An epic year

Good morning Vietnam

wilding-bartlett — Mon, 24 May 2010 00:29:00 GMT

Yo ho from Vietnam!

Sitting in Mellow guesthouse right now with a bunch of drunken expats making a ruckus outside… waiting for a bus to come and take us to Dalat! Arrived in Ho Chi Minh city around noon after a long bus ride from Siem Reap. We took a night bus which left at midnight, but upon boarding found that we were sat at the very back, right in between two rather large Cambodian men. Unable to lean on the frame of the bus, Ellie and I set up a makeshift pillow out of our bags and attempted to get some sleep. As soon as we got on the road, we realized this attempt was futile… the bumpy road meant that we shot out of our seats every 5 seconds, landing wherever fate took us. Apparently driving at night gives Cambodian bus drivers a shot of confidence as we seemed to be bombing along at quite a rate, and whenever we had to slam on the brakes to avoid a wandering cow I very nearly slid along the aisle to the front of the bus. We got to Phnom Penh after 6 hours of this hellish journey, waited another two in the city and finally boarded the bus to Ho Chi Minh. The border crossing was a bit of a faff but nothing too bad, and next thing we knew we were outside Hotel 64 (aka, Madame Cucs). We were welcomed with a free lemon juice and banana, and were then told they had no rooms in this particular building, so would be transported by moto to their other location. Shortly after we arrived at Hotel 127 (aka Madame Cucs number 2) we were told that they didn’t have any rooms either, so would be staying across the road. After lugging our bags up three flights of stairs we couldn’t face searching for another room and settled in asap.

Ho Chi Minh was an amazing city, with the most insane traffic we’ve seen and plenty of sights to keep us entertained (including an air conditioned cinema! Civilized or what??!). Went to the Cu Chi tunnels where they referred to American soldiers as “Crazy barbaric devils” (sorry U.S readers, it was all a bit overdramatic) and where we crawled through tunnels which the Viet Cong inhabited during the Vietnam War. The guide was hilarious but kept referring to us westerners as fat… “The tunnels are small, too small for big westerners. Yes, westerners are tall, but also big (as he mimed someone who’s stomach looked the size of a pregnant woman)!” He also insisted that a triangle was in fact a rectangle and that the tunnels were “5 meters deef”… all rather amusing. The highlight of the tour was our opportunity to shoot an AK-47… Ellie was bouncing off the walls with excitement whereas I just wanted to say I’d done it! The actual shooting was fairly uneventful, just really loud. We also met a lot of other travelers in HCM which was good fun. Another highlight was the discovery of what may have been the cutest dog in the world. We came across it in a small hole in the wall restaurant hiding under some plastic chairs. The owner told us it was only a month old and it was SO sweet! This puppy looked identical to a black bear cub (but much smaller). He was a complete fluffball and I fell in love immediately (see pics for photographic evidence, I will be back to kidnap him!). Ellie had yet another mishap in HCM when getting off a motorbike… she burned her calf with the exhaust pipe and what initially just looked like a red mark has now turned into a brown bubbling mess! (don’t worry, I’ve been forcing her to clean it and we are going to the doctors soon).

After Ho Chi Minh was Mui Ne, where we are right now. This pretty little beach town is just one long stretch of road, which means that it’s not overly touristy and is a really nice place to spend a few days. Bummed around on the beach yesterday before crashing a 5 star resort’s pool, after which we got a massage (luxury day or what!?). Had dinner on the beach and finished off the day with incredible sea food. (Just a heads up, we have found that Vietnam has the best banana shakes of any country so far!)

Went to bed reasonably early to wake up at 5 o clock this morning to get to the sand dunes for sunrise. The motorcycle ride there was beautiful; the sun rose in a red haze over the water and highlighted tiny fishing boats as they rowed out to sea. When we finally got to the sand dunes we were very windswept but in awe of the beautiful scenery… definitely one of the most beautiful landscapes we’ve seen since we’ve been away. The sand dunes were stunning and we had a lot of fun taking various pictures on each sandy peak… too much fun in fact as the camera ran out of battery almost as soon as we got there! After a while on those dunes we moved onto the larger Red Dunes, which were beautiful but much more crowded. Our final stop was at “Fairy Stream” which was a beautiful little river that carved through the sand dunes… we walked barefoot in the water with three kids who served as our guides and even gave us some four leaf clovers! All in all an amazing morning!

