Tales of a Scorched Earth

The Great Barrier Reef

2007-06-14T19:24:00.000Z

Hi folks, Simon here. I thought it was about time I posted my Great Barrier Reef blog. While I've been waiting to find a web cafe/ hostel that allows you to upload photos, Pete's been nudging me now and again, getting upset about the chronological order of the Blog. Although I still havn't found somewhere to do the photos, I'll add them as soon as I can.

Although the reef is called the Great Barrier Reef, it is actually made up of around 2600 different reefs. The Great Barrier Reef is 2000km long, starting just south of the Tropic of Capricorn. The Great Barrier Reef stretches along the Queensland coastline from just north of Bundaberg right up to Far north Queensland and the Torres Strait. Due to the reefs amazing and spectacular natural beauty the Great Barrier Reef was declared as a World Heritage Area in 1981.

The reef is called the 'Barrier' Reef because it is an outer reef, situated along the Australian continental shelf with the channel between the coastline and the reef reaching a depth of about 60m. The other type of reef is a 'Fringe' reef, which is situated along the coastline of land and islands.

There are a few conditions that are required for healthy growth of coral. The water must be salty, clear and not lower in temperature than 17.5 degrees and lower in depth than 30 metres. An amazing sight is seeing the spawning of the coral, which happens in late spring/early summer and is often called an 'underwater snowstorm'.

The reef is home to a few dangerous creatures, although you may see reef sharks there are no noted attacks on visitors. The most dangerous things in the Barrier Reef is the coral itself (if you touch them you can cut yourself as well as damage the coral), Jellyfish and Scorpion Fish.

Peter D, my little brother, was due to fly up from Sydney on the Monday to join us in Cairns while we busied ourselves getting excited about the prospect of diving on the most famous Reef in the world. Pete R and myself had been diving quite recently in Thailand where Pete successfully completed his Advanced Open water course and I stepped onto the first rung of professional diving by completing my Padi Divemaster course. So we had both blown away the cobwebs and were ready for some exciting diving. My Bro hadn't dived for a matter of years and was quite eager to remember what gear he would need, and after a little research, turned up with some sleek new Fins, Mask, Snorkel and Knife. Very Keen. Sarah in her new found condition was unable to dive but after some quizzing of the local dive operations, we settled on a boat and crew that promised some excellent Snorkelling to boot.

The "Spirit of Freedom" is a 40 metre luxury vessel capable of catering for 20 guests. I say luxury because after diving in the Irish sea from a converted 18M fishing trawler that smells of fish with 15 Male divers all sharing the same bunkroom and head (toilet) , virtually anything would seem luxurious in comparison. To be honest though when we all arrived at the Dock it soon became apparent that this was a truly professional operation. When you are quite used to arriving at a tiny Scottish fishing port to find your boat at the end of a row of about five others. Climbing down a wet and cold, steel ladder in the dark whilst wearing a 20kg Scuba kit, 5kg weightbelt and carrying two bags, then making your way accross five boats that move apart with every wave, and negotiating with a drunken, scowling, crew member aboard each one.....being greeted at your vehicle and told to leave your bags for the crew to take below while you are welcomed aboard by the boat "Director of operations" and his crew seemed indulgent if not a little alien!

After a brief tour of the boat and the arrival of the the rest of the divers, we got underway at around 11am on day 1. After a short steam north east from Cairns harbour we anchored up for our first dive. After a lot of fumbling and trial and error, I got all my gear on whilst taking excited glances at the clear blue water. Stepping to the back of the boat, as the two petes finished kitting up, with a beaming grin, leapt from the boat. And as my bubbles cleared around me, it became quite obvious this was going to be some very special diving!

Brisbane or Bust! Arlie Beach and the Whitsundays!

2007-06-06T05:59:00.000Z

The Whitsundays are a bunch of islands numbering around 70 odd... ranging from liddle tiddlers to big ole jobs... Here... Have a look yourself... -link to follow- :P

Airlie beach is the place to launch to the Whitsundays from - a place of young backpackers all doing the same things - which is pretty much the same as they were up in Cairns and Daintree and probably everywhere else in Oz - and that is, getting drunk and up to mischief - knowing they haven't got the mummy's and daddies around to tell them off... it all gets a bit tedious - I've not been very impressed with the ozzie Backpackers to be honest... but... hey... they're young carefree and enjoying themselves so who am I to judge. I'm just an old git these days who like his early nights and sleep, which sometimes is a rather incongruous to staying in backpacker places (i.e. the Townsville place being a prime example)

Asides from this, Airlie Beach is a really 'cool' place to be... and it's obvious there's a lot of posing going on and shops dedicated to selling bikinis and board shorts and the like.

We stayed in a backpackers place the first night, and took advantage of a last minute Yachting tour around the islands that they were offering with free accommodation there upon return... so hell, why not, it seemed like a good deal...

The yacht tour was on "Freight Train" an old Racing Yacht - we were on it for 3 nights, staying on board the yacht, anchored in serene bays overnight - sounds all very swish doesn't it? And it would have been were it not the fact we were, sharing with 15 other Backpackers and the 3 crew... not to say it wasn't worth it - it was a great experience and gave us a good insight into the potential of the area.

When we got back to shore we stayed overnight in our FREE accomodation and then decided to splash out on something nice... I think travel fatigue had set in and wanted some creature comforts, especially after the cramped conditions on the boat, so we located a place called "The Organic B&B" and booked ourselves in for 2 nights there. It was very, very nice... modern, swish and with a Gourmet breakfast to boot... Sarah took advantage of the on site massage - lucky girl.

During our stay here, we hired a Speed Boat for the day, taking advantage of simon's motor boat license...

We spent the day buzzing around the islands under our own steam (or should I say diesel?)... this was a lot better... great to make our own decisions rather than having to stick to a predetermined itinerary that you just know a million and one other people have done already... the best bits were finding our own deserted beaches to eat watermelon and just relaxing on our very own desert islands...

Then there was the dolphins and turtles we saw whilst getting a little lost (not really - our handheld GPS we've got really came into it's own this day). Overall though... Really really enchanting... those dolphins are something else... :)

One of the hilights for sure.

Next Stop: Fraser Island.

Brisbane or Bust! The Townsville/Ayr Fiasco.

2007-06-06T05:04:00.000Z

Seeing that simon's not had a chance to update the blog with the dive pictures he was supposed to and wanted to write about I thought I'd update y'all with what we've been up to... perhaps he may place a dive post at some point but until then you'll have to wait for pictures I'm afraid...

So where were we? Oh yeah... North Queensland... Cairns, Cooktown et al...

Well, we've been in New Zealand for nearly a week now - but before I go on about here let's do some catch ups.

Rewind to 4 weeks ago... we were in Cairns, waiting for our trip on the Spirit of Freedom, our 4 day liveabord Scuba thing on the Barrier Reef... I won't wibble on too much about it... suffise to say it was another great dive experience... the only picture I have on me now is this one...

...Courtesy of Peter, Simon's Bro... that's him on the left - we're just about to head into the briny blue for some deep sea exploration mission on some crappy, boring reef, full of really rubbish and not interesting fish and sea life like sharks and stuff... no honestly it was really not worth writing about - Peter's saying "What!? We're supposed to go in there?" - Simon's doing his Paris Hilton wobbly head impression... and I'm doing my Blue Steel look... as yer do... :)

Anyway... enough of that trip as that's supposed to be Simon's domain and I'm not gonna go on about it anymore... besides - it was rubbish so there's no need to say more :P

So, what happened after Cairns? Well, we had to get to Brisbane at some point to get our flight over to New Zealand, but before we could do that we had a fair few number of miles to travel... as you can see from this link. How many miles is that? A fair few! So we hired a car and set off for our first destination - Townsville.

Townsvilles a small place town I suppose... I guess the name itself suggests that? We stayed in a crappy hostel overnight and decided pretty much to move on immediatly... the intention being to try and hit one final dive site - "The Yongala Wreck" - supposedly THE best dive site in Australia... we wanted to find out if it was true. There were trips from Townsville, but we'd been told to go to Ayr as there was someone there who could get out to the wreck in the morning and be back by the afternoon - which sounded great as we were on a tight schedule!

