Hurrah we have landed in the worlds largest playground! It is amazing here and so much to do.
The past week has been spent hot footing it around the country in our hire car which is a Nissan estate (known as a waggon out here). We flew into Christchurch, discovered that our bags were in Singapore! This was annoying but at least it was a sunny day as Emily was only wearing shorts and t-shirt! The first day was spent walking around the city shopping around for the best rates in car hire. At first it seemed like we were going to pay loads for a tiny box but it was fine in the end. We found a hostel after some time as they were all full due to the cricket being on that weekend then headed to bed.
Next day was cold and overcast and our bags still hadn't arrived, we looked like a couple of misfits wandering town, Dawn had here cropped combats on with a red sarong draped over her shoulders to keep her warm, Emily had her coat on that was longer than her shorts and flip flops and so looked like a flasher! We eventually got our bags at 5 pm!-Not before picking up the car, driving to the airport to collect bags to then discover they were in a delivery van heading our way somewhere else in the city!
That evening we headed to Methven, we were hoping to take a hot air balloon ride over the Southern Alps. The weather was unsuitable and so we headed off to Mt. Cook via Lake Tekapo. The lake was stunning, it had a dazzling turquoise colour to it, it was a windy day and so large surf was blowing across the 50 km long lake. The backdrop was the Southern Alps with snow on the highest peaks. The scenery is so dramatic as its so natural and rugged. The whole country is like this. There is so much space and the roads are so long and empty between towns, we end up driving for hours before meeting another car. Passing through towns in the evening is odd as many of them are all closed by 6 pm even the local fish and chip shops! We're so used to everything being open till 10pm at home that we really need to think ahead now.
After the lake we arrived at Mt Cook. The weather had really kicked in by now, the wind was blowing, the clouds and rain had arrived and we really couldn't see much at all! As we went for an hours walk to a glacier and a view point of Mt Cook, we took in the beautiful scenery and joked that in fact we could be in Wales or Devon as it looked the same and the climate was perfect! The photos of us in our wet weather gear will prove this! At the look out point we were unable to see Mt. Cook due to the clouds but it was still stunning looking across the vast mountain range and valley below.
Next we headed to Lake Wanaka for the evening's campsite. We got there pretty late and all the campsites were closed. It was perfect as we parked in a car park right on the banks of the lake so that we would wake up with panoramic views of the mountains and lake. It was a restless nights sleep though as we were rudely awakened by the sound of our car going through a car wash! In fact there were a line of water sprinklers beside our car that went off for a couple of hours in the middle of the night! It was so loud but at least the car got a good wash!
The following day we drove to Milford Sound. It was an amazing drive along mountain rounds with raging rivers and waterfalls each side of us. The closer to the coast we got the worst the weather got. It was now sheeting rain, as we stopped for quick photos. We even had to drive though a tunnel, through a mountain, which was 2km long and felt like you were driving along the underground in London!! The rain made for beautiful cascading waterfalls everywhere, even if we were a bit scared driving down the steep winding mountain roads in the wet! It made for good coasting though, as there are no petrol stations in Milford Sound and were were running a bit low!
After warming up in the campsite lounge, which was lovely blast of civilisation, we spent a wet and windy night in the car, trying to sleep, as the rain and wind pummeled the windows.
The next day we went Kayaking in a Fjord at Milford Sound, again it was very very wet and windy, but there were amazing waterfalls cascading down the mountains. The waves were a bit scary and I thought a few times we would tip over, but we were only soaked by the rain!! Been in Kayaks rather than a boat meant we could get very close to the seals and we even glimpsed a dolphin!! After 4 hours in a Kayak we were very achy and needed a shower to warm up.
Yesterday we flew up to north island to support Emily's friend swim the Cook Straight. However, an hour after we left Wellington harbour we crashed into rocks and the boat got grounded!! It was very very scary, as the boat listed heavily. Life jackets on we were evacuated to the nearby island Mana, where were we got soaked scrambling up the rocky beach. We were marooned on this narrow rocky beach for 5 hours awaiting rescue by the coastguard. Eventually the Marine Conservation Officers of the island collected us from the beach and took us to their base on the island. We warmed up in the sun with cups of tea, while watching some amazing birds - Takaha, which are very rare parrot like chickens that are green and blue.
We are currently in Dunedin staying with Emily's friend and it is so nice having a roast dinner and a good nights sleep in a nice soft bed!! Heaven!!
Thursday 28 February 2008
Monday 18 February 2008
Professional Beach Bums!!!!
Well here we are again, set to leave another country! We have had a fab time here in Thailand and it has gone so quickly. We have only today left and are flying out tomorrow afternoon to New Zealand.
So what have we been doing?
We spent the first 4 days in Bangkok where Emily had a couple of days down time seeing a few local sights whilst Dawn headed out to see the Grand Palace, Wot Pho where there is a 46m long Buddha and a few other thing along the way - a giant swing and 30m tall gold Buddha to name a few. It was a day of amazing architecture, gold and jewels everywhere. The next Day Dawn went on a sightseeing trip to the Cemetery where the prisoners of war who died building the Burma railway (bridge over the river Kwai) were remembered, it was amazing how many of the young men were from Herts and Beds. Dawn then travelled on the railway through Death Valley where most people lost their lives. With such amazing scenary it is hard to imagine the pain and suffering that took place here. The day was then finished relaxing by a beautiful waterfall.
A must see visit to Pat Pong was an experience, in fact scary more than embarassing. We were sent to a club to see the various ping pong and Miss razorblade girls. We were told that we had to buy a drink only and the show was free. First we walked into a seedy looking dark bar, hardly anyone there except for naked girls standing around looking very disinterested (in fact one of them was nonchanlantley scratching her bum!) We ordered our drinks, the show was very slow maybe one thing every 10 mins in between we were hounded by the girls to buy them drinks or to tip, then the big scary bouncer ladies came over demanding that we each pay 800 bhat for the viewing! At this point we felt a bit scared as we were trapped in this darkened club! We drank quickly and watched an original game of hoopla and blowing out birthday candles (wouldn't be accepted at local village fetes)! Then ran out of there. We did try a second club but it was the same runner exit as the first! We then headed back to Khao San Road in which we are staying at feeling sad that the girls have to do that for their living.
Khao San road is a really funky buzzing place in which we likened it to Camden Market. Its a backpackers hub and sells various fake Id's, clothes, tatoos, piercings and the road is lined with neon lights. Usually we would hate this but it has a friendly charm to it.
