TravelStream™ news feed for member cleavers on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/cleavers en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:24:56 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cleavers/1/1233240600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cleavers/1/1233240600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cleavers/1/1233240600/tpod.html Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:24:56 -0500 Cleavers Big Trip to India

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Canacona, Goa, India

My last day. 5 weeks ago, this day seemed so far away and now that I'm all checked in, packed and ready to go, I can't believe how quickly it's come around.

Managed to hook up with the Canadian girls Monica and Jaclyn yesterday which was lovely; they came and spent the day with me yesterday by the pool here as they are staying in Palolem. It was nice to have some company. I think they enjoyed experiencing the high life for a day!

It's certainly been a lovely last three days and despite the expense, I'm very glad I came here. I think I needed this pampering to prepare me for real life again. I'm a bit overwhelmed to be honest right now and not a little apprehensive about going home. But first, I have to get there which involves a 1.5 hour transfer to the airport, a 1 hour flight to Mumbai, a 10 hour wait at Mumbai airport before a 9 hour flight to London, and then flying to Manchester. I'll be home at 10am UK time on 30th Jan.

I can't believe it's done.

I'll see you on the other side.

Mxxxxxx
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Canacona, Goa, India

This was a good idea. This was a VERY good idea.

After a relaxing night at the Ramada in Mumbai, I headed to Goa yesterday - again, with a hangover. That's twice I've done the right from the airport to the beach here with a hangover. Apparently, I don't learn. I arrived around 5.30 and from the moment I walked to the reception, I knew I'd made the right decision. Hang the expense (although, comparatively, I got a very good deal), hang the fact that I might not be able to pay the credit card off when I get back, hang everything - this is a little piece of heaven right here, and I for one am going to enjoy it. A beautiful pool, a private beach, a room that is almost the size of my apartment......

I've had my pedicure, am booked in for a massage later on; I'm hopefully catching up with the Canadian girls later on (who are currently in Palolem), and right now, I'm going to do nothing more strenuous than lie by the pool, and maybe get a cocktail from the swim up bar. This is how to do it after a few weeks of backpacking.

Many, this was a good idea. A VERY good idea.

(although within 5 minutes of arriving, I'd been devoured by mosquitoes - AGAIN. I must have tasty blood)
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Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

First of all, Varanasi is bonkers. Absolutely stark raving bonkers. It is the most congested, busy, manic bonkers place I've been to in India - and yes, that's over and above Mumbai and Delhi combined. Seriously, I think this is where all the mopeds, motorbikes, autorickshaws, bikes and cycle rickshaws end up because there are literally THOUSANDS of them on the road. I took an 11km trip today and it took ONE HOUR AND TWENTY MINS to get there. Yes, you read that right. It's worse than travelling through Wales on a bank holiday weekend. I know that statistically, Mumbai and Delhi are bigger and more congested - the diference here is that everything is so small, so it makes it seem that much worse. Very few major roads, all small, badly paved roads and shed loads of vehicles on them. Add to that the fact that there is no rhyme or reason to the way anyone drives - as with everywhere in India - and you have a very bonkers place.

Anyways, I'm solo and so it was with a touch of trepidation that I arrived at Varanasi airport after a very painless journey. I was instantly in super paranoid mode - would the hotel have sent a car, will he be legit, will they find my body a month from now being eaten by one of the many cows on the road? All usual stuff in the mind of a Ms M Cleave. But the driver was there and delivered me safely to my hotel, through the chaos that is Varanasi. Varanasi sits on the banks of the Ganges (the river Ganga as it's known here) and is a series of ghats lined up along the river, one next to the other. As Wikipedia kindly explains, a ghat is a series of steps leading down to a body of water, and specifically here, to the Ganges. The main use of a ghat here is for cleansing - the ritual of puja is performed at sunrise and sunset by many people - but there are also burning ghats where cremations take place.