So, we headed down to Ayr, which can only be described as the armpit of the backside of nowhere... we called this organisation, the "Yongala dive company" from Townsville the previous day - and they said they wouldn't be heading out for a day or so and to check by their office the next day. We were very lucky to find it - but they said to call back again the following day at 3pm... there was loads of spaces so no worries - so we decided to hang around Ayr overnight and the following day we'd explore the area... (which mainly consists of a million square miles of Sugar Cane Plantations, the odd creek, road, crossroads, bridge, burnt out cars, farms, that kind of thing.)

We stayed Overnight in rooms over a pub - which was again not exactly the best place we've stayed. Bar downstairs, Bottleshop next door, 'Bistro' attached to the back... Imagine your stereotype of an Aussie pub... you've got it... that's what it was like... but it was alright I suppose - besides we didn't venture downstairs.

The Following day we tried to find some things to do whilst waiting to make the call at 3pm... I wrote a Blog post in some hideous backwater 10 pin bowling alley place with an attached 'cyber cafe' - just as I'd finished the post the bloody PC crashed before I'd managed to post it... which really put me in a right old mood - especially having some bowling alley staffer explaining to me about computers... oh the irony! (especially now since that happened this blogger auto saves your posts - grrr!!!!?!?!)

Anyway... after that I was in a right old strop so we decided to get out of town and explore the sugar cane fields... But, you know, after about 300 miles of nonstop sugar cane it gets really quite boring and monotonous... we began to wonder whether there really was the need for all this sugar... climbing (in the car) to the top of a nearby 'mountain' lookout - the sheer scale of operations was nevertheless quite impressive - it was amazing to see the sugar cane field, stretching as far as the eye can see - the only breaks being the odd lake, river or forest - and of course the mountains in the far distance, presumably beyond those is Narnia - where I think they use all the sugar to make Turkish Delight... who knows? anyway... there's vast vast quantities - the whole area being dedicated to it...

Now, bearing in mind we could have been on the road heading south all day, we'd decided to hang around to see if the wind had died down allowing us to go wreck diving... we called the yongala dive company who were happy to say they were going out the following day... Great... Brilliant... where do we go and what time? But they'd already fully booked... bugger...! It wasn't even 3pm yet and they'd fully booked... we'd assumed they'd have put us down as part of the trip seeing that we'd called multiple times and even headed out to see them in the office in the naval of the armpit in the backside of nowhere... So, alas it wasn't to be... we sacked it off and decided to continue our road trip and get the hell out here... besides we need excuses to head back to Oz I guess.

Next stop - Airlie Beach.

Queensland trippin!

2007-05-05T01:50:00.000Z

Hurrah for Picassa... it really is the mutts nuts when it comes to quick and easy image editing... and thanks to Matt (again) for the blog tips... :)

I think if you Click the above image you'll get a nice BIG version of it to have a shufties at.

It's basically a snapshot collage of our trip up North to Cooktown from Cairns, via Cape Tribulation, the Daintree River and back down south and beyond to the through the Tablelands, that's all the waterfalls and what have you.

Enjoy...! :)

Some Misc Photos...

2007-04-23T14:47:00.000Z

Here's some snaps taken whilst one the road. It's been quite tricky (read: annoying) uploading so many so please, enjoy and savour them cos I'm not gonna do this again in a hurry.

What was it mum called them? "Stuffed pillows hangin round in trees..."

or something like that...

Great Ocean Road, Victoria - Aus

Kirsty and Sarah at some pretty place.

Great Ocean Road, Victoria - Aus

wooaaa!... It's a GIANT MOUSE with six legs! Australia's weird!

Hanging Rock, Victoria - AUS

Arrrr....

Hanging Rock, Victoria - Aus

Paragliding is easy...

Helmets on!

Bright, Victoria - Aus

...saddle up and clip in...

Bright, Victoria - Aus

... just run off the mountain...

Bright, Victoria - Aus

...and she's away...!

Bright, Victoria - Aus

Sarah's the speck on the left

Bright, Victoria - Australia

The 3 Explorers

Singapore

Speaks for itself?

Botanical Gardens, Singapore

Apparently not in Scotland...?

Singapore Botanical Gardens

Struggling with the Coconut.

Singapore

Have bike will travel.

Outside the Olembia (hostel) in St Kilda

St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria - Aus

They Shoot...
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne - Aus

They Scored!

The demons are on fire! (despite losing in the end to Geelong)

Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne - Aus

Kirsty and Sarah, and some apostles.

Great Ocean Road, Victoria - Aus

A few of the 12 Apostles.

Great ocean Road, Victoria - Aus

Colorful Beach Front Shacks, Brighton at Sunset.

Brighton Beach - Melbourne, Victoria - Aus

Happy & Sunny. Relaxing in Hammock with Shantaram.

Bright, Victoria - Aus

JAZZ HANDS!

The look of joy after doing his first few k's on a bike after months out of the saddle

Bright, Victoria - Aus

Melbourne GP!

2007-04-13T01:58:00.000Z

AND THERE THEY GO!!!!

here's one for the history books...

I MTB'd around the whole of the melbourne grand prix course...

I don't know what my lap time was though as I thought I'd started my watch timer and hadn't... so...

...
...

I'm gonna do it again!

WEEEEEE!!!!

oh... I came first... :)

Yes it's been a while! Thailand to Oz

2007-04-10T01:20:00.000Z

Well... I thought that whilst we were in Thailand mainly diving and stuff that it would probably be best to not keep posting posts that went along the lines of...

"went diving today... saw some fish... improved bouyancy control, finning techniques... etc..."

Thought that that might get a little dull quite quickly... hence the radio silence.

But what HAVE we been doing???

Well.. in brief.

Diving in Ko Tao - Building up dive time whilst Simon been doing his Divemaster training...
Eating - thai food mainly
Sun bathing
Swimming
Sleeping
Travelling

Left simon in thailand a week or so ago and left Thailand (via a quick stop in Bangkok) and flew into Melbourne... in Australia.

So I'm now officially the furthest I've ever been away from home which is a bit weird cos it's not that much different. I'm sure those that have been to Oz will no doubt agree.

We're staying in a hostel in a part of Melbourne called St Kilda.... it's like a little Brighton in that it's next to the sea, full of cafe's and trendy 'metrosexuals'... and according to locals there's about 4 girls to 1 guy and most of those guys are gay... so if you're straight and female, then finding a guy can be a bit tricky...

Been here for a little under a week now and it's a nice kinda town but we were keen to get out, and then easter happened!

Did everyone have lots of nice easter eggs? The Ozzys take easter quite seriously, not necessarily from the religious viewpoint... more like the fact it's a good holiday break for them... the last ditch at summer I suppose. Yes, the temperatures are dropping here, and whilst not exactly arctic conditions (or UK summer) it's a helluva lot colder than Thailand... put it this way, my fleece and softshell jacket has come out from the bottom of the rucksack.

We spent easter w/e in a village called BRIGHT, about 4hours north east of Melbourne in an area called the Australian Alps - which are 'kinda' alpiney... more like the highlands in Scotland - still, made a nice change from the flatness of Melbourne... We were invited up there by Kirsty, sarah's freind from school who's living and working out here now. She and some of her friends had planned a trip to Bright, and well, they kindly offered us to join them. The only catch being we had to make our own way. This involved a 4/5 hour train/coach journey starting at some ungodly hour... but hell... we're now hardened to this kind stuff so we accepted and met them the following day after they had driven up the previous night.

Something I've noticed whilst we've been travelling! I was always under the impression that driving on the left was not that common across the globe? But it seems that every country we've visited so far does... it's a subtle thing, but one that makes me happy when, say, crossing roads... whenever I've been in the states or mainland europe, I always found crossing roads quite unnerving... but well... none of that anxiety at all - yet. Which is nice.

Anyway, that asides. Bright was a nice break... Managed to get some Mountain Biking in! Weyhey!!! Dunno how far I went but I was out for a good 2-3 hours riding around the hills around Bright. Mainly on fire roads, terrain being very similar to places like Coed-Y-Brenin/Glentress... a little bit of single track, and the odd really quite gnarly downhill bits which I avoided... not really being that comfortable with the bike I'd hired to attempt such... A Kona, Cinder Cone, a XC bike with decent bits on it, but a Hardtail, so I struggled at first - it climbed really well, (better than my Patriot anyway [naturally]) and I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed the climbs more than the descents, but I suppose the kind of bike dictates the kind of riding...