We both visited the floating markets which are just outside of Bangkok, its complete hustle and bustle and hard to by things on the water as the boats keep moving apart or you simply just float by before you can show an interest in something!
We then took a night bus and ferry to Ko Phangan. What a beautiful island! We stayed in the north of the island at Mae Haad View. It was suggested we went there by a guy called Russell we met on the bus. There was only one beach hut and so Russell very kindly let us share his for the week, we had the room and he slept on the balcony in a hammock!!! We had a great time, half of the week was spent relaxing on the quiet beach and the other half was broken into sight seeing and hospital appointments for Emily!
The hospital visits occured due to scooters being the only way to get around the island. Both Emily and Russell were adventure junkies and so headed off on a day of searching for waterfalls and snorkelling sights. Dawn had gone across to Ko Samui for the day. The day started well, the snorkelling at the local beach was nice then Emily and Russell headed off on the bikes into the jungle! There are few concrete roads on the island and so they ended up having to drive the bikes up and down some serious dirt tracks. Emily's bike was rubbish, it couldn't make it up half the hills and so she had to walk it up the hill whilst using the throttle!!!! The hills were sand, gravel and full of gullies, at times they had to splash their way through rivers. It was basically dirt biking on automatic scooters!!!! It was damn scary but also exhillerating until coming down one hill that was covered in loose gravel, fortunately Emily was almost stationary as she was slowly walking the bike down whilst sitting on it but the back wheel slid on the gravel the bike toppled over onto her skidding her against the gravel. This resulted in her sadly having to rip her sarong for a bandage as her arm was gouged pretty badly. In the evening a trip to the hospital resulted in 6 stitches but all is ok now!!! It was a fun day with no regrets as it was an adventure!!!!
Dawn found Ko Samui quieter than she had expected, but the first beach was nothing like the Lonely Planet described it (a romantic fishing village with quiet beach), it was a quiet fishing village with no beach and little facilities, just one expensive restaurant. Due to the Chinese new year it wasn't quiet either, with fire crckers going off every second!! After an expensive breakfast, Dawn headed to the second most popular beach (which the book described as busy), but Dawn found it touristy, but not too in your face. After shopping and chilling on the beach, she headed back to the port and spent time on the beach there (the nicest one in her opinion, athough the book says it is dirty and smelly!) and got the posh Catermaran back to Ko Phangan.
We got into the party spirit and went to a black moon party. It was really good fun and set on the beach. The atmosphere was brilliant with people skipping a burning rope and juggling fire. There were very psychodelic paintings dotted around that glowed in the UV light and the music was trance but it was well Dj'd and kept us dancing till about 6am! Funnily enough we chilled out on the beach the next day. It was nice driving back as day broke as we got to see all the local tradesmen preparing their stuff for the day, many were cutting meat and laying it out.
Another day was spent walking in the Jungle to the highest point on the island. Dawn was challenged by creepy crawleys and having to wade across a river and climbing some boulders. She did well though but chose to not go into the dark depths of the jungle so waited for the wanderers to return by a serene man made lake.
Emily did have a second attempt at the off roading but she took a quad which was slightly better as it could actually get up hills and hold the road. It was great as waterfalls were successfully found and lovely tucked away beaches. Dawn took to the sea this day and had a go at snorkelling with her lilo and loved it!!!! (since this she has become quite the water baby!!!)
We left Ko Phangan by taking a night boat to mainland. This was fun as the upper deck (the only deck we could use) was lined with mattresses in a true dormitory style. Everyone had a mattress to sleep on for the 6 hour journey. It was nice except for them being rather narrow and therefore every now and then waking up to find yourself face to face with a complete stranger. When we reached mainland we jumped into a mini van that was going to take us to Krabi. However it took us 100m and dropped us by the side of the road where we had to wait for 2 hours for another bus to take us to our destination (did i mention that it was 5 am!).
From Krabi we took a long boat to Reiley Beach. At first we weren't over impressed as we were greeted by a muddy beach, having to clamber out of the boat, wade to shore with all our bags oh and Emily managed to slip over and fall face down in the sea soaking all her stuff! We then manged to get a room in the cheapest place, a nice hotel type village thing, however this was still extortionate compared to what we have been used to! Reiley has been developed away from backpackers. It is now a cluster of swankey resorts and families, we did feel a bit out of place until we discovered the paupers end of the beach (the smelly end!) It smells due to the sulphur given off from the Mangroves but cor it is a hold your nose experience. There we found cheap internet, restaurants and bars, the place became a tad more appealing.
We did make the most of our few days there, we walked over to Reiley West beach but it was too crowded and so discovered another small, crowded but more picturesque beach at the end of the peninsula. Here there is also Princess Cave which local fishermen believe that hundreds of years ago an Indian Princess was shipwrecked and died in the cave. Now local fisherman bring very large colurful carved wooden phalluses here as an offering to recieve good luck! Quite an unusual sight! We paid a visit to another cave-Diamond Cave, this was impressive as it went right back into the rock, very deep with a board walk all the way through it but the cave is also home to a huge sheet of quartz which was a beautiful contrast to the bare limestone walls.
Dawn took a day trip to see Bond Island (the man with the golden finger was filmed here), she also visited a cave with another Buddha inside and a floating village. Emily that day decided to explore a hidden lagoon which was inside the headland. The lonely planet said that it is a tough trek inducing vertigo attacks-Emily feels it was mildly described as in fact it included trekking through the jungle alone, having to climb down sheer rocks using knotted ropes to assist with the ascent and descent but obviously no harness and her blue beach dress kept catching on the rocks!!! She felt like a rock climbing Barbie!!!!! (much to the amusement of climbers she met at the end!) The lagoon was a muddy puddle which incidently Emily fell straight into!!!! Yuk! It was another adventure though and forced her to face her fear of heights!
Valentines day was spent on a speed boat exploring Ko Phi phi Ley and Don. Ley is where The Beach was filmed. Apart from the crowds it was truly beautiful and Dawn had ago at rock climbing here in a bikini, sarong and bare feet (She was going for the Lara Croft look rather than Barbie!) Phi Phi Don was sobering as 6000 lives were lost here during the Tsunami. It is so hard to imagine what it must have been like at that time. It is now being redeveloped into an expensive resort area again pushing out the backpackers. Everywhere you go in this area (the Andaman Coast) there are Tsunami evacuation signs and collecting areas. It was a great day out with some amazing snorkelling and Dawn braved the open sea without her lilo or lifejacket!!!! She even dived down to get a better look at the Clown fish (Nemo)!
