Well our time in Thailand is up. We've done a hell of a lot.
Haggled in the markets, wandered in Chinatown, trekked through the jungle, been the the BEST CINEMA EVER, gone extreme rainforest caving, canoed across the most beautiful lake, ridden elephants in the jungle, played with the best puppy, swum in best sea cove, accidentally stayed in a 4* hotel, bamboo rafted in the mountain rivers, met the hill tribes, got some very dodgy tummys, stayed in a treehouse in the middle of a rainforest and more.
But now I think I've just had the greatest adventure of all:
I got a haircut.
It was all going so well, I had unruly hair and they had cheap prices. So I had it washed first by a gangly Thai boy, who shampooed twice, then conditioned then gave a massage. Not too shabby. Then I had to pick a style out of a book. So I chose a nice conservative western-style cut. Effectively a short back and sides. However, the man (who had one massive dreadlock down his back as a hairstyle, which probably should have alerted me to his sub-par hair cutting credentials) decided that I should look like a member of a Japanese boy band. And elf.
I was tempted halfway through to throw in the towel and get it cut all short but he was having such fun I let him get on with it. He sculpted and preened and blowdryed countless times and used amazing space age hair gels that form a web in your hands. And I didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't what I had in mind...
He looked at it like it was his masterpiece. Like he'd just made a scale replica of the great wall out of matchsticks.
Well, it was an experience, and I fit right in here now. Shame that we leave tomorrow morning cos in Oz I'll just look like a J-pop nerd. At least it was cheap, I'll get the scissors and gel out, I'm sure I can salvage something.
Isn't traveling fun?
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Sunday, 17 May 2009
Varasnasi
From Agra we got a 12 hour sleeper train to Varanasi. Possibly our favourite place overall. It can't really be put into words but it was so Indian. There was no Western influence over Varanasi at all. And it was like we dropped right in and got to experience it to. From Sunset/sunrise boat trips up and down the Ganges, marveling at the Ghats, watching the ritual cremations, to walking the crowded streets. It was oh so Indian. And we loved it for it. One day we took a small excursion to Sarnath and stood on the spot where Bhudda actually gave his frist sermon. How amazing is that?! People complained that there wasn't enough to do in Varanasi because there were no obvious malls or districts or sights to see. But we found plenty. Oh and we bought some Henna. For about 10p. And got the receptionists to apply it whilst they loveling fed us cake and samosas. YUM. I got a double star on my wrist, a lightning bolt down my ankle and the four card suits across my Knuckles. Its only just fading now. I look like a grizzled biker.
Eventually we had to sadly leave Varanasi, home of the best Naan (dolphin restaurant) and the best pancakes (bread of life) and leave back for good old Delhi. Familiarity.
Eventually we had to sadly leave Varanasi, home of the best Naan (dolphin restaurant) and the best pancakes (bread of life) and leave back for good old Delhi. Familiarity.
Agra
Agra as a city feels very empty. It relies on the fact that it houses the Taj. Which is fine by me because the Taj is absolutly immense. We got up at 4am to get to the Taj at sunrise and guess what. WE WERE THE FIRST ONES IN! For about 5 minutes we had the entire Taj Mahal to ourselves! It was so surreal!! Eerie and absolutley stunning! And then as the sun rose crowds formed and we left about 8am. It was an amazing experience! First ones in! And also the experience of Sophie attempting to put her shoe covers on whilst standing up...also immense.
Then we went to the red fort which was also eerily empty. And therefore amazing. Had our pictures taken with many Indian families, who regard us as a beautiful freakshow and often ask for photos with us. And fed some chipmonks. It was a great morning!
Other than that, Agra has very little to offer. Well there was a Pizza hut and a Costa next to our hotel where we spent a LOT of time, but other than that. Oh and a McDonalds. But other than that. And a shoppng mall.
Then we went to the red fort which was also eerily empty. And therefore amazing. Had our pictures taken with many Indian families, who regard us as a beautiful freakshow and often ask for photos with us. And fed some chipmonks. It was a great morning!
Other than that, Agra has very little to offer. Well there was a Pizza hut and a Costa next to our hotel where we spent a LOT of time, but other than that. Oh and a McDonalds. But other than that. And a shoppng mall.
Jaipur
After the amazing Sunrise hike where we all did more exercise than we were prepared to do (and got surrounded by a gang of baby monkeys at the summit) we spent a few days exploring Pushkar. After that, it was a journey through Snake mountain to Jaipur, the Amber city, the capital of Rajasthan!