Writing from Dalat now (paused the blog to get onto the bus)… the bus ride was definitely not our best trip! Instead of the nice coach we were expecting we were shoved into a minibus which seemed to have 5 extra seats in it. It was incredibly hot, sticky and cramped and as soon as you thought you couldn’t possibly fit anyone else in the bus, another family climbed in! The usual Vietnamese music soon started blasting, and as soon as we were truly on the road we discovered why we were in a smaller vehicle. The road to Dalat is a long winding and BUMPY one my friends, and with children crying, Vietnamese men groping and a general lack of space one quickly becomes frustrated to the point of tears. When we finally got to Dalat it was heavenly—it’s a gorgeous town in the mountains which is actually COOL! We don’t need AC in our room and might even need to wear long sleeves outside… heaven!

Heading out for a trek tomorrow which should take all day… went and got Ellie’s burn cleaned at the local hospital today which was traumatic to say the least! They did a very good job but the language barrier meant we were both terrified of what they were actually going to do to her, especially as they started fiddling with various scissors and other blades! (There were two kitchen knives by the sterilizing station, I kid you not!! Ellie thought her leg was going to be amputated). As soon as he started messing with the wound I felt faint and had to move closer to the floor to avoid a dramatic fall… Aren’t I just a great travelling companion? Now it’s all clean and bandaged up though, so no worries.

Will keep you posted on future travels, going off into the mountains as of tomorrow! Wish us luck, all our love!!

Photos: Good Morning Vietnam

wilding-bartlett — Sun, 23 May 2010 12:05:00 GMT

Photos: Cambodia

wilding-bartlett — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:48:00 GMT

last few days with dmay and volunteering at Anjali

Cambodiaaa

wilding-bartlett — Wed, 12 May 2010 00:47:00 GMT

Hey there readers,

Emily here, sorry again about the long pause in our updates! In Cambodia right now… Ellie’s birthday was on the 20^th and we went to the famous Temple bar at around 2 o clock in the afternoon and kept up the festivities long into the night. It was good timing as loads of people we knew were in Siem Reap at the same time, so we had a good b’day dinner with a beautiful cake at the end (which ended up all over Ellie’s face, of course). After that quick celebration in Siem Reap we moved onto Phnom Penh, meeting up with Laura, Flossie and Lara once again! We visited the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng (S21) together which was definitely difficult emotionally, but worthwhile. After those excursions a lot of our time was spent in an air conditioned café (it is REALLY hot here, 120 degrees yesterday!) where Ellie discovered the most delicious chicken fajita in the world (unlikely I know, but it was AMAZING). After the other three girls moved on (sad times) Daisy, Ellie and I went to the national museum after attempting to go to the Royal Palace and being rejected for our slutty clothing. We were in fact wearing floor length skirts and shawls, but apparently because shawls are potentially removable they don’t count. Grrr. The museum was dinky but fun, and I woke up early the next morning, donned a T-shirt and trekked to the Royal Palace by myself (leaving the other two sleeping). After my little excursion it was onto Sihanoukville, a town on the coast of Cambodia! We all loved it there and were quite happy to get back on a beach, although the jellyfish which we kept coming across meant we didn’t spend too much time swimming around (Ellie had never seen one before and her reaction was hilarious… let’s just say I learned a lot of new profanities). We went to various beaches around the place, our favorite being Otres which was fairly deserted and had no electricity! We had to go down the bumpiest, dustiest, orangest (not really a word?) and remote(est) road in the world to get to this beach… at one point a piece of metal flew off the tuk tuk narrowly missing Ellie’s eyeball! We were afraid that we weren’t securely attached to the motorbike after that incident, so we definitely held on tight while bouncing around in the back. The next beach we ventured onto was an exclusive PRIVATE beach, but we decided to crash the party as it was slow season. As we got settled on our lovely, comfortable beach chairs a young Cambodian man appeared from nowhere asking us for 6 dollars to be there. Ellie immediately got very lary and explained that we could just lie in the sea the whole time… “surely you can’t own the sea!”. We decided to bugger off rather than paying this EXTORTIONATE amount, but we were told we could lie on the skanky part of the beach for only a dollar. We took him up on the offer and headed towards the end of the beach, but as soon as he was out of sight we took a sharp turn back onto the beautiful bit. We lay there undisturbed for a few hours until Ellie decided it was safe to sit on one of the sunbeds… immediately the man reappeared and a few minutes later, we were escorted off the premises. Our final day in Sihanoukville we rented mopeds and headed to Victory beach. The morning was spent learning how to ride these beasts (don’t worry parents, we were given VERY stupid looking riding helmets to ensure our safety) and we were soon doing wheelies around the town. We decided to be CAREFUL (yes parents, give us some credit) and go on the empty roads until we felt more comfortable. However, Daisy’s brilliant navigation skills took us directly onto a highway towards Phnom Penh (Ellie and I knew we were DEFINITELY in Brig) where trucks were passing us every 2 minutes. We eventually turned around having taken the map off Daisy, and we headed to the Snake House. This was a restaurant with various reptiles housed inside… there were cobras, pythons, lizards, crocodiles and even a rabbit. Ellie however, simply remembers having ruined her pancake by pouring what she thought was sugar all over it… SALTY SALTYYYYY! After Sihanoukville we returned to Siem Reap and our lovely Daisy left us (we miss you D!). We started volunteering at Anjali about 10 days ago and are loving it… we have to teach them English and General Studies as well as doing “workshops” in the morning… so far we’ve taught them charades, wink murder and the memory game. They’ve taken a shine to wink murder, which our khmer translator now calls “the killing game”. Yes, we are a great influence. While they wanted me to be the detective, they simply wanted to watch ellie die dramatically! We made model volcanoes today which we are exploding tomorrow, as long as we can find baking soda!

