just a brief summary
after a very long flight but a very comfortable one due to the fact that a plane that holds 360 passengers only had 95 people on board so was spoilt buy having the hole four centre seats to my self hehe,the crew were amazing on qautar airline constantly topping up drinks for free,for a change the food was edible as well.even on the transfer it was only half full from doha??
well to delhi itself,its hot,load,smelly,totaly manic but totaly brilliant,you have to look past the western comparisons and just accept it for what it is.the people are generally very friendly.yes of course there are some that will try to take advantage of your lack of language skills but you soon get savi or you better start learning smartish or your money is gonna dry up quick if your trying like me to do it on a shoe string,get to know about traveling on the local buses there generaly very efficient and roll up every 5-10 mins i travelled to "QUATAB MINOR" for a measily 10 rupees aprox 13kms from delhi for a little over a pound that will cost you a bundle from hiring a car or tuck tuck if you can get one to take you that far!! im not going to tell you how to travel but the bibles of books has to be "rough guides" to were ever your traveling are a must!! I was kindly given mine by great friends (hi jo & mario)and i would be lost without it.you have to do the "RED FORT,INDIA GATE,CONOUGHT CENTRE,QUATAB MINOR,DEER PARK,LODI PARK,CENTRAL RIDGE FORREST,LAXMI NARAYAN TEMPLE,HUMAYANS TEMPLE,LOTUS TEMPLE" there great!!I personally was'nt blown away by the presidents palace or goverment buildings because you cant get near them or in them.ive done an awful lot of going off the beaten track and found some really good temples,flower markets,back street shops etc that arent on any list for tourists,i got lost moretimes than i can remember and found myself in some bloody awful places but im ever the explore and ive got the blisters to prove it!!. will top up my travels soon and hope you tune in too if you like what im writing.ttfn
26/5/08
change of plan at the last minute.met up with some great guys from scotland and hit it off straight away.have headed up to RISHIKESH just on the ganges river nr the himalayas.have booked a white water raft trip and then plan to chill for a day then take a 7 day trek up into the himalayas themselfs.am totaly exited and buzzing/we had to contened with an 8hr trip by car witch is a experience in itself as we were unable to get any other means of transport as the locals are on a sort of public shool holiday and everyone has flocked here.were staying at the SWISS COTTAGE at a mental price of 1.25 pounds per night and the facility is so relaxed full of backpackers and hippy types.its really starting to go well after the slow start.am taking lots of pics and will start to try adding some real soon.
28/5
well up near the himalayas in rishikesh sitting on the ganges is one of the holyiest places and lots of people flock to this small little mountain village to give prayers to there gods and the rst is a mecca for hippy types who come to study/learn yoga and lots of other spiritual teachings.its tottaly chill out here if thats what you want or for the adventuas you have lots of trekking options and white water rafting witch is totaly awesome and for a measily 4gbp aprox depending on length or trip is a must!we had a great time and stopped at a 15m high rock outcrop witch you climb and launch yourself in to the ganges is mental.as ever because you meet every conceivable nationality you feed of everybodys trip and sometimes this then causes you to adjust what you thought were your plans all for the best of course because your constantly spoily for were to go as there is so much!!! to do and see/weve just decided to skip the trekking here and head up to "manali" which is further north and has come higly recommended(as everywhere is).one thing ive got used to is how so cheap every thing is from as little as 1.50 p/n for accomadation.1gbp for meals it excellant value and i now have no fears as to how long i thought i could travel for.oh and for my mates yes i have had the obligatory delhi belly and all her colours.so you can all have a giggle at my expense :0)...wish you were here to even get a fraction of how happy i am and how much fun im having!its just impossible to put it all into words from the outstanding scenery to the cultures to the food and got the utter terifying roads and there standard of driving. which is anything goes at any time and to hell with safety but thats all part of the experience.were having a chill day today maybe some yoga or massage and plan to head off tommorrow. the guys are gonna help me put some pics on soon (promise)...cul8tr x
31/5/2008
we made it! after an awful 16hr bus ride that thankfully?was through the night so we could'nt see the terrifying drops on the side of the road that at times was only 6" away.well were currently at "MANALI" vey close to the himalayas,well actually its right outside our window and its breathtaking!!were planning to stay here for at least 4 days as there is trekking,rafting,rock climbing to do as well as the chance to chill a bit and get used to the altitude,one down side to the trip i found out that my passport is mising so today i'll have to contact the embassy to arrange a replacement @#*! not a happy bunny!!but am trying to keep a possative frame of mind.as per ur comments so far theres been no problems in accsess to internet it everywere so thats good,most places you go to are so tourist orientated that its a given that internet is available.the key bourds are a challenge as there either so faded you can barely read them or the key layout is different or there covered in local alphabet and its luck you get the right key,so it takes longer to type everything(well im bloody slow anyway).
