TravelStream™ news feed for member markandali on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/markandali en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:50:14 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1204181220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1204181220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1204181220/tpod.html Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:50:14 -0500 South East Asia - here we come

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Delhi, India

It was interesting to be back in Delhi....amazing how much we had accustomed to India. Sights and smells that had initially seemed so unreal and foreign now seemed completely normal....It really was going to be sad to end our travels, but we are both excited to get back and get working.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1203576240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1203576240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1203576240/tpod.html Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:46:30 -0500 South East Asia - here we come

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Port Blair, India

What can I say, the Andamans is heavenly. The island we stayed on is called Havelock and where most of the scuba diving is. The island is really small and covered with trees and forest. The beaches are beautiful and the water crystal clear. The weather was 30 every day....absolute heaven. We were there for 4 days, for 2 we went diving; 1 we rented a scooter and raced around the island looking for beaches and the other we just chilled on the resorts little beach. It was just idyllic!!The holiday was now coming to an end, which is not a good feeling. We had to fly from the Andamans back to Kolkata, wait for 5 hours and then take an 18 hour train ride to Delhi for one night, before we flew back to London. This train ride we decided to ride 2AC which is about as fancy as it gets, and we did not regret it. It seems that the more you pay, the less snorers are about. I hate to say it but it seems that snoring is directly related to wealth....sorry to all you snorers out there.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1203403320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1203403320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1203403320/tpod.html Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:43:57 -0500 South East Asia - here we come

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Kolkata (Calcutta), India

Kolkata we had been told was really dirty and that there were so many beggers. We were so impressed with it though. The town is so easy to walk around with wide streets and very few cows in the streets. It has some amazing buildings and bridges, loads of impromptu crickets games in the parks and great food.We had pre-booked our accommodation but when we got there were quite surprised by the windowless prison cell we had chosen, and decided to really needed to splash out and spend at least 5 dollars on accommodation, even 10. We found a really nice newly renovated hotel with staff who were literally tripping over to help you. All was going swimmingly until after lying down in bed for about 30 mins Mark started scratching. A little later he was covered in bites. The next morning we collected some of the many bed bugs and went to show the staff. They did not seem that surprised, which of course should have rung some alarm bells. They put some pretrol in a spray bottle and promtly (with our assistance) gave the room a proper fumigation. We decided to head out for th day but were excited to get back to our new improved bug free bed later that night. After a visit to the planetarium and a meaty meal at our favourite restaurant, BBQ, we headed back. We did a quick check and did not find any bed-bugs so went to bed. At about 2am Mark started scratching away and went to the bathroom only to find a bed bug on himself...we started looking though our stuff and they were everywhere; on our bags in all our clothes in our sleeping bags!!! We couldn't sleep, so decided to shower...but alas they turn the water off at night. Luckily we were heading to the airport at 4am so we just hung about for another hour killing bed bugs while we waited for our taxi!We are now off to the Caymans!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1202539140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1202539140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1202539140/tpod.html Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:41:27 -0500 South East Asia - here we come

