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!!!!!!!!!!!!

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................................

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.