I am staying at Assi Ghat, which is at the bottom end of the Old Town, and from here it's possible to walk the length of many of the ghats. Which is what I did yesterday. All along the length of the ghats, there were people bathing - the men would get in with what I assume is the Hindu equivalent of a bathing suit and wash themselves all over; women would go in wearing their saris; other people washed their clothes in the water while boat loads of new arrivals passed by on the river. They could be found the length and breadth of the ghats and my one abiding thought was 'Why on earth would they do that when the water is so FILTHY!!!' Of course, I know why they do it, but even understanding the religious significance it holds for people, I still find it hard to fathom. As I watched truck loads of hotel laundry (napkins, towels, sheets etc) being washed at one ghat, I kept my fingers crossed that the laundry I deposited with reception that morning would not end up along here.

As I moseyed along, I found myself at one of the burning ghats and sure enough, there was a cremation being prepared. I was expecting to be more.......freaked out than I was, but it's very easy to disassociate yourself from the body wrapped in a white shroud. Even though you know it's there, it just doesn't seem....real somehow. I watched the family build the pyre, place the body on it, complete the pyre over their loved one, and then sprinkle a whole load of stuff on it; I left before the lighting of the pyre itself, I'm not sure if I could have coped with that. The ghoulish part were the 'touts', trying to entice tourists to the burning ghats (there are two of them here if I'm not mistaken) as if it were an attraction to behold. It didn't feel right to me, and so I moved on pretty quickly.

Being on my own, I'm getting a LOT more attention of the unwanted kind - "Hey pretty lady, I like your hair", or 'Hey lovely lady, you wanna come with me for some fun?'. It makes the usual kind of attention - 'need rickshaw, need boat, need guide' - come as a welcome relief. I found though that if I put on my shades, walk fast and simply ignore them, they tend to go away. I did have one particularly persistent guy yesterday, but my stern reprimands to him finally did the trick. It's a shame as it makes me feel rude and distrustful, but I'm veering on the cautious side. I haven't really ventured out at night as from what I've seen, it wouldn't be safe. There are lots and lots of dark streets and alleys, and it would be very easy to get lost - so I've stayed close to the hotel for dinner and kept myself to myself. I did have big intentions of meeting up with people, and I have chatted to a few people as I've been out and about, but the hotel I'm in doesn't really lend itself to it - no rooftop restaurant or communal area - but I find that I don't really mind. It's nice to be in my own company.

Today I headed to Sarnath which is the 11km journey I took. It is a very spiritual place for Buddhists as it's where Buddha is reputed to have delivered his first sermon. I booked a cab through the hotel and the driver was great at taking me around all the sights. It made a change from the Hindu and Mugal palaces and forts that have been a dominating part of this trip. Plus, it was nice to get out of crazy Varanasi!

And so another day comes to a close and tomorrow, I will be on the move again. A quick stop over in Mumbai before I head to Goa for some much needed R&R and hopefully to catch up with new friends!
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Udaipur, Rajasthan, India

We were a bit apprehensive about getting the bus, but we were assured it was a 'deluxe' bus and that it would only take us 5.5 hours to get to Udaipur. We would have taken the train, but there currently isn't one between Jodhpur and Udaipur; the other option would have been a driver, but as we are trying to stick to a budget, and as I've relaxed considerably about everything since we got here, we decided to give it a go on the bus.

The bus was a sleeper bus, but we just had regular seats. The first group of people to pile on were all Westerners - I found out along the course of the trip that they were all with Intrepid, all from different parts of the world and all doing various types of tours.

And so we set off. We stopped after about 15 mins to pick up a lot of locals and that set a theme for the rest of the trip. I'd mistakenly assumed that it was a bus direct to Udaipur, but based on the number of stops we made, it couldn't have been. However, I didn't notice if anyone getting on handed the driver tickets, and it did seem to have a pretty random feel about it - it was very frustrating not to be able to understand what was going on!