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Gangtok, India

Sikkim was next on the list. Sikkim is on the border of Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan and is a very hilly state in India and generally at this time of the year, very cold. In order to travel there, all tourists need an additional permit, and then to go north they need another permit and if they want to hike, even another permit...whatever next.In Sikkim all transport is in shared jeeps. These are definitely shared, often a 9 seater can have at least up 16 passengers. The journeys are quite something as with all the rain there are so many landslides that the roads are constantly being washed away and rebuilt. The going is pretty slow and there is nearly at least one person in the jeep hanging out the window puking as the roads are so windy. Although Sikkim is a tiny state it takes quite a long time to travel around as the jeeps generally cover about 20-30km an hour, and there is also the obligatory tea stop after an hour of travel.To see the north you need to go with a guide as it is a military area. It is a great drive with loads of bridge crossings, waterfalls and monasteries. A trip of 120km took us 7 hours but we did do this quite leisurely. Our guide was keen to drink (very unusual in India), so introduced us to millet beer. The locals fermet millet with yeast and then add hot water to the millet which you sip through a straw to stop from drinking the actual millet. We spent both nights we were there at one of his family friends house drinking millet beer, and we introduced them to rum and coke. It was a great experience, sitting in their house, almost having conversations and watching American wrestling (of all things) and of course India Pop Idol.One of the reaons we wanted to go north was see the Yumthang Valley which is supposed to be beautiful. Unfortunately they have had quite a lot of snow lately so the raods are blocked. We drove as fas as we could and then decided to try and walk the last 12km through thick snow. Our guide looked horrified that we were even going to attempt this. Turns out we failed as walking in the snow got so tough after a while and with the cold and the promise of millet beer, we turned back after about 9km. Anyway, aparently it is amazing.....Next it was off on a trek called the Monastic trek which covers all the monsteries in the area while hiking between them and the local villages. It was such an amazing experience. So few tourists do the hike, as most people get lost. There are no signs or maps and the locals when ask for directions only give you the direction of the first 5 steps but never go beyond that. We were very proud of ourselves until on day 3 we went horribly wrong, and ended up going about an additional 6km of which most of it was straight up. The villages we stayed in were great, the accommodation and food really simple. Our last hotel was the cheapest we had had yet and the only real known "hotel" in the area. It was only $2,50, so you can't expect too much, but the smell was something even I wasn't prepared for. Mark attributed a lot of the smell to us, which could be true, but I was convinced if I sniffed every item in the room I would find it, but never did. Food was becoming an issue. We had had a lot of rice and noodles/noodle soups done every which way, samoosas and everything else vegetarian. Meat was rare, and with the onset of bird flu it looked like we were destined to eat only noodles. We did manage to get our hands on some pork but this was not really pork meat; it was more pork fat and actually still had the hairs in it. Back in Darjeeling though, Chicken had returned, and we hit it hard, Mark managed to eat an entire chicken (although it was a skinny racing chicken)The next day was a travelling nightmare. It started off with a breakfast cut short to rush down to the steam train which we were catching down the mountain, to one of the main cities where we could get a train to Kolkata. We hot footed it to the train station, only to find out there was a train strike; only a train strike and only in this town. That was not a big deal as we could get a share jeep to our next train station. It was a 2-3 hour journey but we for once left with plenty of time and thank goodness we did. On the way down we hit one of the many potholes and there was a large cracking sound. We continued to drive in case it corrected itself, but soon realised that the shock was broken and the chassis was rubbing on the wheel...almost like a Herbie goes bananas scenario. We managed to hitch a ride on another jeep and made it to the train station with time to spare....I was exhausted after our hike and not having had much sleep in the last couple of nights so was looking forward to a nice long train journey. I climbed onto my bunk early and drifted off which looked like it was going to be a great sleep....very soon afterwards I noticed that it stank where I was; Mark and I did some investigating and think it was either residual vomit or toe jam on the bed I was on. The other thing is the snoring, I have looked and studied but I just can't figure it out. I have never heard snoring like it, and from so many people....then of course there are the curry farts and the stares - all these combined can really interrupt a good nights sleep.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1201934160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1201934160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1201934160/tpod.html Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:38:30 -0500 South East Asia - here we come

