So we felt, after our last post, that we had pretty much experienced all that Pushkar had to offer. Oh how wrong we were. After our last installment we went and GORGED on chocolate cake and feeling a little 'fragile' we left 'Rainbow restaurant' only to be whisked into the (stilllllllllll celebrating) wedding party. We were quickly encirlced by, thrusting, gyrating, sweaty men, we were entrapped by banging drums that beat our bums (quite literally) and were "encouraged" to join the 'fun'. Which we did... for a short while... until they started getting rather too close for comfort. Ahem.
After making our bid for freedom, the great escape, we headed back to the hotel. Only to find the school, that was RIGHT outside our bedroom window, (it had been 'singing' all day) was still, at 11.30pm, rambling on. India is VERY inconsiderate when it comes to our neeeeed for sleep!
Whiled away the morning wandering through the market (again) and decided to take a little break by the waters edge- a very old (BC) holy lake- which the gap year tradges LOVE. They literally come for miles... which i suppose is what we did... we are turning into them!! We had been warned about, and had successfully avoided, the local 'priests' (scammers- scam you for all you've got) and had decided that should any approach us, we would RUN. Alot easier said than done. We were blessed, oooh we were blessed. A goood 20 minutes of blessing, involving paint and flowers and water... alot of water. Which would have been alright, in fact we would have been rather grateful for it (considering the 6months we have ahead of us)... had the blessing not gone like this; 'repeat after me, for your mother, your father, your sister, your brother, your boyfriend (accompanied with a wink). Ten pounds' He threw it in there so fast... we both repeated 'ten' realised what we were saying, opened our eyes and said bog off. He got offended and started all the 'we only ask for what you have, some give 50 some 50000 rupees... only what you want'. The guilt trip had started. 'Its for karma, you want good karma?' what were we meant to do??!! We gave our money and RAN.... not without obtaining the 'pushkar passport' bracelet... 'so everyone knows you have given already'. Oh the shame- especially because everyone since pushkar, on spotting the passport, has laughed at our foolishness.
Then we got on our BOOKED train, and headed to Udaipur. Arrived at the hotel, with the very camp owner and hit the hay. Woke up and headed to the city palace. We had an intersting guide- a university student who made it very very clear that this was only a part-time job and that he was, in fact, related to the royal family of Udaipur. He had some rather interesting ideas on what should be done with the poverty 'problem' and he really wanted to travel in Europe. But unfortunately he couldnt because he had 'half killed' someone earlier that year. In response to our rather horrified look, he justifed the 'beating' by saying- "whaaaat? he had offended my papa, thats what we do here." is it? really? So alas, apparently he isnt allowed out of the country because his jail sentence hasn't yet been decided. It was a good tour though, and we learnt lots of interesting things...
Later that afternoon, we took a boat ride around the rather depleated lake and saw the MUCH talked about filming place of 'Octopussy'. They loved that! Then, that evening, headed to a fantastic traditional dance/singing/headless puppet show festival thing. It was brilliant.
Turns out there isnt much to do in Udaipur and so spent the next day painting (this may shock some people, but we are now, infact, established artists. Alice in painting peacocks and india in the camels), visiting a village of rather repetitive, infact identical, cenotaphs, and chilling. That was the night of the chicken. That darned chicken!
Alice woke up the next day feeling HIIIDeous. and spent the majority of the 8hr bus ride to Jodhpur concentrating very hard on not vomiting. everywhere. Arrived, found our room and went to sleep. Woke up, both feeling as fresh as a daisy and headed out to breakfast. Within 15minutes we had both, seperately, had to run back to our room, to that beloved loo. We have both, and we are proud to say it, experienced 'delhi belly'. We dont recommend it.
Sadly jodhpur was a bit of a write off, we woke up this morning did a quick tour of the fort which was fascinating, had a fight with another tuk tuk driver and headed to the bus for Jaisalmer.
Thats all for now, hope you are all well.
Miss you all, xxx
Friday, 20 February 2009
Saturday, 14 February 2009
"we like chapatti"...
