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Manchester - Mumbai |
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The first entry of the Indian odyssey. We arrived in Mumbai at the ungodly hour of 1am slightly delayed, but it was a pleasant flight. You know, what people say about Singapore Airline Stewardesses is true they do have nice uniforms.
After a solemn introduction via immigration we eventually booked our |
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Refuge in Goa |
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We are leaving Palolem today - heading back to Madgaon and then catching a train to Hampi tomorrow morning. We have spent nearly 2 weeks in Goa and have loved it - lots of lounging around not doing much at all, it was a great relief after Bombay. It is amazing |
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Palolem - Hampi |
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Well where to begin. It has been several weeks since the last update and judging by e-mails we have recevied we are not sure if anyone is reading these. It seemed like a good idea at the time! Anyway we are currently in a small town of a population of only |
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Indian hostility |
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Yesterday was a bad day. It is true what every traveller has told us about India, one day is great the next is shitty. There is never an equlibrium or a standard, I don't know why. One day the constant beeping of horns and 'Hello boss, what do you want' can |
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Tamil Nadu madness |
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Well where to start. Since the last update we have been on a cannonball type run mission up from the Southern most tip of India to the mid-way point of Chennai in a week, although it feels like months!!
It all started casually enough in the small town of Kanniyakumari, where instead |
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Sore arse and twiddling nipples |
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Well we made it to Agra after a total of 32.5 hours on the train! To the credit of Indian railways the train pulled into the city of the Taj Mahal exactly to the minute - an impressive feat by anyone's standards for the meagre sum of RS1042 (15 British pounds) |
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Is the Taj big enough for you? |
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Following numerous complaints that we are visiting places which are too small is Agra bloody big enough for you? Surely one of the modern wonders of the world should do it - if not we are making our way to Calcutta (or Kolkotta as it now seems to be called) and |
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Strange men |
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Now I do tend to get a fair bit of hassle walking around Indian streets - I think most western women do. Certainly all the other female travellers I have met here have had stories ranging from staring, whistling, bellowing, grabbing your boobs, feeling your arse and of course, nipple twiddling! |
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Beauty at last |
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Well we are now in Kochi and it seems more than time for an update. You'll all be delighted to hear that Darren has now calmed down after his last outburst and is enjoying himself once again - we both are incidently! We even managed to get called cheats and naughty |
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The rise and fall of the 1857 mutiny |
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Well for all you history buffs out there we managed to do a flying stop in the city of Lucknow. Home to one of the largest uprisings during 1857. Basically all the foreigners got together and headed to the resdiency, about 2,000 people, where they hunkered down away from the terrible |
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Anyone fancy a swim? |
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Well we made it to one of the holiest sites in India and I tell you what this place is something else. We arrived here from Lucknow and the difference is immediately obvious, the place is very hot and dry around 43 degrees meaning nothing can be done between 10am - |
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No black hole but hot cross buns....yippee |
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Well we didn't get thrown into the legendary 'black hole of Calcutta' but we did manage to track down sowm hot cross buns for Easter alledgedly made to a traditional English recipe, but has anyone ever had hot cross buns that contain glace cherries!!!
Still it was an even greater treat as |
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Chill out in Darjeeling |
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From Calcutta and the 96% humidity we escaped north to the hills. We took an overnight train packed with Indian tourists also heading for cooler climes. For some unknown reason our entire carriage was male except me which was interesting but we got absolutely no hassle, just a few intrigued stares. |
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On the rhino trail |
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We'd got our visas for Nepal while in Calcutta and the high number of Nepalese in Darjeeling only made us want to visit the country more. We left for Siliguri in a shared jeep with Jenneca and Mike, an American couple we met in Darjeeling. From Siliguri we took another jeep |
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Stuck in Kathmandu |
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Well we keep getting grief from people because we haven't updated the site for a while so here goes. Last time we wrote we had just arrived in Kathmandu after spending a few days chasing rhino in Chitwan. We ended up being in Kathmandu for a couple of weeks for one |
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Trek day 1: Pokhara - Jomsom - Kagbeni(2800M) |
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The trek has certainly begun. We arose at 4.00am to hot foot it donw to the airport to board our Cosmic Air jet. Cosmic it certainly wasn't although it was adequate, complete with an air stewardess to attend to the every need of the 18 passengers during the 25 minute joourney. |
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Trek day 2: Kagbeni(2800M) |
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Bloody hell the wind is strong!! Today we mainly hung around in the lodge and finally ventured out when the wind was at it's highest and went for a walk. We have seen what we need to get up tomorrow to get to Muktinath - 'bejesus' it looks steep. Maybe I'm |
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Trek day 3: Kagbeni - Muktinath(3800M) |
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One word - knackered. We've made it eventually, start time was 7.00am and reached our destination @ 1.30pm. I'm still debating whether it was fun. After an interminably slow two hours up the path we had seen the previous day I had to verbally abuse Andrea to keep going. It was |
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Trek day 4: Muktinath(3800M) |
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Rest day number two. Muktinath is a bit of a one horse town but does a brisk trekking trade due to it being the next town after the Thorung La pass. When your hanging around here on a rest day you feel like a fraud as 90% of the trekkers here |
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Trek day 5: Muktinath - Jomsom - Marpha(2670M) |
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Today the word is buggered!! We hot footed it down to Marpha today and bar a killer steep path to Eklo Bhattis it wasn't bad going but it was long. We made good time as thuis bit we had already seen coming up and once again the clouds had rolled in |
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Trek day 6: Marpha(2670M) |
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Chilled to another level today. I have finished the Potter book and it was pretty darn good, looking forward to the fifth installment which is soon. I am desparate to find out what happens to him in his fifth year, next I'll be buying HP quills, lunch boxes, stickers etc etc.