We then went up the coast to Khao Lak in which we joined a three day dive trip living aboard a boat on the Similian Islands. It was an intense 3 days for Emily as she did 9 dives, ate a lot of rice and saw absolutley amazing fish, rays, seahorse but no bruce the shark! There were so many it was like being in an aquarium. Dawn again braved the snorkelling and was treated several times to close viewings of Turtles-1 being the Green Turtle!
From here we went back to Bangkok for last minute shopping, throwing out of really manky clothes and getting lost in China Town.
Goodbye Thailand!
Random fact of the day:
Birds nest soup is thought to act in the same way as viagra and unfortunately Swallows nests are raided and sold at a whopping 100,000 Bhat for 1 Kilo of the nest! That is eqiuvalent to nearly 2000 British Pounds!
So what have we been doing?
We spent the first 4 days in Bangkok where Emily had a couple of days down time seeing a few local sights whilst Dawn headed out to see the Grand Palace, Wot Pho where there is a 46m long Buddha and a few other thing along the way - a giant swing and 30m tall gold Buddha to name a few. It was a day of amazing architecture, gold and jewels everywhere. The next Day Dawn went on a sightseeing trip to the Cemetery where the prisoners of war who died building the Burma railway (bridge over the river Kwai) were remembered, it was amazing how many of the young men were from Herts and Beds. Dawn then travelled on the railway through Death Valley where most people lost their lives. With such amazing scenary it is hard to imagine the pain and suffering that took place here. The day was then finished relaxing by a beautiful waterfall.
A must see visit to Pat Pong was an experience, in fact scary more than embarassing. We were sent to a club to see the various ping pong and Miss razorblade girls. We were told that we had to buy a drink only and the show was free. First we walked into a seedy looking dark bar, hardly anyone there except for naked girls standing around looking very disinterested (in fact one of them was nonchanlantley scratching her bum!) We ordered our drinks, the show was very slow maybe one thing every 10 mins in between we were hounded by the girls to buy them drinks or to tip, then the big scary bouncer ladies came over demanding that we each pay 800 bhat for the viewing! At this point we felt a bit scared as we were trapped in this darkened club! We drank quickly and watched an original game of hoopla and blowing out birthday candles (wouldn't be accepted at local village fetes)! Then ran out of there. We did try a second club but it was the same runner exit as the first! We then headed back to Khao San Road in which we are staying at feeling sad that the girls have to do that for their living.
Khao San road is a really funky buzzing place in which we likened it to Camden Market. Its a backpackers hub and sells various fake Id's, clothes, tatoos, piercings and the road is lined with neon lights. Usually we would hate this but it has a friendly charm to it.
We both visited the floating markets which are just outside of Bangkok, its complete hustle and bustle and hard to by things on the water as the boats keep moving apart or you simply just float by before you can show an interest in something!
We then took a night bus and ferry to Ko Phangan. What a beautiful island! We stayed in the north of the island at Mae Haad View. It was suggested we went there by a guy called Russell we met on the bus. There was only one beach hut and so Russell very kindly let us share his for the week, we had the room and he slept on the balcony in a hammock!!! We had a great time, half of the week was spent relaxing on the quiet beach and the other half was broken into sight seeing and hospital appointments for Emily!
The hospital visits occured due to scooters being the only way to get around the island. Both Emily and Russell were adventure junkies and so headed off on a day of searching for waterfalls and snorkelling sights. Dawn had gone across to Ko Samui for the day. The day started well, the snorkelling at the local beach was nice then Emily and Russell headed off on the bikes into the jungle! There are few concrete roads on the island and so they ended up having to drive the bikes up and down some serious dirt tracks. Emily's bike was rubbish, it couldn't make it up half the hills and so she had to walk it up the hill whilst using the throttle!!!! The hills were sand, gravel and full of gullies, at times they had to splash their way through rivers. It was basically dirt biking on automatic scooters!!!! It was damn scary but also exhillerating until coming down one hill that was covered in loose gravel, fortunately Emily was almost stationary as she was slowly walking the bike down whilst sitting on it but the back wheel slid on the gravel the bike toppled over onto her skidding her against the gravel. This resulted in her sadly having to rip her sarong for a bandage as her arm was gouged pretty badly. In the evening a trip to the hospital resulted in 6 stitches but all is ok now!!! It was a fun day with no regrets as it was an adventure!!!!
Dawn found Ko Samui quieter than she had expected, but the first beach was nothing like the Lonely Planet described it (a romantic fishing village with quiet beach), it was a quiet fishing village with no beach and little facilities, just one expensive restaurant. Due to the Chinese new year it wasn't quiet either, with fire crckers going off every second!! After an expensive breakfast, Dawn headed to the second most popular beach (which the book described as busy), but Dawn found it touristy, but not too in your face. After shopping and chilling on the beach, she headed back to the port and spent time on the beach there (the nicest one in her opinion, athough the book says it is dirty and smelly!) and got the posh Catermaran back to Ko Phangan.
We got into the party spirit and went to a black moon party. It was really good fun and set on the beach. The atmosphere was brilliant with people skipping a burning rope and juggling fire. There were very psychodelic paintings dotted around that glowed in the UV light and the music was trance but it was well Dj'd and kept us dancing till about 6am! Funnily enough we chilled out on the beach the next day. It was nice driving back as day broke as we got to see all the local tradesmen preparing their stuff for the day, many were cutting meat and laying it out.
Another day was spent walking in the Jungle to the highest point on the island. Dawn was challenged by creepy crawleys and having to wade across a river and climbing some boulders. She did well though but chose to not go into the dark depths of the jungle so waited for the wanderers to return by a serene man made lake.
Emily did have a second attempt at the off roading but she took a quad which was slightly better as it could actually get up hills and hold the road. It was great as waterfalls were successfully found and lovely tucked away beaches. Dawn took to the sea this day and had a go at snorkelling with her lilo and loved it!!!! (since this she has become quite the water baby!!!)
We left Ko Phangan by taking a night boat to mainland. This was fun as the upper deck (the only deck we could use) was lined with mattresses in a true dormitory style. Everyone had a mattress to sleep on for the 6 hour journey. It was nice except for them being rather narrow and therefore every now and then waking up to find yourself face to face with a complete stranger. When we reached mainland we jumped into a mini van that was going to take us to Krabi. However it took us 100m and dropped us by the side of the road where we had to wait for 2 hours for another bus to take us to our destination (did i mention that it was 5 am!).
