Flew in over the turquoise waters of the Andaman Islands, which are almost entirely covered in jungle except for the white beach frings and thought, yes - we could definately like this place. The reality though once we hit the ground in the islands capital, Port Blai, was a little bit different. The minute we stepped out of the airport door the illusion of a tranquil, tropical paradise was shattered as we we met by a herd of rickshaw drivers vying for the honour of transporting us to the town centre.
Once we arrived in the town centre itself things weren't too much better - the heat was oppressive, Jonathan was still a bit shaky after a bout of food poisoning in Chennai and the first guesthouse we tried didn't provide much comfort - the loo looked like the before picure in a Domestos ad and even the guy showing us the room didn't seem to want to get within 10 foot of it. Ended up styaying in a windowless room that was sweltering hot and a bit cell-like but at least was clean.
Our aim was to get to a nearby island, Havelock, the next day. The ferry ticketing system is a bit of a joke - you can only buy tickets between 9 and 11 am and to do so you have to queue for about an hour and a half beforehand. I don't really know why the people bother to queue though because once the doors open it's a free for all. The worst thing though is that they have women only queues that are allowed to buy tickets first so looks like I'm doomed to do all the scrummaging while in India. Anyway, managed to avoid queueing by getting a standby ticket after about an hour of hanging around the docks looking as pitiful as possible. Maybe Indians make things as awkward as possible so you actually appreciate it when things work out for there was no sweeter feeling than sitting on deck with the wind in our hair and sun shing down on us, finally on our way to Havelock.
Havelock was a totally different proposition to Port Blair - this place is all about the beachs. We found ourselves a little beach hut for the princely sum of 3 euro a night (it was peak season after all!) and just crashed out for a few days. Check out the famous "Beach 7" (all beaches here are known by number), which was voted the Times 'best beach in Asia'. It's absolutely gorgeous - crystal clear water, white sand and a jungle behind it. Also did a bit of snorkelling and saw some amazing coral and colourful fish. After Havelock moved on to the even more remote and laid-back Long Island. The village here is like something set up by the tourist board - totally quaint with chickens and goats running around in front of thatched buildings.
From Long Island we took a boat trip to the uninhabited North Passage to camp for two nights. We set off with an Australian couple with grand schemes for building shelters, catching fish and cooking in coconut shells but these were abandoned soon after arrival. Our attempts to fish culminated with Jono causing the collapse of the wooden jetty (in fairness it was in pretty bad shape to start with). After that we decided to stick to the provisions we'd brought with us although we did manage to find some coconuts to hack open (not much of an achievement since we were living on a coconut plantation!). Still our camping spot next to the beach was pretty idylic and it was great being able to cook on an open fire.
On our way back to Port Blair we passed through a tribal reserve for the Jattawa tribe who still live as hunter/gathererss in the forest and have minimal contact with the outside world. It's hard to know how to react when you pass these people on the road - you don't want to stare at them like animals in the zoo but at the same time it's pretty fascinating to see these near-naked people with their primitive weapons and tribal body painting. Actually nearly got abandoned in the reserve because our bus driver tried to drive off without us after a ferry crossing despite the fact that there were about ten people at the door clambering to get back on the moving vehicle! That's India for you!
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