Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Rocky mountain high...

... 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...

Friday, February 23, 2007

The Curse of Air India strikes again...!

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 :)

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Positive Mental Attitude...



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...

Monday, February 19, 2007

Happy Birthday Peter & Katie

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 :-)

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Kovalam Blues

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.

Friday, February 16, 2007

...the best laid plans....

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 :)


Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Leaving Varkala tomorrow...

...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

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Sunday, February 11, 2007

Kerela: Sunny and Hot!

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 :)



Friday, February 9, 2007

The Eagle has landed

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!

:)
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Tuesday, February 6, 2007

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

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!])


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