So the morming after Jasson and the boat tour, we got kicked out of our beautiful, verranda apartment at 8 in the morning, by the devilish landlord(who had hung a list of 10 DONT'S on the wall... no sign of any 'do's'!) and trekked to the bus station where the devil had told us it would be no problem getting train tickets (blates didnt want us to use his phone- tight arse!) only to find out you can't book on the day of the train, "but train is at 10.30, in Madgoan...get a bus you can make (the 40 km trip in an hour in a tuk tuk) it". We legged it! Arrived at Madgoan, qued for our 'general' ticket, qued again for our upgrade... which was "not possible". GREAT. BUt on the bright side we covered over 1500 km for 3 pounds... on the down side we had to spend 36 hours on a hot plank, with no air conditioning, no food...and with lots and lots of starring men! It was an experience and a mistake we are not going to make again. However, we have learnt not to judge them by the stares- they got up and gave us seats, moved so that we could lie down and offered to buy us food and drink(that we couldn't even stomach...considering it was doled out of buckets, dirty hands and old newspaper used as plates... oh the pain!)- bearing in mind these people could just scrape together the money for the train ticket, their generosity is pretty incredible.
The night was pretty horrendous, partly because, the whole way from Goa to Mumbai we had decided that the majority of people would vacate the carriage(if you can call it that!).... they didn't and, partly because of a ten hour delay (and we dont get tanoys in 'general' class- we had no idea what was going on). But the next day was ok despite LOW blood sugar. In our bordem, we started a game of 'spit', and within two minutes we were SURROUNED by eager onlookers... the language barrier proved to be quite a hinderance when trying to explain the intracacies of this card game. The crowd scattered after a while... but quickly re-emerged (in force) when India had a low point and shed a few tears(suprise!), they were very sweet and when Alice tried to explain the problem (hunger, fatigue and homesickness), they interpreted the rubbing of the tummy as cramps- and fell about laughing... sweet boys!
Arrived in Jaipur at about 11.30pm, to be immediatelty hounded by a very persistent tuk tuk driver. Alice cunningly switched on the French, "Non, je ne comprend pas", to which he replied, "ahh, oui je parle francais". Ohhh fiddlesticks, the plan was foiled. This man, he knew the hotel we were staying at and that there was meant to be someone picking us up (thanks dad/ Neil)- it was all a bit too close for comfort and we had to try pretty hard to lose him. We met our Krishna Palace pick up; a very friendly... maybe too friendly man.
Our first day in Jaipur, after the silence of the Goan roads was a shock to the system and very hectic... Alice suspected EVERYONE- she got out of the bed on the wrong side that morning! We spent hours booking tickets (we learnt from our mistake) then headed to the Old City and the City Palace in the afternoon. All rather picturesque... having taken an audio tour around the Palace we could tell you everything there is to know about the Indian Polo team but anything useful-... not so much! After being ripped off royaly in the bazaars we headed to Om; the rickety, revolving restaurant. Amazing views, but the food was pretty bland...!
For 200 rupees(3 pounds) we hired a tuk-tuk driver for the day, "I show you beautiful places", that he did. 5 minutes into the tour he turned around(ignoring the oncoming traffic- a common habit in India), with a massive grin on his face and said "you like music?", expecting bollywood tunes we said sure...we toured Jaipur to the Vengaboys- quite an experience! At one point he said " we like chapatti" we had no idea what he was talking about and thus ignored... then the next song came on- "we like to party, we like, we like, to Party". the penny dropped. He came up with a few words of wisdom that day; "no wife, no life", "no college, no knowledge", and his observational skills were imaculate- "the french they say "ooh la la", the americans they say "oh my gaad", and the british say "oh how lovely" at the beautiful views and buildings. He took us to see the Glass Temple- 90 million pieces of glass, various shops(which stank of commission), The Amber Fort; where they were filming a Bollywood film and a wall collapsed, Tiger Fort. Along our way we saw thousands of camels, made friends with an elephant, and charmed a cobra... it was a cultural day. Oh and India got attacked by a cow... and has now developed a very inconvienent phobia of them... comsidering you cant walk down the street without bumping into at least 10... "the headbut really hurt, and he stood on my toe!- if he wasn't sacred i would have kicked him!" was deciphered between sobs and the raucous laughter of the villagers.