Oh, and the highlight of the ride was chasing a 'roo (or maybe a wallaby) along a fire road for a good 1/2 mile or so... stupid dumb things, could have cut off into the forest but stayed boinging away in front of me until I think it realised I was not getting any further away... (I was going downhill at the time) and off it dived into the woods and dissappeared.

You don't get that in wales! ;)

We got back from Bright last night and Simon arrived from Thailand this morning. We have a week here in Melbourne until we head north to Sydney to meet up with Peter (Simons' Brother).

I hope everyone is keeping well, and apologies for the lack of updates.

TTFN!

P.S. Andy (west') - how's that longboard doing? email me some pictures dude!

Divemaster Training...

2007-03-26T02:13:00.000Z

It's been a while since the last post.... nothing much to say really as we've mainly been chilling and soaking up the sun in sunny Koh Tao... well, it's not all sun, it has rained a couple of times but then it clears up and is sunny again! Hurrah!

Simon's currently 4 days into his Divemaster Training, he's due to finish on the 6th april... it's going well from all accounts, but I do think the sun and all the studying is finally getting to him... he's starting to do strange things, like getting ready to leave this morning for his early morning dive he managed to put his shirt on inside out AND back to front... and not even notice... he needs watching all the time...

He did his Emergency First Response yesterday (a kind of first aid thing) - and this morning he's on boat duty, surface support for the open water divers in training... then it's more of the same, lots of reading, and a few exams and what not.

Unfortunatly the underwater life here isn't as prolific as the similans, it's a good place to train and practice though as all the dive sites are really close to the scuba 'boot camp' we're in. thanks to Peter Dobson for the recommendation - it's really good actually, well set up, and a lot more of a younger crowd than we experienced in phuket, which seemed to be frequented by over 50 gents (replete with young thai ladies [and in some case young men] - heaven knows why?!) ;P - this place though is a lot more laid back, and best of all it's really condensed... the island is tiny and everything is so close... having said that we've not really explored at all... mainly cos we're so damn lazy.

Off on another dive this afternoon... but before that got some serious lazing int he sun by the pool...

Laters!

back from the depths...

2007-03-21T03:37:00.000Z

Well... what can I say?

Diving in the similans in the andaman ocean has to rank as one my top lifetime experiences ever.

It's hard to put into words the sheer sense of wonder having seen first hand so much life underwater life in such a short space of time.

We began the trip a week ago now... we were taken from our little town in Phuket, a sleepy place called Chalong, and driven an hour or so north to the Thai mainland to a small port on the west coast. Via the airport to pick up the other divers who were to be our companions for the next 3 nights and 3 days... 5 Japanese divers, 4 guys and 1 lady, fresh in from there homeland, complete with there own kit and as is the typical sterotype lots of cameras...

We boarded the vessel "Harmony" at around 10pm, and we set off on the 6 hour voyage to the similan islands, far out into the andaman sea to the west.

The ship itself was about 25 meters long, with 3 floors, the first being our cabin areas, the loos, the galley and the dive deck, the second being the recreation area with TV, Dining/Briefing area, Bridge and Crew quarters, and the third being the roof, solarium, clothes drying area...

We we're roused from our sleep the following day at about 6.45am and prepared ourselves for our first dive... Sea sickness tablets taken, the rocking and swaying of the ship was a little unsettling at first, but after a while the 'sea legs' kick in and it becomes normal...

I won't go into details about each dive, but all in all we managed 10 separate dives over the 3 days, including 1 night dive, and numerous Deep dives (18 meters plus) - the deepest being around 35 meters... for the most part the visibility ranged from 5 meters to about 20 meters plus. And we visited about 6 separate dive sites, including the much famed Richelue Rock - which is literally in the middle of nowhere, with no land to be seen - quite a strange feeling jumping into open water with nothing to be seen for miles around...

Anyway... to cut a long story short it was ace.

Managed to go from crap diver with only 4 real dives (in a quarry) to a diver with now 14 dives under my belt, and in a location that's quite simply breathtaking. My first dive was well ropey, over breathing, crap bouancy control, quite anxious and nervous... byu the time we did the final dive my confidence had improved and skills to boot... I feel like a diver now... and I've passed my Advanced... which is great...

Simon's well on the way to staring his Dive Master training now, so he's chuffed too...

As far as aquatic life - loads of fish and stuff, loads of various types of coral, anemones, jelly fish, sharks, turtles, manta rays, sting rays, Trigger fish, clown fish (as in finding nemo), groupers (ugly but friendly) you name it... highlights being manta rays making an appearance round the boat earlier yesterday (we jumped in for a quick snorkel with them... graceful... and massive... 2 of them... about 3-4m's across... maybe bigger) and the other was swimming with a shoal... and I'm talking hundreds here... of meter long barracuda... totally mind blowing... I can't express how utterly incredible it's been...

It's difficult to fully explain and I'm incredibly honoured, it's just been quite magical. On the down side I got stung loads of times by small jelly fish and cut my fingers a bit (neither being too bad... the stings are like nettles... nothing a bit of wee wee can't sort out...) my fingers were cut whilst hanging onto a reef whilst gazing down into an abyss with a really strong current trying to push us back up and out...at like 25 meters under... which in recreational diving terms is deep... the deepest we've been was this yesterday when we dived down this coral pinnacle that starts at 20 meters below the surface and descends a long long way down... beyond 40 meters the limit set for recreational diving... beyond that is 'technical'.

I've learnt to stay away from various things too... like fire coral... urchins... and scorpion fish... beautiful but deadly... I shared a crevice with one whilst taking a peek at a tiny seahorse... the scorpions tend to stay static so it was ok... nevertheless quite nerve racking...

anyway... enough blathering on about diving...

If you ever get a chance to go diving then I'd thoroughly recommend it... especialy in tropical coral oceans...

What a blast!

Of to Ko Samui and Ko Tao for some more...

See you on the surface!

New Feature!

2007-03-17T04:31:00.001Z

Please Note that at great expense, much time, consternation, confusion and help i've managed to add an 'RSS feed' to the page... Chris. you'll be very proud... as well as an Email Subscription option...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So if you want to receive updates automatically via email

whenever a new post is added*

then just type your email address into the field

on the right and click subscribe?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Go on... you know you want to...

Big thanks to Matt for the heads up on this feature...

* without having to check the blog everyday (because I know that's what you're all doing) ;)

Bye bye singapore... hello Thailand..

2007-03-15T05:47:00.000Z

Singapore was great... I'll go back there for sure... what a lovely part of the world... and we got to see some 'showers' too... quite a spectacle..

Big thanks to Matt and Bea - cheers guys, mostly appreciated - have fun and good luck with your stay. Hopefully see you again sometime? :)

Thailands nice...

Not much more to say really... other than it's really hot, really sunny and really quite beautiful... oh... and no litter... oh and everyone smiles here... it's such a happy place... it feels like we've died and gone to happy heaven. The drivers are a bit mental though... (the taxi driver drove at like mach 3 from the airport to where we're staying [in phuket] - then at some traffic lights he nodded off and pranged the car in front... still, he was laughing and giggling like an idiot which diffused the situation... like I said... it's happyland... bizarre) ...oh and finally the foods great... tasty tasty yum yum... (apart from the fish head soup)

Off to go do some diving off a boat for 4 days... it's a hard life.

So we'll be back then... (with some photo's)

Byeeeeeee!

Pools, Food and Shopping...

2007-03-12T01:58:00.000Z

...not necessarily in that order.

Singapore is located on the southern tip of malaysia. An island, a city, a state and country in it's own right. 1 degree 17 minutes north of the equator it's safe to say that it's the furthest away from home I've ever been... and certainly the southest... Often sunny and often rainy the hot, humid environment making it perfect for the lush, green tropical scenery, from palm trees to banyan trees... the rainforest flora and fauna.

Simply put, it's a beautiful city - the antithesis of Delhi, Mumbai and India generally and relatively speaking quite a shock to the system. Everything here seems to shine, the apartment blocks, the skyscrapers, the cars, the people, even the containers in the perfectly neat container port as you enter the city from the airport seems to be like uber clean... it's really quite strange.

I'd heard stuff about singapore before - you know, how strict they are - the mosquito police, the chewing gum police, the M&S Poppyseed crackers police and such like... it's known as 'fine city' apparently... $50 for jaywalking, $500 for eating or drinking on a train, $1000 smoking in public places, and so on... oh... and death for drug trafficking... they're pretty tough on crime here. I expected to see cops on every street corner - a kind of militant utopia something akin to 1984 or probably closer to Brave New World only with palm trees and bermuda shorts... but it doesn't seem to be like that, at least not on the surface anyway and regardless of my preconceptions the crime rate is super low... so it seems to work.

