A week in Cambodia...

So I've been held to gun point to finally write another blog..... Not really, but I said I'd do it, so here goes Cambodia. Writing this from Hue, in central Viet Nam by the way!

We decided to make the long journey from Don Det in the 4 Thousand Islands to Siem Reap in Cambodia. So we booked our bus tickets all the way through to Siem Reap for $30 US. Due to leave at 8.00am in the morning, and arrive in Siem Reap at 9.30pm that night. We initially took the boat across the Mekong where we waited for an hour or so in a travel agent, before heading off to the Cambodian border. We'd heard all sorts of scams involving Cambodian borders so when the travel agent offered us to get our visas for $30 US and the official rate is supposed to be $20, we politely declined. So off we went through the border thinking we'd saved a bit of cash but little did we know we'd be giving money away left right and centre as we went. Stamped out of out Laos, with a $2 stamp fee, a $1 health check as we crossed no man's land (basically a lady pointing a thermometer gun at your head and then yelling at us 'you pay $1 now!!!'), $23 for the actual visa (above the official rate) and then $2 to put a stamp in it for a total of $28 which wasn't too bad considering we'd heard a few horror stories that sounded a lot worse. So now in Cambodia where we were directed to a restaurant. Here we sat for a couple of hours, waiting for other passengers who'd left Don Det two hours after us! We could have had a two hour longer sleep in! So eventually the bus got going and you could tell we were very late. A tyre blow out and numerous stops for food etc didn't really help things and eventually we arrived in Siem Reap at 3.30am, only about 6 hours late. After a few friendly negotiations with agressive tuk-tuk drivers telling us our guesthouse was shut, flooded and an expensive ride away, we eventually made it to bed at around 4.30am.



Sam in a flooded Siem Reap



After a bit of sleep in, the next morning we set off through a flooded Siem Reap centre to Pub Street where we were joined by loads of Aussies and Kiwi's watching the World Cup semi. Had a great time, despite the result and partied the night away in a flooded Pub St with our new mates, including a 4pm round of tequila's that set the mood for the rest of the evening. Sam ran into Pippa, (her mate from the UK) who was in Siem Reap with Paul and Grace whom we spent a lovely evening the following night catching up and eating some awesome Khmer food.

The party after the Rugby

Our third day in Siem Reap and decided to get up early and do a day tour to the temples of Angkor. We were lucky enough to have an awesome sunrise as it had mostly been cloudy/rainy as it was nearly the end of monsoon. Angkor Wat was absolute quality, as were the rest of the temples. Favourite was Ta Promh, the jungle temple which literally has a jungle growing inside the ruins.

Angkor Wat at sunrise

Me at the temple of Angkor

Me at Ta Promh

Sam at Ta Promh

Following our long day of templing, we decided to head down to the capital, Phnom Penh to get our Vietnamese visas and see the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek and the S-21 Tuol Sleng prison. We'd heard some not so nice things of the capital but we actually enjoyed it, despite the shocking history and things that we learnt and saw. We made a day trip out to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek and S-21. At Choeung Ek, we listened to to an audioguide of some horrific stories of some of the victims of the Khymer Rouge, one of whom was killed because a guard accused a her of stealing two bananas. We then went to S-21 which was an old school that had been converted to a prison during the Khmer Rouge regime. There were shocking photographs of the thousands of prisoners who had been held there before being transported out to Choeung Ek. It was here we ran into our Irish mates from the slow boat, Jerry and Jill with which it was decided a beer was in order later that evening to cheer us up. Had another great night out and woke the next morning with a bit of a hangover. Went off to pick up our passports and visas, then straight on to a bus to Ho Chi Minh City in Viet Nam.....

Tuol Sleng S-21 Prison

Tuol Sleng S-21 Prison

  