8/6/08
well we spent a good week in vashist nr manali and it wasreally good to chill,shop for bargains in new manali and old manali.you generally half every thing they first say and work it out from there till u sure youve got a bargain or should i say a steal,eour of us including "ruth" an gorgeous but unavailable israli girl all went paragliding and it was totaly awsome.not so much for ray who came down as we all did on a main road for a landing,but unlike the rest of us they stopped the traffic for us but forgot for ray and he came down on a car,luckily no-one was hurt.and we alll had a laugh aout it over a few beers.the trip to the paragliding was a trip in itself nearly our last as the roads were precarious to say the least,mix that with a wannabe colin mcray and you get the picture.we parted company temporarily with charlie who went further north to "ley" and the other guys and me have come to "ramnagar"corbett tiger reserve,we arrived yesterday at 7am and after finding accomadation we headed to the tourist centre to book our passes to the park or so we thought.if you ever want to see utter chaos this is the place!!apparently you have to start queing at 5am even though the doors dont open until 7am and the guy behind the counter doesa'nt start work till 8am,then theres a stampeed to get to the window and the que goes out the window and its every man and women to themselves.and by the time you get to the window all quotas for entry to the park are eeither full or the accomadation is full and you cant enter the park without accomadation.thats what happened to us the first day after witing a terribly british 3hrs we were told no accomadation come back tomorrow at 5am(*@*#!*#) so we duely did and did it all over again only to face the same conclusion at 10am,well the british pactience run out by this time and we all(whites) decided to rebell and charged the superintendent and demanded satisfaction.who i think out numberded thought he would see what he could do!smart man that he was he arranged for a pass and digs for the next day there and then and we back in our stiff upper lip english said thank you very much and no hard feelings old boy.pat on the head.(only kidding)
the hotel were staying in is in the lonely planet"hotel anand" and its what you expect for your money basic and dirty with bloody great cockroaches you have to check your bags are closed as they"ll find a way in and yuk dont fancy opening it up somewhere and it jumps out at you,they make me an otherwise non sqeemy in to a big girls blouse.and just start trying to bash them with the first thing that comes to hand. i have new found respect for those other wise idiots who go to the jungle for our amusement and the obvious pay check.will let you know how the safari reserve pans out and then back to delhi to get my relacement stolen passport and continue onto the next saga,still having a ball and look forward to the next adventure ttfn.
well the safari itself,we managed to get into the reserve for one night and get in the dorms which was a 12 berth and we had some cool banter with the other guests late into the night,it was so hot even with the ceiling fans that we didnt sleep in sleeping bags and sweeted it out,we saw elephants,boars,monkeys,lots of different birds(bird of paradise,red kite,bird eagles,vultures,two types of kinfishers in action)sadly no tigers!very camera shy!!but we did have an excellent driver who took us of the beaten track and got us chased by elephants.it was so funny afterwards!that the driver did it again just for a lauph(all done very safely)down side was after we left and got back to civilisation we all started to cvome out in red ithcy spots.poor old ray had the most and had at least 100,we were all starting to get concerned that the dorms were bed bug infested wich led to all kinds of paranoid other possabilities.thankfully when back in delhi I got a professional oppinion and were told it was ur common old mozzy bits and we j
20/06
well wher was I,yes got back to delhi.sorted my passport problems and got temp travel documents.didnt want to stay in delhi while i wait for new passport so decided to head off to RAJHASTAN and to the extreme east to jaisalmer which should have taken 19hrs on the train bit ended up being 22hrs so lots of sleeping,playing cards etc.its 42deg and thankfully the hotel has a pool,pretty quiet as its off season which is good for me as it makes it even more relaxing,were doing a camel safari into the desert for the day with open camp fire cooking and swimming in an oasis,how cool.
