Jaipur
This is our last stop before Delhi, and we have 3 days here. It's a bit of a let down, as it's a dirty, smelly city with lots of touts. It has lots of old monuments, but they're not impressing us much. There's a huge variety of shops, but we've seen better during our travels. We're making the most of it, using the hotel pool, and we also ate at a revolving restaurant last night, which had a great view.
I think our tolerance of getting hassled is decreasing rapidly, but we're having fun and there's not long to go. We have a bit more we want to see in Delhi, and who knows, we may find something cool here too.
Udaipur
This was one of our favourite places. It had lots of little streets with arts and craft shops. We stayed in a lovely hotel overlooking the lake. We only had two days here but filled them! First we got dresses tailor made, which after a few hiccups and adjustments turned out to be beautiful. Then we got full body massages which we were very worried about but were wonderful. In the evening we went to a performance of different kinds of dance throughout West India. This was really impressive and took place in a palace courtyard.
On the second day we went to a mock-traditional Indian village. This had a variety of styles of houses; from mud-huts to Portugese influenced royal homes. We had a guide who told us so much about life in India, and loads about his own life. As we went round, families from villages danced for us. They come to the village for a couple of weeks at a time, and perform, then go back to their villages. This makes it very authentic. There was a fair amount of cross dressing involved...and at one point Amy and I got dragged into a gypsy snake charmer dance!
After this we went shopping, ate and got our next train.
Ahmedabad
After a 22 hour train, we arrived in Ahmedabad and were determined to make the best of it. We only had one day there because we were leaving late that evening, but we went to the Ashram founded by Gandhi, which has been turned into a museum to commemorate his work. It was really astounding to see what he'd achieved and what he believed in. It had such an impact on India. We saw his house there and a prayer garden.
Then we went to a mental Indian flea market which had crowds of people who all stared, pointed and touched us as we wandered through! Obviously not used to white people. It sold everything from beds to car parts, clothes to pots and pans. Not really anything we could take with us, but interesting nonetheless.
We walked round a lake in the centre and went on a pedalo which was surprisingly hard work. We had to work really hard to get back to the jetty before our time ran out! Then we ate great tandoori and caught our train.
Goa
We stopped in Mangalore for a day, to make our trip to Goa a bit easier. There wasn't much to do there but we had a nice hotel room with a TV so made the most of that. When we arrived in Goa it was a bit of a shock! We had high hopes of sun and a beautiful beach, but it wasn't quite like that...
The place seemed quite deserted and as we headed along the beach there were loads of run-down beach huts which we were glad we weren't staying in. We couldn't walk around much at night, but again, our hotel had a TV so we ate early and went back for Friends and E.R every night! 'Highlights' were: a morning on the beach when we did have some sun, watching a film in a western restaurant, which also had a pool table (very amusing). We also got completely rained on in crazy monsoon showers as we tried to sunbathe by the pool!
Let's say we were glad when it was time to move on...
The best day yet...
We had a great time in Pondycherry, hiring bikes for a day, staying in this hippy Ashram place (peace and nature, man...), visiting a few sights and also spending some time on a very empty and unspoilt beach. We really felt like we weren't in India while we were there - it felt like France and was very laid back. After this we headed back to Chennai and met up with the girls we'd visited Asha with, which was fun. Then we caught the overnight train to Cochin in Kerala, which is our best destination yet.
On our first day we headed out around lunchtime, and explored the Jewish quarter of the town, with a synagogue and lots of interesting little shops. We also visited a Dutch Palace which has become a museum. Then in the evening we went to a traditional performance of 'Kathakali dance'. This was hilarious - as men in very vibrant costumes and make up pranced around onstage doing a 'story play'. The plot was simple, but the performance lasted an hour and a half, due to the utmost detail in facial expressions and gestures...It was all accompanied by some delightful Indian singing and percussion. We've got some great pics, though by the end we felt that our patience had been sufficiently tested and we were glad to escape!
