I have copied this from 'The Hill That Breathes' newsletter. I was at The Hill in August last year and it was the beginning of my yoga life. Enjoy!
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Thought: Ugly Blinkers
In any scene that unravels in the drama of your day, you have a choice, though you normally wouldn’t be aware of that.
You can look at the things that are working, the beautiful things (and people), the joy of ordinary moments.
Or you can look at what’s not working, at the things you regard as ugly and unpleasant (including people), the struggle of each moment of existence.
You can look at what you have, now, just as it is – your life situation, as it is; your body and face, just as they are; your relationships, just as they are – and you can give thanks for all that is wonderful.
Or you can look at the whole mushy lot and bemoan how unlucky you are in your life, and then dream about how things could, one day, be.
But here’s how beauty and good fortune work: the more you see them in what you already have, the more you attract them into your life. This is how manifestation works. You create reality based on your own perception of reality.
So get out the ugly blinkers. Whenever you start to react to what you don’t like, what pisses you off, what pushes your buttons, pull forward those blinkers and see if you can find some beauty and joy instead.
And don’t get me wrong, this is not denial. If done consciously, any process like this will purify and enrich your life experience. It’s not easy, of course. But try it. The main thing is to remember that you do have a choice. In any situation, in any scene, you have the choice of response.
And as I try it now, all I can see are the beautiful faces out there, in offices, at home, all over the world, lighting up in recognition at this thought.
Monday, 21 July 2008
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Nepal Trekking / Rafting Photos July 2008
The intrepid trekkers prepare. Left to right from back: Callum, Narayan, our two guides, Doug, Jo,Vince, Kat, Me, Mo and Jan.
Soon after setting off and just before my first leech attack.
Looking back down the valley.
The lovely little (clean) tea-house where we spent the night during a monsoonal downpour.
Jan joining me for some rooftop yoga. Possibly one of the best views and locations yet!
Showing off. Again.
And finally, the clouds cleared and here is the holy Fishtail Mountain.
A leech. I now have a new toothbrush.
Camping on the banks of the Trisuli.
Morning view from the tent down to the Trisuli.
Back on the river for day 2.
A quick update is that I decided against going with Oz Bus back to India. I moved into a charming hotel called The Courrtyard Hotel which has a fantastic library of both books (of which I have an armful) and DVDs which I might watch tonight.
It's now back to Plan A which means leaving Kathmandu with EOE at 8am on the 23rd to head via Baria National Park for 5 days or so before returning to India and driving down to Mumbai. We're getting the sleeper train from Mumbai to Kolkata on about the 2nd August and then flying to Bangkok on the 6th, flights booked. Will keep you posted.
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Kathmandu, Thursday 17th July 2008
Hello, hello, hello! Two things...I love, love, LOVE Nepal. I can no longer go trekking. The reason I can't go trekking is because my knees have packed up. I KNOW! At the ripe young age of 33. *sigh* So nevermind. There's plenty of other things to do so here goes...
I regrettably missed the elephant washing in Chitwan so I'm hoping to be abe to do it in Thailand. My system went into a cycle of being hyperactive for 4 days at a time and then crashing for 20 hours or so. So this is what happened on elephant-washing day and I simply could not get out of bed. Anyway, the photos looked great and everybody agreed it was fantastic fun and a definite highlight.
Next on the agenda...Pokhara. Pokhara is a medium-sized, spread out town in a remarkably pretty location by a large lake under the shadow of the holy Fishtail Mountain. The backpacker 'strip' is full of travel agencies, restaurants, bars, bakeries and many, many shops selling genuine fake North Face hiking gear. Which means that, despite resistence, I am now the proud owner of zip-off trouser/shorts of the middle aged German predilection variety. Time spent in Pokhara was divided between horse riding (I went out cycling instead), Temple visiting (sat that one out too) and lots of late night drinking. With a bit of pool playing thrown in. I'm really glad we didn't take that 2am drunken swim in the lake!