well my butt doesnt think so as camels are not comfortable after 3hrs but its totaly worth it!,youve got to be savy when booking your safari as we were told there are so many scams and you have to get all the neccesarys included(water all you can drink,food,head covering) not forgheting how far your money takes you and how much time you shopuld get on a camel as apose to a jeep ride for 8hrs and 1 hr on a camel or the whole trip on a camel but a jeep back to town at the end of the day.but were used to india now and theyed have to get up early to catch us out now.we then made a short pit stop on the way back to JODHPUR then JAIPHUR unfortunatly we didnt stay long enough for a real exploration so no comments im afraid,might venture back on my own when the boys depart?!gonna sign off now as im dying for a pee.ttfn.
ust had delayed reactions to the bites due to our mozzy protection!phew.
24/6
well yipppeeeeeeeeeee i got my new passport today and im gagging to get back on the road proper so will keep you posted re developments and where im off to next!,sad day also today as the three ammigoes departed for sri lanca and left me all on my lonsome boo hoo,nahhh im over it and looking forward to meeting more of the same amazing bunch.gotta say guys if you read this thanks for the first few weeks start in india you helped make it awesome!and i hope we catch up in oz!! im starving now as have been on the net for at least 2hrs and my bums gone knumb!oh and ive set up flickr so pics comming soon(again)bye way as a taster ive just added some to journal...bye for now x
30/6
not much to say at the moment,im heading back north and am currently back in rishikesh because i had to turn back early because of the passport problem last time and didny get to the far far north so take 2 and its going as good as before so far,traveling solo this time but still meeting fantastis people and lovin it.will write more when theres something to tell.
28/7/08
well got to try and remember the details as its been so long since writing,the intenet and comunications the further north you go in my eperience was either non existaant or so bad it wasnt worth using as it either crashed or didnt work to begin with.
after getting the new passport i headed back to rishikesh and met some great people and headed of to manali which is as far as i got last time and we stayed at thes ame guest house as before the darma guest house which has fantastic views of the himalayas and is good for relaxing trecking or adventure sports weather permitting!and the food and staff are really friendly.we did a couple of walks to waterfalls as id already been i ended up being an unoficail tour guide for the group as id already done some things before and that hat stuck for the duration of our time together as a group,after manali we bused it up to leh wich is further north and even more beautiful,nothing can prepare you for the jaw dropping paneramic views and the colours of the himalayas change with the light and sun constantly and i only hope that some of my pics show just a hint of its beauty?.we embarked on a unguided trek of the mountains as there was a few of us and as you can guess there was a few bad deisions in our orientering skills and it took us a little longer to reach our destinations but we made it a slow and steady wins the race attitude and muddled through for five days.we stopped at some beautiful places that were called home stays wich involved staying with local families and sleeping in some great rooms,the houses were immaculate and the kitchen of the house was the hub of activity with the mother or daughter making butter or cheese by hand in wooden drums(yum yum).food was basic but delicious.and a good time was had by all.after the trek we returned to leh and chilled for a couple of days before moving on to srinegar wich is further north into kashmir,said to be a hot spot for danger but you here so many conflicting storys most of the time from tourists that i think we took an educated guess and decided to go anyway.we stayed at a beautiful boat house at nageen lake which would normaly cost arpox 3000rps per day but we got for 150rps and it was a floating english calonial palace.the sun was at full temperature and we all bummed around just relaxing and the good thing was we didnt ned to venture far as the floating shops came to us with food,clothes,cashmere,flowers,cakes,chocolate and anyhting else we wanted.we did eventually go and see the town and and one early morning boat trip to the floating markets for flowers and veg which was a good experience too.after a week there we sadly once again parted company as a group and im currently in mumbai were its the polar opposite or sunny as the monsoon is in full swing and it rains for hours but remains very humid n steamy. ill try and keep up to date from here on and am going to add some more pics(fingers crossed it works)otherwise you could check "flickr.com"for more!,talk to you later x