The next morning we headed to Jantar Mantar- the amazing Astrolgical observatory, constructed in the C18th; holding the biggest sun dial( it was massssive) in the world, with a fascinating tour guide and a middle aged gap year tragedy from Czech. Then hopped on the bus and arrived(rather promptly) at our current location of Pushkar... this place is sooo chillllllllllllled... maaaaaaaaaaate! We though Goa was bad- everyone seems to be on a pilgrimage, on drugs(no alcohol or meat allowed) and taking themselves far too seriously (and the cows are EVERYWHERE), and boy dont they sing(into the night, and in fact the morning and actually the whole bloody day)- but thier souls are alive which is what, we suppose, truely matters.
It is a beautiful little town and it has been a relief to be out of the manic cities. Lots of shopping has been done; it has burnt a little hole in our pockets. we have seen a wedding party dancing through the streets- health and safety to the wind- there were fireworks going off all over the shop... sporadically amoungst 100's of people!..shortly followed by a power cut. Oh how we love India!
Next installment coming soon, Happy Valentines Day! X
The night was pretty horrendous, partly because, the whole way from Goa to Mumbai we had decided that the majority of people would vacate the carriage(if you can call it that!).... they didn't and, partly because of a ten hour delay (and we dont get tanoys in 'general' class- we had no idea what was going on). But the next day was ok despite LOW blood sugar. In our bordem, we started a game of 'spit', and within two minutes we were SURROUNED by eager onlookers... the language barrier proved to be quite a hinderance when trying to explain the intracacies of this card game. The crowd scattered after a while... but quickly re-emerged (in force) when India had a low point and shed a few tears(suprise!), they were very sweet and when Alice tried to explain the problem (hunger, fatigue and homesickness), they interpreted the rubbing of the tummy as cramps- and fell about laughing... sweet boys!
Arrived in Jaipur at about 11.30pm, to be immediatelty hounded by a very persistent tuk tuk driver. Alice cunningly switched on the French, "Non, je ne comprend pas", to which he replied, "ahh, oui je parle francais". Ohhh fiddlesticks, the plan was foiled. This man, he knew the hotel we were staying at and that there was meant to be someone picking us up (thanks dad/ Neil)- it was all a bit too close for comfort and we had to try pretty hard to lose him. We met our Krishna Palace pick up; a very friendly... maybe too friendly man.
Our first day in Jaipur, after the silence of the Goan roads was a shock to the system and very hectic... Alice suspected EVERYONE- she got out of the bed on the wrong side that morning! We spent hours booking tickets (we learnt from our mistake) then headed to the Old City and the City Palace in the afternoon. All rather picturesque... having taken an audio tour around the Palace we could tell you everything there is to know about the Indian Polo team but anything useful-... not so much! After being ripped off royaly in the bazaars we headed to Om; the rickety, revolving restaurant. Amazing views, but the food was pretty bland...!
For 200 rupees(3 pounds) we hired a tuk-tuk driver for the day, "I show you beautiful places", that he did. 5 minutes into the tour he turned around(ignoring the oncoming traffic- a common habit in India), with a massive grin on his face and said "you like music?", expecting bollywood tunes we said sure...we toured Jaipur to the Vengaboys- quite an experience! At one point he said " we like chapatti" we had no idea what he was talking about and thus ignored... then the next song came on- "we like to party, we like, we like, to Party". the penny dropped. He came up with a few words of wisdom that day; "no wife, no life", "no college, no knowledge", and his observational skills were imaculate- "the french they say "ooh la la", the americans they say "oh my gaad", and the british say "oh how lovely" at the beautiful views and buildings. He took us to see the Glass Temple- 90 million pieces of glass, various shops(which stank of commission), The Amber Fort; where they were filming a Bollywood film and a wall collapsed, Tiger Fort. Along our way we saw thousands of camels, made friends with an elephant, and charmed a cobra... it was a cultural day. Oh and India got attacked by a cow... and has now developed a very inconvienent phobia of them... comsidering you cant walk down the street without bumping into at least 10... "the headbut really hurt, and he stood on my toe!- if he wasn't sacred i would have kicked him!" was deciphered between sobs and the raucous laughter of the villagers.
