India was amazing!!!
Trip Start
Sep 27, 2009
1
16
Trip End
Sep 26, 2010
Delhi, India
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sorry it has taken me a while to add my first entry, but the connection in India was always really slow and so I never had time to sort the blog out.
So I have lots to update you in the last 3 week. I absolutely loved India and just wished I had longer there. I barely even touched the surface.
Day 1: So I arrived in Delhi and was picked up by my friends partner from the airport in Delhi and he took me for breakfast. He then drove me round parts of Delhi, pointing out points of interest. He was a very good tour guide. It was a public holiday in India and so the roads were very quiet. Kat then dropped me off at my hostel. Having driven through the most expenisve road in India, my accomodation was a bit of a shock. The girl I am sharing a room with said she saw a mouse the night before, ahhhhh!!! I met up with a few people from the group that I will be touring with and we went back into the city to look around. A local Indian man took us to a Sikh temple which was packed. Everyone is amazed by us because of the colour of our skin. We then looked at a few markets, trying to wade through the many people.
Day 2: Our next destination was Agra. We hired auto ricksaw to take us round the sights for the day. We saw the Baby Taj, the red fort and the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal was so amazing. Definitely something everyone should try and see! The drivers are mental and they just beep at each other all the time!!!!! A few near death experiences.
So that part most of you new already. Onto to the stuff you dont know!
Day 3: After a long bus journey, we arrived at Jaipur and we were staying in a lovely hotel with a roof top bar! Was first introduced to a laisse (local yoghurt drink) which I lived on for the next few weeks in India. That evening we went to see a Hindi movie at the cinema. We all thought that we would only want to say for the first part as we would grasp what was going on, but we were enjoying it that much that we decided to stay for the whole thing. Definitely going to watch some bollywood movies. I deffo reccommend!!!
Day 4: We hired Tuk Tuks to take us round the city. The Amber fort was absolutely amazing to see. We had an Albino Indian who gave us a tour around and explanied all about the history of the fort. Very sweet old man whod been giving tours for 50 years. In the afternoon, we went to an amazing market, but fussy Rachelle was only loking for certain items and so was not lucky that time. Plenty more shopping though! In the evening, a few of us from the group went to Jaipur's answer to Disneyland. It was really good fun. We had an intersting head and neck massage, there was a magic show, camel rides. We even got henna done on our hands. Thought it was a good idea at the time, until it dried and it was a horrible brown colour that looked like you'd wiped your bum with your hand. 3 weeks later it is finally gone, wohooo!!!! Never again, lol!! Nearly forgot, had our first power cut in Jaipur and so the head torch came out for the first time!! (Good choice Luce)
Day 5: Very interesting bus journey to Pushkar. No aircondioning and not very roomy, which I can deal with as I only have little legs. But I am not the most patient person of all time and the bus driver insisted on picking up every tom, dick and harry along the way. As well as driving on the wrong side of the road for extended periods of time, just to overtake a cow or a goat. Many more fun transportation stories to come!! To my delight there was a swimming pool at our hotel!!! Was so nice to chill by the pool!! My roomate Jen and I shared our room with 4 cockroaches that day. I Had to call reception as these beast were massive!
Day 6: Still in Pushkar, we walked to the only Brahama temple still in India. I have to say it wasnt the most impressive temple we saw on our trip. We then had a nice lazy day, walking back through the markets and chilling by the pool. Everyone is so friendly here, as it is such a small place!
Day 7: I got up at 4.15 this moring to go on a morning trek to watch the sunrise. The walk was harder than I expected. We walked up at least 600 steps in the dark (well with my head torch), which was really steep. A sense of achievment when we reached the top, but unfortunately it was a very cloudy day and so we couldnt even see the sunrise. On the way back down we had to pass quite a few monkeys. Now as most of you know, I am not a big dog fan, well they are everywhere in India. One came running over to me and my friend and so we threw a shoe at will to get him away. The owner started laughing at us at calling to us to see if we wanted our shoe, but we just carried on walking! There was no way I was turning back!!