2\8\08
well im currently still in mumbai(colaba)and as a few of you know ive landed a temporary possition as driver for a BBC film crew who are doing a documentary which involves me driving an x-german army vehicle across india from mumbai to kalcutta,unfortunatly its stuvk in red tape at the port and it seems that we wont be leaving for 3-4 days so im temporarily going of to ELLORA CAVES just north of mumbai and cant wait as im utterly bored of mumbai and ive seen enough,friends who shall remain nameless will be pleased to hear that the full force off mumbai belly got me for 3 sraight days and ive been in bed for the whole time excusing the dashes to the bathroom so i hope that makes them chuckle(not too much i hope guys)for a while.for a few days i was feeling utterly misserable and sorry for myself and i dont mind saying a lot of lonelyness crept in and i just wanted my mum.Anyways im sure your all relieved to hear that im feeling a bit better and will try and eat something and go and by my ticket to ellora so until then ta ta!
well its catch up time again and i visited ellora and agante caves in arangabad and its was awsome the carvings in ellora and the the main No16 temple was just jaw dropping it literally took my breath away when i saw it from the cliff top looking down,initially it was to much to take in the depth of detail and the time and effort to produce this in the era when they only had primative tools was amazing,you have to take your hat off to the indians they sure knew how to build back then!I wa briefly joined by a young boy who lives by his wits and did some amazing magic tricks to make a few rupees.on to ajante caves after a days rest and once the 3hr bus ride to the caves and the touts were told to go jump i proceeded to the caves and once again was'nt dissapointed,these set of caves were more about the of sort fresco paintings first and the carvings second.whilst the paintings woulds have been incredible when they were first done unfortunatly as are so many things in india they have been allowed to decay for to long before help arrived and they were in places to hard to see.ad the fact that the lighting in the caves was totally inadiequate.(possibly for sientific reasons????)you could barely see anything so the experience was not as enjoyable.that said it was worth the trip out.
and so onto current things,whilst back in mumbai i was approuched by an english guy to hire western travelers to help drive across india all expenses paid plus some money to take two vehicles from mumbai to calcutta(kolcuta)as part of a film crew doing an tv documentary and me as usuall am always up for an adventure said ok.part of the team of four driving are two other english guys and a canadian girl,wew were a few days late leaving due to customs problems which basically the corrupt system in india meant coughing up more money to grease the wheels so to speak.that done we set off and i can safely say im now completly affiliated indian driver because theres nothing in any rule book that comes close to how they drive here!!! e.g. driving down the wrong way against the trafic on motorways,overtaking whilst on blind corners,overtaking a vehicle thats already overtaking another vehicle and making a two lane highway into a three way road,driving at night with either no lights on cars,bicycles,driving with totaly unsafe loads,twenty people in a jeep with fifteen people hanging off every conceivable piece of body work whilst reaching sixty km an hour and the list goes on!weve had a few minor bumps and lost a wing mirror an had a blowout on the mercedes unmog all terain vehicle and the american f250 pickup truck has lost a mirror too but werestill in one pice.getting to places and some times struggling to find hotels has been probably the biggest bug bear so far but its only two days to calcutta so i think whell make it in one piece!am going to put some pics on next but have had nightmares in india getting this to work so keep your fingers crossed for me and ill be back soon to tell you what im upto next.ttfn
