Not so sore in Mysore

Bangalore didn't pan out as we had expected - in the end we did not get to meet up with Kishore, though we're not too sure what happened on that front. We did, however, get to stay in a gorgeous hotel with a real mattress and pillows filled with something other than sawdust (yahoo!!) and it even had running water. Essentially we watched our fill of English movies and the History channel and I went to the hospital to get my odd ear problem dealt with. The remedy? Nose drops, of course. Ick ick ick. Of course now my chest has decided to object to the constant intake of toxins and smog into my otherwise pink and healthy lungs. Ah, isn't traveling wonderful?

We took a quick and amazingly comfortable bus from Bangalore to Mysore where we are now. For once an a/c bus actually had a/c that worked and we got a free bottle of water - luxury!

The highlight of Mysore is definetly the Maharaja's palace (pictured below). We opted for the no-guide version which took only about 30 mins of walking room to room to see amazingly colourful (and slightly gaudy) painted walls and inlaid everything. While I wouldn't want to live there personally, it was well worth seeing.

We had a few things to post off yesterday so we grabbed an autorickshaw to the post office where I was told you could get your packages wrapped before sending them off. When we got there, I was expecting to be able to buy a box, but instead we got sent off with a gentleman down a backlane to his shop that sold faucets and toilet seats where he proceeded to wrap our goods up in cardboard and then sew them into a cotton sack. The whole operation took over an hour of us sitting in a dirty alley watching a guy hand-stitch our goods in a cloth covering and speak in broken English about his crazy neighbor who owns a cow and ties it up. Why do I mention this? Because it really hit home yesterday that this is the good part of traveling - the day to day chores that should take 15 mins but end up taking over an hour and two trips (the post office was closed when our packages were ready) but where you get to meet a few people and everyone leaves happy.

One of the other main attractions here is the fruit and veg market that we saw on the way back from the post office. I have to say neither Phil nor I were completely sold on seeing it, but it was lovely. The colours there were amazing - fruits and veg of all different shapes and sizes and the flower market was in full effect. It was gorgeous and I got told I look like Claudia Shiffer by some kids, so I'll chalk this one up as a good day.

This afternoon we are going to look at a few more temples and in the morning we are off to a wilderness retreat in the jungle for a few days (hopefully my lungs will be a bit more cooperative in the clean air). We might try to squeeze in a short 2 day trek while we're there.

As an update: Phil and I booked a flight and hotel for the Maldives that departs Dec 10 so we can do some dives and live in luxury for a week. From there, it was only another $10 AUD to stop over in Sri Lanka so we'll be there for close to a month before we head back to India and start out trip North. Fun!

Hampi!

Well, after a few days of chilling out on the beach in Palolem (or if you're me - Andrea - being stuck in a smallish, very green room for a few days, ill) we headed down to the tiny town of Hampi.

Hampi is amazing - it's essentially a set of gorgeous ruins that have come back to life with people moving back into the town centre. It's almost like seeing history come alive with the town's bazaar again filled with vendors and colourful goods (though of course, I'm not sure there would have been so many autorickshaw drivers a few hundred years ago).

We spent two full days enjoying with Hampi and the surrounding area had to offer, namely about 2,000 temples in various states of decay or rejuvination. The first day we rented a scooter and headed out in the countryside to see not just the temples, but the banana plantations, other towns and just enjoy getting around on our own instead of being driven everywhere. Except for a flat tire, it was all good.

The second day Phil and I went out see the three highlights of Hampi (i.e. the ruins you actually have to pay for) by bike, which was fun but very very hot. We decided to get the farthest ones done first and work out way back to town, so we rode out to the Elephant Stables. They were really amazing and very elephant-sized.

From there we continued back to town to take a somewhat grueling and heat-stroke-inducing 2 km walk in the hottest part of the day to the Vittala temple. The walk was actually quite gorgeous as it followed the river and you could enjoy the Devil's Marble-esque rocks on either side and the temple itself was amazing - so much detail in all aspects of the temple. Pictured here is the stone chariot in the courtyard of the temple. Apparently the wheels even used to turn (and now India people cannot resist walking all over it, much to the disgust of the officials and their whistles).