Pokhara is the point where the tour group started to split up so some sad goodbyes were said and planes caught. Some of us, namely Jan and Vince, (have you checked out their blog via the link on the right?) Doug and Jo, Kat and Mo, Callum and myself, arranged a trekking/rafting trip. We trekked up a mountain for 3 hours but sadly Jo who wasn't feeling well, Mo and Callum decided to turn back after half an hour. I was the first one to catch a leech, hooray! Well, actually it caught me. Right through my hiking sock, the bugger. This is the downside of monsoon season (apart from the rain of course which isn't really a problem). These creatures are incredible. We all thought they were like slugs - fat, black and, well, sluggish. No chance! They're more like skinny, supersonic, manic, heat-seeking missile worms. They move fast, stealthily and are relentless in their single-minded pursuit of your blood. I have a photo of one which I'll post up when I have my camera with me. So anyway, we got to the tea-house where we'd be staying, had some lunch and then the others opted for a snooze while I explored a bit and did some yoga on the roof of a travel agents' with a view of Fishtail Mountain. Again I'll post up piccies sometime soon. We went for another little walk at 4pm and had a full-blown leech inundation which was both annoying and hilarious. Annoying that our eyes were on the ground, leech-spotting the whole time, missing the beautiful scenery, and hilarious in Jan's highly entertaining and very active fear of the little feckers.
After a shower and a few Nepal Ice's (beers, not ice-cream) we had dinner and listened to Vince's fireman stories, falling into bed at a paltry 9:30pm and dreaming of leeches. Jan actually slept with her head-torch on her head at the ready and spent the night leech-hunting!
The next day was a much more challenging, 5-hour hiking day. Bearing in mind that it's very humid, wet, slippery and leech-infested. I really enjoyed the going up bit but sadly it was the coming down bit that finished off my knees. We then went back to Pokhara for the night and had a fairly early night in anticipation of the rafting for the next 2 days. We also had to get everything off the truck and pack up in preparation for leaving the truck. Rafting the next morning was a 9am start and about an hour and a half's drive to the put-in point.
We rafted down the Seti (white) river which is usually very calm and recommended for families with children. This makes it one of three rivers that won't kill you during monsoon season. The other being the Trisuli which runs alongside a highway making it a less desirable option. The rafting was good fun on day one with some exciting rapids and a bit of jumping in the river. We then confluenced (is that a verb?) with the Trisuli which was noticeably colder and browner before stopping at the 'camp site'. The popcorn was more-ish, the dry clothes were good, the food was tasty and the fireflies were enchanting. We then sat around a bonfire on the beach and polished off our beers before moving onto the local moonshine which tastes like watered down tequila and is vile, undrinkable stuff. After a sleepless night lying in a pool of perspiration and a steaming tent, we breakfasted and set off once again. Day two was uneventful with no rapids but lots of man-made fun pushing each other in and fooling about. Jan and I even got some beach-yoga in during our lunch-stop and larked about trying to do handstands in the sand.
The afternoon was spent driving the 6-hour journey to Kathmandu and dozing in the minivan. Kathmandu is one of the top three most polluted cities in the world and the guide books warn to expect respiratory problem, particularly if you're prone to them, which I am. A lot of people wear facemasks to protect themselves and people are always noisily hacking up (it makes me feel sick to think about it) great wads of phlegm and spitting everywhere. Niiiiiice.
Ah, it was at this point that we received news that Tibet and China are definitely off the itinerary. I'll explain the new plan shortly. So we arrived at Hotel Moonlight which is relative 5-star luxury, dumped our stuff and headed out. This is where the last 6 (or is it 7?) days all becomes a bit of a blur. The first night out (Saturday) ended for me at 7:30am Sunday morning which means that I missed spectating the bungee jumping and gorge-swinging which departed at 6am. C'est la Vie, the photos looked good and everyone enjoyed themselves. It was Callum's 20th birthday so we all went out to dinner at K-Too's which does fantastic steak, great burgers and serves excellent wine. That night went through until about 3:30am and ended with us all getting kicked out of 'Fire' Nigtclub (or was it 'Reggae' Bar?) because a fight broke out. Oh yea, and then 3 of us went to the casino because it's the only place that stays open all night and it does free food and 'wine'. So we played roulette for a couple of hours before rolling back to the hotel sometime around dawn. And that's pretty much been the format in Kathmandu. Day three I actually did a bit of sight-seeing and went to Durbar Square which is where the child-goddess lives/is kept.
The poor child is chosen by a bizarre set of 'tests' involving clothing selection, witnessing the death of 108 animals and being locked in a temple for 24 hours being actively terrified. If she 'passes' these tests, she becomes the spiritual advisor to the King until she begins menstruation at which point she is sacked. It's apparently bad luck to marry an ex-Goddess but this is probably more to do with being saddled with an emotionally dysfunctional woman who cannot relate to daily life. No chuckles please!
I also visited the 'monkey' temple (more stairs!) and then proceeded with another fairly hedonistic night at various bars/nightclubs. So by this time we've reached day 4 and it's shut-down time. Cue a day of sleep, finally finishing my book (The Dark River, Dad I think you'd like it) and getting down and dirty with some yoga. Which, believe it or not, is still coming along albeit at a less progressive pace than previously.