From Krabi we took a long boat to Reiley Beach. At first we weren't over impressed as we were greeted by a muddy beach, having to clamber out of the boat, wade to shore with all our bags oh and Emily managed to slip over and fall face down in the sea soaking all her stuff! We then manged to get a room in the cheapest place, a nice hotel type village thing, however this was still extortionate compared to what we have been used to! Reiley has been developed away from backpackers. It is now a cluster of swankey resorts and families, we did feel a bit out of place until we discovered the paupers end of the beach (the smelly end!) It smells due to the sulphur given off from the Mangroves but cor it is a hold your nose experience. There we found cheap internet, restaurants and bars, the place became a tad more appealing.
We did make the most of our few days there, we walked over to Reiley West beach but it was too crowded and so discovered another small, crowded but more picturesque beach at the end of the peninsula. Here there is also Princess Cave which local fishermen believe that hundreds of years ago an Indian Princess was shipwrecked and died in the cave. Now local fisherman bring very large colurful carved wooden phalluses here as an offering to recieve good luck! Quite an unusual sight! We paid a visit to another cave-Diamond Cave, this was impressive as it went right back into the rock, very deep with a board walk all the way through it but the cave is also home to a huge sheet of quartz which was a beautiful contrast to the bare limestone walls.
Dawn took a day trip to see Bond Island (the man with the golden finger was filmed here), she also visited a cave with another Buddha inside and a floating village. Emily that day decided to explore a hidden lagoon which was inside the headland. The lonely planet said that it is a tough trek inducing vertigo attacks-Emily feels it was mildly described as in fact it included trekking through the jungle alone, having to climb down sheer rocks using knotted ropes to assist with the ascent and descent but obviously no harness and her blue beach dress kept catching on the rocks!!! She felt like a rock climbing Barbie!!!!! (much to the amusement of climbers she met at the end!) The lagoon was a muddy puddle which incidently Emily fell straight into!!!! Yuk! It was another adventure though and forced her to face her fear of heights!
Valentines day was spent on a speed boat exploring Ko Phi phi Ley and Don. Ley is where The Beach was filmed. Apart from the crowds it was truly beautiful and Dawn had ago at rock climbing here in a bikini, sarong and bare feet (She was going for the Lara Croft look rather than Barbie!) Phi Phi Don was sobering as 6000 lives were lost here during the Tsunami. It is so hard to imagine what it must have been like at that time. It is now being redeveloped into an expensive resort area again pushing out the backpackers. Everywhere you go in this area (the Andaman Coast) there are Tsunami evacuation signs and collecting areas. It was a great day out with some amazing snorkelling and Dawn braved the open sea without her lilo or lifejacket!!!! She even dived down to get a better look at the Clown fish (Nemo)!
We then went up the coast to Khao Lak in which we joined a three day dive trip living aboard a boat on the Similian Islands. It was an intense 3 days for Emily as she did 9 dives, ate a lot of rice and saw absolutley amazing fish, rays, seahorse but no bruce the shark! There were so many it was like being in an aquarium. Dawn again braved the snorkelling and was treated several times to close viewings of Turtles-1 being the Green Turtle!
From here we went back to Bangkok for last minute shopping, throwing out of really manky clothes and getting lost in China Town.
Goodbye Thailand!
Random fact of the day:
Birds nest soup is thought to act in the same way as viagra and unfortunately Swallows nests are raided and sold at a whopping 100,000 Bhat for 1 Kilo of the nest! That is eqiuvalent to nearly 2000 British Pounds!
Friday 1 February 2008
Singapore Slingers!!!
Hurrah we were so excited at getting on a plane at last that Emily celebrated with a Singapore Sling in the air but Dawn waited to have hers at Raffels!
We were very fortunate to arrive and to have the hotel already booked and paid for by Emily's friend. Still can't believe how kind she was as a comfy bed, hot shower and a goodnights sleep was like heaven!
We spent the next day wandering around Singapore, visiting a Merlion at Marina Park, an unimpressive fountain followed by a more impressive one that could make us rich as we had to run around the Fountain of wealth 3 times with our right arm in the water saying a wish. The afternoon was spent kicking back whilst enjoying high tea at a delicious smelling bakery in Raffels hotel. We then dragged ourselves up the stairs to Long Bar in which we sat drinking our Singapore slings, eating copius amounts of Peanuts, tossing the empty shells over our shoulders onto the floor. It was great and very funny hearing everyones shells crunching under your feet as you walk around the bar. From here we headed to the night Safari. It is Singapores zoo but at night and well worth a visit. We saw almost every animal that there is and they were unaware of our presence due to very clever lighting. The animals live in a specially designed natural habitat and they all seem very happy. It was interesting to see the nocturnal creatures behaviour. From here it was back to the airport to fly onto Thailand!
Another night on an airport floor but this floor was the equivalent to the Hilton!
Random fact of the day: Singapore has a fantastic ticket system on the mrt. It gives you a plastic ticket that you put back in the machine after your journey. You recieve your $1 deposit back. Very environmentally friendly!
We were very fortunate to arrive and to have the hotel already booked and paid for by Emily's friend. Still can't believe how kind she was as a comfy bed, hot shower and a goodnights sleep was like heaven!
We spent the next day wandering around Singapore, visiting a Merlion at Marina Park, an unimpressive fountain followed by a more impressive one that could make us rich as we had to run around the Fountain of wealth 3 times with our right arm in the water saying a wish. The afternoon was spent kicking back whilst enjoying high tea at a delicious smelling bakery in Raffels hotel. We then dragged ourselves up the stairs to Long Bar in which we sat drinking our Singapore slings, eating copius amounts of Peanuts, tossing the empty shells over our shoulders onto the floor. It was great and very funny hearing everyones shells crunching under your feet as you walk around the bar. From here we headed to the night Safari. It is Singapores zoo but at night and well worth a visit. We saw almost every animal that there is and they were unaware of our presence due to very clever lighting. The animals live in a specially designed natural habitat and they all seem very happy. It was interesting to see the nocturnal creatures behaviour. From here it was back to the airport to fly onto Thailand!
Another night on an airport floor but this floor was the equivalent to the Hilton!
Random fact of the day: Singapore has a fantastic ticket system on the mrt. It gives you a plastic ticket that you put back in the machine after your journey. You recieve your $1 deposit back. Very environmentally friendly!
Tuesday 29 January 2008
Elephants and House boats!
Still catching up but here goes:
So we went to Kerala which is in the very South of India and very hot!