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Darjeeling, India

Darjeeling is great, cold again, but beautiful and very Nepalese. It is a tea growing area, so the hills are covered with green tea plants, which makes for a beautiful view; infortunately not really being tea drinkers we stuck mostly with coffee, but did a tea tasting session. Funnily enough all the teas we liked were the cheap ones while the expensive ones, well they were just not our cup of tea (weak I know). This time for our accommodation we chose a place with reliable hot water and fireplaces in the room. After looking around the town we soon went on a spending binge again and bought a very heavy rug, well actually two of them in the end. I have since looked at the price of excess baggage for Virgin flights and it looks like we may be having to wear the rug as a shawl. Mark bought a puff jacket, some more beanies etc etc. Our guesthouse in Delhi keeps on getting phone calls from us saying we are sending stuff to them, let's see if it all arrives there. We also headed to Mountaineering Insitute which has an Everest Museum and a compulsary zoo. The Everest museum was great. We finally managed to go on a real hike. It was supposed to be a 6 day hike but because of the intense cold the caretaker of the final hut had left so the hike was shortened to 4 days. It was disappointing, but still it was an amazing hike, pretty strenuous, very cold (well into the negatives on the 2nd night) with unbelievable views. The first day involved an uphill walk for 19km. Along the way are little villages of about 3-4 houses where we would stop regularly for a cup of very milky tea. The people were really friendly, and there was normally one very fluffy dog to keep us entertained.That second day was a very very steep 16 km climb and as we went up it got colder and windier. The views were of the Himalayan peaks and we could see Everest, Kanchengdzonga, Lhotse and Makalu. We were really lucky as the views were clear and we had heard many reports of completely misty days for many hikers. We were nervous about how cold it was going to be that night (we had heard the rumours) and when we finally finished the day of hiking we realised why. It was freezing, and so windy. We put every item of clothes we had on, but still we were pretty cold. It was so cold that all the squat toilets had frozen over. They had a bucket of boiling water in the toilet in order to wash down your unspeakables but this also froze, which led to a bit of a back-up...oooh gross.That night we couldn't sleep as the wind was howling and causing an absolute raquet. Everything was banging and as this hut was only made of wood slats and an aluminium roof, it really didn't seem very stable. The other slightly distracting thing was the discovery of a mouse/rat in my bag. When I got into my bed, I saw a little poo but choose to ignore it and just climbed in my sleeping bag. At about 1am I heard a rustling of papers, and I thought it was Mark was stealing from the sweet packet again. We then realised that we had a visitor and soon discovered it was in my backpack and had gone to work on our reserve food stash of banana bread!!! Damn. The problem from then on was my paranoia that the mouse was in my sleeping bag, in my bed, running over my face and I drove Mark mad with the screams and constant panic attacks. Anyway needless to say after almost no sleep I was delighted when the sun came up. As we could not continue to the final hut, we started our descent which was a bit of a wake up call the knees and quads; we dropped by 1km in altitude over 10 kms...which apparently is quite a lot. I was quite relieved in a way that we couldn't continue as it was so windy and that days hike would have been along an unprotected ridge which I can imagine would not have been particularly pleasant!The walking that day was great and pretty relaxed; we walked and stopped for tea, food and many rests. As it was Tibetan new year we got to taste all their little delicacies along the way, of which most were not too bad. They then presented us with a drink which was fermented rice wine, and then a whole lot of food chucked in with some sour milk. It looked and tasted like vomit, but not just ordinary vomit, very chunky vomit. Anyway we suffered through about half a cup, but my last sip produced a little too much wretching and we decided to call it a day.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1201701660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1201701660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1201701660/tpod.html Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:30:54 -0500 South East Asia - here we come

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Varanasi, India

To get to Varanasi all the trains were booked so it involved a stopover in a city called Lucknow and then a bus or train to Varanasi. The train trip was good, uneventful and then a 8 hour local bus ride to Varanasi, which is always quite something. Tourists don't seem to travel on the government buses but I really think they are missing out. The is just so much entertainment to be had. For example. never have I seen so much vohmiting out of windows - I am not sure exactly what the cause is, but striped down the side of every government bus is a good couple of splatters of vomit!Varanasi is a great city - the holiest city in India. People are obsessed with washing in the river called the ganges which surprises me as it is filthy. However it is great to watch as there is so much activity. Everyone comes down to do their morning and evening ablutions and there of course there are the cremation ghats where they burn bodies. It is bizarre and difficult for us to get our heads round, but here, every day they burn up to 200 bodies in front of a lot of spectators. It is considered an honour to be cremated down on the river and depending on how much you (well your relatives pay) depends on how what sort of wood you get. The best is sandalwood, I told Mark that of course I would insist on them using the finest teak on me. They carry the bodies down on stretches and proceed with a ceremony which eventually involves putting the body on a pile of wood and lighting it with a single coal. Then comes the smell of burning human flesh and more wood and coals get added. Only the lowest of castes are up for the job, which I must say has gat to be a terrible one. The other quite gruesome thing is to see the huge number of dogs and cows that come to this area as is covered with warm ash...so all in all it is a very sociable environment. We went on a sunrise boat ride along the ghats in the morning to watch people going about their business. We did see something quite large bobbing about in the water. Our boat guide told us that this was the body of either a child, pregnant woman, person with leprosy, person bitten by cobra or holy sadhu as they cannot be cremated but instead are covered, and tied up with rocks and dumped in the middle of the river - Hmmmm...and they serve fresh river fish in the restaurants!We found an oasis of peace and normality in Varanasi - it was a coffee shop with broadband...Oh the sweet pleasures in life. We were chatting to one of the local waiters who when he found out we were from South Africa, says "Hoe gaan it? Ek is goed dankie!" We couldn't believe it, but it turned out that the owners of the coffee shop are South African, and of course there are quite a few in Varanasi...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1201355940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1201355940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1201355940/tpod.html Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:28:33 -0500 South East Asia - here we come