You may recall that we met the Oz Bus back in Varanasi. They have two drivers, a South African guy called Dave and a Belgian guy called Bart. Well, Bart recognised me at Bar Maya and we started chatting. Turns out that the Oz Bus broke down (suspension - ha!) and the passengers have flown on to Bangkok. So Bart and Dave are driving the Oz Bus back to England for the next trip in August which apparently is having Robbie Williams on it. You heard it here first folks!
Our truck is leaving Kathmandu, as planned, on the 23rd July and is driving back to India to head down to Mumbai where it is being shipped back to the UK. In the meantime, some people have gone to Bhutan (too expensive for me and I'm having too much fun in Nepal) and others have gone trekking. As everyone else is busy and I get along well with Dave and Bart, I've decided to go back to India with them on the Oz Bus tomorrow. I'll then regroup with EOE in Mumbai where we're getting the sleeper train (32 hours) to Calcutta from where we'll fly to Bangkok on the 6th August. Whew!
So that's the plan. Today has been alcohol-free and healthy (hence the availability for blogging) in preparation for 4 days of solid travel. And I'm very pleased to report that although nearly everyone else fell ill, I'm fit as a fiddle which I of course attribute to the yoga. Only one stomach-churning event for me which was caused by a salad that I was half way through eating yesterday. I had a mouth full of tomato when I noticed that the other half of the tomato was writhing around on the plate. Closer inspection revealed that it was riddled with maggots. Urgh! So I very ungraciously spat it out in front of Bart, who shrugged and said it was just protein, before tucking into his chips. Every mouthful of today's salad was very closely inspected before going into my mouth.
Well, that's it. I'm all blogged out. Toodlepip! Lx
I regrettably missed the elephant washing in Chitwan so I'm hoping to be abe to do it in Thailand. My system went into a cycle of being hyperactive for 4 days at a time and then crashing for 20 hours or so. So this is what happened on elephant-washing day and I simply could not get out of bed. Anyway, the photos looked great and everybody agreed it was fantastic fun and a definite highlight.
Next on the agenda...Pokhara. Pokhara is a medium-sized, spread out town in a remarkably pretty location by a large lake under the shadow of the holy Fishtail Mountain. The backpacker 'strip' is full of travel agencies, restaurants, bars, bakeries and many, many shops selling genuine fake North Face hiking gear. Which means that, despite resistence, I am now the proud owner of zip-off trouser/shorts of the middle aged German predilection variety. Time spent in Pokhara was divided between horse riding (I went out cycling instead), Temple visiting (sat that one out too) and lots of late night drinking. With a bit of pool playing thrown in. I'm really glad we didn't take that 2am drunken swim in the lake!
Pokhara is the point where the tour group started to split up so some sad goodbyes were said and planes caught. Some of us, namely Jan and Vince, (have you checked out their blog via the link on the right?) Doug and Jo, Kat and Mo, Callum and myself, arranged a trekking/rafting trip. We trekked up a mountain for 3 hours but sadly Jo who wasn't feeling well, Mo and Callum decided to turn back after half an hour. I was the first one to catch a leech, hooray! Well, actually it caught me. Right through my hiking sock, the bugger. This is the downside of monsoon season (apart from the rain of course which isn't really a problem). These creatures are incredible. We all thought they were like slugs - fat, black and, well, sluggish. No chance! They're more like skinny, supersonic, manic, heat-seeking missile worms. They move fast, stealthily and are relentless in their single-minded pursuit of your blood. I have a photo of one which I'll post up when I have my camera with me. So anyway, we got to the tea-house where we'd be staying, had some lunch and then the others opted for a snooze while I explored a bit and did some yoga on the roof of a travel agents' with a view of Fishtail Mountain. Again I'll post up piccies sometime soon. We went for another little walk at 4pm and had a full-blown leech inundation which was both annoying and hilarious. Annoying that our eyes were on the ground, leech-spotting the whole time, missing the beautiful scenery, and hilarious in Jan's highly entertaining and very active fear of the little feckers.
After a shower and a few Nepal Ice's (beers, not ice-cream) we had dinner and listened to Vince's fireman stories, falling into bed at a paltry 9:30pm and dreaming of leeches. Jan actually slept with her head-torch on her head at the ready and spent the night leech-hunting!
The next day was a much more challenging, 5-hour hiking day. Bearing in mind that it's very humid, wet, slippery and leech-infested. I really enjoyed the going up bit but sadly it was the coming down bit that finished off my knees. We then went back to Pokhara for the night and had a fairly early night in anticipation of the rafting for the next 2 days. We also had to get everything off the truck and pack up in preparation for leaving the truck. Rafting the next morning was a 9am start and about an hour and a half's drive to the put-in point.