Our experience here so far has been comfortable and strangely familiar, despite the heat and humidity. You're not stared at like you've got two heads (a common trait displayed by those in India and something you just get used to there) they drive on the left, the traffic lights are the same, as are the little green/red men at pedestrian crossings - these subtle things remind me of home, an obvious colonial legacy perhaps? Couple that with the strange feeling that you're also in a US city - the bright sun and the palm trees have a familiar LA feel, the roadsigns are very definately US influenced, and apart from the odd London Black Cab - the taxis here have a distinct american aroma to them, not to mention the skyline with it's loomin skyscrapers... very downtown LA. So, it's really odd in that respect a kind of clash of cultures - it doesn't feel at all how I'd expected SE asia to feel... that is until you look at the details.

The most obvious details being the people. As with most major cities in the world there's quite a diverse ethnic mix, the largest of which in this part of the world being from various oriental countries, starting with China, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and so on... there's a lot of Indians here too... then there's the westerners... the ex-pats the brits, the french, the spanish.. you name it - they're all here in their droves. And finally there's the tourists... all heading down to Raffles for the obligatory Sling...

We've been staying with Matt and Beatrice, freinds from London who moved out here 4 months ago. They're having a whale of a time from all accounts... and why not? (see great uncles matts travel diary for more details from singapore) We've been made very welcome and it's a lifestyle one could get used to given enough disposable income. Like I said, low crime rate, high standard of living, it's hot, it's sunny, it rains for sure but it's warm rain, plus you've got the rest of SE asia to explore right on your doorstep... it's really quite ideal in that sense.

My hang up is that there's a certain superficiality about it all. Don't get me wrong it is lovely - but there does seem to be an obsession with shopping... and not just shopping but shopping for all those branded items for branded items sake... the Dolce & Gabannas, the Chanels, and so on... you name it... it's here... and it's expensive... and people seem to be buying... it's a shoppers paradise. Mall after Mall after Mall after Mall... all seemingly linked via underground A/C cooled walkways. All well and good if you're into that kind of thing... give me TK Maxx and Ebay any day... :)

We arrived Friday. Spent the morning with sarah's parents as they were on the same flight as us heading out to New Zealand for a 2 week break. They had a few hours to kill so they escorted us to Matt and Beatrices, freshened up and headed out... we joined them for Slings at Raffles - followed by a large crab lunch down the road at some place I can't remember the name of... open air, by the river, down to earth, lovely food... The folks left us around 5pm and we settled in for the evening at Matt and Bea's apartment. This basically involved sitting around the pool, eating french cheese and bread (from the Carre Four here) followed by a dip in the aforementioned pool and then a warming jacuzzi. It's a hard life.

Saturday we went shopping and eating in the day. We went out 'clubbing' at the night to 'Cafe del mar' where Pete Tong was performing. (He's a famous radio 1 DJ specialising in club tunes, been around for ever and is respected for his show "the essentail mix" which is generally on saturday nights when most clubbers are getting ready to go out) So he was here in Singapore - 'Cafe del mar' beach party... literally on the beach (some around here in fact - but it's not been built on this image) all very swish and trendy... complete with pool and jacuzzi. Naturally we all took our swimming gear and ended up in the dance floor (the swimming pool)... and so it was that at 1.30am I found myself lying on my back, staring up at the stars with palms silohetted against the half moonlit sky peppered with vague clouds - with pete tong striking up his set less than 10 meters away, surrounded by the beautiful people dancing, drinking and generally having a good time... quite a surreal moment.

Not long after that drying out on a lounger by the pool, Matt turns to me and asks "You know all those stories about ex-pats living abroad, working hard, playing hard and having the time of their lives?"... I nodded... "It's all true!"

So it seems.

It's a Goodbye to Incredible India. Part #2

2007-03-11T05:16:00.000Z

Delhi to Agra and back again.

The Taj Mahal is one of those places that is as awe inspiring as you'd hopefully expect it to be. Not least the fact it's nestled in a place that isn't exactly the prettiest town in the world - Agra - as with most Indian towns and cities I've described so far, litter and poverty is as prolific here as anywhere else. There's just no escaping it. But somehow, because it's the home of the Taj Mahal, this aspect to indian culture appears more striking.

On the trip in from Delhi (the 7.15am - taj express, a four hour train journey) I noticed one stop prior to Agra station a group of sharply dressed young men get on the train and conspicuously scout up and down our carraige obviously looking for something... now, call me paranoid, but my first thought was of Goondas (indian gangsters) - perhaps mainly due to the fact the book I'm reading (Shantaram) focuses a great deal on the indian underworld and these guys seemed to fit the description perfectly of the hoods depicted within it's pages...

My second (and more down to earth guess, which turned out to be correct) was that these guys were the first wave of locals, scouting to see how many Goras (white tourists) there were to ply their trade - namely "the best guides money could buy" - it was no coincidence the well dressed young man who'd eyeballed me from across the carraigeway was the one who shadow us from off the train, along the platform, out of the station, across the car park and along the road for quiet a while, at all times explaining that we need a guide otherwise we'd miss out, and as he soon realised we weren't getting any rickshaws or taxis he began to explain that the taj was 9kms away and that we couldn't walk all the way... "we like to walk we said..." and with that, he gave up on us and ran back to the station...

You see Simon and I had devised a plan, a plan to avoid the high costs demanded of tourists outside train stations.... tourists either too afraid or inexperienced to step off the pavement and join the locals, walk the streets, avoid the traps. The trick to this is to be ignorant of everything around you and just walk... English find this very hard to do, they're far too polite - and it takes time to adapt... but we ignored the hawkers, the guides, the taxis wallahs, the rickshaw wallahs and moved beyond the range of the station by some way... eventually a rickshaw pulled up beside us as we were walking up the road towards the main town. "60 rupees" He said after we asked him to take us the red fort (which I should have called the Agra Fort - stupid me :S ) - naturally he didn't understand where this was and kept saying "Taj Mahal?" instead... we argued him down to 30 rupees and he happily agreed... 9kms later and a trip to his dad, to ask directions, we arrived at the agra fort... (30 rupees is about 32p)

Agra fort was built yonks ago towards the start of the 1st millenia (1000AD). Mughal empires rose and fell around it, destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed again and rebuilt, fortified further only to fall to the British who garrisoned it and turned it into an arsenal. It's an impressive size and much more ornate than the european equivalents, typical in it's Mughal stlying, taking its queues from islamic scripture and philosophy. It was the hub of India for centuries being the countries capital during the reign of the mughals (starting around 1550AD) - it's got quite a history.

One of the key aspects of the fort is it's the place where ShaJahan was incarcerated until his death after his son rebelled against him and took his throne - pesky kids, you just can't trust them. At the time I'm sure it was fairly bad for ShaJahan, but when actually visit his "prison" you realise that it's not exactly the Bangkok Hilton... more like Paris Hilton (the place, not the waif like, 'it' girl with a penchant for pink, small dogs, short skirts and naughty videos)

This Prison was luxurious to the max, more like a palace than a jail... but then again it WAS a palace within a reasonably small section of the whole of the fort. The saddest part is, is that this section of the fort and the prison overlooks the Yamuna River, gazing from here the Taj Mahal is clearly visible, the final resting place of Shah Jahan's beloved wife... a mere 2 km's or so to the east-south-east. It's from this vantage point he would have sat and remembered her never being able to visit the monument himself... until after his death.

We lunched during the heat of the midday sun and ventured onwards to the relative sanctity and peace of the Taj Complex. Having been a number of times I shrugged off the numerous attempts made by the guides at the gate, I also warned simon about the rigorous search the security/armed police make of your bags on entering... any contraband goods are carted away and placed in 'secure' lockers to be collected upon exiting... of course in typical style simon got away scot free even with all his fancy electronica... me? well... it seems MP3 players aren't allowed and neither are playing cards... beats me! So, those both went into the 'secure' unit... consisting of a metal box with no lock - you're then handed a hand written torn piece of paper with your inventory written in hindi and told "no lose, no lose, get later..." - fair enough... crude... but hopefully effective? So, sans Ipod and deck of cards we passed the gun toting guards and entered into the first courtyard of the 7th wonder of the world...

