Tis the end....

Well, after a 4 hour bus, a9 hour train and 3 new friends later, we have arrived in the bustling metropolis of Delhi. We apologise for not posting anything in a while but we got pretty comfortable in Dharmasala by just hanging out, watching movies, walking in the mountains and just generally chilling. It is a real travellers enclave with lots of western items, from food to clothing, making us pretty comfortable after roughing it for the 2 weeks previous. In the end, it was pretty hard to leave but our flight was calling and the end of our journey was approaching fast.

We were going to stop on route to Delhi at Armristar - the capital of Punjab - to see the Golden Palace, but seeing that it is, on average, 47 Celsius, we gave it a skip for the cooler climes of Delhi - a chilled 40 degrees. On the plus side, we have been upgraded to a deluxe super duper air con room - bigger than our London apartment - but only after spending a night in a room which resembled a prison cell. It had one 2 ft square window about 6ft up the wall in the corner. It really reminded us of our start in India (the hotel with no windows!) but after some hard complaining and moaning, we are living like kings.

Delhi, on the other hand, is a complete jumble of buildings clumped together, almost held up by leaning on the the building next door. In this city of 10 million people there is no getting away from the crowd and at times it seems they are continually gravitating towards you (or your money!).

Buy this for 10 rupees, take this tour for a 1000 rupees, eat this, try that.... personal space... no!

But for all India's exotic spices, the pervasive smell of Delhi is of urine. Most train stations in India have the scent of urine, as it persistently pushes its way through the cracks in the windows of the train and invades the nostrils. But in Delhi, where the population is massive, the smell gets worse. Every drain and river in Delhi vociferously exudes the same sickly odour, a combination of all forms.. from urine to vomit, damp and rotting food. Add this to the sauna like conditions and you have a nasty assault on the senses.

But for all of this,it is fitting that the city should remind us of these things as our to return to the first world is imminent. Having spent time in the beautiful surroundings of the mountains, you can easily forget the real India - a country epitomised by its capital, Delhi.

Spectacular, infuriating and outrageous, Glorious and dilapidated, beautiful but brutal. We have enjoyed every moment of our trip - even those when any toilet in the world couldn't be close enough at that very moment - and we will never forget the places we have seen and the people we have met. We are sure we will return one day to see the tourist sites of Rajasthan, Varnassi and the Taj Mahal - and all of you are invited.

So, with 12 hours to go.. too hot and too tired to do anything, we are going to enjoy the air conditioning!

Thanks for reading and we will see you all soon...healthy and happy!

Love. peace and 50 rupees....

Ant + Sim

Mountain Goats

WOW!!! ...infact...DOUBLE WOW!!!!

As we said, we have spent the last two weeks in the Himalaya's and somehow the words we write will never quite describe what it felt like to be standing close to the top of the world!

Having spent a few days in Shimla, we arranged a tour through a trekking agency and were paired with a couple from Austria and another from Belgium. Vincent and An from Belgium, had been working and travelling in India for 8 months. As an Architect and Anthropologist they were based at an NGO in Kerala. Woolfgang and Ruth from Austria, had been working on a one year celebration festival of Mozart's birthday in Vienna, and had taken 3 months off to travel in India. The agency arranged a driver and an experienced guide. So full of excitement off we went...

Its pretty difficult (and long) to explain every detail of the trip as it was action packed with lots of moving and plenty new experiences.... it almost needs a whole new blog on its own.... but we will try to summarise as much as possible!!


The People.
As previously mentioned, we were 6 with a guide and a driver. We spent the first morning figuring out little differences between the Belgians Flemish and Afrikaans, which was pretty strange. Eventually - after 10 days - we were pretty good at speaking Flemish!

The guide, Niggi, was a Himalayan born local and extremelyinformative, helpful and kind. He spent hours with us daily, explaining temples, monasteries, mountain ranges, local traditions, vegetation and answering any questions we had... he even went as far as to order for us in the restaurants as the languages of the region changed daily, making life a little complicated.

All in all, we got on pretty well, which is important in if you are going to spend 11 days together in a jeep.


The Roads.
Give me Chapmans Peak, blind folded on a turbo charged skateboard any day of the week!! Apparently we were travelling on National Highway 22, but it really seamed so - well we are certain it doesn't deserve the title of 'highway' by any stretch of the imagination. The road was predominately a mixture of broken asphalt, pebbles and stones. Always in a single lane, one side a mountain of rock, the other, an average of at least a 300 metre sheer drop down a cliff onto more rock!