We rafted down the Seti (white) river which is usually very calm and recommended for families with children. This makes it one of three rivers that won't kill you during monsoon season. The other being the Trisuli which runs alongside a highway making it a less desirable option. The rafting was good fun on day one with some exciting rapids and a bit of jumping in the river. We then confluenced (is that a verb?) with the Trisuli which was noticeably colder and browner before stopping at the 'camp site'. The popcorn was more-ish, the dry clothes were good, the food was tasty and the fireflies were enchanting. We then sat around a bonfire on the beach and polished off our beers before moving onto the local moonshine which tastes like watered down tequila and is vile, undrinkable stuff. After a sleepless night lying in a pool of perspiration and a steaming tent, we breakfasted and set off once again. Day two was uneventful with no rapids but lots of man-made fun pushing each other in and fooling about. Jan and I even got some beach-yoga in during our lunch-stop and larked about trying to do handstands in the sand.
The afternoon was spent driving the 6-hour journey to Kathmandu and dozing in the minivan. Kathmandu is one of the top three most polluted cities in the world and the guide books warn to expect respiratory problem, particularly if you're prone to them, which I am. A lot of people wear facemasks to protect themselves and people are always noisily hacking up (it makes me feel sick to think about it) great wads of phlegm and spitting everywhere. Niiiiiice.
Ah, it was at this point that we received news that Tibet and China are definitely off the itinerary. I'll explain the new plan shortly. So we arrived at Hotel Moonlight which is relative 5-star luxury, dumped our stuff and headed out. This is where the last 6 (or is it 7?) days all becomes a bit of a blur. The first night out (Saturday) ended for me at 7:30am Sunday morning which means that I missed spectating the bungee jumping and gorge-swinging which departed at 6am. C'est la Vie, the photos looked good and everyone enjoyed themselves. It was Callum's 20th birthday so we all went out to dinner at K-Too's which does fantastic steak, great burgers and serves excellent wine. That night went through until about 3:30am and ended with us all getting kicked out of 'Fire' Nigtclub (or was it 'Reggae' Bar?) because a fight broke out. Oh yea, and then 3 of us went to the casino because it's the only place that stays open all night and it does free food and 'wine'. So we played roulette for a couple of hours before rolling back to the hotel sometime around dawn. And that's pretty much been the format in Kathmandu. Day three I actually did a bit of sight-seeing and went to Durbar Square which is where the child-goddess lives/is kept.
The poor child is chosen by a bizarre set of 'tests' involving clothing selection, witnessing the death of 108 animals and being locked in a temple for 24 hours being actively terrified. If she 'passes' these tests, she becomes the spiritual advisor to the King until she begins menstruation at which point she is sacked. It's apparently bad luck to marry an ex-Goddess but this is probably more to do with being saddled with an emotionally dysfunctional woman who cannot relate to daily life. No chuckles please!
I also visited the 'monkey' temple (more stairs!) and then proceeded with another fairly hedonistic night at various bars/nightclubs. So by this time we've reached day 4 and it's shut-down time. Cue a day of sleep, finally finishing my book (The Dark River, Dad I think you'd like it) and getting down and dirty with some yoga. Which, believe it or not, is still coming along albeit at a less progressive pace than previously.
You may recall that we met the Oz Bus back in Varanasi. They have two drivers, a South African guy called Dave and a Belgian guy called Bart. Well, Bart recognised me at Bar Maya and we started chatting. Turns out that the Oz Bus broke down (suspension - ha!) and the passengers have flown on to Bangkok. So Bart and Dave are driving the Oz Bus back to England for the next trip in August which apparently is having Robbie Williams on it. You heard it here first folks!
Our truck is leaving Kathmandu, as planned, on the 23rd July and is driving back to India to head down to Mumbai where it is being shipped back to the UK. In the meantime, some people have gone to Bhutan (too expensive for me and I'm having too much fun in Nepal) and others have gone trekking. As everyone else is busy and I get along well with Dave and Bart, I've decided to go back to India with them on the Oz Bus tomorrow. I'll then regroup with EOE in Mumbai where we're getting the sleeper train (32 hours) to Calcutta from where we'll fly to Bangkok on the 6th August. Whew!