Map of Cambodia at Tuol Sleng

Tuol Sleng Prison rules

Memorial Pagoda at Choueng Ek

Victims skulls inside the memorial Pagoda at Choueng Ek

Lovely Laos

 
So our adventures in Laos started in Chiang Mai where we booked the slow boat tickets. We were part of a small group that travelled to Chiang Khong, on the way to CK we stopped at Chiang Rai which is famous for it’s white ghost temple. This was beautiful and we were really pleased that we got to see it! When we arrived in Chiang Khong we were taken to our guesthouse for the night which was ok. There was a rather plump man shouting orders at his wife (usual thing in Asia) and a strange Japanese bar next door. We went for a wander down the very small high street, bought some cuyshions for the boat and Rads had a shave in the local barbers (because he was looking like a hobo). We met some really nice people within our group, a nice Northern couple, an Aussie named Brendan and a nice Scotty called Neil. We sat around drank some beers and traded travelling war stories which was great.  The next day we were driven to the Thai side of the Mekong river to catch a long tail boat over to the Laos border.  However, we couldn’t find anywhere to stamp out of Thailand and the boat people hurried us along. Of course we were all plonkers and ended up having to pay to cross back over to stamp out etc… it must be a tourist trap to make extra cash. After this we successfully got our Laos visas and ended up on a bus, in a tourist shop where the man tried to make us change our minds and take the bus instead (another quick cash scheme I expect) but we all said no etc.  We eventually made it to the Mekong to board the boat (after stopping at the bus drivers mates shop etc this happens everywhere in Asia) and got on the boat.

The White Temple at Chiang Rai

The boat was quality and there was a large group of us –a mixture of tourists and locals.  There was a bit of party atmosphere on the boat and we had our first BeerLao –delicious (much better than Thai beer). So your probably wondering what this slow boat malarkey is?1 You travel from the Laos border down the mekong river with an overnight stop off in Pak Beng and then on to Luang Prabang.  The Mekong was rather big due to all of the monsoon etc but it was truly beautiful.  There would be nothing other than jungle for ages and then a small village where the kids would run down and wave, or we would stop to drop someone or something off or pick something up (like a motor bike one day).  The night stay in Pak Beng was incredible, this village has only built up because of the boat stop off and is really tiny.  We found a great hotel and a great family restaturant where we tried traditional Laos dishes.  We tried the Buffalo Laap which ia a meat salad with coriander, mint and chillies, this is eaten with sticky rice that you roll into a ball shape and dip into the laap, it was delicious. On the boat the next day we spoke to more people on the boat and met a really fab Irish couple (Jerry and Jill) and we continued to bump into them all over Laos and again in Cambodia!  The second day the boat trip was longer but just as beautiful.  I highly recommend this to anyone! 

Kids got onto the boat to sell beer Lao

Cave near Luang Prabang that houses many Buddhas

When we arrived in Luang Prabang it was stunning, a little French colonial town with all french style buildings, bakeries, cake shops, cafes, bicycles and baguettes –everywhere!  We tried some noodle soup, this was delicious and hired a couple of bicycles.  This was great fun and we rode around exploring the town and checked out some temples.  We only paid to go into one and that is because it is the most magnificant temple in Luang Prabang –Wat Xieng Thong.  We then pedalled to the Royal Palace Museum which was great and we saw a small gold buddha that gave Luang Prabang it’s name.  There were also gifts from other countries displayed, we liked the Australian gift of a boomerang that had inscribed ‘made by Torres Strait islanders or Queensland Aborigines! We went to the night market for dinner and that was really tasty.

The tree of life mosaic at the temple

We took a bus to Vang Vieng, the scenary was stunning, the mountains were so beautiful we stopped many times on the way, passing fresh landslides and passed through random hill top villages. Towards the end of the bus trip the roads were terrible, generally the roads in north Laos are a bit poor. Vang Vieng is a backpacker party spot famous for River Tubing. Basically you hire a Tractor inner tube and float 4km down the river, along the first 2km there are bars and they chuck a rope into the water and fish you into their bars!  The first day we went early and it was really mellow and we were the only few people there, we ended up with some people from the slow boat, drinking, using the swings and slides into the river and generally partying!  The next day we went again after the Wallabies Springboks game and it was like a spring break scene from a movie! I should say that Whisky shots are free and compulsory at every bar but water is expensive! Both days Rads and I were so pissed that we had to paddle 2km down the river to get our tubes back in time.  The scenary along the river is stunning and tubing was great fun, we had to get out after a weekend …..

Amazing Scenary at Vang Vieng

The end of the Tubing

One of the many hill top stops

We travelled to Vientiene with terrible hangovers and thank gosh the roads were a bit better!  Vientiene is the capital of Laos and we weren’t really to fond of it there so we only stayed one night.  There was a big festival coming up in a few days time and the entire seafront road was set up with stalls, stages and there was a big party atomsphere. The festival is to celebrate the end of the rain season and to celebrate the river and is basically a big boat race, but everyone makes their own long boat especially for the race. Sadly we missed the race and the festival.