Still hard to imagine? Add in a few building sites, stoppages for rock blasting above our heads (??), melting glaciers causing miniature rivers, buses and trucks coming the other direction and a gazillion u-bends, you've got a pretty good idea of what it was like. Each day held its own special surprise as some of the roads were only opened about a week earlier due to landslides and snow conditions. But the consistencies were there too... bumpy and dusty were a daily given. On some days we didn't pass another vehicle, really underlying how remote we really were.

However saying all of this, our driver Vicky was unbelievably patient, cautious and calm when dealing with all of this and calmness was always restored with a pitstop in the middle of nowhere for a toilet break and to take in the magnificent scenery.




The Himalayas.
Our journey took us from Shimla (2000m above sea level) went east thru the districts of Kinnuar and Sangla - both Alpine looking areas with high, snow capped mountains and lush, green filled valleys below.
Every day and every turn revealed an amazing view with some truly spectacular scenery. Its hard to explain as you can never really feel the wind on your face, the smell of fresh mountain air and truly, how small and insignificant you are compared to the mountains.

Every day would start with an early morning walk, whether it be a tour of a monastery or temple or just a simple hike up a river bed to take in the local people and their lives. Our guide was exceptional when describing local conditions and truly knew his way round these rather varied landscapes.

Days 2 and 3 were much of the same scenery but different villages. Each village was somehow completely different from each other but at no time did the populations for each area reach over 500.

Day 4 took us to the district of Lahul and Spiti, 15kms from the border with Nepal and in to an area called the Trans-Himalayas. its lack of vegetation with all the surrounding mountains being a combination of granite, sand and sedimentary rock topped with snow capped peaks - the land burnt sand What we thought was beautiful scenery in the last few days was abruptly disturbed by the drive to the village of Nako (3400m). The trans Himalayas is characterised byblonde. It was truly breathtaking, this barren, sand blasted landscape with prefect blue skies and white icing topped mountains rising out of steep valleys. Naturally the road got worse as we got higher and more remote, but the views from the window more than compensated for the conditions!

Days 5-8 were much the same. We visited further villages of Kalpa (3400m) and Kaza (3600m) with numerous other visits to important other places, morning treks and local homestays. It was really interesting to witness daily village life - where the seasons dictates the lifestyles they live. In some places we visited, they would be cut-off from any supply routes for 4 months of the year due to the weather. With nothing to do, all the men just drink and play cards all winter.. I briefly considered moving there!

As we got progressively more remote, we would see less and less cars on the road and the state of the guesthouses also reflected the remoteness of our situation. A few occasions we were left without any hot or even running water. Point: taking a bucket shower in melted glacier water can take your breathe away!

However, as mentioned previously, all of this was a small price to pay to see the views.



The Food.
At first exciting, by the end, ridiculous!

As we left civilisation further behind, so too did the options on the menu. The first few days were the general Indian fare of rice, chappatis (flatbread), dal (lentils) and a few other curry options - definitely edible and now again you were indulged by the freshness of the food.

By the time we reached the outlying places that are highly influenced by the Tibetan communities, the menu became very simple... in fact too simple. Your options were...

Momo's (veg filled steam dumplings)
Thupka (veg noodle soup)
Chow Mein
Omelettes
Chappatti's
Tea and
Water

That is it!! Nothing more, nothing less. Not even rice! Breakfast, lunch and dinner, the same fare. The restaurants didn't even have any menus as there was no point. Obviosuly, the hygiene and the 'service' dipped too. At one place, the only restaureant in the village - we waited for over 90 minutes for a combination of the items listed above - and we were the only customers! Even finding a pack of biscuits was sometimes a problem but they, in the end, became a substitute for a meal as variety was fast becoming a higher preference than nutrition. Needless to say, if we ever see any of these items again it will be too soon.



After 8 long days, it was sadly time to turn around as the roads ahead (over 4400m) were still closed. Another 3 days in the jeep really took its toll as we drove back round the circuit we had just covered, but was punctuated by some good stops for food in the local dhabas (street cafes - variety was now up t0 10 dishes including drinks!!!), small morning treks and the usual, stop for the toilet and have-a-look-at-the-scenery break from driving!


So, a bit tired, a bit groggy from being thrown around in the jeep and definitely a lot hungry, we arrived in Dharmasala two days ago. Time for rest and relaxation. We now we have the views of the mountains from the comfort of our balcony, a clean, new hotel with satellite tv. ... ah.. the best of both worlds!