Lunches at Anjali are quite a treat, as we get free genuine Cambodian food, which is usually delicious. We did have a bit of a mishap the other day however… while enjoying what appeared to be tofu soup we asked Sitha (our lovely translator/fellow teacher) what the darker cubes of tofu like substance were. He replied with something which sounded like “plan”, which we assumed meant some kind of plant. However, we couldn’t have been further from the truth. When going through categories of food our next lesson (carbohydrates, protein etc) Sitha reminded us of the protein we ate… “Blood!”. Realizing that the cubes were in fact congealed blood, we had a slight panic attack seeing as we are both very squeamish. After a few mutters of “oh my god, it was blood, I want to die…” I quickly said “it’s done, it’s done, we just have to get over it” and we moved swiftly on.

Oh, the Bartlett family has also been reunited in Cambodia… the rents are currently in Phnom Penh, but will return to Siem Reap in a few days. It’s been amazing to see them, and it’s also been amazing to sleep in their luxury accommodation at the FCC! (way better than what we’ve been staying in due to our strict budget).

Heading to Vietnam soon, will keep you posted!

STILL ALIVE

wilding-bartlett — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:29:00 GMT

Emily here… Sorry about the horrifically long break in our blog, we kept trying to write them, and they would delete, etc etc… Anyhoo we’re sorry and heres the long deserved update. I’m going to skip describing all the last few places in india because it would just take TOO long, but after Palolem we moved onto Hampi (and were rejected when we tried to rent mopeds) and then went to Mumbai, which we also loved. Just because the memories haven’t been written here doesn’t mean they weren’t amazing.

But we are in Thailand now!! Wahooo. First place we went in this country was Bangkok where there were loads of Red shirt protestors, but they were being calm and non-violent so it didn’t affect us. We wandered around Khao San road, bought some supplies and then headed down south to Ko Phagnan, which is the party island of the southern area. Sadly it was raining during the day for most of our time there L so we ended up partying the nights away (we both enjoyed our first experiences with buckets) and then recovering in the various cafes that showed friends, family guy and the Simpsons throughout the day. Given, it was hardly the true thai cultural experience, but we just got back from India okay? Give us a break.

After Kophagnan it was Ko Tao which is another island which was about an hour away by ferry. We decided to do our open water diving course there and fell in LOVE with the island, it was absolutely awesome. Our diving instructor was literally a 28 year old version of the two of us and we had one other joker in our group so we decided to stay on and do our advanced course. This meant going down to 30m (which was fairly boring, it was just murky and cold) and doing a night dive! The night dive was very cool but we both had really crap torches so couldn’t really see too much. We saw an absolutely huge moray eel (4m long?) along with an Eagle ray on our other dives and a load of barracudas so they were definitely worthwhile too. Daisy May joined us in Ko Tao and is travelling with us for the next few weeks, so after a night of partying where we starred in a ladyboy show (yes, we literally got up on stage in sequined dresses) and a day of sunbathing and getting kicked out of seven elevens with our newest buddy, we moved on to Hua Hin.

