're in a pedlo and the guard is in a speedboat!!
After Udaipur we went up the hills and into the hill station of Mount Abu. Beautiful surroundings of forested hills and monkeys playing but as it is Diwali holiday time still, the town was more like Butlins with ice cream stalls (bad ice cream) and swan shaped pedlos (unaltered since 1810). Quite a pleasant stay nonetheless and cold at night so a good nights sleep.
Making our way south, with a full day on the bus leaving the Rajasthan state and going to Ahmadabad overnight to break the journey. Then a full day on the train (with the most amount of sneezing, wheezing, farting and burping yet) and on to Jalgaon in the Maharashtra state. From here we visited the Ajanta caves dating back to 650AD; about 30 Buddhist caves cut into the horseshoe shaped gorge and then the Ellora caves the next day; Buddhist, Hindu and Jain caves, which were amazing open caves with pillars and stone figures of gods and animals. Really great to visit and totally different to anything else we've seen.
One night in Pune (usual big city with overpriced and appalling hotel rooms) to break up the journey again before heading to the coast to chill out. The beach was just what we needed and with other tourists (dread-lock wearing hippies) around, we were hassled less and able to truely relax finally. The weather has improved dramatically since we were last down this way and after 2 months of travelling in India, our ability to avoid being ripped off by little 13 year old beach sellers has improved too.
Back to Mumbai and tomorrow we're going to be extras in a Bollywood movie, which could be really fun but something tells me that we could be holding up a pillar in the background!!....more on this later....
Well that's it...back on Thursday. I'll miss the constant calls of 'Chai' on the trains - the hot tea flavoured shot that has a week's quota of sugar in it, the cows on the street, the randomness of everything / nothings predictable, the food, the smiles and jokes of people.
I can't wait to have a duvet, a pillow that's not as hard as a cement bag, non curry food (for a few days anyway), feet that are not black, and a non sweaty top lip.
Fiona, over and out