The city was super touristy. A bit rubbish really. The sights were overpriced and full of European OAPs. The highlights had to be watching the AMAZING DOA movie in the room and randomly bumping in to Janey Farrington in the Bazars. We went with her to some guys jewelry shop far away from anything and drank Chai. Then when we had to leave we got trapped by monkeys on a balcony and they hissed and nearly attacked us. Scary times! Oh and the amazing 8x10 Tasveer which we watched at a local cinema. And begun our love affair with the worst actor our eyes had ever seen, Akshay Kumar.
So if you're an OAP or simply looking to haggle for some soft furnishings, Jaipur is definately the place to be.
The city was super touristy. A bit rubbish really. The sights were overpriced and full of European OAPs. The highlights had to be watching the AMAZING DOA movie in the room and randomly bumping in to Janey Farrington in the Bazars. We went with her to some guys jewelry shop far away from anything and drank Chai. Then when we had to leave we got trapped by monkeys on a balcony and they hissed and nearly attacked us. Scary times! Oh and the amazing 8x10 Tasveer which we watched at a local cinema. And begun our love affair with the worst actor our eyes had ever seen, Akshay Kumar.
So if you're an OAP or simply looking to haggle for some soft furnishings, Jaipur is definately the place to be.
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Pushkar
This morning we left Udaipur for another 8 hour bus journey. Though this time we had air conditioning! But I would hardly call it that. It was like an asthmatic person blowing on your arm every few minutes. And sadly the horn did not sound like Annie Lennox this time. Shame.
We are getting pretty good at these bus journeys now. I have read 3 books in a few days. Personal best I think. And Soph has discovered books once again (after her iPod ran out of battery) and is thrilled she still remembers how to read. And we had some good snacks this time: 'loaded baked potato Pringles', 'nice time biscuits' and of course, 'Thums up cola: taste the thunder.'
We finally got to Pushkar about 5pm and I think it is my favourite place so far. We are in the mountains and it's a town of holy pilgramage so there are plenty of nice temples. And no meat or alcohol. And of course no eggs either, for these are unholy, as is public embrace. Though milk and other dairy is fine. And a surprising amount of people keep attempting to sell us 'special hippy smokes'. But I like the contradictions.
We went for a meal by the famous lake but is is a puddle right now. But the resaturant was good. Me and Sophie shared cheese curry. Which tasted suspiciously fishy. But the naan breads were absolutely amazing. And they sold Mirinda, our new idol. It's like fanta bu more orange and it's got us through some tough times so far. I hope they sell Mirinda in Thailand otherwise it'll be heart-wrenching to have to say goodbye.
These posts are so skinny, when I have time I may consult my Ganesh journal and add more to them. But not now. Sleep beckons :)
We are getting pretty good at these bus journeys now. I have read 3 books in a few days. Personal best I think. And Soph has discovered books once again (after her iPod ran out of battery) and is thrilled she still remembers how to read. And we had some good snacks this time: 'loaded baked potato Pringles', 'nice time biscuits' and of course, 'Thums up cola: taste the thunder.'
We finally got to Pushkar about 5pm and I think it is my favourite place so far. We are in the mountains and it's a town of holy pilgramage so there are plenty of nice temples. And no meat or alcohol. And of course no eggs either, for these are unholy, as is public embrace. Though milk and other dairy is fine. And a surprising amount of people keep attempting to sell us 'special hippy smokes'. But I like the contradictions.
We went for a meal by the famous lake but is is a puddle right now. But the resaturant was good. Me and Sophie shared cheese curry. Which tasted suspiciously fishy. But the naan breads were absolutely amazing. And they sold Mirinda, our new idol. It's like fanta bu more orange and it's got us through some tough times so far. I hope they sell Mirinda in Thailand otherwise it'll be heart-wrenching to have to say goodbye.
These posts are so skinny, when I have time I may consult my Ganesh journal and add more to them. But not now. Sleep beckons :)
Udaipur
After Jodhpur it was another 8 hour local bus ride to Udaipur. I thought we had arrived when the driver crushed my dreams and told me we were halfway. We had only stopped for drinks and the toilet.
We also spent a long time driving up through the mountains in first gear in a bus with thousands of people crammed on. This took as long as you'd imagine if not longer.