Hua Hin was a change from the beachy/overly gap yeared islands so we were glad to arrive there (albeit at 2 o clock in the morning). (ellie here!) found the most amazing little guest house in huahin called jings and oh we just love JING! She was a legend! We were there for the famous son kran new year celebrations and got stuck in as I’m sure you would of guessed! Jing had a little BBQ which included intestine and this muscle type shell thing which was just horrendous! Dmay took on the task like a champ and quite enjoyed the raw, gooey, juicey and wet texture whereas Emily and I pretty much gagged! We moved on to kanchaburi where we stayed in a riverside bamboo bungalow and hired bikes, saw many a wat and in general became gurus of the guide book! Now in Arythuua where we have been templed out to the max! You would be so proud at what cultured people we have become.

Off to Cambodia tomorrow! Exciting stuff!

Photos: thailand

wilding-bartlett — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:02:00 GMT

Finally on a beach

wilding-bartlett — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:06:00 GMT

Ebarts here! Spoke to the rents recently and was told to "do another blog post, grandma and granddad read it", so all my love to them (if they end up reading this)... this one's a substitute for the postcard I've written, but haven't sent yet.

Quick run down of what we've done since the last time we wrote... From Udaipur we went on to Agra where we did the Taj Mahal in less than a day. We did rent a room but then decided that the stained sheets, icky bathroom and musty smell were all too much so we decided to get out of Rajasthan and onto a beach ASAP. This meant hastily booking a flight from a little travel agents in Agra, going to the Taj for 2 hours (which was absolutely beautiful, surprise surprise), getting a train to Dehli which arrived at midnight and then sleeping on the floor of the airport so as to avoid paying for an hotel. This was a brilliant decision as Dehli has a SERIOUSLY civilized airport equipped with a Costa Coffee (which we enjoyed at 2 o clock in the morning) a KFC (which we enjoyed at 5) and wireless internet! We caught our plane down to Kochin and boarded the bus to Ernukalum in stifling heat. It's really hot and sticky down here but absolutely beautiful. In Kochin we did a very pleasant little boat trip around the backwaters (you're essentially punted around in a canoe-type boat and get to see the rainforest/villagers around you... the guide got VERY angry at me when I smiled during his speech as he thought I was laughing at him... awkward). We then had a little wander around Fort Kochin (which is essentially Martha's Vinyard India style). Ellie tried to push me into a bucket of squid and we were yelled at for using the swings in what is apparently "a playground for children!"... We rebelled against the angry old man and used the See-saw for a good half hour. Next stop was a train to Palolem, where we find ourselves now. It's a beautiful, albeit very touristy beach resort, and we've met up with loads of friends from England (all Ellie's connections) so we have a good little group. The nightlife is much better than elsewhere in India, but on our first night out Ellie attempted to push me into the sea and tripped, tearing several ligaments in her foot and causing some blood clots in there too! Thus, Ellie is now a bit of a cripple, but we sent her to the doctors where she received the proper meds, so she's making a full recovery. She has however, abandoned the crutches after discovering they don't work well in the sand. Life here is fairly relaxed and uneventful which is why we're loving it... I did think I'd lost the one room key last night and caused a bit of a panic, but we eventually found it in my bum bag. Oops.

Thats the sum of our recent shenanigans anyhow, hope that all is well in the Western world!

Photos: Pushkar, Udaipur and the Taj

wilding-bartlett — Mon, 8 Mar 2010 08:07:00 GMT

Spending time with people other than Ellie Wilding... PHEW

wilding-bartlett — Sat, 6 Mar 2010 22:35:00 GMT

Em here. I just wrote this blog a MILLION times and it keeps deleting, so I'm going to do bullet points now. Sorry it's so rushed, but I'm very hungry :)

Udaipur was chillled, pretty little lake and nice german bakeries.
Hung out with 4 of Ellie's guy friends from Uppingham, was nice to get a break from the harassment when we were walking with big strong men!
Ellie tried a bhang lassie and said her brain was melting, hilarious times.
ARE IN THE PUSHKAR NEWSPAPER! we partied so hard during holi that our photo made it into the centerfold... glad to know that we're making waves in India when we've only been here what... two weeks ?
Got locked out of our hostel when we had a late dinner and played cards with the boys... had to try to break down a bolted plank of MDF to no avail... then went outside and were attacked by rabid dogs (Ellie's drooling from the mouth as we speak) and finally tripped over a tramp aka the guard man that was sleeping on the floor and he scaled the roof to let us in. good times.
Saw a bunch of fort like buildings.
Going to Agra tomorrow to see the Taj and then moving down south! Sleeper but was hilarious, although not exactly relaxing... we're taking a train this time.