Rads at Kong Lor Cave

We left Vientiene and took the local bus out to Ban Nahin so we could go to Kong Lor Cave which is inland and off the beaten track. This bus ride was ok and the roads weren’t too bad.  As soon as we arrived we found a guesthouse, hired a bike and rode the 40km out to the cave.  The journey was incredible driving through small village communities, rice paddies and all the kids would wave and shout Sabidee (hello) as we passed them by.  Kong Lor Cave is a real Indiana Jones experience, a 7.5 km cave that can only be accessed by boat and leads to a village on the other side mountains.  Our torch is rubbish so it was really eerie because the only light was coming from the front and back boatmen’s headtorch. Scary times!  Every now and again we would pass bats and you could here them all squeeking and chattering away to each other!  At one point you are stopped and get off the boat and walk through some magnificant stalagmites and stalactites.  The boatmen only light these up when you’re near them and it is stunning.  By far the creepiest and most beautiful caves I have ever seen!

We travelled about one third of the length of Laos in one day trying to make our way down to Siphon Don or the Four Thousand Isalnds.  However we only made it as far as Pakse and stayed there for a night before we continued on the next day. When we left Pakse we took a Songtheaw (like a bus version of a tuc tuc) and it eventually left with 35 people crammed in, including a nice Canadian couple and Ryan and I were squashed up to some monks and a rnadom girl pretty much sat on my knee the entire journey! It was coming to the end of the rainy season so the Mekong was pretty dirty and you couldn’t see many of the four thousand islands.  We found a great place to stay and met up with the Canadian guys for dinner, a great first night in Don Det. The island was incredibly muddy and it was better to walk around with no shoes on! We hired bicycles and rode around to the other island Don Khong, we got caught in a monsoon and that was hilarious.  We ended up passing a small family somewhere out near long beach (muddy/sandy beach on the river) and they offered us Laos Laos –home brew.  It’s rude to say no so of course we drank the Laos Laos and it was strong I was glad that they only gave me a little lady glass! We bumped into Jerry and Jill again and got on the beers which was good craic!! We only stayed there a few nights because the weather was a bit grim and there was sooo much mud.  We decided to book a bus trip from the islands to Siem Reap in Cambodia (it’s quite difficult to make your own way as there are no direct roads to SR).  We were excited to be heading off to Cambodia but we were sad to leave Laos as the people were so nice, it’s such a beautiful country and it is still mostly unspoilt by tourism (apart from Vang Vieng). Over to Rads for the Cambodia blog!!

My new school in Don Khong

Rads at the waterfall in Don Khong

Bridge between Don Det and Don Khong

Thailand Adventures!

So it's been a while since the last blog -sorry! We spent a night in Singapore before flying to Phuket. Although we only saw a snapshot of Singapore we really liked it. It was so easy to get around on the metro/underground and we found our hostel after a short walk. We ate at a local food court and had a nice time mocching around!

After quite a bumpy flight to Phuket (I was scared) we were excited to be meeting with our friends Heather and Garth who were on their way to Australia. We stayed at Karon beach and they were just around the corner at Kata beach. Stayed at Beshert guesthouse which was superb, would highly recommend there! We spent the next four nights enjoying dinner, beers, pool but mostly Mojitos with Heather and Garth. We also celebrated Garth's birthday with a variety of cocktails, rubgy, mini golf and the boys enjoyed some Thai whisky!! Phuket was good fun and we really enjoyed hanging out with friends.

We reluctantly left Heather and Garth in Phuket and made our way to Koh Phi Phi Don. We decided to stay on a gorgeous quiet beach around from the port -Long beach. It was stunning, I have never seen anything like it in my life. We spent time chilling on our beach and swimming in the beautiful sea! Spectacular views and there were maybe 4 other people on the beach with us! We decided to walk the 2km around the coast road to the main town to watch the rugby etc. This was a cool, a real busy party town with some cheap beer and food! We ended up going to the Reggae bar to watch some Muay Thai and drink some buckets! We had our own party that night! We bought snorkels and enjoyed snorkelling at Long beach, lots of beautiful fish! We left Koh Phi Phi Don after a few nights and made our way to Koh Lanta. 