So that's the plan. Today has been alcohol-free and healthy (hence the availability for blogging) in preparation for 4 days of solid travel. And I'm very pleased to report that although nearly everyone else fell ill, I'm fit as a fiddle which I of course attribute to the yoga. Only one stomach-churning event for me which was caused by a salad that I was half way through eating yesterday. I had a mouth full of tomato when I noticed that the other half of the tomato was writhing around on the plate. Closer inspection revealed that it was riddled with maggots. Urgh! So I very ungraciously spat it out in front of Bart, who shrugged and said it was just protein, before tucking into his chips. Every mouthful of today's salad was very closely inspected before going into my mouth.
Well, that's it. I'm all blogged out. Toodlepip! Lx
Friday, 4 July 2008
Chitwan National Park, Nepal, 4th July 2008
Well hello there! Greetings from Nepal. Before I begin, I must mention that I'd forgotten to write about a place that we went to in India, after Amritsar and before Delhi (the second time round). It's McLeod Ganj, which is where the Tibetan Government in Exile is based. It's also the Dalai Lama's home when he's at home (which he wasn't). I was very interested to learn that there are something like as few as 6,000 Tibetans left in the world and that as a nation they are endangered. The Chinese invasion in the late eighties / early nineties was brutal and determined to wipe out Tibetan identity, culture, religion, language and tradition which, for a peaceful people like the Tibetans, has been catastrophic. After learning a bit about it, I now really want to go to Tibet. The latest news is that they are now allowing people in (since the Olympic torch passed through to China) but as yet there have been no reports of visas granted. It's also been very difficult to get information and people are not getting back to us but at the moment it's looking tentatively promising.
After 2 nights in Jaipur, the pink city, and an 8am start, we drove to Agra and arrived at the 'Tourist Guests House' which is a fairly nondescript place around a pretty little courtyard. Our first morning there we got up at 5am to get to the Taj Mahal for sunrise as this is supposedly the best time of day to see it before the crowds and the heat. The Taj Mahal was just as I'd expected. Looks exactly the photos. No surprises really. I think we're all becoming a bit blase about these things now after having seen so many wonderful sights. I got the obligatory photo which I'll upload tomorrow, a really nice one of the whole group in front of the Taj. So after the early start we all went back for a sleep and our first significant experience of the pending monsoon which has been threatening to arrive for a couple of weeks. Luckily we'd gone out so early in the day because the rest of it was a write-off. It started raining heavily at about 10am, getting progressively heavier, and later on I was lying on my bed reading at about 3pm when water started dripping on my head. Then on the foot of my bed, then on my room-mates' bed. I went out to have a look over the balcony and the little courtyard was about 2 inches deep in water. I went out to the truck and the road had turned into a river about half way up the cars' tyres. So we had to change rooms which was a bit of a schlep and the new room was smaller and hotter with no aircon and lots of mozzies but the shower worked which was an improvement. I managed an hour of sweaty yoga on the balcony before giving in to the flies and diving gratefully into a cold shower.
We all went out to a local bar that evening to support Kath in her newfound hobby of beer-drinking and I can report that she is now able to drink an entire bottle of Fosters all by herself after breaking in gently with a shandy. I know the word 'bar' conjures up images of shiny wine-bars, friendly local pubs or other respectable drinking establishments filled with well-dressed punters and offering rodent-free plumbing facilities at no extra cost. However, erase these images from your mind and replace them instead with a small, dark room under a concrete staircase, half a dozen bare tables and some hard wooden chairs. This is where we spent the evening. There were lots of good things about this place, Fosters notwithstanding, including aircon and some very tasty snacks of warmed peanuts mixed with coriander and onion, lightly spiced. And poppadums which, in India, are called papads and are very peppery which I like. We were all in good spirits and had a great evening. The group has settled down into harmonious co-existence and a like-minded (namely those wanting to have a good time) sub-group, of which I 'belong' has emerged. It was with this group that I spent the evening and really enjoyed everybodys' company. We went for dinner at about 8.30 and then back to the bar where Callum and Mo had stayed. Needless to say they were a bit worse for wear and Mo was particularly entertaining, threatening to swat the rickshaw driver with her sandals on the way home. So that was Agra and the Taj Mahal. Next stop, Varanasi.