But we pottered along. And we pottered along. And then we stopped. This time, not to pick up some more passengers, but to get our brakes checked. Apparently, they were dodgy. Within minutes of pulling up at what looked like a truckers stop, there was a man under the bus with a wrench, and about 20 locals standing around him, telling him what to do.

20 minutes later, we were on our way again.

An hour later, we stopped again - this time outside a mechanics where, again, a man got under the bus to try and fix the brakes. And so it continued. In all, we must have stopped about 5 times, with the sum total being that instead of the journey being 5.5 hours, it was 8.5 hours. So much for having the full afternoon in Udaipur!!!!

Finally, on arrival, Ted struck gold yet again with our guest house - and I fell completely in love with Udaipur. Ted says it's because it's the most westernised of the places we've been; I say because it's cute, it's clean, it's got great shopping and it's small enough to walk around without getting lost. Food was the first order of the day, so we headed up to the rooftop restaurant to admire the view of the Lake Palace, and to indulge in some good homecooked food. Ted is still not feeling up to scratch, and so has been taking the food easy - me, I've been hoovering it up!

A wander around the town took us to the waters edge and a fantastic view of both the Lake Palace (a hotel in the middle of the lake) and Jagmandir Island (where much of Octopussy was filmed). They both glistened in the night at the centre of the dark Lake Piciola. I also managed to snap up a couple of bargains, which I'm very pleased about, and plan to make another day of it tomorrow. As neither Ted nor I are feeling 100% - him with his dicky tummy, me with a chesty cough, we retired to our rooftop restaurant and watched Octopussy, something that most places do every night. Cheesy, but fab.

A lie in today, before we headed to the City Palace. I think it's one of my favourites so far. Lots of bright colours, particularly blues, and geometric designs with Mugal, Hindu and British influences. We bumped into Monica and Jaclyn again, and then we all headed off on a boat tour to take us around the lake and to Jagmandir Island. The lake is actually quite low at the moment, due to it being off season, so it doesn't look quite as picturesque as I imagine it can be, but it was still lovely to do a tour and then indulge in a western meal at the hotel on the Island.

Ted & the girls decided to trek up the Monsoon palace this afternoon, but I took the opportunity to chill out and read my book.

I've fallen in love with this place; it has all the charm of India, but very little of the agressive selling that is so characteristic of the other places we have visited. I am so pleased that we ended our little tour of Rajesthan here, as it's brought the intensity down somewhat, and has made for a more relaxed atmosphere.

But we cannot rest on our laurels for too long as tomorrow brings another journey - this time a flight from Udaipur to Delhi, where Ted begins to wind up his trip and head home, and I prepare for further solo journeying.....
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Delhi, India

We arrived in Delhi on Tuesday evening, and were whisked to Samit's house by his driver. Ted & I had decided to take Samit out for dinner to a nice restaurant to thank him for all his help while we were in Delhi. He'd given us full access to his driver, had made phone calls on our behalf to make arrangements - had basically put himself out completely with no fuss or bother at all, so it only seemed right that we repaid him.

A quick freshen up and 'hello' to the family was on the cards, before we were whisked away to Connaught Place. Officially, the two circles have been renamed Indira Chowk and Rajiv Chowk, but as with so many things, the locals still refer to it as Connaught Place - CP. It's the place for shopping in Delhi, apparently, and the western influence is all to apparent with McDonalds and Reebok stores and even a TGI Fridays adorning it's pavements.

Our location for dinner was Q'Ba, a stylish bar right off Connaught Place. I indulged with a very large salad and chicken and mash for dinner, while the boys talked shop. As much as the local food is tasty, every now and then it is nice to have something different, as well as a glass of wine - alcohol is not too freely available here, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and it means that when it is on offer, it is all the more appreciated.