First stop was Fort Cochin which was very obviously influenced by the Portuguese and British which was very visible from the architecture and Catholic churches. It was strange being in an area that ate beef! We went for a lovely evening walk along the sea wall and came across an amazing sight-a female Leatherback turtle was busy digging a hole in which to lay her eggs!!! We watched for a while but were then moved on during the laying process. It looked very hard work but amazing to see. We found out that once the eggs are laid they are removed and hatched using incubators to provide a higher chance of survival and then they are released into the wild.
We then moved onto Kumily where the Periyar National park is situated. Here we went on a tour around a spice and tea plantation with a visit around a tea factory. The smells were amazing and we will never look at a cup of tea in the same way again-the tea making process is so intricate. To finish the day we went for an elephant ride in the rainforest, they are very slow and lollopey. Amazing animals! We have only just recovered from having to sit almost in the splits to get our legs across the back of the giant! Emily then decided that she was too hot and sweaty and needed a spray down from the elephant and so sat on its back whilst the elephant sucked up water in its trunk and then sprayed her. It was a mini Niagra falls, she was soaked! She smelt better after a few sprays!!!
For dinner we cooked our own Keralean food under a local family's instruction. They open up their house as a restaurant and the deal is that we pay to cook but then eat what we made. We learnt to grate a coconut, chop a huge table of veg very finely-Emily was bored after the first carrot!!!! we made the batter for Parathas and then cooked them into fluffy tasty things. Loads of time and hard work goes into Indian cooking!
Next day we got up very early much to our disgust but it was worth it as we went for a lovely 3 hour walk in Periyar National Park. We walked through Jungle and saw Deer, Wild Boar, Elephant dung, lots of birds, leeches that tried to get on our legs! and a wasp that stung Dawn! A few monkeys were also thrown in for good measure and possibly otters from a distance!
That afternoon we caught a very bouncy bus to Kovalam but missed the ferry to Alleppey so had to take a bus instead. We were glad we did in the end as we went through an amazing festival which had a parade of very dressed up elephants, dancers and floats. They were celebrating a Hindu festival that we are unfamiliar with. We finished the day with dinner in a posher than normal looking hotel. However the restaurant was a bit dirty and crawling with HUGE cockroaches that Dawn only noticed halfway through dinner which then sent her into a mad panic leaping up out of her seat and then the waiter amused himself by flicking it at her! We didn't leave a tip even though Dawn had many for them!
Next day was far more tranquil. It was spent cruising the backwaters on a house boat. There were no Cockroaches in sight just a few lizards helping to keep mosquitos at bay. The waters are so beautiful, sometimes canal type channels then opening up to massive wetlands like the Norfolk Broads. The boat was luxury. It had a very comfortable seating area at the front in the sun and our berth had an ensuite bathroom which was spacious for a boat. We enjoyed being waited on hand and foot. It was a lazy 22 h0urs watching the world go by. Emily enjoyed a swim in the water which was so warm and soft, she chose to ignore the odd waterlilly that became wrapped around her ankles!
We then made our way upto Bombay with more complications on the train-probably the worst yet but we will tell the story when we get home. We stopped at Mangalore for a few hours in which we visited a beautifully painted chapel, then we returned to Benalim for a days RnR on the beautiful beach sadly though the beach huts were full so we had to stay in the town. We had a day in Bombay before flying out. We walked around various sights, watched 100 local cricket matches going on all at once. We have no idea how they knew which game had which ball but it seemed to work!!! We then caught the train to Gandhi's national park where we went on a real whizz bang safari and saw, deer, tiger, snow tiger and lions. They were guaranteed sightings as they were in enclosures. It had a great info room in which it highlighted how much is being done to save the worlds Tiger population.
Random fact of the day: Tigers only need to eat every two days!!!!!
(Dawn has taken Emily's Tiger status away!)
We arrived at the airport 12 hours early for our flight to then discover that we were actually 12 hours late!!!! We had missed our flight!!!! Whoops we had read 28th Jan flying at 00:30 wrong. We felt like fools! Never mind we managed to book another flight out the next morning. We spent a delightful 24 hours on the floor of Bombay's Airport! We opted for this over a hotel as in Bombay the hotels are very overpriced and manky!
GOODBYE INDIA!!!!!!!!!!!!
So we went to Kerala which is in the very South of India and very hot!
First stop was Fort Cochin which was very obviously influenced by the Portuguese and British which was very visible from the architecture and Catholic churches. It was strange being in an area that ate beef! We went for a lovely evening walk along the sea wall and came across an amazing sight-a female Leatherback turtle was busy digging a hole in which to lay her eggs!!! We watched for a while but were then moved on during the laying process. It looked very hard work but amazing to see. We found out that once the eggs are laid they are removed and hatched using incubators to provide a higher chance of survival and then they are released into the wild.
We then moved onto Kumily where the Periyar National park is situated. Here we went on a tour around a spice and tea plantation with a visit around a tea factory. The smells were amazing and we will never look at a cup of tea in the same way again-the tea making process is so intricate. To finish the day we went for an elephant ride in the rainforest, they are very slow and lollopey. Amazing animals! We have only just recovered from having to sit almost in the splits to get our legs across the back of the giant! Emily then decided that she was too hot and sweaty and needed a spray down from the elephant and so sat on its back whilst the elephant sucked up water in its trunk and then sprayed her. It was a mini Niagra falls, she was soaked! She smelt better after a few sprays!!!
For dinner we cooked our own Keralean food under a local family's instruction. They open up their house as a restaurant and the deal is that we pay to cook but then eat what we made. We learnt to grate a coconut, chop a huge table of veg very finely-Emily was bored after the first carrot!!!! we made the batter for Parathas and then cooked them into fluffy tasty things. Loads of time and hard work goes into Indian cooking!
Next day we got up very early much to our disgust but it was worth it as we went for a lovely 3 hour walk in Periyar National Park. We walked through Jungle and saw Deer, Wild Boar, Elephant dung, lots of birds, leeches that tried to get on our legs! and a wasp that stung Dawn! A few monkeys were also thrown in for good measure and possibly otters from a distance!
That afternoon we caught a very bouncy bus to Kovalam but missed the ferry to Alleppey so had to take a bus instead. We were glad we did in the end as we went through an amazing festival which had a parade of very dressed up elephants, dancers and floats. They were celebrating a Hindu festival that we are unfamiliar with. We finished the day with dinner in a posher than normal looking hotel. However the restaurant was a bit dirty and crawling with HUGE cockroaches that Dawn only noticed halfway through dinner which then sent her into a mad panic leaping up out of her seat and then the waiter amused himself by flicking it at her! We didn't leave a tip even though Dawn had many for them!