I'd heard all about Varanasi as the holy place where it is believed that souls can be released from the punishing cycle of rebirth by having their bodies cremated and thrown into the sacred Ganges. Or, if they're lucky enough, to actually die in Varanasi as this is where Shiva himself died, facilitating a fast-track to heaven. Naturally, the spectacle of hundreds of bodies being burned and chucked into a river alongside bathers and people brushing their teeth is hugely appealing for tourists, and consequently touting opportunities for locals, making Varanasi one of the worst places for crowds and harrassment. Fortunately we were spared this inconvenience by a monsoonal downpour keeping the touts/tourists at bay and another 5am start. We were rowed up the river in the rain seeing a disappointing 2 cremations and then driven to a temple where the overzealous guide bored everyone with religious detail that no one was interested in. On the whole, a fairly unremarkable experience but I'm glad to have seen what all the fuss is about. People genuinely believe that the Ganges has miraculous cleansing power and it is subsequently extremely polluted to the point of being septic. Amazingly though, a very rare species of freshwater dolphin, on its way to extinction, lives in it. I managed to insult our guide by asking how people felt about the pollution and he insisted that the pollution came from upriver and was cleansed in Varanasi. He claimed that if you took a jar of polluted water from the river at Varanasi and put it on your mantelpiece, within a few days it will have cleansed itself and have no traces of bacteria. Ya right.
The hotel in Varanasi was pretty good and after our early morning sightseeing duties, no one felt compelled to venture out again. The night before we'd partied with the Oz Bus group by gatecrashing their pool-party so the rest of the day was spent sleeping off hangovers, indulging in the excellent restaurant and lounging around in the cafe. Most people had upgraded to a room (EOE paid for camping on the lawn) but I decided, with 2 others, to enjoy the lawn-camping which ironically provided the most pest-free accommodation. Save for being ambushed by a rat in the doorway of the hotel on my way to the loo in the middle of the night. The pool, despite being green, was a good place to sit out the afternoon's downpour as, as everyone knows, you don't notice the rain so much when you're in a pool. And it was far more appealing than sitting in a wet tent. We then had lovely evening by the pool eating an excellent barbeque of marinaded chicken, goat ribs (which really aren't bad), potato salad and coleslaw. We all relayed conversations we'd had with various Oz Bus people the night before and unanimously agreed that, actually, we've got it pretty good in comparison. The Oz Bus is a coach, rather than a truck. This is a plus in that it has a) air conditioning and b) suspension. However, it is a minus in that it has no legroom, is packed (I think they've got nearly 40 people on it) and regularly includes 18-hour drive days. They do the trip in 13 weeks whereas we do it in 32 weeks - and we still feel that the pace is fairly heavy-going at times. Also, they openly bitched about each other and cheerily announced that they're all ready to kill each other. Another difference, which is either a plus or a minus, depending on your view, is that they hardly camp whereas 70% of our trip is camping. This to me is a minus for them as I like camping. I also prefer the clean privacy of my tent to the shared (sometimes on the floor) and usually dirty accommodation of some of the hotels. The good hotels are fantastic when they come (rarely) but the usual standard is, as we're repeatedly reminded, 'budget'. The bad hotels are, quite frankly, dirty, smelly and infested with anything from mice, rats, crickets and an assortment of creepy crawlies. Luckily (and amazingly) so far no cockroaches. Also luckily for me, the worst ones were in Pakistan which I missed. So an early start after a sleepless night (drawback of the tent it that it can be very, very humid) and on to Nepal. Woohoo! India was good but, as always, we were all ready for the next country.
It was about a 12-hour drive to the border with a half-hour stop for some lunchtime samosas (or somoosas - depending on where you are), getting there around 7pm and taking a couple of hours to fill in the forms and get across. A short drive over the border took us to our hotel for the night which we fell upon gratefully as we were expecting to bush camp. I didn't wait for dinner but went straight up to my room to get the windows open, the fan on and have a cold shower before falling onto the bed for a bit of a read before falling soundly asleep. It was one of the best nights' sleep I've had. Yesterday morning, refreshed and excited about a new country, we headed off for our 150kms drive to Chitwan National Park. First impressions of Nepal were unanimously good. It's noticeably cleaner, less crowded and more structured than India. It's been lovely to see the reappearance of lush green vegetation and the disappearance of mile after mile of dirty, urban sprawl. We arrived at lunchtime and checked into 'Shivas Dream Hotel' before sinking gratefully into shaded chairs to order lunch and get the lowdown of things to do in Nepal. Despite the imminent monsoon, and assuming you don't mind the rain too much, there's still plenty to do, just less choice about where to do it. Which makes decision-making easy. After lunch, which took hours to arrive, and our briefing, we all headed down to the riverside beach for sundowners and discussions. Followed by much beer-drinking and another late meal. This place is GORGEOUS. The elephants are delightful and the people are lovely.