The next day we did the most AMAZING tour. We got up at 5.45 a.m and checked out of our room, and were picked up by a driver at 6.30. Then we drove an hour and a half to an 'elephant training camp'. We knew we were going to see elephants but were a bit worried about the conditions we'd find them in. As it was, we watched them being led down to the riverbank where several men scrubbed each elephant with a coconut shell. We were told to grab a coconut and join in! So Amy and I scrubbed away on an elephant called Sunita, who was 36 and soooo huge. She seemed to love the attention and kept squirting water at us with her trunk! She was well-trained, and swapped sides when told to etc. At one point she stood up so we could do her underbelly, and then we realised how vast elephants really are. We thought if she overbalanced we'd have had an interesting death!! We watched her have her toenails clipped, and we also played with the little elephants, one of which was a year old and very cute. There must have been about 6 elephants at the water's edge at once. It was the most awesome experience I have ever had. After this, we were offered a ride on Sunita, which of course we accepted. We had to climb steps to get onto her back, and there was no harness; just a rope round her neck which we clung to. Her back was hairy and the hairs were prickly to sit on! But it felt wonderful to be riding, so high up and on such an enormous creature. It might sound cruel but there weren't loads of tourists doing it all day and the elephants seemed so happy.
After this we were taken to see three beautiful waterfalls, and we were able to walk to the top of one of them and look over the top. The spray from the falling water rose into the air and made the mountains behind look misty. Very cool. We then had lunch and headed back to our hotel, then hung around for 8 hours for our train to Mangalore (where we are now). Lots of reading and cards along the way...
Will post again soon, sorry this is long but soooo exciting.
Pondicherry
Hey everyone, a very quick blog because our internet time is about to run out, but just letting you know we're all ok, trains haven't affected us and we're nowhere near Mumbai!
Just been in Pondicherry, an area of Tamil Nadu influenced by the French, the calmest place we've been so far, and onto Cochin, Kerala tonight.
Love to you all xx
Day 12
Chennai is a modern city, and when we arrived here after our long journey it was easy to find a nice hotel. After a shower we went out for dinner, at an American style diner! It was so western, but good to have a break from curry, and all the food was made especially safe for foreigners. Eating here was an exciting event.
Today we have been to a film studio here in Chennai, where we were free to wander around, and walked into a studio where they were filming a gameshow. We sat and watched for a while, and they gave us some Indian tea, which was really sweet and disgusting but we had to drink it to be polite! The mix of English words in the script was really funny - things like 'lifeline' and 'prize money'. We couldn't work out the rules though...
For the rest of the day we're going to shop in the little markets, and might even go to the cinema, if we can find somewhere showing English films.
It's worth mentioning here that we have decided to shorten our trip, and have changed our flights, so we will now return on 30th July. We decided this because it means money will be less tight, we can still see everything we want to, and our trip will feel more like a holiday than a chore. We'll now have about 4 days on the beach in Goa, and our accomodation is that little bit better everywhere we go. We're more relaxed already. That's all for now, next we're going to Pondicherry which has been designed by the French, and then back to Chennai in a couple of days just to get a train out.
Thanks for your support everyone, we miss you, love Amy and Annie xxxxx
Update
Hey,
We're in Chennai now, after another 20 hour train stint from Puri, which was soooo dull! Our last couple of days in Puri were great - we went for a day trip to a nearby temple, on a bus, which is much cheaper but sooooo stressful! We had to stand for over an hour and the bus was so full there were people hanging out of the doors. We were crushed in, and didn't ever think we'd have the courage for a bus but we did it!! When we got there we felt so hot and sticky, but eventually made it to the temple, where we got a guide to explain everything to us. The temple had so much detail in its design - it had three levels of meaning in the stonework, and it had sundials to accurately tell the time during each month of the year. We learnt who built it and why, and when it had been attacked etc etc. We'll probably forget loads of detail but it made us appreciate the building more. Our guide was a hilarious old man who jumped the fence to take some pictures for us, because it cost more for us to go in! After this I bartered at the market, which is always fun, and then we got a bus back, which was much calmer than the one there.
Day 8- Puri
Hello! Sorry the last post got cut off- Annie spent ages writing it all and then it got cut off cos it was too long! Oh well, we'll have to tell you all about the Taj Mahal when we get home.