I have to say, as much as I loved seeing the temples, I think the real highlight of Hampi is just being there. From most places in town you can see the top of the Virupashka temple and the huge round boulders that are scattered all around the town. It just has a wonderful feel to the whole place. Oh, and you can also pay 1 rupee and get blessed by Lakshmi, the temple elephant (so cool!!).

We are currently in the town of Bangalore where a friend of Phil's family, Kishore, lives. We are meeting up tonight at 6:30, then heading further South to the town of Mysore to see a palace.

I hope you're all well. A special hello to Louie who we met on the train from Goa to Hampi who was excellent company for both of us. I hope you really enjoy the rest of your trip, Australia and Ghana!!

further south

The major day of the Dewali festival was pretty cool, very colourful and extremely noisy with fire works and crackers going off for about 20hrs a day/night. I (Phil), was actually hit by a fire work just above my left nipple, I have no idea where this thing came from, but the bruise on my chest certainly showed where it ended up! Or at least I thought it was a fire work, I don't think we upset anyone that night.

The next day was a cruisey 5hr bus to Pune, more great views of life on the roads, not for the faint hearted at times but you see much more of the goings on than you do on a train, although the train is a lot smoother. Some pearls of wisdom via road signs, classics like HOLD YOUR NERVE WHEN TAKING A CURVE, and CAUTION AND CARE MAKE ACCIDENTS RARE!

As for road mayhem we have seen the aftermath of a few vehicle casualties and we witnessed a entire wheel just fell off a taxi when taking a corner! The wheel hit another taxi and bounced back towards us on the 'pavement'. That guy obviously should have been holding his nerve!

Pune seemed like a nice place, but we only had allowed 1 night here, as we had to book the overnight sleeper train a few days in advanced, as the trains were booked days in advance due to people travelling home to spend Dewali with their families.

Splashed out here for a beautiful meal in a top hotel's restaurant, complete with a trio of Indian musicians. Still a cheap meal for Western standards, but very expensive for India!
We left Pune on our first sleeper train! Ohhh....very exciting! It was only a 10hr journey, but not a bad trip overall, not quite Orient Express luxury, but at least there were no murders, oh unless you count a few cockroaches.

So that train got us into Goa, so a few more tourists about here, but a nice change. Spent a couple of days in the Goan capital Panaji, checking out some Portuguese colonial buildings and being asked if we wanted a taxi every few minutes.

Then it was up to one of the northern beaches, Vagator, which was nice and quite, the first bit of tranquility we've had for weeks, from here checked out the vast sprawling Ajuna markets which was quite an experience! We also read here in the local paper of a man who married a dog to try and make up for his wrong doings when he was young. Apparently he was very cruel to 2 dogs and subsequently lost the use of an arm and then a leg and then became deaf. Hardly what you'd call a good catch. Mmm, India is a very mysterious place! Personnally, I think the dog could have done a lot better, the guy was clearly punching above his weight.

And now we're relaxing (in an internet cafe) in southern Goa, on Palolem beach, which is really beautiful. We had a train booked to leave today, but we decided to forfeit it to stay here another couple of days, it really is that good.

So, if you don't mind I think I'll head back to the beach......

Mumbai-Aurangabad - stories to come

Okay, party people, let's get us up to date. This will be a combined effort between Phil and I so neither of us will have to do it all.

The map to the right will hopefully show up several times, charting our trip around India. You can see a tiny, faint yellow line in an orange section (Maharashtra) which is where we landed and where we are currently (it helps if you click on the image to make it bigger). Anyway, I'll keep updating our progress as we go, but just so you're aware, the colour will have to change because this map encompasses all known colours of the Microsoft Paint palette and none will be visible for the whole map.

Now - Mumbai. We landed at about 2:00 am about a week and a half ago, getting an odd first impression of India (as you always do when you arrive at night and can't see much as you're driving to your hotel). Getting out and about that next day was amazing. We took a walk down to Colaba (we were staying in the Fort area) and while we had a lot of stares, we didn't get much hassel.

For some reason, I thought India was going to be, not just intense, but full of non-stop hassel - like trying to walk through Oxford Circus Junction rammed with vendors intent on selling you anything and everything, but so far (and I do say so far) we have had almost no hassel from anyone.