The hotel was less good in Udaipur. Mine and Shags room was filthy so we spent the whole time in Soph and Becca's room. We had a great meal at a beautiful lakeside restaurant in the evening where there were massive bats flying overhead. I mean seriously big. I've seen bats, I've been to a few zoo's in my time but these were bigger than batman himself. It was still eautiful there though. We had a view over to where they filmed Octopussy.
Coincidentally a random Indian man called Sophie Octopussy. It may have been due to her massive hair. We found it a bit funny. In fact we've had a few names in Udaipur. A beggar woman called Becca a witch because she refused to give her loads of money. A random kid called Shahreena a bastard in Hindi. Out of a car window. And some local kids called me the dancing guy cos I randomly got pulled into wedding procession in he street so naturally me and Becca joined in and danced our troubles away, it was great. Indian people seem to love it when Westerners do stuff!
In Udiapur most of the lakes were pretty dry in this season, which was a bit of a letdown for the 'city of lakes'. But we saw the beautiful city palace museum. And had some great fun learning to haggle and barter in the markets. I got a cool Ganesh T-shirt for 100 Rupees, down from nearly 200. I had to pretend to walk away quite a bit but it was worth it! A T-shirt for about a quid!
We also spent a long time driving up through the mountains in first gear in a bus with thousands of people crammed on. This took as long as you'd imagine if not longer.
The hotel was less good in Udaipur. Mine and Shags room was filthy so we spent the whole time in Soph and Becca's room. We had a great meal at a beautiful lakeside restaurant in the evening where there were massive bats flying overhead. I mean seriously big. I've seen bats, I've been to a few zoo's in my time but these were bigger than batman himself. It was still eautiful there though. We had a view over to where they filmed Octopussy.
Coincidentally a random Indian man called Sophie Octopussy. It may have been due to her massive hair. We found it a bit funny. In fact we've had a few names in Udaipur. A beggar woman called Becca a witch because she refused to give her loads of money. A random kid called Shahreena a bastard in Hindi. Out of a car window. And some local kids called me the dancing guy cos I randomly got pulled into wedding procession in he street so naturally me and Becca joined in and danced our troubles away, it was great. Indian people seem to love it when Westerners do stuff!
In Udiapur most of the lakes were pretty dry in this season, which was a bit of a letdown for the 'city of lakes'. But we saw the beautiful city palace museum. And had some great fun learning to haggle and barter in the markets. I got a cool Ganesh T-shirt for 100 Rupees, down from nearly 200. I had to pretend to walk away quite a bit but it was worth it! A T-shirt for about a quid!
Jodhpur
Wow. A lot has happened since the last post amd it'd be great to share it all with you but sadly I have to go on a sunrise trek to the Brama temple in 6 hours and in this time I have yet to wash my clothes, wash myself, get packed and hopefully sleep a little.
So I'll do a few brief posts, think of it as the highlights. (And if you're really interested in everything, I've been keeping a journal with Ganesh on the front. I haggled long and hard for it and I love it. It should make a pretty good read if you ever wanna loan it out)
So after Jaisalmer, we left the HOT HOT desert for Jodhpur, the blue city. Sounds a bit cooler. This is not the case. The 8 hour local bus was an experience. MUCH better than the sleeper train but I can't help but think if we hadn't stopped to pick up pretty much the whole population of Rajasthan along the way, we could have made the journey in 10 minutes.
The hotel was beautiful, like a tropical resort. WITH A POOL! Watched some good TV, pirates of the Carribean and Tom and Jerry (in Hindi of course). We visited the fort which was beautiful and the Sadar Bazar which was...hectic. And of course, sweated a lot along the way. Our tummies were recovering a little by then and we were really starting to get into this whole India malarky.
So I'll do a few brief posts, think of it as the highlights. (And if you're really interested in everything, I've been keeping a journal with Ganesh on the front. I haggled long and hard for it and I love it. It should make a pretty good read if you ever wanna loan it out)
So after Jaisalmer, we left the HOT HOT desert for Jodhpur, the blue city. Sounds a bit cooler. This is not the case. The 8 hour local bus was an experience. MUCH better than the sleeper train but I can't help but think if we hadn't stopped to pick up pretty much the whole population of Rajasthan along the way, we could have made the journey in 10 minutes.
The hotel was beautiful, like a tropical resort. WITH A POOL! Watched some good TV, pirates of the Carribean and Tom and Jerry (in Hindi of course). We visited the fort which was beautiful and the Sadar Bazar which was...hectic. And of course, sweated a lot along the way. Our tummies were recovering a little by then and we were really starting to get into this whole India malarky.
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