The next day found us taking the driver to Dilli Haat, a kind of shopping centre with stalls and food outlets representing all states in India. After a filling thali, we did some shopping and came up trumps - shoes for both myself and Ted (Ted's to go with his Indian outfit) and some pashminas for me. We got there at the right time, apparently, as it wasn't too busy. Next stop was the Red Fort - now, as much as I've enjoyed the forts, we've seen an awful lot of them, and as this one is still only fairly newly opened, it is still teething. Therefore no audio tour, so a much shorter time spent there. Still very impressive, though.

We then wandered across the street to walk to the Jama Masjid mosque, which is the biggest one in India - it is capable of holding 25,000 people apparently. I was incredibly frustrated when we got there as they wouldn't let me in with my camera unless I paid - even when I wasn't going to use it! So Ted & I took it in turns to wander around. I was expecting it to be claustrophobic, like the time we headed to the mosque in Mumbai, but it was far from it - Ted did also remind me that we'd happened upon that mosque & another temple during a festival, so it was bound to be busier.

We then took a stroll through Chowdri Chowk and Chowri Bazaar. There is a new Bollywood movie out here called 'Chowdri Chowk to China', so it was kinda cool walking along the inspiration to that! It was a completely different experience than the similar ones we'd had in Mumbai - I didn't feel consipicuous, I didn't feel uncomfortable; I actually quite enjoyed it, having a nosy at the stores, taking in the sights and the smells of daily life in Delhi. I don't know if it's because I am much more used to it now, or if the locals were a lot less curious about us, but it made for a pleasant stroll. We then hopped on the subway - very clean, very spacious - back to Connaught Place where we took a reviving chai before meeting the driver and heading back to Samit's place.

After dinner, it was time for Ted to depart. I have to say, I was a little jealous that he was returning and I felt a tug calling me back home too - I'm thoroughly enjoying myself here, but I do miss home. However, as Ted pointed out, I have more adventures to come and so we waved farewell, and I took myself off for an early night. It's going to be strange not having a travel companion, and while I am a little apprehensive, I'm also excited.
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Delhi, India

As we exited the plane yesterday at Delhi airport, we both breathed a sigh of relief - as it was cool. No more humid, damp, sticky heat. Finally, a temperature where after dark, a jumper is required instead of needing to wring out your shirt. Bliss. Our stopover in Delhi was brief, and Ted's friend Samit kindly put us up. His family fed us to within an inch of our lives, and then we both agree we had probably the best night's sleep either of us have had since we arrived, just because it was cool.

This morning, we were dropped at the train station to catch the train to Agra. At the train station, we were besieged by locals trying to scam us into buying another ticket, by telling us the train was delayed for four hours, our tickets were no longer valid as a result, etc etc. Fortunately, we'd read our Lonely Planet, and knew they were pulling a fast one - so we made our way to the platform, and boarded the train with relatively little fuss. We were in 3rd Class, A/C so not quite as plush as on the train from Goa to Cochin, but perfectly adequate for our 3 hour train ride. We got chatting to Gary, a taxi driver from Worthing who is in India for 7 weeks and after a brief snack, we found ourselves in Agra.
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Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

Notes from a Canadian who can't resist a bit of cultural observation.

As Michelle and I sat on the rooftop of our hotel in Agra, we got chatting to a number of other groups of travellers. One of these groups included two girls and a guy from Utah. As we chatted, the guy leant forward and something fell out of his pocket. It was metal, about 6 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. Jokingly, I said, I think that you dropped your knife. He picked it up and said "Wow! Thanks man, I wouldn't want to lose that." It actually was a knife! I asked him why he was carrying a knife and he said, for his and the girls' protection"".

Now, after a month of travelling through India, Michelle and I have only felt uncomfortable once or twice in Mumbai. But the discomfort was more about too many people crowding around us than any real danger from anyone. I cannot, for the life, of me think of a single situation where a knife would have been required in our entire trip.