Anyway, Mumbai was great but the whole time we were there Phil and I both felt that we were missing it - that there was something tourists do when they get to Mumbai and we just weren't doing it. We would walk through the streets (that, again, I had assumed would be filled with exciting goods to purchase) and look up and down and only see people going about their daily business. That's not to say there is nothing to see - we headed down to the Gandhi museum, and to the dobi ghats where thousands of fit men wash tons of laundry daily, and of course to the Gateway of India and on our last day we took a ferry to Elephanta Island - but we did feel like we were missing something (but we ran into a few other white tourists who felt the same way, so at least we were in good company).

From Mumbai we took a train to the lovely hill station of Matheran, about an hour and a half away. It has banned all motorized traffic and gotten rid of plastic bags and is, therefore, clean, especially by Indian standards. It was great breathing in air that wasn't full of fumes, and to clean the black gunk out of our noses for a few days. We did two days of hiking and one day of loafing and generally enjoyed getting to walk down a path, instead of having to weave our way between pedestrians and traffic.

From Matheran we took yet another few trains over to Nasik, unfortunately having our first go with unreserved seats. Ah, nothing illustrates just how green we are like trying to get a train that has been booked up for weeks to get people where they want to be for Diwali (the Hindu festival of lights that is going on at the moment). We rocked up to the train station, waited in a few lines until eventually we got a ticket that we were supposedly able to upgrade on the train - "no worries - Frech, English, they get upgrades. Talk to the man on the train." Everyone kept saying that there would be a worker in each bogie (carriage) that would be able to tell us if there was an available seat (which we now know there wouldn't have been). We waited where we were supposed to, got on to the train that we thought would be a 2A (2nd class, air conditioned - the best we could get) but instead got on a sleeper class train which is rammed with people, all telling you to get out of their bogie because it's full. To make a long story short, the "TT" (official train guy) eventually did show up and forced a begrudging family to give us one of their bunks (which they had paid for) so we could shove our bags out of the way and one of us could sit for our 5 hr journey. Lesson learned - book ahead or take a bus.

We arrived in Nasik in plenty of time to get a hotel for the night and lucked out with a beauty (it even came with a towel!). Out of the towns we have been to so far, I think Nasik has been the most friendly. Everyone was quick to smile and help us out, an though there wasn't much to do in the town, I really liked it.

We then headed on to Aurangabad, where I am sitting here typing this. Aurangabad is the jumping off point for two sets of awesome hand-carved cave "ruins" - Ellora (about 34 km away) and Ajanta (about 106 km away).

We saw Ellora first and loved it. The 35 caves were excavated between the 5th and 10th century and "demonstrate the religious harmony prevalent during this period of Indian history" (thanks Wikipedia), as there are Hindu, Buddhist and Jain caves. The detail carved in almost all of the caves is breath-taking and the Kalisa temple (left) required 200,000 tons of rock to be shifted so it could be carved out of the side of the escarpment. Really, it's incredible and this one especially had an Angkor Wat feel about it, but with way more elephants.

As we were seeing two very similar sites on two consecutive days, we decided to mix it up by going to Ellora ourselves (on a very comfy non-a/c local bus) and to take a "luxury" guided tour to Ajanta. We thought, hey, two hours each way on a comfy a/c bus with an english speaking tour guide could really make our Ajanta experience unique; keep it from getting muddled with Ellora. Were we wrong? Not exactly.

We showed up where we thought we were supposed to go, realized we were in the wrong spot and 15 mins late (and thus far Indians seem very punctual) and had to hussle to the right spot where we did indeed get on to a luxury bus - in the two last seats. We proceeded to flop around like fish out of water, unable to get a grip on anything or to wedge ourselves into our seat (luxury, of course, = spacious) while the bus went hurtling down pot-holed roads for two hours, slamming on the breaks occasionally to avoid oncomming traffic, which rammed us into the seats in front. Lesson learned - never sit in seats 22 or above because they'll be behind the back wheels and the ride will be horribly bumpy.