News from the North

I know we haven't updated our blog in a while but for good reason.

Having escaped the heat of Rishikesh, we headed straight for Shimla, a hill station and once the British summer HQ in the Indian state of Himichal Pradesh. We spent a few days there taking in the cooler days and spectacular views. From there we also arranged a 11 day trek to the Himalayas.

So needless to say, we spent a lot of time in really tiny villages surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountains and unbelievable scenery. Truly spectacular!!!

As you can imagine, hot, or even, running water was often nowhere to be found and hence, updating the blog was not even an option.

However, today we arrived in Dharmsala - the home of the Dalai Lama - and will be here for the next few days.. well at long as it takes to update the blog of our trek and just generally catch up with modern life.

Stay tuned...

Training Day

We have written extensively about all our destinations and how long it took us to get there, but you really can't appreciate train travel in India until you experience it.... but we will try to explain in anycase.

It all starts with a reservation. Easy? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, if you are not booking over the Internet (that brings it's own problems!) you have to scramble through the one open booking window for a reservation form. Why they don't leave them out still amazes me! I say this because there can be up to 60 people in loose form of a queue at any one time. Sim usually goes to get the form as ladies can usually walk straight up to the front.

Form obtained and your destination in mind, you now have to know the train number and station code to fill in the form. These can either be guessed, studied or obtained from helpful strangers or the person at the window but then you run the risk of all the irate people behind you while you ask your questions.

On the form you also have to supply your name, age and sex as well as your preferred travel class. There are up to 8 classes with some not available on certain trains, so a little bit of guesswork here too. As a rule, on overnight trains we choose Air-conditioned 3-tier (AC3).

AC3 provides seats by day, convertible to bunks at night. AC3 coaches are not divided into separate compartments, but are open-plan, with berths arranged in bays of six (two upper, two lower, two middle) on one side of the aisle, and in bays of two along the coach side above and below the windows on the other side of the aisle. It's lacks the privacy curtains and individual berth lights found in AC2 (one class up). An attendant distributes pillows, sheets and blankets in the evening.

On day trains, we usually choose sleeper class as its a little bit cheaper. This is the way most of the Indian population travels long-distance, and the majority of cars on a long-distance train will be sleeper class. Sleeper class consists of open plan berths with upper, middle and lower bunks arranged in bays of six on one side of the aisle, and along the coach wall in bays of two (upper and lower) on the other side of the aisle. Bedding is not provided and at night can be quite crowded (although in theory all berths must be reserved, so it can't get overcrowded), and it's fairly grubby and basic. On the other hand, you get a better view of the countryside then in AC coaches, where the windows are sealed, tinted, and sometimes dirty. In summer, there are fans on the ceiling and a breeze from the windows.

So anycase, class decided, you are back in the Q and handing in your form. Indian Railways have a unique system: After a train becomes fully booked, a set number of places in each class are sold as 'Reservation Against Cancellation' or 'RAC'. After all RAC places have been allocated, further prospective passengers are waitlisted. When passengers cancel, people on the RAC list are promoted to places on the train, and waitlisted passengers are promoted to RAC. What a system..! Otherwise, if you want to skip all of this you can always pay extra for something called Tatkal, which I think jumps ahead of all the people mentioned before? Another option is asking for Tourist Quota, something we do often but have never got so we are not sure if it exists!

For internet reservations, the same process is applied but no Qing, instead you get to try numerous times to book your ticket without the overloaded system booting you out.

So, ticket in hand, you are off to the station. Stations vary drastically with some being neat, clean with helpful staff or other being a smelly, overcrowded and noisy. All stations have hundreds off people, your normal tea stores, portable vending carts, your handful of stray dogs and numerous people sleeping and eating everywhere.

The train arrives and off you go to get your seat. If you do not have a reservation, it usually ends up in an almighty scramble to get on the train and secure a seat, so much so, most people try and get on before the train has even stopped!

Your train, coach and berth number will be printed on your ticket and the station master will print a reservation list for long-distance train and post them on the noticeboard at each station about two hours before departure. All passengers have an assigned seat or sleeping berth so there's no overcrowding. However, pristine western standards don't apply anywhere in India, but AC2, AC3 class fairly clean by Indian standards, with both western-style and squat toilets usually in a reasonably sanitary condition. On the other hand, Sleeper Class gets much grubbier than the AC classes and unreserved passengers can sometimes enter the coaches making it crowded. Toilets in sleeper class can leave a lot to be desired...