There are three gates into the first courtyard, we entered from the south, one of the lesser used entrances. The courtyard is flanked on all four sides with a covered walkway and small rooms. TMoving in from there are four lawns (no walking) and in the center of the yard is a large plaza. Exiting this plaza to the north is the Main Gateway that you pass through to enter the Famous Garden that sits before majestic monument.

Of course, much has been written of the Taj Mahal, some of it true, some of it myth. I can't add anything to what's already been written, suffise to say it is a marvel it really is. It's so familiar though that it can appear quite surreal at first, everyone's seen it - on postcards, on the TV and probably most regularly down the local curry house on the wall in some form or other. But none of that can prepare you for the real thing.

Initially we sat quietly, away from the crowds just soaking in the ambience. We had time to kill so we killed it. After an hour so it was time to approach the main event... we joined the masses and began our walk towards it. It looms and get's bigger and you look and gaze up towards it in fascination. It's then you realise you've got another 100 yards or so left before you reach the base. It really is rather big...

We left just before sunset in a bid to get my gear left at the gate and catch the train back to Delhi, having just been told off by machine gun toting cops to get off the grass... you don't argue with guys with guns... so we got off the grass - besides there were signs saying not to walk on the grass... and in india signs tend to be ignored so we ignored them... but still... guns... cops... it was a no win situation...

It was a good day. and as we were leaving the complex simon commented that "I won't forget that in a hurry..."

nuff said.

It's a Goodbye to Incredible India. Part #1

2007-03-06T08:12:00.000Z

Yes, we've left India behind us now. Having divided our time equally between the south in the north of the biggest democracy in the world.

Two weeks in Kerela split almost evenly between Varkala and Kovalam. The former being a chilled out, traveller freindly hippy fest. the perfect place for us to wind down after our, quite frankly, crappy last 12 months. The latter being not as chilled out, 2 week package tour heaven (or hell depending on your perspective and as we know now, certainly not my bag) but we managed to continue to unwind and found some hope in an otherwise uninspiring location.

Two weeks in Chandigarh was more family orientated, food galore and weight inducing. The daily routine working itself into breakfast, followed by some difficult sitting in the garden, and maybe reading the paper, followed by lunch, an afternoon nap, rising early evening for Tea and Cake or biscuits, merging into early evening drinks (read whisky, beer, bloody mary, G&T etc) merging further into Dinner and finally to bed... this routine making up the skeleton of our lazy days in chandigarh. We expected nothing less and a great big thank you to Grandpa & Maaji and to Papaji & Amiji welcoming as ever. :) x

This routine was punctuated by the inevitable trips to sector 17 (shopping) sector 8 (shopping) aswell as a number of other sectors (shopping) not to mention the odd excursion to restaraunts - namely a chinese restaraunt the highlight being some awesome prawns, then a lunchtime buffet (chinese again) at the local taj group 5 star hotel, simply stunning food and service beyond compare (keep repeating "yes we are backpacking") and finally a more appropiate trip to KFC (more like it) - travelling on a shoestring never tasted so good.

The punctuations of the daily routines continue with our failed attempts to introduce an early morning (pre-breakfast) excercise in a bid to remove the imminent paunches we we're/are all developing...

...and finally no trip to chandigarh is complete without a visit to Nek Chands "Rock Garden" - we'd pontificated about this to Simon perhaps too much - in brief - Nek Chand was a municipal worker at the local dump when the city was first being constructed in the 50's - rather than dispose haphazardly of the construction waste he started to turn the waste into sculptures, forming them into bizarre shapes and building settings for them - all of this was against the rules, and when it was discovered the authorities were going to demolish it until there was a public outcry which saved the early works - he was granted a repreive and encouraged to do more - it grew and grew and is still growing now...

it is literally a load of rubbish and before simon saw it he thought all it was going to be "...just a few old bikes and oil drums" as it happens he was as impressed as I was when I first went and continue to be... here's some pictures that don't do it justice but you get the idea...

Part 2 coming soon!

Haircut agogo.

2007-03-04T15:07:00.000Z

So, sarah decided that my hair was a mess...

Clelia, you'd be very proud.

Coerced into submission she set to with the scissors and almost an hour later I emerged with what I can only describe as a very competant cut.

With simon's guidance and sarah administering the shears I sat in a rather uncomfortable state for the entire duration - not exaclty sure what the outcome would be. But I have to say I'm rather impressed.

This picture was taken a few days later... on HOLI - the festival of colour! It's not blood... it's paint...

Simon had the same treatment today but wasn't too enamoured with the result. He's not a happy bunny now and has started wearing his 'magic hat' again to cover it up... It's not that bad though... I think it looks rather good.

We're leaving the comforts of Chandigarh tomorrow morning early. Heading to Delhi for a few days with Uncle Kika and Mala Bhua and hooking up with Teju, Prithi and 'Hammy' (First cousins) :D - should be fun! Looking forward to it. Included in those few days is a trip to Agra and the Taj Mahal... again...! :P

Not long before we finally leave India and over to the far east.

First stop Singapore.

In a bizarre twist of fate it appears we've managed to book the exact same flight that sarah's Parents have booked to Singapore as they head off to New Zealand for a 2 week tour... with a brief stopover for them in singapore they've said they'll treat us to dinner... after that they head off to New Zealand and we head off to find Matt and Beatrice's place - so we can finally say goodbye to them (we missed their leaving doo in london a few months ago so we thought we'd chase them halfway round the world instead... you know... like you do)

ttfn
P :)

Rocky mountain high...

2007-02-28T10:37:00.000Z

... is the name of a john denver song... only he was referring to Colorado, whereas I'm referring (of course) to India. Shimla in fact... I mentioned it in the last blog post - tis the place where the old guard of the british empire used to come when the summer heat of delhi got too much for them to bear...

That's all well and good except that when it's between the seasons it tends to be wet, cold and pretty miserable... It's still breathtaking (once the fog and mist clears) but unfortunatly for us we've managed to come up here over 3 days of rain, the last of which has just turned to snow. An inch or so has fallen in the last hour and a bit... and it's not abating... last night the ranges we lit up with a majestic display of lightning whilst the rain poured hammering down on the metal roofs of the city.

We arrived here via a 4 hour small narrow guage 'toy train' ride that meanders up the hills from a place called Kalka. The last stop for all 'proper' trains coming from the south. 18 passengers in each deluxe carraige - comfy(ish) if a little chilly. The ride up is pretty spectacular, the rail tracks clinging to the hills with often shear drops to the sides - somewhat unnerving and giving a certain sense of a roller coaster ride - at a snails pace. Due to the ratio of the incline the train moves very slowly, in some cases almost at walking pace.

When we arrived at the destination we quickly found our rooms which we were to spend the next 3 days. They were rudimentary to say the least. And under two heavy duvets and 1 bar electric heaters we sheltered from the cold inbetween watching dodgy hindi movies, playing scrabble and reading. The joys of international travel.

India's a funny old place. Last week were basking in the sweltering sunshine and now this, the snow and cold of the foothills of the himalayas. You'd have thought the place here would be set up to deal with the almost arctic conditions and I suppose it is - kind of - it's only when you attempt to find shelter from the rain, snow, sleet and wind that you realise that it seems to be more important for cafe/bar owners to keep the doors open, in a way one can only assume, is their attempt of making the place seem more inviting for customers to enter?

To a certain extent it's true, the heat coming from each of these establishments is enough to tempt you inside; and once inside the prevailing warmth is enough to tempt you further in and make you sit down and ultimatly order some warming soup or coffee or hot chocolate... it's only you've been sat for a while that you realise that it's not actually that warm in there, relative to the outside it is, but you'd have thought that someone would have the foresight to actually close the doors in a bid to keep the heat IN!? - thus allowing the patrons to remove and dry their wet clothing whilst consuming the sumptous delights on offer.

This simple oversight means that the majority of the establishments we've ventured into are full of people wearing wooly hats, scarves, gloves, heavy cloaks and coats and such like - the locals don't seem to mind - it's part of their existence and the people here are undoubtably hardened to the bitterness that the himalayan winters offers - but for us lame westerners it leaves us incredulous in trying to understand why they don't simply close the doors?

Like I say India's a strange place, full of these strange scenarios.