The site itself was stunning. Again, its a set of caves litearlly carved out of the bassalt rock of a horse-shoe shaped canyon, dating back to the 2nd century. The main difference between the two sites is that Ajanta is full of beautiful paintings, largely intact (as above left). Our guide explained their significance, but with all the Indians shoving their way to the front, and the echo of the caves, it was a bit hard to grasp the details. Anyway, it was good. We had a great time, learned about two of Buddha's miracles (but missed the other two or three) and even got our seat upgraded right to the front where we could look out and see what the driver sees - mostly oncoming traffic in our lane and bulls pulling carts full of sugar cane.

Tomorrow we're heading South to Pune (Poona), and then on to a few towns in Goa. I think we might find Goan India a lot more intense.

The Indian High Commission Impossible, LONDON

So then before we knew it was time to leave Sunderland, it was great being back home but the time went so fast and there were still things we didn't get to see and people that we didn't get to see, sorry guys!

First stop in London was to get my tooth fixed by me old mate Jamie at his practice in Cavendish Square (very nice!) for an undisclosed fee;" free to those who can afford it, very expensive to those who can't!"

So big thanks to Jamie, and his family. Claire had just recently given birth to Seth, their 3rd child so it was fun and games in their house, but loved every minute.

Had an absolutely frantic time trying to get hold of our visas to India, the trouble was that we only had 4 days to get the visas before we flew out. On arrival there was a huge queue coming out the building, guys on the door like night club bouncers and loads of guys outside handing out random slips of paper and writing dates on them, it was more like a bookies pit at the races than a high commission, and we had no idea of what was going on. Once we had our piece of paper we were then told to come back the next day without even taking a step in the place, but I pleaded our case with expertise, " What.......?", and then he let us in.

You thought outside was bad, inside was a nightmare - hoards of people and no instruction what to do, where to go or anything. We eventually found an antiquated number caller of which only some of its lights worked which added to the confusion. We were sat next to guys who had been coming here for days and still hadn't got there visa, at this point we didn't hold much hope for getting them before our flight, so we were already set our minds that we would have to be changing flights and rearranging hotel bookings, etc. It was so chaotic you had to see the funny side of it. But then we managed to get called really quick ( well 2 hours), I would receive mine in "an hour" and Andrea would have to come back in "3 - 5 days" as she doesn't have a British passport, but we had a word with the guys and they said it would be ready on Fri afternoon, only a few hours before they closed for the weekend and we were flying Sunday. So we waited for another couple of hours for mine, more pushing and shoving, elbows in your back, people shouting in your ear, absolutely no concept of the term 'queue' and then we worked it out, this must be the test, the initiation, if you can hack it in here you might just stand a chance in India.

One elderly Indian gentlemen in the ' queue ' asked us how long we were going to be in India for, we told him " 5 - 6 months maybe", " Ah " he paused, " you are very brave " What were we letting ourselves in for?!

So I received mine that ( long) day, and Andrea eventually received hers on the Fri afternoon as promised. So we had a cause for a few celebratory drinks but we weren't celebrating for long when we saw the prices!

Then it was over to Si and Caroline's for a few nights of catching up. An exciting time for these 2 as they are expecting their first child in Dec. So while me, Si and Andrea were having a few drinks, Caroline valiantly soldiered on with glasses of cranberry juice and sniffed our red wine corks! Don't worry Caroline, not long to go now!

Had a cool last day, feeling very excited and of course a little apprehension about what the next few months had in store. Shaun made his way over to East London for an afternoon / evening of fun.

If there are any single ladies reading this, I just have to let you know that Shaun is living in South London, in a wonderful house, he is charismatic as much as he is charming. A sharp wit and owns a bold, vast knowledge of music and it's industry. We're not talking about just mere pop trivia here, but he has a fascinating and envious solid factual grasp on the subject, he even knows what A&R men do. Unbelievable, despite his boyish classic looks, this Peter Pan of pop is very much available. So ladies, one at a time please, no Indian queuing here please. I nearly forgot to mention that he is also mint.

Thanks again Si for the lift to Heathrow at a crazy early time on Sunday morning, nice one, you're a legend, and thanks also to co-pilot Shaun and the warnings about the 3 Ws.
And remember, never judge a book by it's cover.