Next day was far more tranquil. It was spent cruising the backwaters on a house boat. There were no Cockroaches in sight just a few lizards helping to keep mosquitos at bay. The waters are so beautiful, sometimes canal type channels then opening up to massive wetlands like the Norfolk Broads. The boat was luxury. It had a very comfortable seating area at the front in the sun and our berth had an ensuite bathroom which was spacious for a boat. We enjoyed being waited on hand and foot. It was a lazy 22 h0urs watching the world go by. Emily enjoyed a swim in the water which was so warm and soft, she chose to ignore the odd waterlilly that became wrapped around her ankles!
We then made our way upto Bombay with more complications on the train-probably the worst yet but we will tell the story when we get home. We stopped at Mangalore for a few hours in which we visited a beautifully painted chapel, then we returned to Benalim for a days RnR on the beautiful beach sadly though the beach huts were full so we had to stay in the town. We had a day in Bombay before flying out. We walked around various sights, watched 100 local cricket matches going on all at once. We have no idea how they knew which game had which ball but it seemed to work!!! We then caught the train to Gandhi's national park where we went on a real whizz bang safari and saw, deer, tiger, snow tiger and lions. They were guaranteed sightings as they were in enclosures. It had a great info room in which it highlighted how much is being done to save the worlds Tiger population.
Random fact of the day: Tigers only need to eat every two days!!!!!
(Dawn has taken Emily's Tiger status away!)
We arrived at the airport 12 hours early for our flight to then discover that we were actually 12 hours late!!!! We had missed our flight!!!! Whoops we had read 28th Jan flying at 00:30 wrong. We felt like fools! Never mind we managed to book another flight out the next morning. We spent a delightful 24 hours on the floor of Bombay's Airport! We opted for this over a hotel as in Bombay the hotels are very overpriced and manky!
GOODBYE INDIA!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday 24 January 2008
Bit behind brief summary!!!!
Ok so from Shimla we went to Delhi and stayed for 5 days with the friends we met in Manali.
It was very good, various outings, lots of food and rehabilitation incl a trip to the doctors and some rather strong medicine but we are well now!!!
New years eve they treated us to an evening in a posh hotel and a hummer type car to it. Dawn and Emily had issues handling the alcohol but took refuge (after a lot of crazy dancing to Indian music) at the dessert buffet where massive amounts of chocolate mousse and truffles were devoured!
Happy new year to you all!!!!!!!!
When we left Delhi on a 24hr train journey to Jamanagar a sleepy but quaint town stuck in the 1940's with the american dinner feel to it in each restaurant. Emily loved it here though as its not touristy and is to her real India. Here we went to a Marine park after more confusion with the army! It was good to walk in the warm sea looking at wildlife such as a puffa fish, baby shark and octopus but a little disapointing at the level of responsible tourism as we felt species were being unfairly handled. We also visited Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary which was fab. We saw the sun rise over wetlands, flamingos bathed, kingfishers fished, cormarants dried out and flocks of pelicans flew overhead. We also got adopted by an Indian community and married off but will tell you when we see you!
From Jamnagar we took a 22hr train to Pune but getting lost in Mumbai at 5:30am whilst trying to change trains and stations-we now know Mumbai's stations pretty well. We got to Pune and stayed with Emily's friend from when she worked in Edinburgh. It was 5 lovely days sightseeing and eating way too much again, shopping, Dawn now has a Sari! Oh and a hilarious trip to the beauty salon where both of us felt like fishes out of the water, clueless we signed up for a facial but ending having a deluxe one when we only asked for a basic one-a biotic one we will add (whatever that means!) More embarrassing confusion over the price.
From Pune we headed to Goa. The first day was spent walking around the capital Panaji admiring the Portuguese architecture and churches. After a very crowded local bus journey we watched sunset at Mirimar beach then finished the day with a Domino's pizza (we do eat a lot of Indian food most of the time, honest, its just curbing those cravings!)
Next day we headed to the beaches after dawn fell down the stairs at the bus station and looked like a beetle on the floor legs and arms in the air with her backpack holding her down! hehe!
We headed to Benalim beach, was paradise, by fluke we ended up at the quieter area and stayed in beach huts metres from the sea. Emily was in swimming heaven. we ate at the small tavernas along the beach whilst watching the sunset. One day was spent on hired bicycles in which we cycled miles down the 37km stretch of sand and then picked our way through the back roads and lush green scenery, viewing fishing communities.
From here we went to Palolem, meant to be Goa's most idealistic beach. Picture in the book was nothing like the real thing. It was nice but too busy for us and the beach is just lined with beach huts and restaurants. Our beach hut was more like a shed in Dawns eyes! Still we had a day chilling in which we moved about 100 metres in total!
Then Onto Kerala................................
It was very good, various outings, lots of food and rehabilitation incl a trip to the doctors and some rather strong medicine but we are well now!!!
New years eve they treated us to an evening in a posh hotel and a hummer type car to it. Dawn and Emily had issues handling the alcohol but took refuge (after a lot of crazy dancing to Indian music) at the dessert buffet where massive amounts of chocolate mousse and truffles were devoured!
Happy new year to you all!!!!!!!!
When we left Delhi on a 24hr train journey to Jamanagar a sleepy but quaint town stuck in the 1940's with the american dinner feel to it in each restaurant. Emily loved it here though as its not touristy and is to her real India. Here we went to a Marine park after more confusion with the army! It was good to walk in the warm sea looking at wildlife such as a puffa fish, baby shark and octopus but a little disapointing at the level of responsible tourism as we felt species were being unfairly handled. We also visited Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary which was fab. We saw the sun rise over wetlands, flamingos bathed, kingfishers fished, cormarants dried out and flocks of pelicans flew overhead. We also got adopted by an Indian community and married off but will tell you when we see you!
From Jamnagar we took a 22hr train to Pune but getting lost in Mumbai at 5:30am whilst trying to change trains and stations-we now know Mumbai's stations pretty well. We got to Pune and stayed with Emily's friend from when she worked in Edinburgh. It was 5 lovely days sightseeing and eating way too much again, shopping, Dawn now has a Sari! Oh and a hilarious trip to the beauty salon where both of us felt like fishes out of the water, clueless we signed up for a facial but ending having a deluxe one when we only asked for a basic one-a biotic one we will add (whatever that means!) More embarrassing confusion over the price.