The ferry trip to Koh Lanta was pretty rough and the boat had to stop half way to rescue a bag that had fallen off the ferry and floated away! Whoopsie! Everyone was quite confused by the stopping and it was raining so hard that the bags were pretty soggy!! Still we all made it (bags included) to Koh Lanta. We shared a taxi with some nice Aussies we had met on the boat to Klong Nin beach. We stayed in a cute bamboo shack in a small, lovely beach hut place. We hired a bike and cruised around the island checking out local food shacks and driving through gorgeous little villages. Leonardo Di Caprio has a house there so we went to find it, think we made it to somewhere nearby. We had to abort our mission as the weather turned on us, it was fun trying though! We also went walking through the jungle to find a Waterfall, this was a great adventure. Wandering up the stream/river, through bush, popped into a cave and eventually under the canapy of jungle and dark clouds we found the waterfall. We stopped off for a paddle as it the pool at the bottom wasn't very deep or big! By the time we had finished the monsoon came down -really, really heavily! We walked as fast as possible back along the stream (that was quickly growing) and through the rather soggy jungle back to the bike. It didn't stop raining for hours and hours and the roads were pretty poor on the way back. We made it safely back to the shack with a dirty bike and a funny story! The weather didn't really improve too much so we hid from the monsoon. We managed to get a few swims in and a few trips out on the bike. We even saw a big black Scorpion when we were out and about. That was very cool but very scary too! Although we didn't have the best weather I really enjoyed our time there. After a few nights we decided to head of to Koh Phangan. 

The trip to Koh Phangan was quite long as we were picked up early. We took the bus over to the ferry and crossed over to the mainland. After a furious bus trip to Surat Thani we were dropped off at a bus station. We had a bit of time before our trip to the ferry so we found a nice local place and had some lunch! We then got a bus to the ferry pier and jumped on the ferry to Koh Phangan. The ferry ride was much better than our previous trip!! Koh Phangan is stunning! We stayed at a gorgeous resort, up the rocks from a gorgeous little beach at backpackers rates! We hired a bike and explored the island, full of beautiful beaches and scenary! I had my first scooter ride here, certainly scared Rads but I really enjoyed myself! I loved Koh Phangan and could've stayed there forever! We found a few great places to eat including an all you can eat (pay for what you leave) BBQ place. I'll try and put a photo up of the BBQ place it was tasty and fun. We popped over to Haad Rin which is where the famous full moon beach parties are held. Unfortunately we missed every variation of moon party, we may pop back in November for the next full moon -not sure! I loved Koh Phangan so did Rads, I'm sure we'll head back one day. 

We left Koh Phangan and took a ferry to Koh Tao. Koh Tao is big for snorkelling and diving and there are some great deals there. We plan to revisit there to complete our PADI dive training (so many great deals) one day. We hired a bike (are you noticing a theme yet?) and explored as much as we could, there are few 'good' cement roads.  We drove as far as we could near Tanote Bay to go snorkelling. I have never seen anything so incredible in all my life! The marine life was fab, it was basically a drop off 20metres from the beach with an abundance of marine life! Everything from interesting fauna to big fishies! I loved it! By far the best place we have snorkelled! Well so far!! I'm already looking forward to our next trip to Koh Tao! We found a bar and enjoyed the rugby world cup, NRL and AFL games. The bar was called Choppers and they advertised a pub crawl there, guess what? We went on the pub crawl! It was awesome, great games and great people! If you're ever in Koh Tao and fancy a night out -do ittt!! After a pretty heavy night out we were booked on the ferry to Koh Samui the next morning! 

The ferry was really, really rough! It stopped at Koh Phangan on the way to Koh Samui where we had to change ferries, we could've easily got off and stsyed there! The ferry was not the best idea on a bucket hangover! Still, we made it to Koh Samui and shared a Songthaew (taxi like a larger tuc tuc) to Lamai beach. We seem to be on a pretty good spree of 300 baht per night rooms (£6/ $9.50) that are good quality! I liked Lamai beach, we took it easy there for a bit. Rads wanted to show me a few places around Samui so we hired a bike (again) I really enjoyed doing our own thing and exploring with the bike! We visited 2 food markets on the island and saw such a wide variety of fresh fish, meat and veggies on sale! We had the best (and biggest) bowl of Roast Pork Noodle soup for 30 baht (60p/$1). We have been really getting into noodle soup in Thailand, it's so cheap and tasty! Could go for some now (writing this from the slow boat in Laos)!  We had pre-booked flights to Bangkok and then on to Chiang Mai so we only spent a couple of nights on Koh Samui. 