Having found your seat, there are wire hoops hanging down underneath the seats to which you can padlock your luggage. We do this as a norm. Safely on the train, comfortable in our seats we wait for departure.

Train journeys can be long, so you have to eat...
People in India have obviously grown accustomed to the long train journeys and usually come with a packed lunch, breakfast, dinner or snacks or all. Nothing here seems to be regarded as not-travel-friendly so sauces and curries get packed in small plastic bags and rice and chappaties in other containers. They are so jacked with the picnic plates with built-in compartments for the different parts of the meal. And then they tuck-in. The aroma of every carriage is indicative of all the foods this can happen as early as5am for breakfast. The plates and any other rubbish is simply tosssed out of the window with not a thought about the environment. India has a long way to go to start addressing its litter issue but in places like Ooty and Munnar there are huge signs that say 'no spitting, keep clean.' Hopefully this will gradually spread throughout the rest of India.

Available on every train is of course, chai (tea). The men come along singing: 'chai chai chai' or 'coffeeee cofffeeee cofffeeee.' These are more sugar than anything else and come in a tiny little cup. They also sell other things like fried veg patties, samoosas and more specific items (?) like colouring-in books and eucalyptus oil. Then there are the packaged meals which seem to be curry and bread of different sorts. We have had the veg rice on two separate occasions, served in a little tin foil contained and tasted okay with little consequences. Station food which is served at a pace at each stop, with men running through the carriage or shouting through the window to sell their item.

The train also serves its own food but we have been warned to stay away from it. It has recently been referred to on the news as inedible and dangerous with a large amount of it being prepared in the slums!

Having eaten, rested and half awake - you dont get much sleep with 70 other people burping, snoring and running up and down to the toilet, you arrive at your destination. You are now ready to find your hotel, but first, its back to the rickshaw/taxi drivers to get there..

Ps. I hope you are feeling tired after reading all of this... imagine actually living it!

Boggling Blog

Apologies to all our readers.. due to forces outside of our control (i.e Google's software), a few of the posts are out of sequence. The correct order, and the order of our destinations should be....

From Munnar -> Ooty -> 24 hours of Movement -> Hampi -> Toilet Timeshare (goa) and then to Rishikesh.

All are updated below.

Thanks for understanding and sorry!

Snapshots II

We still can't find a place to download pics from the big camera, but in the meantime here are some snapshots from the little one.

Goa's Anjuna market, Sim in hiking mode, another pic from the hike.

Street scenes from Hampi including the big cart that they pulled for the festival and the famous (and chilled!) Mango Tree restaurant

Train accomodation in 3 Tier sleeping, Ant having a shave and women preparing to swim in the Ganges.

Last, but by no means least, India described in one image...

Rishikesh

Rishikesh is a small town in the northern state of Uttaranchal in India. Popularly adored for its scenic beauty dotted besides the holy Ganges river, Rishikesh is traditionally known as the spiritual and yoga capital of the globe. From the music legends like The Beatles to new age celebrities like Kate Winslet - everyone wants to come down to this city of Yogi's and Temples.

Rishikesh is also the Gateway to the Himalayas - and for us, Himalayas meant 'cool', so off we went.

This small town is the point where the holy Ganges exits the Himalayas. The banks are lined with ashrams, where saints and holy people live, most of them surviving on donations from others. Rishikesh is the lap of Hindu philosophy and learning and signs of religious rituals can be seen all over Rishikesh – in the numerous temples lining the banks of the Ganga and more so in the people that walk the streets everyday.

The small streets are littered with holy men, (sacred) cows, lots of cow sh1t and the odd mix of yoga'd up foreigners. It was very peaceful and different to most other places we have been in India with less hassling, touting and hard sells.. so really a pleasure for us.

Everyday we would walk around through the small lanes taking in the sights and sounds. At all times during the day people would be dunking themselves in the river, cleansing themselves in the holy water and offering flower sacrifices to their ancestors. In the evenings at about 6pm, a slight breeze would blow setting off the temple bells ringing as the sadhus, pilgrims and tourists prepared for the nightly 'ganga aarti' ceremony. You can feel the holy experience and how the beliefs make Rishikesh the holy city that it is. It was an experience and gave us an idea of what Varnassi must be like.

However, for us, it turned out that Rishikesh was hotter than we thought, with temperatures reaching about 34 degrees and the humidity about 80%. So after a few days in this holy city we left for the (higher) Himalayas . . .