From Pune we headed to Goa. The first day was spent walking around the capital Panaji admiring the Portuguese architecture and churches. After a very crowded local bus journey we watched sunset at Mirimar beach then finished the day with a Domino's pizza (we do eat a lot of Indian food most of the time, honest, its just curbing those cravings!)
Next day we headed to the beaches after dawn fell down the stairs at the bus station and looked like a beetle on the floor legs and arms in the air with her backpack holding her down! hehe!
We headed to Benalim beach, was paradise, by fluke we ended up at the quieter area and stayed in beach huts metres from the sea. Emily was in swimming heaven. we ate at the small tavernas along the beach whilst watching the sunset. One day was spent on hired bicycles in which we cycled miles down the 37km stretch of sand and then picked our way through the back roads and lush green scenery, viewing fishing communities.
From here we went to Palolem, meant to be Goa's most idealistic beach. Picture in the book was nothing like the real thing. It was nice but too busy for us and the beach is just lined with beach huts and restaurants. Our beach hut was more like a shed in Dawns eyes! Still we had a day chilling in which we moved about 100 metres in total!
Then Onto Kerala................................
Friday 11 January 2008
Christmas and New Year Giggles!!
Hello sorry it's been so long. It was the day before Christmas Eve that we last blogged. So to update you - Christmas Eve we walked around Log Hut Manali looking for Emily's guide from World Challenge, but no one in the area had heard off him. Therefore we went for a wander in the hills and ended up doing more scrambling down hillsides on our bums!! Great views of the valley and river below, until we found our way into the sewage works!!
For the evening we were off to a posh restaurant / hotel for a meal and party, so we dressed up in our Punjabi's. We were the first ones to arrive and there was a big mix up over the price of our meal, as we thought we'd agreed a deal. It was all very embarrassing, but was worked out in the end. We had a great evening of food, wine and dancing, to the amusement of the other guests who were mainly Indian.
At the end of the evening the Indian / Scottish friends we had made suggested going up into the hills to the place we were going skiing at the next day. After a bumpy, windy journey over mainly unmade roads we arrived in what seemed to be a snow covered valley. We felt very Christmassy as we pushed each other along in sledges and slid down a massive icy slope on our backs, it was loads of fun even if we did get a bit bruised!!
Christmas Day - after only 4 hours sleep we dragged ourselves out of bed and went skiing. After another bumpy ride which felt longer than the night before we arrived. There seemed a lot less snow than the night before and the valley didn't feel half as magical full of people. We were taken onto a 25 x 20 metre flat patch of icy snow with our instructor. He didn't say a great deal, so Dawn been the beginner got most of her advice from Emily. With no slope it was hard work pushing ourselves along, but Dawn got the hang of it and didn't fall over once. We then asked if we could hit the slopes? The response from the instructor was, 'your on the slope.' We looked at each over in shock and said, 'no this isn't a slope, this isn't skiing!!' He replied with 'there's no snow and your beginners.' Emily said `I'm not and even though Dawn has never skied she can handle a slope.' Deflated we pushed ourselves up and down the patch a few more times and then took our skis off. We went for a walk up the muddy, icy slope where the cafe and ski lifts were. We sat in the sun for a while watching the Indian holiday makers make the best of the muddy snow and try to ski and sledge, least we weren't the only fools sold a skiing trip when there was no snow!!
We returned to the office to complain. By now Dawn was feeling terrible and the speedy, bumpy, windy drive back had added to this. Emily complained at the office and after threatening to sit in the office all day until we got half of our money back. We went for breakfast, were Dawn was sick and then both feeling very run down and ill went back the the guest house for a rest. Throughout the afternoon Emily got worse as well feeling very flu like, going hot and cold. As the sun went behind the hill we felt freezing, so the staff at the guest house kindly let us join them by the fire bowl in the kitchen to warm up. We spent the rest of the night and evening in bed watching Star Movies, (the main English TV channel). So not the best Christmas all in all, but at least Christmas Eve had been a great one.
Boxing Day - We both still felt cold and flu like with stomach pains, not sure if it was a bug or some kind of food poisoning. If it was food poisoning that would be very ironic, as since been in India Christmas Eve was our most expensive meal!! Around late morning Ramesh (Emily's guide from World Challenge) came to our room and invited us to his house. We followed him up the hill to log hut and found we had walked right by his house a few days before. His house was set in a lovely little orchard. We climbed a small ladder up to a cosy room with a log stove in the middle. We had coffee, met the family and he showed us photos of his various expeditions. There were loads of photos of Emily's trip, with Sarah, Robin and Miss Read also. He remembered them all well and Emily and him reminisced about their trek.
We spent the rest of the day in the sun and then at 8pm left to get the night bus to Shimla. Lovely as Manali is we will be glad to get to go south to the warmth.
The 8 hour bus ride was cramped and Emily still feeling ill, was sick out of the window a few times. We really hoped Shimla would be nice and cheer us both up. How wrong we were! First everywhere was fully booked or closed so we were traipsing around at 5:30am feeling ill with heavy bags. Eventually we found an expensive room with no water, a view of the noisy bus station-oh happy days. We booked our train out of there for the next day with a lot of confusion and queing-booking a train is a circus act here! Make sure you have a spare hour or two!
After this we headed to the British part of Shimla which turned out to be nice, there was a church, tudor housing and a town hall. We also did the western thing to cheer us up by finishing the day with a Domino's pizza and hot chocolate! YUM!
We left the next day on the toy train but before leaving we annoyed the Indian army(-ask us about it when we get home!!!!) The train journey and views were amazing, we wound down the mountains sometimes doubling back on ourselves. The views were extensive and stretched as far as the Tibetan/china boarder it was breathtaking and made Shimla worthwhile.
For the evening we were off to a posh restaurant / hotel for a meal and party, so we dressed up in our Punjabi's. We were the first ones to arrive and there was a big mix up over the price of our meal, as we thought we'd agreed a deal. It was all very embarrassing, but was worked out in the end. We had a great evening of food, wine and dancing, to the amusement of the other guests who were mainly Indian.
At the end of the evening the Indian / Scottish friends we had made suggested going up into the hills to the place we were going skiing at the next day. After a bumpy, windy journey over mainly unmade roads we arrived in what seemed to be a snow covered valley. We felt very Christmassy as we pushed each other along in sledges and slid down a massive icy slope on our backs, it was loads of fun even if we did get a bit bruised!!