The day we travelled to Chiang Mai we took a variety of different transport. I think it's something like; 1 minivan, 1 taxi, 1 tuc tuc, 1 Ferry, 3 coaches, 2 shuttle buses and 2 planes! It was a massive day! We stopped in Bangkok Airport for a few hours and treated ourselves to a Mc Donalds (something we regretted afterwards), Rads found a double Big Mac and I challenged him to get it. After minimal persuasion he had it! It was actually nicer than a standard Big Mac! Enough of the food talk, so we got to Chiang Mai and took a taxi to Junior Guesthouse, the staff there are amazing and made sure that we had a great time! We wandered around Chiang Mai visiting the temples, including the oldest temple in Chiang Mai! We hired a bike and travelled up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep Temple. The monsoon hit when we were there so we took our time to go around, taking refuge under anything and enjoyed the beautiful temple. We carried on along the road to Doi Pui Hmong Village. This is the home of a hill top tribe who have regenerated their town to sell local clothes and other local handicraft. This was really cool and we were about 1,685 ft above sea level! Literally driving through the clouds to get there! We wandered around the village and paid extra to go to the gardens and waterfall. It was a beautiful place, quite and serene with stunning views of the mountains! We saw a couple of opium poppies too!! We decided to carry along the mountain to find the hill top tribe camping area and another hill top village. We stopped to help a pregnant lady and a man get their car out of a muddy lay by but it didn't work. We left but it was ok because another couple went to get help and later they drove passed us -shouting thank you and waving! Phew! We couldn't drive to the second village as the roads weren't too good and we were unsure if we would make it back with the fuel we had left! I really enjoyed this adventure though! We planned to spent the Sat watching the Rugby world cup and the AFL grand final. We eventually found a couple of places to watch the games. We met a really nice Aussie chap and his sister. They were living in Chiang Mai and ended up taking us to some great local spots. We went for dinner at 'the fish ladies' (not her official name but how she was known to the aussies) which was super yummy! I even ate fish -and like it!! We spent the rest of the night drinking, playing pool and ended up at a Jazz bar! The musicians were fab and after a lot of Thai whisky we were all having a dance! A great night with great people! The next day we went to meet the Aussies and watch the NRL final. We were massivly hungover but it was ok! We agreed dinner at Warorot market and then we all wandered to the Sunday Chiang Mai 'Walking Market'. This market was incredible! So many different stalls of handicrafts, clothes, cushions, soaps, street massages, key rings etc were on sale. Food stalls were located in temple grounds and the hustle and bustle was fab. We had some fresh juice, a few nibbles and tried Quail eggs, they were super yummy! I liked them! After walking around maybe 1/4 of the market (which took a couple of hours) we were really tired so called it a night! Loved the markets! The next day we were headed further north to stay near the Laos border. We found a deal with our guesthouse to get us to the border, but that is another story............
 

Rajasthan, Goa and back to the start -Mumbai

Jaisalmer was amazing, although it is discouraged (for preservation reasons) we stayed in the fort. This was incredible as the view was fab. There were quite a few storms and they were great to watch from the fort! Uncle Buck, you would have loved it! We visited Jaisalmer's Fort Palace which was fab! The audio tour (free with entry) was great and had lots of other info about Rajasthan, the history of the area and other cultural info! We spent a lot of time exploring the fort and resting here. It was a great stop! We caught the train to Jodhpur after two nights in Jaisalmer. 

We arrived in Jodhpur around 5am and made our way to the hotel we wanted to stay at. The rickshaw drivers (tuc-tuc) in India can be tricky and some are well documented for telling porkies about hotels being full. They do this so that they can take you to another hotel and gain commission. Lonely planet warns of this in most places but we only experienced it in Jodhpur. We resolved the issue and after Rads told the Rickshaw driver off (politely) we were on our way to the hotel!

Jodhpur is known as the blue city (all the buildings in the old city are blue). We went on a trip to the Umaid Bhawan Palace (or Chittar Palace) which is part hotel, part museum and part royal residence for the original successor of the maharajah. This was a fab place, lots of lovely things have been done for the community by the royals here. The palace was actually built to help create jobs at a time of hardship! Lots of photos and info about the relationship with the british raj and their influences. This was a great trip until I lost the camera down the toilet! I was really cross at the time but it's a funny story now! It was a good thing that I'd backed it up in Jaisalmer! 