The next morning we headed to Jantar Mantar- the amazing Astrolgical observatory, constructed in the C18th; holding the biggest sun dial( it was massssive) in the world, with a fascinating tour guide and a middle aged gap year tragedy from Czech. Then hopped on the bus and arrived(rather promptly) at our current location of Pushkar... this place is sooo chillllllllllllled... maaaaaaaaaaate! We though Goa was bad- everyone seems to be on a pilgrimage, on drugs(no alcohol or meat allowed) and taking themselves far too seriously (and the cows are EVERYWHERE), and boy dont they sing(into the night, and in fact the morning and actually the whole bloody day)- but thier souls are alive which is what, we suppose, truely matters.
It is a beautiful little town and it has been a relief to be out of the manic cities. Lots of shopping has been done; it has burnt a little hole in our pockets. we have seen a wedding party dancing through the streets- health and safety to the wind- there were fireworks going off all over the shop... sporadically amoungst 100's of people!..shortly followed by a power cut. Oh how we love India!
Next installment coming soon, Happy Valentines Day! X
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Finally we got there....
What a journey it has been! So our 'epic' trip didnt start off too well... with a 36hour delay in getting to india, when we finally arrived we were beyond fed up. Bombay is MANIC and very, very expensive! we spent three days there, being stalked, stared at, chatted up and ripped off... but we have had an amazing time- did lots of touristy/sightseeingy things including several museums, Elephanta island (the place of the stalker) and an interesting city tour (ripped off) of colaba district, ranging from the Hanging Gardens and the Gateway of India to the biggest outdoor washing/ effectively drycleaning 'slum' in Asia, it was pretty gruesome but pretty incredible considering that they deal with the whole of mumbai's washing... and dont misplace any of it... if only our local dry cleaners was so effective.
After a few days of spending an atrocious amount of money on accomodation, which was prettttttty basic, with very cold and rather temermental showers, we decided to head down to the beaches of Goa... on a '10 hr, luxury 'delux' sleeper bus'. oh. god. luxury? reaaaally? After 14 hrs we arrived and were immediately hounded by hundreds of eager taxi men who didnt understand the concept of BOG OFF. We finally got to Anjuna, a northern beach (literally all there is), and had a lovely relaxing day. Where else but in India do you find cows on a beach in a resort... or in the middle of a motorway... or in a restraunt (not on your plate)? Actually... where else but in india, do you wake up on a beautifully relaxing beach, to find your friend has been turned (by a very very pushy jewllery seller) into a shop shelf? Indi was literally covered in shitty (but obviously real, and 'one of a kind', silver) anklets. They were surrounding us from every angle... when we finally put our foot down after 20minutes of being decorated, and said no, the poor (ish) girls looked like they were going to cry. our sympathies soon wore off, 'special price'? if we hear those 2 words once more...! When they finally left, the little girl called out, 'ok, bye my darlings'. I wonder where she learnt that little gem?
Anjuna is a rather Hippy resort as we found out over dinner. A band was playing in the retraunt which opened out onto the beach, and an eastern european (obviously) high on something... probably everything, started going mental. soon to be joined by an elderly indian beggar and a belly dancer who was 'dannncing to the waves' she was pretty chilled. however we did meet some other 'gappers' who were all rather cool and chilled and feeling the anjuna vibe, but who were all very friendly.
Next day we headed down to candolim- the costa del sol of india. every few meters you coould hear the twang of a northern accent... or a russian one for that matter. The waiters were all very.. accomodating- 'hello beautifuls'. We hiked the 3km 'mountain' up to Aguada fort in the midday scorching heat. It was an amazing view... and very cultural... but worth it..... hmmmm? well, we're better friends for it, after a 30 minute sulk, on the way back down... and a nap.