My comment to our Canadian friends today was, "I'm glad it wasn't a Canadian because I'd have been ashamed for my country."
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Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

Even though we've only done it once, I've got used to showing up at new places, picking a random guest house from the Bible (aka the Lonely Planet) and getting a rickshaw driver to take us there. Our arrival in Jodhpur was no different, and we found ourselves in the Haveli guest house, right in the heart of the Old Town, at 11.30 last night with a room that is costing us 800 rupees. Ted was hoping to have got something cheaper, but it's in a really old building, with a view of the fort so we couldn't complain.

Breakfast on the roof top restaurant set us up for the day, which found us heading to Meharangah Fort. Even from the outside it looks pretty impressive, hanging on the edge of a cliff and dominating the town below. My ankle has been feeling much better, so we decided to walk up there - it was a fairly steep climb, but make it we did and headed in. Right at the entrance, we bumped into a couple of girls who we'd first seen in Agra, when they were on the back of a rickshaw and when we were walking back to our hotel. We got chatting with them and it turns out they are Canadian - from Saskatchewan!!! Monica has been living in Nepal for the last year and her sister, Jaclyn, has been volunteering there for the last three months. They are travelling around India at the end of their time away, before heading back to Canada. We ended up hanging out with them most of the day.

It was them time for a little shopping, so the four of us headed down to the bazaar. I've gotten used the bargaining now - it's practically second nature - and so I managed to pick up a few good deals. There were stalls and stalls of bangles on display, and the colours, again, were phenomenal! We actually learned on the fort tour that colour plays a very important role in Rajesthani life - more so than in other parts of India - with different colours meaning different things, such as class and events. I was pleased to finally understand why everything is so much more colourful!

A hard days shopping required a chai and water stop, and after that we said our farewells to the girls, with promises to meet up for drinks in Udaipur, our next stop.

And so Ted & I have headed back for some r&r before our 7.30 bus in the morning, another adventure which I am greatly looking forward to (having both agreed that the sleeper bus may be pushing the experience a bit too far!)

Do I ever want this to end?????
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Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

A second day in Jaipur found us heading to the Amber Fort. There are an awful lot of forts in this part of the country. There was a lot of fighting in the olden days, apparently. As Ted has finally succumbed to the dreaded Delhi Belly, we decided to take a rickshaw there, rather than the bus, and found a lovely guy with his kids to take us there. The kids were all in school uniform, and clearly loved having some foreigners in the cab. The 12 year old boy, Abdullah, spoke fabulous English and gave us a running commentary of where we were going. They were so enamoured of us that when it came to drop them off at school, they all yelled and so their dad let them come with us!

Amber fort is just outside Jaipur, and is pretty impressive. We've found that the audio tours for these kinds of places are well worth it - if you can avoid the guides hounding you outside - so we plodded around, and took in the sights. These Moguls (I think that's from when most of the forts date) knew their construction, building these things on the side of cliffs, essentially. They are all so opulent as well.

Our cab driver then took us to Narangarh fort, which overlooks Jaipur. It's in a state of disrepair, but the view over the Pink city was phenomenal.

We then had a moment with our rickshaw driver. One of the things you learn pretty quickly here is how to deal with the persistent attention, and to agree prices up front. This is what we'd done with our driver for the day. When it came to dropping us off, Ted and I agreed to give him a 25% tip as he'd taken us to the fort as an extra, plus we'd been really happy with his service. He was not happy, and expected us to pay him double what we'd originally agreed. Usually, they all try this on but when you have a friendly discussion with them, they back down. This guy didn't and was really quite aggressive towards Ted. In the end, we gave him a bit extra just to leave us alone. You get used to paying Western prices - and Ted & I agree that we should be paying more for things than the locals - but in this situation, when a price has been agreed, then that is a different matter when they try and take you for a ride. It's really tough, and it's hard to walk away, but sometimes you have to.