A 7am breakfast was forced down (I was still full from the late supper) and followed by a short walk to the river to our dugout canoe. We had an idyllic hour's canoe trip down the river to the park, stopping en-route for some wildlife viewing where we were lucky enough to see a couple of rhino which was a treat. We also saw a couple of crocs and a fish eagle. Then we hiked for a couple of hours through the jungle and back to the river where we trudged through some deliciously thick and creamy mud to our canoe for the return trip across the river. We lunched in a charming raised restaurant overlooking the river where we watched the elephants being washed and the tourists tempting the crocodiles in the river. Then back to the hotel for a snooze before venturing out for money-changing and blogging. It's 7.30pm now and time for dinner so I'm going to head off and join the others at a rooftop restaurant for some food. I'm tempted to go elephant trekking tomorrow but am assured that there'll be plenty of opportunity for it later on, probably in Thailand, so I'll settle for joining in the elephant washing which looks like great fun and try to do some lapsed yoga. That's all for now, am off to meet the others for dinner and I'm late. Lx
After 2 nights in Jaipur, the pink city, and an 8am start, we drove to Agra and arrived at the 'Tourist Guests House' which is a fairly nondescript place around a pretty little courtyard. Our first morning there we got up at 5am to get to the Taj Mahal for sunrise as this is supposedly the best time of day to see it before the crowds and the heat. The Taj Mahal was just as I'd expected. Looks exactly the photos. No surprises really. I think we're all becoming a bit blase about these things now after having seen so many wonderful sights. I got the obligatory photo which I'll upload tomorrow, a really nice one of the whole group in front of the Taj. So after the early start we all went back for a sleep and our first significant experience of the pending monsoon which has been threatening to arrive for a couple of weeks. Luckily we'd gone out so early in the day because the rest of it was a write-off. It started raining heavily at about 10am, getting progressively heavier, and later on I was lying on my bed reading at about 3pm when water started dripping on my head. Then on the foot of my bed, then on my room-mates' bed. I went out to have a look over the balcony and the little courtyard was about 2 inches deep in water. I went out to the truck and the road had turned into a river about half way up the cars' tyres. So we had to change rooms which was a bit of a schlep and the new room was smaller and hotter with no aircon and lots of mozzies but the shower worked which was an improvement. I managed an hour of sweaty yoga on the balcony before giving in to the flies and diving gratefully into a cold shower.
We all went out to a local bar that evening to support Kath in her newfound hobby of beer-drinking and I can report that she is now able to drink an entire bottle of Fosters all by herself after breaking in gently with a shandy. I know the word 'bar' conjures up images of shiny wine-bars, friendly local pubs or other respectable drinking establishments filled with well-dressed punters and offering rodent-free plumbing facilities at no extra cost. However, erase these images from your mind and replace them instead with a small, dark room under a concrete staircase, half a dozen bare tables and some hard wooden chairs. This is where we spent the evening. There were lots of good things about this place, Fosters notwithstanding, including aircon and some very tasty snacks of warmed peanuts mixed with coriander and onion, lightly spiced. And poppadums which, in India, are called papads and are very peppery which I like. We were all in good spirits and had a great evening. The group has settled down into harmonious co-existence and a like-minded (namely those wanting to have a good time) sub-group, of which I 'belong' has emerged. It was with this group that I spent the evening and really enjoyed everybodys' company. We went for dinner at about 8.30 and then back to the bar where Callum and Mo had stayed. Needless to say they were a bit worse for wear and Mo was particularly entertaining, threatening to swat the rickshaw driver with her sandals on the way home. So that was Agra and the Taj Mahal. Next stop, Varanasi.
I'd heard all about Varanasi as the holy place where it is believed that souls can be released from the punishing cycle of rebirth by having their bodies cremated and thrown into the sacred Ganges. Or, if they're lucky enough, to actually die in Varanasi as this is where Shiva himself died, facilitating a fast-track to heaven. Naturally, the spectacle of hundreds of bodies being burned and chucked into a river alongside bathers and people brushing their teeth is hugely appealing for tourists, and consequently touting opportunities for locals, making Varanasi one of the worst places for crowds and harrassment. Fortunately we were spared this inconvenience by a monsoonal downpour keeping the touts/tourists at bay and another 5am start. We were rowed up the river in the rain seeing a disappointing 2 cremations and then driven to a temple where the overzealous guide bored everyone with religious detail that no one was interested in. On the whole, a fairly unremarkable experience but I'm glad to have seen what all the fuss is about. People genuinely believe that the Ganges has miraculous cleansing power and it is subsequently extremely polluted to the point of being septic. Amazingly though, a very rare species of freshwater dolphin, on its way to extinction, lives in it. I managed to insult our guide by asking how people felt about the pollution and he insisted that the pollution came from upriver and was cleansed in Varanasi. He claimed that if you took a jar of polluted water from the river at Varanasi and put it on your mantelpiece, within a few days it will have cleansed itself and have no traces of bacteria. Ya right.