Shimla itself isn't exactly the prettiest city in world, it's more than that - When you arrive here for the first time the thing that strikes you is the array of buildings that seemingly cling to the hillside like limpets - the layered effect of buildings from the top of the precipitous ridge gives the impression of a kind of architechtural waterfall of what appears to be mostly unfinished and incomplete or at the very least under constant revision.

The next thing are the colors of the structures, it's a myriad of colours, albeit somewhat grimy. Then there's the litter, the saddest thing about this place is that the residents deem it OK to hurl their unwanted rubbish out of the windows, which, again, due to the elevation and incline of the hill, creates these small 'waterfalls' of litter that cascade down the hillside. It's a shame but part of India - litter is everwhere - but at least the provincial governments of Himachal Pradesh have followed the example of Kerela and has banned plastic carrier bags... it's a small step in a long up hill struggle to rid the country of the enormous amounts of waste it produces - I'm sure one could write a thesis on how India could tackle such a task.

So, as we sit here in this 'semi-heated' cyber cafe awaiting our train back south we're pondering over the next month - we'll soon be leaving these shores and heading to Singapore in just under a week - and then heading north into malaysia and thailand.

Until the next time.

Namasthe.

x

Statue of "SHE" - Indirah Ghandi - India's first female prime minster - assasinated in 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards after the tragic events at Amritsar.

She's standing benevolently in Shimla, flanked by some locals and indian tourists... Located on a strip of land or ridgeway running across the top of the hill, look north and you see the permanent snow capped peaks of the mighty himalaya and to the south, range upon range of tree topped foothills swirling in and dissappearing into the mist...

The Curse of Air India strikes again...!

2007-02-23T04:55:00.000Z

Flying... it's one of those things that you either love or hate. I love it personally. The thrill of taking off, the lurching in the stomach when you hit turbulance and drop like a stone for a few hundred feet, watching the world drift by from 10,000 ft, flying above the clouds in awe of the patterns they produce, the shimmer of the sun on the glittering sea - quite frankly I think it's amazing.

I'm not too keen on the landings though, it gives me the willies when those wheels impact themselves into the tarmac and you finally touch down and the world is hurtling so fast a pace past your little window that it's just a blur, and you try to convince yourself that it's OK, the pilot knows his stuff, that the handbrakes will work and the reverse thrust on those engines will kick in in time...

...and no matter how hard you try to convince yourself of this, there's that niggling thought in the back of your mind that there's no way the runway is long enough for you to stop in time, or that that lurching from left to rightas you're carreering down the runway means that the whole vehicle is so close to flipping over... no... landings... I'm not that keen on them... but as for the rest of the flying experience I really enjoy it.

Which brings me on to airports. Are there any interesting airports in the world? Why are they so dull and uncomfortable? And why do the announcers all sound like they need their adenoids sorting out?

We spent a whole night in Thiruvananthapurum airport the other night. Having failed in our quest to train it up the west coast to Goa (no tickets available due to the "Goa Carnival" - something akin to mardi gras it seems and we're kicking ourselves we missed it) we had to make do with flying back to Mumbai - we organised the tickets a week or so ago, and the only ones we could get meant a very early departure - as in a 4am flight! Which meant a 1.30am check in... but due to the taxis/rickshaw wallahs at kovalam refusing to take us (to the airport) any later than midnight we opted to head over to the airport a lot earlier - like 8pm the previous day. Only when we got there the guards wouldn't let us into the airport until 3 hours before our flight... nice... but the airport manager took kindly to us and graced us by allowing us in to stay on the 'comfy' chairs in the check in lounge...

That's when the curse of air india struck... and for sarah and I it wasn't the first time as we spent a night in an aircraft on the tarmac of delhi airport a few years back waiting for clearance... but that's by the by... at least this time we weren't in the plane... so yeah, you guessed it, the flight was delayed... instead of leaving at 4am... it was now rescheduled to leave at 9am... curses - which meant in retrospect we could have stayed at our hotel and not left till early morning... as it was it was getting on for midnight and we had a whole night ahead of us in the check in lounge... as tony the say's (without any sense of sarcasm mind)... grrrrrrrrRRREAT!!

As it happens it wasn't too bad... we managed to get some sleep. And when the flight eventually left (a little later than [re] sheduled) the flight was fine. We landed in Mumbai close to lunchtime and made it to Uncle Bulbuls for about 2pm. We washed, slept, woke in the early evening, played cards, drank G+T's, ate snacks followed by our evening meal and then went to bed once more around 11pm... the flight up to Delhi and Chandigarh being due to depart the following day early.

The flight in was amazing... the view from the air of the himalaya's as we were flying in tp Chandigarh was breathtaking... such a clear view of the snow capped peaks!

So we're finally here in Chandigarh at Sarah's grandparents (and parents) home. It's so great to be back and good to see everyone. Time to kick back and let our stung wallets let off some steam.

It's a lot cooler in the north, I'm actually wearing my fleece! something unimaginable a day or so back... but then when you consider we've travelled the equivalent of say, coming from gibralta in southern spain to somewhere like leeds or bradford, it's not really surprising the difference in climate... albeit a lot further south in general... chandigarh is at a similar longitude to say jerusalem, or cairo...

So, we're 3 weeks in. and all three of us have had that flu and are still recovering - can't shake that cough... we're gonna kick back here and recouporate for a few weeks here... next week though we're heading up into the mountains for few days, firstly to check out a painting I did of Uncle Gurbux's home in the hills in a village called Mashobra... it's on situ in the said home and I'm keen to see it on the wall... we'll stay overnight in Shimla (the old colonial capital during the Raj when those pesky british that took over the land here years ago went to when they couldn't take the summer heat in Delhi... bunch of wimps!)

So, until next time... keep those messages coming in people... Oh, and thanks for you kind offer Jo... I'll email you an address soon.

x :)

Positive Mental Attitude...

2007-02-20T06:47:00.000Z

Congratulations to simon on his first blog post... I think he found the experience a little painful but the boy did good.

Apologies to Katy for such a demonic looking me in that picture... not sure what happened there - it looked ok on the camera TFT screen... hope you had a lovely day katie. x

So, positive mental attitude. Yeah... I was a bit negative in that last post wasn't I - certainly a combination of feeling sorry for myself and kovalam as a 2 week holiday destination getting me down, but you push past the veneer and it has a certain charm I guess.

We decided to go for a walk yesterday - you can only really do this very early so we got up at 6am and were off pretty sharpish. Simon had determined via Flashearth.com that there was something interesting over the headland...* so we went exploring and sure enough, there was another beach... only this one was deserted - no tourists, the odd fishing boat on shore but that was it...

We crossed the deserted beach and scrambled over more rocks (avoiding the natural latrines that the locals use - [gundarh!] yack) and down onto the next beach and there we discovered a group of twenty or so fisherman pushing their boat from the top of the beach towards the surf... they beckoned us to pass and then as we did they urged us to help, which we did. This was quite a special moment and made the morning... simon, sarah and I grabbed onto the nearest point of the boat and as the men shouted in unison we all heaved and pulled or pushed - and believe me, that boat was damn heavy... makes you realise how tough these guys are - with their somewhat amaciated appearance... don't judge a book by its cover...!

We continued onwards south down the coast and came to another rocky outcrop that we ascended up onto a road and were greeted by a bunch of goats, a few locals and we were approached by a chap who became our guide to what we were to learn was the 2nd largest fishing village in Kerala - we were shown round by this amiable gent, who at first we were worried was just after ruppees but we soon realised that he was genuinly interested in showing us his village - another touching moment - trust in the kindness of strangers and all that... we did a circuit of the place, taking in the mosque, the breakwater (with huge monolithic concrete obelisks that looked like giant everlasting gobstoppers [from the gene wilder version of charlie and the chocolate factory]) the fishing boats, the defecating fishermen (best to forget that bit I think), the fishermen fixing their nets and so on...

We then thought it best to head back as the sun was starting to get hotter and we were concerned for our poor pale skin... we bade farewell to our guide and we walked back along the road.

We were back 9 am - ish... back to kovalam, back to the hawkers and the tourists but feeling like we'd achieved something postive something good and worthwhile. All in all a cathartic experience.

Later on we got our dive masks out and went snorkling along the rocky outcrop below the lighthouse, practicing our freediving techniques... not exactly Tanya Streeter territory but a good taster for us diving n00bs... (I'm speaking for me and sarah here)... we soon got tired and needed to head back in after swimming with cute stripey fish things and picking up hermit crabs and so on... simon stayed frolicking in the ebb and flow of the water only to return later with tales of 'a huge fish' that swam away as he approached it...