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Mussoorie, India

From Shimla, it was off to a town called Dehra Dun. This was just a stopover on our way to the next hill station. It was not a great city, but it did have two of our favourite coffee shops which of course we visited while there. It had a great market, and the only place we have seen the locals selling meat, well only chicken. But unfurtunately these weren't the plump chickens you see injected with all sorts of anti-biotics that we are used to. These were skinny, with as many feathers as Kojak has hair. The bus to Mussorie was crazy -I was petrified as it wound up this crazy steep road on the side of a mountain, with a couple of reminders of what losing concentration could do!!Mussorie was amazing, but freezing. We thought we wouldn't make the same mistake and not get a heater so we hired one for the time we were there. Sadly I think it only increased the temp in the room from -5 to -4, but still. While there we did a great hike to a village which started and ended and a path. It was beautiful and was a real change to the previous month of mostly city visits in India. We walked through small quite unfriendly villages, and up ravines, and I was in my element.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1201700640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1201700640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1201700640/tpod.html Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:26:11 -0500 South East Asia - here we come

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Shimla, India

From Chandigarh, it was off to the Hill stations. I was so excited to get to the mountains, but was not quite prepared for just how cold it was going to be. We went by "toy train" which was a beatiful trip. It took about 6 hours to do 100km, but we gained altitude of about 2km during that and went through 103 tunnels. I loved the trip, the scenery was stunning, and the train was very cool. The problem is that Inidia is not set up for the cold. We stayed at an OK guesthouse, but the coldest place on earth. We actually thought the room was colder than sleeping outside, and decided we were too tough to hire a heater, so instead froze our asses off. It was so cold that we could not shower on the 2nd day because the water in the pipes had frozen. We did have one saving grace; we found a coffee shop which makes very decent lattes, and not only that, the coffee shop was also heated. The days in Shimla we spent doing loads of walking to temples and other sites. It was good, although I was attacked my a monkey. A local warned us that if we went to one of the temples we should take our sunglasses off as the monkeys would try and take them. An unlikely story I thought and proceeded with them on. As we started to see more monkeys I thought perhaps we was right, and was going to take them off when the next thing, 10kg (well maybe 5kg) landed on my head; obviously there was an ill-placed shriek by myself, but with some very quick reflex to was Alison:1 Monkey:0.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1200922020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1200922020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1200922020/tpod.html Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:24:13 -0500 South East Asia - here we come

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Chandigarh, India

Next up was Chandigarh, one of only 2 planned cities in India. To get there involved a 6 hour freezing cold bus ride. The city was unlike any other Indian city, it actually felt quite weird. There were almost no beggers, and the streets were wide with very little litter. We decided the easiest way to see the city was to do the Open top bus tour (frightfully civilised). Of course we were the only tourists, so the tour was cancelled. This was not a bad thing cos while we were planning what to do next, I met a man called Navinder turned up, who claimed he was the tourist "good samaritan". The rest of the day we spent with Navinder, who was an absolute gem. He took us round all the sights (and asked for no money, which is quite strange), he on his bicycle, us walking. At every sight he would insist we take photos (even if there was nothing to take a photo of) and most sights also involved a presentation of some sort - sometimes giving us Chai tea, or putting a bindi on my forehead, or eating sweets. He was very keen on organising us entrance into the High Court (and the privilege to take photos, which is very difficult). We went through so much paperwork and waiting and signatures, but it was all finally organised. We were quite excited as after this much effort, we thought it had to be something quite special. It was a complete let down. The building was ugly and well the views weren't great, but Navinder was so excited about the fact that he managed to us up there, so we happily snapped away! The day finished with some more tea.....and then we bid our farewells - he really was something quite special! The next day we were to meet another interesting Indian chap who thought of himself as a bit of a phylosopher and as we chatted over some coffee, got me to write down his quotes
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1200935040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1200935040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandali/journey-2007/1200935040/tpod.html Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:15:30 -0500 South East Asia - here we come

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Amritsar, India

It was time for our first overnight bus ride. I was a little nervous because we had already had one near-fatal accident due to severe negligence by our bus driver, but decided it was worth a go. The bus was great, we booked sleeper seats and had a double-bed (well almost). It was about 4:30am when we got to Amritsar so we headed to find some accommodation. THe main attraction here is a Muslim temple call the Golden Temple which has an accommodation complex, mainly for pilgramers, attached. Anyone can stay here (and foreigners too) for free. We had heard it is quite an experience so headed here. It is such an amazing experience; people everywhere and so friendly. We hade a room, and shared a bathroom with who knows how many other people, but it is an amazing setup. There was also a canteen attached which is open serving food 24 hours for free! (Obviously donations are welcome) We visited the Golden temple at about 5:30am when loads of local worshippers were there for morning prayer. The main temple building contains 750kg of gold...I am thinking I have a great storey line for "Oceans 14".
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