Pics will be up soon but again, don't have wireless yet... trust me, they're worth the wait!

HAPPY HOLI!

wilding-bartlett — Tue, 2 Mar 2010 21:14:00 GMT

Ellie here...so this is basically a quicky just to tell you all how amazing the colour festival was before we catch our sleeper bus to Udaipur! So we picked out the clothes which we didn't mind getting ruined and mentally prepared ourselves for this mass event! Got slightly worried that we had hyped it up too much as we walked through the empty town - almost as if we had missed it! As we got closer to the market we saw more and more multi-coloured bodies dragging themselves away from the chaos and we still didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. Local people from the town were warning is not to go into the centre etc but obviously in true wilding/bartlett style we dove right in! There was music blaring from the surrounding buildings and paint being thrown in every direction as people were dancing and weaving in and out of the madness! We soon got layered in paint (the image that you are now picturing in your head is NOTHING compared to what we looked like...just wait for pictures.) from head to toe. It consumed us entirely...seeping into our eyes/ears/nose/mouth/pants. After a while we realised that we were lacking in AMO so we fled the scene and bought some worthy waterguns to aid us in our plan of attack! As female westerners, we were clearly a minority and hence great targets for both the paint and the wrestling. I was practically kung fuing against a boy at one point. epic.

blahblahblah got back to the hotel and destroyed the bathroom and are now forevermore stained red! umpa lumpas for life

Ain't no pushing in Pushkar

wilding-bartlett — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:56:00 GMT

Emily speaking-- Sitting in a little internet cafe writing this from PUSHKAR, AKA a home away from home. This little town is the perfect place to go after Jaipur... we're staying in "Hotel Everest" and have a balcony, a very comfy bed and plenty of nice people to help us out! We did have a bit of a mishap when we discovered that the toilet is A. Not attached to the ground and B. Spurts out waterfalls whenever you flush. (we were worried about hygiene originally, but then discovered that it's the clean toilet water leaking onto the ground... yes we're gross let us be.) The shower has also had us kneeling down so that we can bathe under the tap which is about a foot off the ground... Ellie was also quite badly burned when she attempted to get hot water going! (it was really quite hilarious). Anyhoo, the first night we were here we met two fellow gappers who gave us plenty of advice about how to travel in india as two girls. They also told us 1. not to take valium as you will fall asleep on indian men and will not wake up for hours(we weren't going to anyway...) 2. to cover yourself from head to toe in cloth once you leave pushkar-- bodysuits are on the shopping list and 3. not to let people take photos. I don't think the parents want to know why. Apart from just hanging around we have actually been active... we hiked up 2 mountains so far, the views were awesome and we actually got a tan! (kind of). However, this strenuous exercise proved so tiring for Ellie that she felt she needed a calorific booster at the end of night, so asked for a pot of nutella while we were playing Spit (card game... we got VERY lary and were told that the police might come). The boy who works on the roof is so nice and he seemed very... confused? by her request, but once he established that she did INDEED want a whole pot of nutella with no bread, nothing, he ran and got it. I guess the dehli belly hasn't hit just yet.

We're sticking around for Holi here (a spring festival which happens in two days)... everyones told us it's much more fun/safe/involved in Pushkar than in Jaipur, where we were planning to be. We've also become quite attached to our rocking toilet, so we won't rush to leave just yet.

Pics will be up when we get wireless, love to all!

E & E

Too many horns.

wilding-bartlett — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:21:00 GMT