It's our last day here today... we've already checked out of our room and we intend spending the day lazing around in the shade - we need to head back to thiruvananthapurum airport at about 8/9pm tonight for a flight at 4am! yes... we intend spending the night at the airport - our first experience of airport living... how exciting... the only downside is this particular airports departures/arrivals lounge is as big and plush as say... barrow-in-furness bus station in the seventies just before that big chewits monster ate it... but we'll be in mumbai early tomorrow... larging it up at sarahs uncles once more before we (finally) head north to visit the family in the cooler climate of Chandigarh...

Wow... that WAS a big post... I'll pepper it up with some pictures over the next few days... in the meantime take care people.

Oh... and thanks for the concern over the train thing in Haryana... we were quite shocked to hear about it - I'm sure there'll be some repercussions and maybe a national strike which may effect us but ghopefully by that point we'll be safely tucked away in chandigarh...

Take care...

:)
x

PS - can someone send me a couple of 99p bags of haribo starmix, tangfastics and trebor/nestle refreshers to Chandigarh... I'm desparate here...!!!!

* you can have a look here...

Happy Birthday Peter & Katie

2007-02-19T10:36:00.000Z

Yesterday we celebrated Katie Ranson's (6) and Peter Dobson's (31) birthdays. After a day's snorkelling we went for a meal at the "Spice Village", however, since the restaurant was alcohol free, we had to toast them with Pepsi. Because we are in a dry state (alcohol free) here it is almost impossible to find a restaurant that doesn't serve booze but we managed to last night! It will probably do us some good after all the goodbye drinks in Leamington and London.......time to think about the waistline!

So, anyway, Happy Birthday Peter, we'll soon be with you in OZ where we can celebrate for real.

And Happy Birthday Katie, next year when you're 7, we'll make it extra special!

Hope you both had a wonderful day :-)

Kovalam Blues

2007-02-18T06:09:00.000Z

I'm not sure I like it here.

Sure its sunny and stuff but it's just so damn touristy.

I saw a holiday rep today... with name badge, uniform and clipboard... that's when I realised that this place is not that far removed from benidorm or costa del what ever... yeah, i'm being elitist I know, but when you come to india you expect to immerse yourself in it's culture not some diluted package deal hotspot. Our fault I suppose for not having planned ahead a little better.

It turns out in Goa there's a festival on at the moment, a kind of 'mardis gras' type thang - it's because of this that we struggled, neigh failed, to get a train to to area... hence why we opted to come here to Kovalum.

Perhaps my melancholy is due to being ill for the last few days... I mean, the setting here IS really nice. Rocky headlands, sandy beaches, clear blue sea, good surf - I can't fault that - it's just that there seems to be no soul to the place, it's missing something that I can't quite put my finger on... which is a shame.

There is some light though.

I got up uber early the other day (by mistake, I thought my watch said 10.20am when in reality it was 7am!) so I figured, hell I'm up I may as well go for a stroll along the beach before the sun rises fully... and I came across a turtle, ambling it
s way back to the sea... which was cute.

Then there's the local fishermen - it's fascinating watching them set to putting their nets out - it's an extraordinary scene - they kind of use these huge nets on ropes that they take out into the bay on boats, but the leave behind a troop of men on the shore who hold each end of the ropes... then they drop the nets in the water a good 500meters out and then a hawl the nets in again... all of this takes a good hour or so to complete... for not many fish - but it was interesting to see nevertheless.

We've decided we're gonna try and walk along the coast tomorrow - get away from all the package holiday crowd. I'm sure it's great for them - but not quite what we had in mind.

...the best laid plans....

2007-02-16T06:39:00.000Z

Sooooooo, that idea about us heading up the west coast back to mumbai? Stopping off at Cochin and Goa on the way? Well - forget that... we tried today to book trains from Cochin to Margoa (in Goa) and it turns out all trains into Goa are fully booked until the 20th feb... that's ALL trains...

which basically means that we've screwed up... so we're staying in kerela for another week or so... could be worse I guess... we're gonna take another flight back up to mumbai on the 21st... then to chandigarh on the 22nd... (doing our bit for global warming as we think it's not hot enough here...)

More immediatly though... we've decided to head south, bite the bullet, and check out kovalam.... see what all the fuss is about... we're here now having got the train down to thiruvananthapuram... (trivandrum for short [remember...?]) and then a cab the last few k's to kovalam itself... it's pretty built up (compared to Varkala that is) but... there's still sea and surf and sun... so it's not too bad... we're just about to head out for some dinner... having not ate since breakfast... it's now what... 6.43pm and I'm bloody famished...

Ear infection is a definate... got some gubbins to shove in there... some liquid or other... I dunno it's probably rats pee for all I know... lets hope it does the trick... oh and I've got man flu... simon had it before... sarah before that... and I think it's that one that alex and andy had at the pron palace in leamington... cheers guys... mucho appreciated... ;)

any hoo... I'm off for some Khana!!! (that's desi for food!)

Take it easy kids... (DAMN These mossys... just got bit on my tummy...ouch...!)

pete :)

Leaving Varkala tomorrow...

2007-02-14T15:14:00.001Z

...off to cochin on de train... 4 hours up the coast (northbound) - our first stop over on our way to (back) to mumbai...

seems I may have an ear infection... eek... not nice... fingers crossed it'll clear up soon...

take its easy kids... we are...! ;)

x

--

Kerela: Sunny and Hot!

2007-02-11T06:35:00.001Z

Not wanting to bring a downer on anyone but it is damn hot and pretty sunny here right now... as I write this it's 5.55 in the morning in the UK - it's currently 11.30am here right now. I'm in a beach hut sipping an ice cool lemon soda, the surf's about 10 meters away lapping the sand. Simon was last spotted in the shade of a beach umbrella and sarah was taking a cooling dip in the arabian sea.

So, thats the picture - We're in a small beach resort called Varkala in the southern indian state of kerela - "gods own country" they call it here. A place of palm trees, white sands and red cliffs. The Indian equivalent of cornwall - talk about laid back. A place where many travellers come to get away from the relative hecticness of Goa (a few hundred miles north) or (the now commercialised) Kovalam Beach south from here (about 60 miles).

We arrived here yesterday after a brief flight in from Mumbai and a 40 minute train journey from thiruvananthapurum... or trivandrum for short. The train was done in style... 2nd class... sitting in the metal luggage racks above other travellers who had already taken up all the seats... cheap as chips (about 80 pence) - and to be honest, surprisingly comfortable... having said that I couldn't imagine doing that for more than a few hours, the young chap next to me who I got talking to was heading to Chennai (madras)... 17 hours away! He seemed happy enough though...

Upon arrival in Varkala - we flagged a rickshaw and (unsurprisingly) the driver took us to the wrong place (his brothers) before finally admitting defeat and took us (almost) to the rooms we'd booked the previous day. I say almost because the detour he took us on meant he'd taken us too far off the correct path so we had to walk the remaining distance... which in itself was interesting as we then picked up another local who then tried to take us to HIS sisters place... after some confusion he also admitted defeat (we know how to handle these unruly types :D ) and he guided us to the rooms we'd booked, a short hop, skip and a jump away. After settling in around 5pm yesterday we had a wander down to the beach, then back for a quick freshen up and then headed back to the clifftops (where all the bars and restaurants are) to settle down to a nice meal of tuna, barracuda and prawns... with the obligatory G&T's - accidently blowing our daily budget... oo ps... :S

Just been looking at pictures on the web of the snowfalls in the UK - this may seem strange but I'm rather jealous... I like a bit of snow... I guess we'll be seeing some in july when we get to NZ!

Right then... I'll leave it at that... I'm gonna go take another dip then start thinking about some lunch...

Take care everyone.

X :)

The Eagle has landed

2007-02-09T03:04:00.001Z

Yes... we're finally here. In India that is.

We arrived, the day before yesterday now and it's taken this long for me to finally making a post.

So what have we been doing then? Well... other than being hosts to countless mozzys (damn those pesky beasties) we've been out and about Mumbai experiencing what the city has to offer.