We spent two nights in Jodhpur and we visited the Mehrangarh fort on our last day. This fort was much larger than Jaisalmer, we were allowed to see more of the former royal rooms too. Fabulous place enriched with a fascinating history and enchanting stories! We stopped for about 30mins here to shake hands, speak to and have our photo taken with lovely people! The children in India are so sweet, such big smiles and big hearts! Whilst in Jodhpur we tried some Rajasthani sweets and drinks (machiniya lassi, like a yoghurt drink with Saffron, yummy). 

We took our final Indian train from Jodhpur to Ahmedabad, which is where we flew to Goa from. There wasn't much to do there as it was Sunday and a few things were closed. We checked out a few Mosque's, Jain temples and then headed to the airport. We were very excited to be on our way to Goa! 

We arrived later than scheduled in Goa and it was just getting dark, so we had no idea how incredibly beautiful it was/is. We took a cab for an hour and a half down to Palolem in Goa's southern beaches.  

Waking up in Palolem was a dream, it is absolutely stunning! We went to the beach and found a nice patch to chill at for the day. Amazing! Such a great sunny day too! We had lunch on the beach at a great restaurant and saw the local
fishermen bringing in the catch. It looked like the entire community were there and they each took their turn to take something. I really enjoyed watching this and I have never seen such big prawns! Unfortunately the rain became quite regular (monsoon season) so we went to the beach less than we would have liked too. We still managed a couple of swims in the warm sea.  

Fortunately the majority of the community were celebrating the Hindu festival of Ganesh Chaturthi. This is the celebration of the birthday of Lord Ganesha the god of wisdom. Communities construct various idols of Ganesha and prayers, offerings of sweets, dancing and vibrant music take place during this time (Ganesha is famous for having a sweet tooth and a love of/for dancing).  The festival is marked by a big procession of the idol through the local community toward the beach. Once the idol has been taken to the beach there are further prayers and offerings of sweets then finally the idol is immersed in the sea (idols are made of clay in Goa). After this the sweets are shared amongst the community, fireworks are set off (most of the time) and the dancing begins. I believe this is the only festival that welcomes the involvement of the general public! So we were lucky enough to be involved in the dancing, fireworks and sharing of sweets! This was an incredibly special night and will remain one of my fondest memories of our time in India. 

We left gorgeous Goa after four nights of bliss to return to Mumbai!  So the Indian (and Nepalise) adventure ends right back where we started almost a month ago. Our last night in India was spent on Chowpatti beach sampling Mumbai's famous Bhel Puri and Faloodahs! We had one final great night in India. 

India has been an incredible place to experience! We will take away fond memories of the places and the amazing people! Apologies that there are no photos with this blog, it won't let me upload pictures from my mobile.

So, next stop Thailand via Singapore! Off to meet Heather and Garth (who are legends for bringing out a new camera for us) ....... I anticipate some good times,  memories and (bucket induced) stories to come! 

Namaste from Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.
                                                         

Our last post was from Pokhara, Nepal.  We had a great time in Nepal, so beautiful and such a breath of fresh air from the hustle and bustle of India (literally).  In Pokhara we took a boat over the Phewa lake and climbed the windy steps up 1100 meters above sea level to the World Peace Pagoda/Stupa.  The camera has been playing up so there aren't any pics of us up there but the view was incredible.  You could see the Annapurna Mountain range clearly and a few cheeky snow capped mountains popping out too!  On the way back down we wandered through a few small villages which was nice.  We decided to visit a couple of bars for happy hour that night so those details are a bit blurred!  The next day it was really, really hot so we decided to go for a swim in the lake.  After walking around the lake about 5km we decided to hire a boat and swim from the boat! This was good fun, although I was a bit of a wimp!  However it was incredibly refreshing! 

We reluctantly left Nepal and made our way back down to India.  The journey back was much easier as we decided to stay in Bhairawa on the Nepalese side of the border instead of staying in Gorakhpur, India as we didn't have a nice time there before.  This was a great decision and the journey back to India seemed much smoother.  Once in Gorakhpur we caught our overnight train to Agra.

Waking up to get off the train at 4am was quite a challenge as we had not had the best train trip.  However, we were excited to see the Taj!  Rads negotiated a rickshaw (like a Tuc-Tuc) to our hotel in Agra, which was near the east gate entrance to the Taj Mahal. The hotel kept our bags as it was too early to check in, so off we went to buy tickets for the Taj. 