We went from Agra to Varanasi on an overnight train- quite an experience- and staying in Varanasi for 3 days. We changed hotel after the first night because we didn't feel very safe but ended up in a great one, with a beautiful view from the rooftop restaurant and a pool table, which we didn't make as much use of as we should have done!
Varanasi is one of the holiest cities for Hindus, so many of them go there to die! They then are cremated by the River Ganges and the ashes scattered in the river. We went on a boat ride in a paddle boat along some of the river and saw a few cremations ( apparently there are about 100-150 a day) which was an interesting sight! People don't seem to mourn in the same way that they do in England.
We have just spent 20 hours on a train which was actually much better than we thought it would be and are now by the beach in Puri. There isn't much to do here but hopefully we'll spend some time on the beach and wandering round markets and stuff. We're staying in a beautiful hotel, an ex-Maharaja's (sp?) palace so there are still hints of the luxury that was there in the past.
After a few days here we're going further south to Chennai and then onto Pondicherry and Kerala from there.
Thank you for all your comments its been great to hear from people.
lots of love Amy and Annie xx
Day 5 - Hi from Varanasi!
We have done so much since our last blog. We left Delhi on 2nd July, having felt like we had got our bearings in the city. Our visit to the slums there (where Asha were working) was wonderful, and more uplifting than we had imagined. As we were escorted through the little lanes of corrugated iron huts, we could see that people lived very poorly. But children surrounded us, wanting to hold our hands and smiling if we said hello. We went to the community centre where the women sprinkled orange flowers on our heads as a welcome. Then we sat with them and they explained that they were the leaders of a women's group, set up by Asha to help the women help themselves. They were trained in midwifery, taught about sanitation, and held meetings to discuss problems within the slums, then set about dealing with them. They told us how much things had improved, and were proud of their involvement. There was a clinic there where children were assessed for malnutrition and immunised and there was also a children's club, which was run by a 14 year old girl. The children's club had Bible studies, but also helped to teach children crafts, teach them about sanitation and the children also made home visits to other families. We played with the children on the computers (!) provided by Asha, which are giving the kids a headstart in life. They also had doctors giving medical care at a good price for the slum community. We found out that 3.5 million people (out of 14 million in Delhi) live in slums, and Asha work with less than 10 percent. This one was lucky. We did this tour with two girls Amy knew of from home, who were also travelling India. They took us for lunch afterwards, and gave us loads of advice about getting by in India. We loved seeing them and learnt a lot about bartering and body language!
Also in Delhi we went to a Red Fort which was beautiful, for a sound and light show which was very cheesy and funny. We also went to an old fort, but the heat got to us so we couldn't stay long. We went for a pedalo nearby, but the Indians were playing 'bash the white people' (just us)so our boat was constantly bombarded and we had to keep pedalling frantically to get away! Less relaxing than we'd hoped..! We were ready to leave by the time we did, and headed to Agra the morning at 5.30. We went to the Taj Mahal, via a random stop from a dodgy rickshaw driver, and spent the morning looking around at our leisure. The Taj Mahal is amazing, it has to be said. We were given lots of attention for being white, and had to have our pictures taken with three families who seemed fascinated! We had to keep moving so as not to be surrounded but enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.
The afternoon was v. hot and we were shattered from our early and busy morning. We went to a restaurant and chilled there for most of the afternoon. We walked round the back streets which were delightful for a while, but became a hassle as we got so much attention. There were other temples to see in Agra but we are beginning to feel that there are only so many we can handle, and the heat and the rickshaw costs make everything more difficult. We headed back to the train station a couple of hours before our evening train, which was overnight to Varanasi and waited in a waiting room. This was relaxing, except we were asked to fill in a form that needed our ticket numbers and we later realised it probably wasn't offical! We found the form in the desk drawer in the waiting room and changed a digit on the ticket number so that it was wrong, and our tickets couldn't be used by anyone else! This kind of quick thinking is becoming more natural to us, and quite necessary.
Here in Varanasi we are just taking it easy for a couple of days, and breaking up the journey south. We are really enjoying our time in India so far, but finding the difference in culture quite a struggle. We miss home comforts and home people, but we know this is the trip of a lifetime.
We wanted to save this for Annie's birthday but were told Agra wouldn't occupy