Ellie here - So we had a pretty surreal evening the night before last and momentarily thought it could of been the larium’s (antimalarial drugs) hallucinations taking full effect – good ones obviously! This was all at Chokie Dani which we were recommeded for dinner as it has classic indian food , dancing and a generally cheerful atmosphere. We expected a restaurant but couldn’t of been more wrong – we had entered this other world of circus acts, dancing on numerous stages, musicians, palm readers, magicians, henna artists and soo much more!! I ended up being lured onto a dancing stage with this mini indian Michael Jackson! I tried to mimic his head weaving moves but soon I resorted to doing the beloved jig! Emily followed on after and showed up the classic dancing with a bit of “western beat.” Ooo and can’t forget the camels and elephants everywhere taking people for rides around the mini village. At first our appitites were driving us to explore the place at a swift speed to find all the amazing food that had been included in the price of entering this land of joy – yes this does mean all you can eat!! I’m sure you can imagine the excitement that was screaming inside me! Eventually we found the food hut where we had to take out shoes off, wash our hands and eat aniseed before we went in. We realised that we have now found our niche in eating methods – sitting on the floor, using our hands to eat (note: not the left ...people wipe there bums with their left hand), sitting at low tables and scoffing all this new and interesting food. Luckily Emily made friends with the man sitting next to her who soon became our “food translator.” This helped minimise the complete surprise when tasting say what could only be described as meat porridge and other bizzare, non edible looking treats! We got involved in and watched as much of the entertainment as we could. Of course we had to be “henna-ed” before we left which became a slight problem in the taxi as it was still drying!

The next morning we called our loyal rickshaw driver to take us to the pink city. We have had a few issues with rickshaw drivers in the few days we’ve been here but this one who we call “bonobo” got unusually attacted to his new found friends - He moped in the back of his rickshaw when we had to refuse his service for an actual car and was visibly upset when we declined his offer to take us to stay in his home! Aaaaanyway we walked around the pink city, got very lost and improved our haggeling whist purchasing some more appropriate clothing. Blahblahblah..the day went on with other fun stories and ended up in a phone store to buy a sim card which proved a lot more challenging than presumed! Emily had 20 passport sized photographs taken of her, she had to sign 20 forms and her life away to this Airtel company. So we are now contactable by phone – (0091)9799179844! Ha and the guy serving us called after 10mins and after saying that it was a confirmation call he asked emily out as he liked her picture!! I wish she said yes…purely for comedic value!

We met a seemingly genuine rickshaw driver called Rishi who took us to Tiger Fort where we wanted to watch the sunset – aw how romantic!We started a long trek up a steep cobbled pathway, but ended up hiching a lift on two motobikes the rest of the way up to the top because we’re lazy! The view was breathtaking and we found a great spot to just chill and watch all the happenings of the city far below. We were told by a passing guide and his travellers that it wouldn’t be a good idea to walk back down after dark as it was beginning to get dodgy…the rampant youths were arriving in their masses for their regular piss up. (*R.R.R.R – Rapping Roobs*)Ah man there must be a quote from lord of the rings to shove in here….gandalf…the storm I scoming!

Ellie’s brain has become over-heated with all this thinking so I’ve taken over on the typing duties so miss mental here can have a nap. Anyway, we also had to skiddadle from this Fort Tiger because as Ellie tried to explain earlier, a storm was brewing, and we were on top of a mountain… in the middle of lightning (IN THE EYE OF THE STORM). We were walking back (very swiftly!) and were kidnapped/saved by the nice tour guide in his car. We got a ride down from him and were kept dry from the monsoon. When we finally got back to the hotel we ran upstairs to chomp on some food which was AMAZE… while we enjoyed it we watched an epic lightning storm (Ellie has never seen a lightning bolt! Shocker!) which was surrounding us on the rooftop. I think we were a bit knackered from all the male attention that we got yesterday… India’s perception of western women/women in general can be VERY frustrating. There seemed to be more people watching us instead of the sunset up at the fort! (Harmless, but exhausting).

Today we’re headed off to Pushkar which is apparently “Hippy paradise”… something that would suit Ellie and I beautifully. Hoping for less of the hustle, bustle and horn-honking than we’ve found in Jaipur (we say that, but we still love the chaos).

Rickshaws, Elephants and Forts.

wilding-bartlett — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:12:00 GMT