The hotel in Varanasi was pretty good and after our early morning sightseeing duties, no one felt compelled to venture out again. The night before we'd partied with the Oz Bus group by gatecrashing their pool-party so the rest of the day was spent sleeping off hangovers, indulging in the excellent restaurant and lounging around in the cafe. Most people had upgraded to a room (EOE paid for camping on the lawn) but I decided, with 2 others, to enjoy the lawn-camping which ironically provided the most pest-free accommodation. Save for being ambushed by a rat in the doorway of the hotel on my way to the loo in the middle of the night. The pool, despite being green, was a good place to sit out the afternoon's downpour as, as everyone knows, you don't notice the rain so much when you're in a pool. And it was far more appealing than sitting in a wet tent. We then had lovely evening by the pool eating an excellent barbeque of marinaded chicken, goat ribs (which really aren't bad), potato salad and coleslaw. We all relayed conversations we'd had with various Oz Bus people the night before and unanimously agreed that, actually, we've got it pretty good in comparison. The Oz Bus is a coach, rather than a truck. This is a plus in that it has a) air conditioning and b) suspension. However, it is a minus in that it has no legroom, is packed (I think they've got nearly 40 people on it) and regularly includes 18-hour drive days. They do the trip in 13 weeks whereas we do it in 32 weeks - and we still feel that the pace is fairly heavy-going at times. Also, they openly bitched about each other and cheerily announced that they're all ready to kill each other. Another difference, which is either a plus or a minus, depending on your view, is that they hardly camp whereas 70% of our trip is camping. This to me is a minus for them as I like camping. I also prefer the clean privacy of my tent to the shared (sometimes on the floor) and usually dirty accommodation of some of the hotels. The good hotels are fantastic when they come (rarely) but the usual standard is, as we're repeatedly reminded, 'budget'. The bad hotels are, quite frankly, dirty, smelly and infested with anything from mice, rats, crickets and an assortment of creepy crawlies. Luckily (and amazingly) so far no cockroaches. Also luckily for me, the worst ones were in Pakistan which I missed. So an early start after a sleepless night (drawback of the tent it that it can be very, very humid) and on to Nepal. Woohoo! India was good but, as always, we were all ready for the next country.
It was about a 12-hour drive to the border with a half-hour stop for some lunchtime samosas (or somoosas - depending on where you are), getting there around 7pm and taking a couple of hours to fill in the forms and get across. A short drive over the border took us to our hotel for the night which we fell upon gratefully as we were expecting to bush camp. I didn't wait for dinner but went straight up to my room to get the windows open, the fan on and have a cold shower before falling onto the bed for a bit of a read before falling soundly asleep. It was one of the best nights' sleep I've had. Yesterday morning, refreshed and excited about a new country, we headed off for our 150kms drive to Chitwan National Park. First impressions of Nepal were unanimously good. It's noticeably cleaner, less crowded and more structured than India. It's been lovely to see the reappearance of lush green vegetation and the disappearance of mile after mile of dirty, urban sprawl. We arrived at lunchtime and checked into 'Shivas Dream Hotel' before sinking gratefully into shaded chairs to order lunch and get the lowdown of things to do in Nepal. Despite the imminent monsoon, and assuming you don't mind the rain too much, there's still plenty to do, just less choice about where to do it. Which makes decision-making easy. After lunch, which took hours to arrive, and our briefing, we all headed down to the riverside beach for sundowners and discussions. Followed by much beer-drinking and another late meal. This place is GORGEOUS. The elephants are delightful and the people are lovely.
A 7am breakfast was forced down (I was still full from the late supper) and followed by a short walk to the river to our dugout canoe. We had an idyllic hour's canoe trip down the river to the park, stopping en-route for some wildlife viewing where we were lucky enough to see a couple of rhino which was a treat. We also saw a couple of crocs and a fish eagle. Then we hiked for a couple of hours through the jungle and back to the river where we trudged through some deliciously thick and creamy mud to our canoe for the return trip across the river. We lunched in a charming raised restaurant overlooking the river where we watched the elephants being washed and the tourists tempting the crocodiles in the river. Then back to the hotel for a snooze before venturing out for money-changing and blogging. It's 7.30pm now and time for dinner so I'm going to head off and join the others at a rooftop restaurant for some food. I'm tempted to go elephant trekking tomorrow but am assured that there'll be plenty of opportunity for it later on, probably in Thailand, so I'll settle for joining in the elephant washing which looks like great fun and try to do some lapsed yoga. That's all for now, am off to meet the others for dinner and I'm late. Lx
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