We arrived back at the east gate to the Taj just before the gates opened (6am) and there was already a line up!  Once we had passed through the security we were off!  The Taj really is an amazing building, it doesn't matter how many pictures of it you have seen before, there is something magical about seeing it in person. So we made our way around the Taj at a leisurely pace (there were not very many people there then) and watched the sunrise.  Amazing!  Strange how a mausoleum can be romantic! We spent a few hours there and then went for breakfast. 

After lunch we decided to head to the baby taj and the gardens on the opposite side of the Yamuna River from the Taj Mahal.  We found a nice Rickshaw chap who took us around those sites.  The baby taj (really called Itmad-ud-Daula's Tomb and built before the Taj Mahal) was fab, not many people and only a few restrictions on where you could go.  We decided not to go the gardens but to the riverbank opposite the back of the Taj instead (it's free).  The view from here was also amazing!   To complete the Taj-tastic day we went for a rooftop dinner and watched the sunset (and of course looked at the Taj some more)! We were like Taj Mahal junkies all day!

We left Agra to make our way to Jaisalmer which is known as the golden city as it is made from sandstone.  The journey was quite long, one train to Jaipur which was five hours long and then we changed trains to take a twelve hour train to Jaisalmer. We arrived in Jaisalmer and found a delightful hotel inside the fort, our room has a balcony that looks out over the town and into the desert!  Lovely! Jaisalmer is a lovely place, with a few Jain temples, Havelis (mansions) and palaces.  We intend to explore a bit before we leave.  I must confess that I am still not very well so have found it difficult to get out and about here. 

After Jaisalmer we're off to Jodhpur, then to Ahmedabad to catch a flight to Goa!  Can't wait to get on the beach! Here are a few photos -as promised!

  

 Boat trip along the Ganges, Varanasi

                                                         

                                                              Tabla Lesson in Varanasi

                                            

                                            Rads in no mans land between the two borders

                                                   Bathing the Elephants in Sauraha, Nepal

                                                         

                              View of Phewa Lake and Pokhara, half way to the World Peace Pagoda/Stupa.

Rads having a swim in Phewa Lake, Nepal.

Sunrise at the Taj Mahal, Agra.

Itmad-ud-Daula's Tomb (Baby Taj)

Jaisalmer Fort, Rajasthan.

Rads sat on our balcony looking out from Jaisalmer Fort.  

  

Varanasi and first few days in Nepal

Hi everyone from Pokhara in Nepal!

We've been busy since our last post. On Tuesday 16th we took our first overnight train from Jalgaon to Varanasi. We were in AC2 class which was the highest available on the train. It was totally different to Sleeper, we met some nice people from Mumbai who we quickly made friends with, over sharing of food and advice for travelling India. 

We arrived in Varanasi on Wednesday 17th in the afternoon 21 hours after leaving Jalgaon. Talk about a shock, it was very full on after the nice train ride. We quickly got a rickshaw to the old city where we planned to stay near the Ganges. After about 1/2 an hour of wandering the tiny lanes of the old city a bit lost, we found the hotel we had planned to stay at. Unfortunately it was full, but they quickly took us off to another. Had a quick look at some rooms and negotiated a better price. We were just happy to have somewhere to sit down. That night we watched a Hindu ceremony called Ganga Aarti down by one of the Ghats (steps down to the river) and ate dinner in a rooftop restaurant by the Ganges.

Thursday 18th we woke before sunrise to make our way down to the ghats to do a boatride along the Ganges to watch puja (bathing/morning prayer). After 45 minutes of negotiating at a variety of ghats, we bumped into 4 Irish girls whom we teamed up with to negotiate a group price. Ryan eventually got the price down from 600 to 120 rupees each (£1.60). Saw loads of Ghats, each with different purposes. We enjoyed the trip, even though it was monsoon season and the inevitable downpour arrived just as we hoped in the boat. The rest of the day we spent exploring by foot the Ghats north of us. We stopped at Manikarnika Ghat and watched a Hindu burning ceremony as it's the most auspicious place for a Hindu to be cremated due to the religious significance of the Ganges. We finished up at Schindia Ghat (the largest ghat) where we dipped our feet in the Ganges and watched some pilgrims perform Puja. That evening we went to a restaurant where we saw live Indian music. On our way home we saw some demonstrations supporting Anna Cazare in his hunger strike over Indian government corruption.