Emily again! Ellie and I are sitting outside in this beautiful little garden right outside the hotel we're staying in. There are pigeons everywhere though so i'm afraid I'm going to be shat on while sitting here! Either way, today was aweeesomeeee! Went to Amber Fort in a rickshaw driven by a 21 and 15 year old duo... They had speakers in the back, aka a pimped out tuk-tuk. Listening to music when we were driving along all the roads made us feel like we were in a movie- OUR movie starring Ellie. and me. Anyways, we drove for ages in this ruckety little vehicle and saw many sights along the way... a camel who gave us each a kiss (see photo... Ellie now has camel rabies), quite a few elephants and of course, SO MANY COWS. When we finally got to the fort it was beyond gorgeous... we even got to touch an elephant(of course, we had to pay for this) on the way up. We were pestered by one man trying to sell kama sutra prints (bahahaha) but he was VERY insistent... Ellie snapped after hearing "Excuse me Madame" for the millionth time and told him that he'd already been excused. He promptly ran away. The fort was pretty, yadadada, the most exciting bit was that ELLIE BECAME A SNAKE CHARMER! We were watching three old men charm the socks off a few cobras when another man tried to get us to join. Ellie rushed in while I remained on camera, and was promptly made to switch her sunglasses with a traditional snake-charming hat. The man next to her put on her sunglasses (RETRO) and gave her a flute... I must say that she was not able to apply her musical talents here, and it sounded like a dying goose when she tried it. Neeedless to say that the cobra was not pleased with her musical talents so it tried to slither towards her, which is when all the music stopped and the old man grabbed his little pet. I could have had a turn, but i've decided I don't like cobras very much. We then went on to a monkey temple where there were, weirdly, MILLIONS OF MONKEYSSS! Planet of the Apes on earth. Ellie was used as my rabies shield as she has had the jabs, so she recorded all the monkeys picking bugs of each other and yelled "monkey monkey monkey monkey" into the videocamera. One tried to steal Ellie's shoe and she had to run after it... however he did not know who he was dealing with and quickly returned it. We were then drawn into a little prayer room where we were given a bindi, a pretty little bracelet on our right hand to say we are not married (EEK... not good for men to know we're single), and they gave us a blessing and put some yummy smelling stuff on our hand. This whole religious effect was ruined a little when they complained of how much money we donated (20 rupees)... but it was still fun!

Anyways, we're off to dinner in a few hours, our rickshaw driver (who fancies emily- ellie had to add that in) and his little brother (who fancies Ellie... shes a cougar.... not really he's 5ish (aka 15) ) are coming to pick us up for din dins!

We both feel like we've been here for ages, but it's only been 2 days. Mental! It's still amaze tho... we're thinking pushkar next?!?

Namaste!

Photos: Jaipur

wilding-bartlett — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 00:57:00 GMT

1st stop in India!

Arrival in India!

wilding-bartlett — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:06:00 GMT

Emily here! We set off early early earrlyyy this morning in order to catch a bus... very interesting walk to the bus station as it was cold and we were dressed for the warm Indian weather! We got a little anxious when our bus was 40 minutes late and almost called the grandparents for emergency help to the airport, but the bus came eventually. Finding terminal four was seriously difficult and a massive hassle, but we got there after sitting on the ground of many wrong platforms for all the wrong transfer trains. Flight was relatively hassle free... I know that I slept very well... Ellie says that her seat mate (she was in the middle) kept her up by staring at us and singing constantly. It was very hectic to get to the domestic airport when we arrived in Mumbai, but we made it eventually and sat around (yet again!) for hours waiting for our flight. Finally we made it to the gate where two strange men approached us holding photocopies of our passport... we were very confused initially (Ellie though she had lost a photocopy/had a stalker) but then realized they were the men from the exchange bureau. These men proceeded to tell me that they had given me 2000 rupees extra (sad times) and I had to give it back. I was not pleased. When we finally boarded the bus to what we thought was our plane, a nice lady informed us we were about to board a plane to somewhere sounding like Jaipur, but actually spelled Uadipur. Thankfully we ran across the runway after being pointed in the right direction of our plane (run/took a bus... shhh), while they radioed the pilot and told him not to take off!

It was the coldest plane ride EVER, but we survived. So now we're sitting in our little hostel, waiting for an hour to go by so we can shower and sleep!

Oh, and on wildlife watch... we've seen a thousand cows, a few dogs and one camel. Woop!!!

Much love to everyone at homeee!

Leemeely xxx

about to leave (touch wood)

wilding-bartlett — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:10:00 GMT

Emily and I have been packing through the night! We have written, ticked and scribbled over countless "to do" lists and finally at 4.10 am think we are all set to treck down to the bus station at 5am. Seeing as our plane leaves Heathrow at 10.10am we have left plenty of time to go wrong - what organised girls we are! This is clearly wise after having completely messed up what is such a simple route to the chalet in switzerland where we got on many a wrong train, trecking all over switzerland unnecessarily and finally hichhiked our way up the mountain.

We're off now...wish us luck!! =]