Christmas Day - after only 4 hours sleep we dragged ourselves out of bed and went skiing. After another bumpy ride which felt longer than the night before we arrived. There seemed a lot less snow than the night before and the valley didn't feel half as magical full of people. We were taken onto a 25 x 20 metre flat patch of icy snow with our instructor. He didn't say a great deal, so Dawn been the beginner got most of her advice from Emily. With no slope it was hard work pushing ourselves along, but Dawn got the hang of it and didn't fall over once. We then asked if we could hit the slopes? The response from the instructor was, 'your on the slope.' We looked at each over in shock and said, 'no this isn't a slope, this isn't skiing!!' He replied with 'there's no snow and your beginners.' Emily said `I'm not and even though Dawn has never skied she can handle a slope.' Deflated we pushed ourselves up and down the patch a few more times and then took our skis off. We went for a walk up the muddy, icy slope where the cafe and ski lifts were. We sat in the sun for a while watching the Indian holiday makers make the best of the muddy snow and try to ski and sledge, least we weren't the only fools sold a skiing trip when there was no snow!!
We returned to the office to complain. By now Dawn was feeling terrible and the speedy, bumpy, windy drive back had added to this. Emily complained at the office and after threatening to sit in the office all day until we got half of our money back. We went for breakfast, were Dawn was sick and then both feeling very run down and ill went back the the guest house for a rest. Throughout the afternoon Emily got worse as well feeling very flu like, going hot and cold. As the sun went behind the hill we felt freezing, so the staff at the guest house kindly let us join them by the fire bowl in the kitchen to warm up. We spent the rest of the night and evening in bed watching Star Movies, (the main English TV channel). So not the best Christmas all in all, but at least Christmas Eve had been a great one.
Boxing Day - We both still felt cold and flu like with stomach pains, not sure if it was a bug or some kind of food poisoning. If it was food poisoning that would be very ironic, as since been in India Christmas Eve was our most expensive meal!! Around late morning Ramesh (Emily's guide from World Challenge) came to our room and invited us to his house. We followed him up the hill to log hut and found we had walked right by his house a few days before. His house was set in a lovely little orchard. We climbed a small ladder up to a cosy room with a log stove in the middle. We had coffee, met the family and he showed us photos of his various expeditions. There were loads of photos of Emily's trip, with Sarah, Robin and Miss Read also. He remembered them all well and Emily and him reminisced about their trek.
We spent the rest of the day in the sun and then at 8pm left to get the night bus to Shimla. Lovely as Manali is we will be glad to get to go south to the warmth.
The 8 hour bus ride was cramped and Emily still feeling ill, was sick out of the window a few times. We really hoped Shimla would be nice and cheer us both up. How wrong we were! First everywhere was fully booked or closed so we were traipsing around at 5:30am feeling ill with heavy bags. Eventually we found an expensive room with no water, a view of the noisy bus station-oh happy days. We booked our train out of there for the next day with a lot of confusion and queing-booking a train is a circus act here! Make sure you have a spare hour or two!
After this we headed to the British part of Shimla which turned out to be nice, there was a church, tudor housing and a town hall. We also did the western thing to cheer us up by finishing the day with a Domino's pizza and hot chocolate! YUM!
We left the next day on the toy train but before leaving we annoyed the Indian army(-ask us about it when we get home!!!!) The train journey and views were amazing, we wound down the mountains sometimes doubling back on ourselves. The views were extensive and stretched as far as the Tibetan/china boarder it was breathtaking and made Shimla worthwhile.
Sunday 23 December 2007
Nutters turn Yak Cow Girls!!!
Hi Everyone!
Firstly Happy Christmas! We both hope that you celebrate the festivities with way too much food and drink as normal, then sit back and say "oh I'm so not going to eat as much next year", by next year you have by then forgotten that promise!
So we left you last as we were heading to Jodphur, Indias Blue city. Yes it is very blue, it also has a lovely HUGE fort that we went around using an audio tour which made it pretty interesting-tell you more when home.
From Jodphur we went onto Bikaner, a desert town in which we stayed in very cold mud hut type thing. On the way we stopped at the strangest temple of all! It was a temple that worships RATS! Yes we did say rats and yes it was full of them! We had to leave our shoes at the entrance and then hop around trying to miss the rats as they ran at our feet! Emily turned out to be a girly girl squealing, Dawn stayed in the rat courtyard and let Emily get the closer photo's in the surrounding buildings. It was weird, pigeons also swarmed the place as there was a constant flow of food, grain and milk-wait to see the photos. Didn't do much in the town, headed into town for a meal, wasn't overly impressed by dinner or town.
Then Hurrah, we went back to Delhi and left our driver! We stayed in a families house in Delhi for the evening and had lots of lovely home cooked food and a comfy bed with soft pillows!
Next day we left for Manali (Emily's Paradise). We took a cute sleeper bus which had a really snug little curtained off area for us to sleep in, 16 hours later we arrived. Dawn was amazed by the sheer beauty of the snow capped mountains. The stony rivers cutting through the valley, running along the roadside, Alpine trees clinging to the hills and sun shining through. Just to make you all jealous, this is our view from our balcony! We sit here in the sun between 10-3pm as sun is so strong in our vest tops. When it cools down we go for various local walks.
Within two minutes of us stepping off of the bus, Emily bumped into a man she met here 9 years ago! We are now staying at his hotel-for those of you who were in India with me last, it is the man who tricked us off of the bus into staying at the Hotel Kalpna.
After settling in we went for a walk up through forest and found an absolute tourist hub, in this hub were a couple of Yaks!!!! We couldn't resist riding on the hairy big horned beasts! So off we went, Dawn has been wondering that if she brought one back, would it be allowed on Public Bridleways in Herts?!
Yesterday we went for a lovely walk, 5 hours in the mountains and climbing up very steep sides by a huge waterfall. It was fun slipping and sliding in the snow! Emily decided it was easier to get down the mountain side by sliding down on her bum where as Dawn maintained a slow clamber but her bum remained dry and warm, unlike Emily's! To warm up we visited local natural sulphur baths, used for sacred bathing, they were boiling-too hot to actually get into! The locals found us very amusing! There's one for ladies and one for men which is good because anything goes when it comes down to what to wear.
Today was amazing, our hotelier managed to find Ramesh! He was Emily's Guide in the Himalayas in 1998. We are going to his house tomorrow to meet his son Sanjeep, also a guide and then Budhram the cook is also around. It is so lovely to see him again as he was like my Himalayan Father, we used to just walk and talk each day, he hasn't changed much either and he remembered me and the trek we all did!
Now we are planning Christmas Day and will let you know what we have up our sleeve next time!
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