Next day, Hit the bright lights of Panaji, the capital. it was a sunday. everything was closed. BUt we had a lovely stroll along the beach front at 'Miramar' and were stalked relentlessly (including sitting, watching, in a restarant for an hour while we had lunch) by 2 boys on a moped who were willing to spend 500 rupees to have a picture with us... we legged it. That night, we took a 'paradise cruise' to see the sun set. it was an experience and a half! Two indian chaps who were setting out the seating (oh yes, there was a stage, a dj and a whole lot of goan dancers... not quite what we had in mind!) paid us special attention- we got a whole row to ourselves and were allovwed beyond the 'ropes' to the bow(?) (the front anyway) of the boat... to watch the sunset, where noone else was allowed. we walked past the captains cabin. wooohooo. they asked us out, we got Jasson's number. SCORE. unfortunately (reallly?) we declined.
And so ends our trip to goa, we are now in Jaipur. Unfortunately there is a massive que for the computer so we must love you and leave you, will try and write asap,
much love A & I
After a few days of spending an atrocious amount of money on accomodation, which was prettttttty basic, with very cold and rather temermental showers, we decided to head down to the beaches of Goa... on a '10 hr, luxury 'delux' sleeper bus'. oh. god. luxury? reaaaally? After 14 hrs we arrived and were immediately hounded by hundreds of eager taxi men who didnt understand the concept of BOG OFF. We finally got to Anjuna, a northern beach (literally all there is), and had a lovely relaxing day. Where else but in India do you find cows on a beach in a resort... or in the middle of a motorway... or in a restraunt (not on your plate)? Actually... where else but in india, do you wake up on a beautifully relaxing beach, to find your friend has been turned (by a very very pushy jewllery seller) into a shop shelf? Indi was literally covered in shitty (but obviously real, and 'one of a kind', silver) anklets. They were surrounding us from every angle... when we finally put our foot down after 20minutes of being decorated, and said no, the poor (ish) girls looked like they were going to cry. our sympathies soon wore off, 'special price'? if we hear those 2 words once more...! When they finally left, the little girl called out, 'ok, bye my darlings'. I wonder where she learnt that little gem?
Anjuna is a rather Hippy resort as we found out over dinner. A band was playing in the retraunt which opened out onto the beach, and an eastern european (obviously) high on something... probably everything, started going mental. soon to be joined by an elderly indian beggar and a belly dancer who was 'dannncing to the waves' she was pretty chilled. however we did meet some other 'gappers' who were all rather cool and chilled and feeling the anjuna vibe, but who were all very friendly.
Next day we headed down to candolim- the costa del sol of india. every few meters you coould hear the twang of a northern accent... or a russian one for that matter. The waiters were all very.. accomodating- 'hello beautifuls'. We hiked the 3km 'mountain' up to Aguada fort in the midday scorching heat. It was an amazing view... and very cultural... but worth it..... hmmmm? well, we're better friends for it, after a 30 minute sulk, on the way back down... and a nap.
Next day, Hit the bright lights of Panaji, the capital. it was a sunday. everything was closed. BUt we had a lovely stroll along the beach front at 'Miramar' and were stalked relentlessly (including sitting, watching, in a restarant for an hour while we had lunch) by 2 boys on a moped who were willing to spend 500 rupees to have a picture with us... we legged it. That night, we took a 'paradise cruise' to see the sun set. it was an experience and a half! Two indian chaps who were setting out the seating (oh yes, there was a stage, a dj and a whole lot of goan dancers... not quite what we had in mind!) paid us special attention- we got a whole row to ourselves and were allovwed beyond the 'ropes' to the bow(?) (the front anyway) of the boat... to watch the sunset, where noone else was allowed. we walked past the captains cabin. wooohooo. they asked us out, we got Jasson's number. SCORE. unfortunately (reallly?) we declined.
And so ends our trip to goa, we are now in Jaipur. Unfortunately there is a massive que for the computer so we must love you and leave you, will try and write asap,
much love A & I
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