Today |
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Trek day 7: Marpha - Tukche - Larjung(2550M) |
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The day today is mellow and cloudy and we stopped by in Tukche to pick up a bottle of brandy for a meagre 50RS. It's not bad but I think it's best to mix it up to dilute the kick at the back your throat. This was the first day of |
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Trek day 8: Larjung - Kalopani - Ghasa - Dana(1400M) |
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Cor blimey guvnor what a bugger of a day. The day got off to a good start with a relatively clear morning so once again we were privileged to see the mountains from the previous night, by the time we left it was like they were never there. The first part |
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Trek day 9: Dana - Tatopani(1190M) |
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Hot springs!!! We've made it both to Tatopani and three consecutive trekking days, although a rest day is indeed pencilled in for tomorrow. The weathe ris warnming up and the humid has made may say 'I'm sweating like a slave' a few times. Once again Lalitt's advice has hit the nail |
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Trek day 10: Tatopani(1190M) |
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The hot springs are to hot!! Well in the afternoon anyway, we headed down there stuck our big toes in and it was hotter than either of us would have a bath. Still we will wait until later when it cools down to have a long soak.
Just relaxing relaxing today |
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Trek day 11: Tatopani - Chitre(2390M) |
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Up and up and up, we were the last to arrive today, behind Chris, Kessav, Robert, Marion and Raju- and it was because we were the buggered club and not the 'shanti shanti'. The humidity has had the sweat dripping of me in litres today, i'm not sure where it's coming |
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Trek day 13: Ghorepani - Tadapani(2590M) |
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Thank god for downhill. We had to stop short of a destination, Ghnadruk, due to the rain so we stayed in 'Far water'. I also maaged to fall in some cow shit today which was nice!! Today was kind of hard going but I think that everyone has now decided that |
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Trek day 14: Tadapani - Nayapul - Pokhara(800M) |
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Well who needs Poon Hill, awakw at 5.00am to see Annapurna South(7219m), Hinchuli(6441m), Machhapuchre(6993m) and Mardi Himal(5588m) from the hotel balcony quite stunning.
Unfortuantely the walk proved less successful. Andrea twisted her ankle to add to Monica's and Chris's Knees, Robert's dodgy guts and Raju's ankle. A company of crocks.
We |
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The question of the beard.... |
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Now I know a few of you have looked at the new photographs and from some disaparaging remarks, we have realised you may have noticed the facial growth.
So just to pass the time, I know some of you think you are really busy, perhaps you can let us know your comments |
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Snake dies of man bite(The Himalayan Times) |
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A man bit and tore a snake to pieces. It all happened yesterday in a marketplace in Balthin Narsingh village in Muzzaffarpur district - with plenty of witnesses to disprove any sceptics who refuse to believe the fantastic story.
The victor in the battle, a young man was first bitten by the |
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Why Indians do yoga!!!!(Part 1) |
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The day had started so well, we had said our tearful goodbyes to Lalit and Anju early in the morning boarded the bus and left for the Indian border. We had waited out the strike and were confident that we could make it to Delhi by early Monday evening, it was |
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Why Indians do yoga? (Part 2) |
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The morning after proved no more successful, it was beginning to feel like we had entered a black hole. We left the train station 2 hours later no better off than the previous evening having decided that the bus was our final unappetising option. We arrived at the bus station station |
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If anyone is interested the India/Nepal reading list...... |
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Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Everest Disaster
by Jon Krakauer
If This Is a Man / The Truce
by Primo Levi, Stuart Woolf (Translator)
The Rabbit Omnibus
by John Updike
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
by Jung Chang
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
by Dave Eggers
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5)
by |
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