Friday 19th we took an hour Tabla lesson by the Ganges. We got taught some basic patterns or tala. We both enjoyed it, Sam especially. We then got our backpacks and headed back to the train station to make our way up to Nepal via Gorakhpur. We arrived in Gorakhpur late and quickly looked for a hotel to rest for a few hours before getting the bus up to the border. Looking for a hotel was problematic as the standard was poor for what they were effectively trying to charge for a 5 hour stay. In the end we stayed in a room that was the worst of the trip so far and after about 2 hours of restless tv watching and bug avoidance we decided to check out and get a bus to the border. 

Saturday 20th We jumped on a bus at 4am that stayed around till it was full. So about 5am we set off to Sunauli. We arrived at around 7.30am and Sam was surprised how easy it was to get out tourist visas for Nepal. We quickly went to the bus station and got on a bus towards Sauraha in the Royal Chitwan National Park. We arrived in Sauraha that afternoon and after quickly getting food settled down for an early night after long journey up for India.

Sunday 21st we woke early and although Sam wasn't feeling too well (think it was the heat), we went to bathe and swim with the elephants in the river. Ryan bought a banana to feed the elephants after it all. In the afternoon we booked to go elephant trekking. Just as we arrived in the national park, the monsoon hit and got soaked as we set off. Saw loads of deer, wild boar, birds and much more. Had a great time, enjoyed the trek. Sauraha was lovely, so quiet and peaceful, such a change from the hustle and bustle of India.

Monday 22nd we got the bus up to Pokhara and after a quick bit of negotiating checked into a nice hotel on the lakeside. The evening and Tuesday 23rd was spent chilling out in the peaceful atmosphere that is Pokhara and Nepal. We plan to do a few day walks up to Sarangot and surrounds before we had back
down to Agra in India to see the Taj on the weekend. Sorry no photos yet, will try to put some up soon......

Indian adventure -the first three days...

Hello! 
         Mumbai was fun! The roads here are very busy, no such thing as 'safe crossing'!  Sunday we were in Mumbai, we went to see the Gateway of India, the Taj Mahal Hotel and popped into Leopolds for a cheeky beer!  On Monday we made our way to the train station, it was really busy and we were a bit early. The locals are really friendy but like to stare a lot -not sure how often they see caucasians!  So to avoid beggers and staring eyes we read our books until we had a train platform. 

The trains are retro and the signage is really clear so no worries finding our seats.  For this journey we had bought the cheapest class -sleeper. We were anxious that it might not be comfortable and that it may be rammed but this was not the case.  We were joined in our section by a young family and eventually some students.  The family and the Students were really friendly, had a look in our books and also had a rummage through our lonely planet guide to India.  The students we met study in Jalgaon which was our destination and they knew some great places to eat.  They gave us some really great advice and made our journey fun. The scenary was amazing and there were so many communities living by the tracks and kids playing cricket all over the place.  

Our student friends showed us to our hotel when we all got off the train which was really helpful.  We popped out to a thali dining hall. Thali is a meal comprised of rice, breads and lots of different bowls of things.  This was pretty yummy and we were both really full after (they come around and top up your bowls when they are empty). 

The next day we woke up early and took the local buses 60km to Ajanta, to see the caves. The local buses are really retro, busy and everyone scrambles and pushes to get on (not really any different from the tube).   The caves were re-discovered by the british (wahey) more than a hundred years ago.  The caves are all early Buddhist monasteries built between the 2nd and 4th century.  When I take the pics off my camera I will upload them! There are 30 caves in total and the level of preservation is varied (photography is prohibited so please check out Ajanta Caves on google images).  Nonetheless the caves were amazing and we had a good time. The daunting thing is that Ryan and I have noticed that people like to take photos of us wherever we are!  So today at the caves we were papped to the max, people also asked to have their pictures taken with us and lots of people saying hello and g'day at us (Ryan has his aussie shirt on) which was strange!  I honestly believe there are more photos of us than we have taken ourselves!   

So we are now just having a quick mooch on the internet and updating the blog in Jalgaon before we head back to the station to continue our Indian adventure.  Our next train we are in a higher class for seating with A/C but no windows -such a shame as the landscape here is gorgeous.  Next stop (in approx 18 hours) Varanasi...........

Hello/G'Day to you!

So we are officially homeless! Staying at my Mum's for a few days off to Nan's for a family barbeque too.  Nice to catch up and say a few farewells.

We fly out on Sat evening and it has come around so quick! First stop India, looking forward to riding the trains (in a variety of classes) and avoiding the infamous Deli belly!  

We will try to update this with pictures, info and stories about our adventures as much as possible! 

Ta Ta For Now....