Day 8: We arrived in Udaipur and I really liked it here. We went on a boat ride to one of the islands, called Jagnivas and the views were amazing. It looked like Venice. We sat and had cockatails admiring the view. Later we went to look at the city palace, but werent very impressed by it ( We later found out that we had gone to the wrong place, oopps!). Spent the afternoon wondering through the city and had an amazing meal with everyone looking out onto India's answer to Venice!
Day 9: Although my curry was tasy, I paid the consequences and sat on the loo for a while. Was a great opportunity to read a few chapters of my book! We then went back to the correct side of the city palace. It is an amzing building and is the second biggest palace in Inida. The courtyard areas outside the place are spectacular. Would love to organise events there!!! We also went to the Jaddish Temple which was very pretty. Then nearly had an embarassinrg moment. I had to waddle very quickly to find a toliet; or shall i say hole in the ground. I brought a really nice ring today (its quite chunky for me ish). Managed to use my powers of persuassion to get a really good price!
Day 10: We arrived in Mount Abu, which is where honeymooners apartently go! It was a very pretty drive. I did panic when I woke up and saw how high up we were (Aunty Bridget you would not have liked how close to the edge we were). A few of us went and got icecreams and then walked to sunset point. The attraction of going there, is obviously to watch the sunset, but i think we were the main attraction. There were loads of groups of school children who kept surrounding us and wanting to take pictures of us. Was very funny! It was the only guys birthday in Mount Abu and so so we brought some drink and learnt some indian dance moves from our tour guide. Very intersting!!
Day 11: In the morning, jeeps took us to the highest point in Mount Abu for some great photo opportunities.We then went to visit another very beautiful temple. Often its beauty compared to the Taj!! We then hired pedaloes around the lake which was very fun!! Great opportunity to catch some rays! That evening we had a very eventful journey to the sleeper train. One of the girls forgot her small rucksack and so our car had to wait for another car to bring it to us. Potentially meaning that we would miss our overnight train to Mumbai! The car finally arrived and we carried on our windy journey to the station. However we come to a quick halt as there as a very graphic image of a motorist lying dead in the road. It was not a pretty sight, but it does not surprise me with the way they drive in India. After we got over one traumatic experience, we then had to face the overnight train. It was not nearly as bad as I was expecting. I was on the middle bunk and I had quite a good nights sleep. Apart from when the train men walked past in the morning to see if you wanted tea or food and they would shout this at the top of their lungs!!
Day 12: As we had air conditioning on the train (luxury or what), the smell and heat hit us when we got off the train at Mumbai at midday! Our hotel was at the other side of the city and so we had a vvery sweaty journey to our hotel! The hotel was called "Hotel Supreme", wasnt very supreme to be honest. Actually I was very impressed with the accomodation on the trip. On the whole it was much better than I was expecting! We took a look at the Gateway of India and then treated ourselves and went for a drinks in a posh hotel (International Continential) overlooking the sea, with a great view of the sunset.
Day 13: We had a few hours before we got our flight to Goa and so went back to the sea and had a look around the most expensive hotel in Mumbai. I also managed to use the facilities whilst I was there. (Dont laugh, a western clean toilet does not turn up very often, so you have to take the chance when you could). The flight to Goa was a much better way to travel!!! We flew with Kingfisher and was only in the air for 30 mins and got a meal!! We turned down a dirt track to our hotel and to my delight was greeted by a pack of dogs! Our room has a sea view (well way in the distance). Had seafood for the first time in my trip, but it was spicy tastic!!! We went to a few bars and then a club and danced the night away till 4am. The music was good, well the 10 songs that they kept repeating. There wasnt many Westerners there, so it was really easy to find each other!