One thing I've noticed that's different in Rajesthan than a lot of the other places we've visited is the saris. The saris here are so much more colourful and ornate than those that we've seen elsewhere. Yes, at the wedding we saw some beautiful saris, but here they are worn by women on the street - all kinds of women, be they high class, low class, buying, selling. There really is no differentiation, they all seem to wear very bright colours.

As Ted & I are now old pros when it comes to the trains around here, we were booked on the evening train from Jaipur to Jodphur, and so 5pm found us in the scrum on the platform trying to get on our train. No 2AC, unfortunately, so 3rd class it was but as it was only a 5 1/2 hour journey, we reckoned we could cope. The chaos that this entails is pretty funny - as you all know, Ted is a big guy and the passageways through the carriages are pretty small. That did not stop a local literally climbing over the top of Ted to get to his seat, when we weren't moving quickly enough. If it had been a train in the UK, we'd still be there today, all falling over each other to be polite.

An uneventful train journey - apart from Ted's dicky tummy and my vomiting - brought us to Jodhphur in the dead of night.
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Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

Most of the trip so far has been pretty extravagant, therefore Ted and I decided that for the rest of the trip, we were going to try and go budget. After determining that hiring a car for a tour around Rajesthan from Agra would be pretty pricey, we were looking at trains, buses and the lower end of the accommodation scale.

So it was with this mentality that we arrived in Jaipur. Having done a bit of pre-reading in the LP, we'd found a couple of guest houses that we wanted to try, and took a rickshaw to the first one. As I am currently gimping along, Ted went in an inspected a room or two - 350 rupees, clean and tidy, but the bathroom was on a different floor; not suitable for old hop-a-long here. Back in the rickshaw, and the Sunder Palace Guest House beckoned - and bulleye. A ground floor room with it's own bathroom, internet in the building, laundry on site and a good location - for the princely sum of 450 rupees (thats's $10 or 7 quid). Our plan was in full effect.

Due to my gammy ankle, our plans for the walking tour were scuppered so Ali - the brother of the rickshaw driver we used last night - took us around the city. First stop, the Pink City gates. All the buildings within the old city are painted pink, thanks to one of the maharajas (which one escapes me right now). Unfortunately, it was not sunny today so it wasn't glowing as it usually does, but it was still pretty impressive. After a couple of photos of the gates, Ali took us to the City Palace which is the palace of the maharajah and is still used by the family today. There is a textile museum, an art gallery and an amoury within the palace - the item that caught our attention was the attire of one of the maharajahs who was 1.2 metres wide. His outfit was HUGEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

It was slow going, but a after a restorative cup of chai and a plate of vegetable pakoras, we headed across the street to the Observatory - which was fabulous. We broke our usual rule and took a guide, and we are very glad that we did. There were sundials and astronomy instruments aplenty, built in the 18th Century, some of which are accurate to within 2 seconds.

Ali then took us to the Gaitor Palace which is where many of the maharajahs and their various wives, concubines and children are 'buried' - well, their ashes at least. It's in the middle of nowhere, and as seems to be the norm in India, surrounded by squalor. There were very few visitors there, and although we felt as if we had no choice but to take a guide, we were glad of it as otherwise, we wouldn't have had a clue. The carving in the marble and the fact that it was all hand done was pretty incredible.

Up until this point, Ali had done a pretty good job. But then, the 'selling' began. 'I'll take you to the Mughal City', he said 'and here you can find the stuff you find in the Pink City but for half the price'. He took us to a textile factory, where we were considering buying some gifts until we discovered that there was no bargaining - fixed prices. Then, as it turned out, Ali apparently has his own shop where everything is even cheaper - however, we managed to convince him that we were tired and fortunately, he heeded our request and brought us back.

And then, in keeping with our attempts at sticking within a budget, we headed to the beautiful Rambagh Palace and spent $80 on drinks and food.

(sigh) - You can take the boy and girl out of the finer things in life, but you can't take them out of the boy and girl.
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