We have kindly been accommodated by one of Sarah's uncles in the military defense colony on the southern most tip of Mumbai in an area called Colaba... Uncle Bulbul being a retired army officer he has a very nice home in the heart of the army area of the def col - so bearing this in mind we've had to pass through military checkpoints on a number of occasions, going in & out of the area - each time being stopped by stern looking chaps in cool camo - and cross examined and what have you to determine if we are who we say we are and aren't UK spooks sent over by Tony Blair to do some undercover sabotage... :S - I think they recognise us now as they let us through earlier with no questions asked.

It's breakfast time now and we've just got back from a very early expedition to the local docks to pick up some prawns for lunch/dinner... sounds fairly innocuous doesn't it? - well the reality of it was far more pungent than one would anticipate - and talk about busy...! the sun had only just risen when we arrived and it was already heaving with locals... pushing, shoving, shouting, carrying who knows what species of subaqua origin - quite a scene... nevertheless we made it in * out alive, toes intact, somewhat more dirtier than we went in... and with our prize of 1kg of fresh Arabian sea prawns for the princely sum of rs250 (rupees) - about 2quid.

We're showered and less smelly now - the pong of the docks is insidious and seems to pervade all our clothing - needless to say they will be cleaned and pressed ready for our trip south...

Took a trip on a boat yesterday out into Mumbai harbour... over to an island in the middle of the gulf of water between Mumbai and the continental mainland of India... good trip out - Simon's first real day experiencing the Indian hubbub - he's starting to relax into things now - which is good. This island had a load of caves that had been cut and carved centuries ago with images of Shiva andParvati and Brahma and what not... usual fayre - but still fascinatingly impressive.

Boat back and home for tea - well, out for tea actually, Uncle Bulbul and Aunty Meena kindly took us out to dinner to the Mumbai cricket club... all very swish...

anyway... breakfast is calling... plus a mid morning nap is on the cards... take it easy people.

enjoy the snow!

:)
--

HEATHROW: T-minus 3 hours and counting...

2007-02-06T19:42:00.001Z

Well... we've made it to heathrow airport people! and here's our first experience of 'cyber cafes' - i expect this one's rather upmarket but even so, some funny bugger has swapped the G and the V key round on the keyboard making it a tad tricky to type... so excuse any spellinv mistakes... ;)

Anyway... we're here - baggage checked in and we're just gonna head off through security shortly. Flight leaves at 9.45pm - we land in mumbai at 12.30pm Indian Standard Time... that's the afternoon...

Spent the last couple of days with kam at his loverly new flat in london... thanks kam... just trudged across rush hour london on tubes and stuff - should putus in good stead for busy busy bombay streets... :S

So, I gonna sign off... times running out on this here machine so I'm gonna wish you all well... and we'll see you on the other side...

Peace.

P.S. Thanks for your comment winx (I'll vet round to publishing it on the blovspace asap [this bloomin 'cafe' won't allow access to blogger.com?!? something to do with high pr0n content ;P... news to me!])

They're under starters orders! - Good news/Bad News

2007-01-23T22:22:00.001Z

Just a quick note to let you know that we've finally booked our tickets... yes we're actually leaving!
That's the good news...

The bad news... it's not for another 2 weeks!!! boo hisss...
I know, I know... it's been 2 weeks for months now but it really is this time! The date is set for Feb 6th. That's a tuesday.

It seems that for some reason all the flights out to India are booked up for some time... earliest we could get was 6th Feb - and that's flying into Mumbai! If we wanted to do Delhi first then we'd have had to have waited till the end of feb!!! And that will have really thrown a spanner in the ongoing plans for the far east, oz and beyond... so, its South India will be our first port of call - then up to the north it seems...

The other news is that we're finally out of simon (and lou's) place in Leamington... and are living (more or less) out of rucksacks... bearing this in mind I feel our journey has begun already... albeit in some luxury and comfort (temporary lodging courtesy of simons mum). We spent yesterday packing a large wooden crate and waved it goodbye around tea time, tidied up the place and left late yesterday evening to stay our first night at Suzanne and Rogers in deepest darkest leamington... :)

I guess the other good news (or bad news dependant on your point of view) is that I think there will have to be another leaving doo... this time we'll try and make it a friday or saturday for those that like to work the following day... :P

L8rs!

Take it easy people - over and out! :)

Cars a go go!

2007-01-21T19:46:00.001Z

I've just got rid of the car. (sorry Ant - :S time and pressure and all that)

Sold via ebay for £671 to a nice couple from stoke - they seemed happy with it anyway... I figured out we'd spent over 10k in buying it and keeping it on the road over the last 5 years... cars eh... damn expensive... still best without it - considering - and the cash should keep us in digs for a while... or at least pay for a "few" meals...

Kind of sad to see it go, lump in throat time... but hey... It's only a THING... something else to tie you down... and it's gone now so no regrets.

So that's it, last of our major possessions, (if you don't count the bikes - we need something to get around on whilst we're waiting to leave)

with only a week and a bit before we shoot off... I've been getting rather anxious recently about it all, quite worried and concerned about what's going to happen over the next 12 months... apparently this is normal and it should ease as soon as we touch down at the first destination... we'll see...

over and out - until next time...

Exchanged contracts...

2007-01-20T01:02:00.001Z

Simon got confirmation today that the contracts have been exchanged on his (and Lou's) property - Finally...

So, they complete the sale next friday and then we're set for the off - we're moving out of Simon's house early next week and going to stay with simon's mum for a few days... which is nice. :)

Getting closer...!!

My knees feeling better too - so things are looking up!
:D
--

I hate my knee! That organic cider has a lot to answer for...

2007-01-19T14:17:00.000Z

Thanks to everyone who came out last night on what hopefully will be our (last*) leaving doo...

The big news is that an incident involving consumption of aforementioned cider, a rogue marks&spencers shopping trolly and a little over exuburance on my behalf - I appear to have bust my knee up again.

D'oh!

Just in time for our departure.... Typical.

Considering I've spent the best part of a year getting it back up to strength too... oops... :S

I'm sure it'll be fine.*

Leaving date set to some time around my birthday - That's the 30th January folks! Don't worry about cards and stuff - no seriously... it's ok... we don't have a mantlepiece to put them on anymore. :)

Still - at least we didn't have to get up for work today, 3am to bed on a week night! With work in the morning... what a disgrace! lol :)

*Yeah right - If you believe that you'll believe anything! ;)

STILL in Leamington!!

2007-01-16T15:37:00.000Z

Hmmm... one week on and we're still here!?

Waiting to exchange contracts on simon's house sale and ultimately the completion date. Then (and only then) can we finally start the ball rolling for getting the tickets finalised and our actual leaving date... it's frustrating as it seems we've been leaving "in two weeks" now for months...!?

Hey ho! Regardless of this minor hiccup we are now officially living out of our backpacks - having almost completed packing the last remnants of our 'normal' clothes that we've had left over from our intial storage push - the final storage crate arrives on Thursday (the day after tomorrow) and then all we should have is our backpacks and the belongings we'll be spending our year travelling with...

So close, and yet so far.

LEAMINGTON SPA - 2 WEEKS LEFT

2007-01-10T20:46:00.000Z

The time is near. It's Early January 2007.

Flat - Sold
Worldly Goods - In Storage
Money - In the bank
Career - On Hold
Tickets - Booked
Bags - Packed (countless times)
Departure date - Round about Jan 18th

Not long now...

For those who don't know, we're off on a global trip - for a year or so.

Leamington has finally lost its sheen, after 16 long years (for me anyway) it's time for me (us) to say goodbye. Goodbye to the midlands, Goodbye to the video game industry, Goodbye to the UK, Goodbye to Europe...

Hello world here we come!

Guest Starring yours truly, my good wife Sarah and our good friend Simon.

Rough itinarary so far being:- India, Thailand, Borneo, Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, LA, Central America and South America.

In preparation for the trip, Sarah and I have now passed our Open Water Certification which means we can dive, we'll be hitting those reefs in Thailand, Borneo, Australia, Mexico, etc. no doubt swimming with turtles, rays, clownfish and er... possibly the odd shark or two :S !

Personally speaking I have every intention to ride down something as soon as possible on a bike - whenever the opportunity presents itself... currently eyeing up potentail in Bolivia. But hopefully sooner than that in Oz or NZ hopefully.

We should be hitting New Zealand bang on snowboarding season so spend a bit of time doing that...

Can't wait.

Last day at work today for me... then a few more weeks and we're off.