Day 14: Even though we had a late night, we were up early and down to the beach. When we got to our beach it was so discusting. It had rubbish everywhere and we didnt feel comfortable to lie in our bikini's. We didnt stay there long, before Kos, Jen and myself (2 girls from London) got a cab to a beach in the North, which was absolutely amazing. It was like being on the shiprecked island and there was hardly anyone on it and not many locals to bother you either! Most of the group decided not o come to the beach, as it was 45 mins away, but it was deffo worth it. Another good night in Mambos dancing the night away! There was even 2 famous Indian celebrties in the club (didnt recognise them though)
Day 15: The group I had been with for the first 2 weeks were really nice and it was sad to say goodbye. 3 of us were carrying on the trip to the South and the others were either flying home or staying in Goa for a bit longer. Our tour guide told us that we were the only 3 for the last week, which I think we were all secretly a bit disapointed about. But we had a welcoming surprise when we reached Cochin and were welcomed with another lot of people. Very different group of people, but still very nice! A fcouple from Washington on their honeymoon, a couple from Clapham, and another girl from Clapham and a food scientist (have never met one before) from Reading.
Day 16: We got taken to the Chinese fishing markets in the market and went on a long walk to the dutch Palace and the Jewish Synagogue. We then had the luxury of our own minibus and private boat to take us to the homestay. The homestay was amazing and the family and the food they served was superb.The family has 2 little girls who were just adorable! It was so beautiful and can only be reached by boat. We went for a walk around the island and got taken to a Toddy bar, which is the local drink (Tasted like a glass full of yeast). To get back to the homestay, our guide and the canoe boys sang us some local songs. They then asked if we would sing a song for them. I dont think they were that impressed when we sand Row row row your boat. Didnt sound that pretty!!
Day 17: Up early for curry for breakfast and sadly had to leave the beautiful surrounds of the Back Waters in Allepey! On our way to Thekaddy, we stopped at a tea plantation and saw the women busy and work. We also got taken around Mr Abrahama's Spice Plantation which was really interesting. Tasted a few fruits, but wasnt brave enough to taste any of the chillies! (Roberts, you would have loved them).
Day 18: Another early morning start for a 3 hour trek.We had to put special socks on as there were apparently lots of leeches along the way. The guides also covered our shoes in tobacco, as that kills them. I wasnt too worried about it, but after about 10 minutes walking, our feet were covered in them. Everyone kept saying to me, "Just leave them, try and ignore it". I obviously ignored them and kept trying to get them off my feet! Eventually I gave in and tried to ignore them and take in the beautiful scenery.
I was walking directly behind the guide and then I stopped to a hault, as a snake just came infront of me. I was surprisingly quite calm! I really enjoyed the walk, even though it was really steep. When we reached the top, our guide ushered us over as there was a pack of buffoloes in the distance. That was great to see and then the other guide ushered us over to another area as there were some elephants. We managed to see 9 elephants (including 2 baby ones) whilst we were and the top of the mountain. On our trip we have seen quite a few elephant, but not wild ones. It was sureal to be sanding there watching them. Apparently not all groups are that lucky!
That evening, we went to see a martial arts show, which was very good. It was a bit random to start off with and then once all the swords and shouting arrived, we all started to enjoy it!
Day 19: We arrived at Varkala beach (further South) which is absolutely stunning. A complete contrast from our first 2 weeks in the North of India. We spent the afternoon on the beach. The sea was a lovely a temperature, but you couldnt go too far out as the waves would just take you out. Bikini top definitely came down a few times! Had had really nice evening with the group and had 80 rupee cocktails (which is just over a pound). Much better than London prices! We even had fireworks in the bar as it was Diwali.
Day 20: Last full day in India and what better way to spend it than back on the beach topping up the tan! I had to give in and hire a sunbed as the water kept coming so close to where we were sitting. People who did brave it on the sand, all got soaked. We had a lovely meal in our hotel. My last curry for a while I hope. Varkula was so beautiful, I wish we had more time there; infact I wish I had more time in Inida. It is such an amazing country! I was walking back to the hotel with one of the girls called few Zoe and then we realised that she had left her torch in the bar. We could find it and so we decided to brave the walk back in the pitch black. We got a few steps and then I heard dogs barking and ran back in the other direction. We then got 2 local shop owners who had torches to walk us back. They found it very amusing about how scared of dogs I am!
I absolutely loved my time in India, even my experience of local transportation. I was also lucky to avoid the Delhi Belhi; well until I got to my brothers in KL!!! Ah well!!
Hope you enjoy the pictures!
Speak to you all soon
xxx
xx
