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....