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Euan's Very Originally Titled Travel Log | Log entries 11 - 14 of 14 | Page:
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Apr 29, 2004 06:00 PM Delhi-Agra-Jaipur
Hello again, well we have had a few exciting days now! While we were at the camp we ended up meeting lots of interesting people. Of which we were lucky enough to meet up with Matt and Angie who had already organised for a taxi through their company at decent rates. They very kindly offereed us the use of two of their seats in the people carrier for gratis since we were going to be arriving in Delhi the same day that they were planning to leave! So we arrived in Delhi, went straight to there Hoetl were we met them for some lovely grub and after a minor problem with the taxi order we were on our way to Agra. Part of the fun on the way was to guess how many people were in each Tuk Tuk we saw! Not an easy task as it could vary from 1 to 14, we kid you not!
With a quick stop in a McD's just outside of Agra we first of all went to Mat + Angie's hotel, the Jaypee palace which was very swank! As me and M weren't going to be splashing out on such a lovely hotel Matt told our driver that he wanted us to be taken to a hotel of our choosing before coming back with all of us to go to the Taj Mahal. As the driver was getting paid by the day in this there shouldn't have been any problems, but Mr Grump winged that he couldn't understand english, and tried to tell us that he couldn't go that war or another. After a bit of discussion he was convinced that although we hadn't booked him we were indeed part of his clients and henceforth his bakshesh level depended on what all of us thought. Once convinced he drive us the 5 mins back down the road and we got installed in the Hotel Safari.
During all the time of theabove he had been frantically chceking his watch, with lots of tutting etc, after me and M returned to meet M + A he told us that he had to go to his lunch for the next 15 mins. Fine we thought as we had to meet A + M in the bar.
When we returned to meet him, we found that had had picked up a friend who had apparently been organised by the hire company as a guide for our taj visit.
We found that our 'guide' really new his stuff when describing the lovely white marble and why its was the whietst, hardest best in all the world. He also told us a wee bit about why it was built and when it was built but not too much about the in's and outs of the guy who had done it. We found out after was that the although the guy had built this he had actually another few wives and also 300 concubines that he looked after. On the way out though we almost got arrested as matt and Angie had brought an inflatable kangaroo that they had to take a pic of at the Taj, everything was going fine and it was only as we left and were hastily trying to deflate the bugger that an old security guard came up to us to ask us if we ahd damaged the Taj with it. As Matt and A explained to the guard that it was only a kangaross, the guy asked what nationality we were, they of course replied Austrailian, where the guy was then ahppy to discuss cricket with Matt and let us finish deflating. Phew!!
After we had trooped back to the taxi, guide boy had a surprise for us, we wanted to take us to the special place where the people did teh marble work the same way passed down from father to son from the taj. Although initiall not impressed, some of the work was lovely but me and M didn't think that trying to carry a few kilo's extra in our backpacks was maybe the greatest of ideas, so we didn't bother buying anything....
That night we all ended up getting smashed in M + A's hotel room, so all feeling rough we headed out the following day to Jaipur. Matt the wee start had nipped out and bought water for us all and we definitely needed it!
On the way to jaipur we stopped at a place for lunch where we wee the only people in a hall that could seat 300 people easily. Although my sandwich turned out ok, the same can't be said for everyone elses so with an empty belly we trooped back to Mr Grumpy and headed back on to jaipur.
At Jaipur M + A headed off to meet up with Matt's parents who were also doing a tour of the area. They headed out and M and me just went for a wander in the shops.
After all the mad rushing around and chaos of dealing with a variety of touts, hawkers and beggars and also feeling grimy and generally unclean we all decided that we would just live it up for the one night so we went to teh Sheraton and booked in. Where with great satisfaction M and me enjoyed the delights of baths, hot water, A/C and room service! Much better. The only problem was that since we ahd done it in a rush we didn'tn have the time to book it over the net, if we had we would hae saved ourselves quite a bit, ohh well lesson for the future!
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Apr 25, 2004 06:00 PM White Water + People
Hello there, looking back at the other entry leading up to Delhi I can notice a few spelling mistkaes. For the time being I would like to add that the use of different keyboards hasn't helped! In fact the keyboard I'm using at present is strangely shaped with keys as rhombus shapes!
The white water farting was great fun. On the first day when we got there we spotted that there was a big circle with a fire around it and obviously we were supposed to go and bond with people. Eventually we did and met a lovely group of people. There was a family from Bangalorew of which the mother was from Scotland and her uncle owned / run the "Fisher and Donaldson" bakery in St. Andrews, much drooling was down over Fudge Dohnuts! Also there was a travel writeer called Amrit and family whose father reminded me of David Thomson :-) On top of that there was one western couple of about the same age as us.
After dinner we all started to drink while the boys of Parth and R------ took care of the fire. After a while I noted a strange smell in the air which I couldn't put a name to. Fortunately Parth who saw my confusion told me that his lads were burning ferns on the fire that were scattered around the camp, however these ferns were wild Marijuana plants. No wonder everyone was relaxed!
Much booze was consumed that night as although me and M had reckoned on 2 bottles of dodgy vodka for the 4 days we hadn't reckoned on meeting a group fo like minded individuals who also hadn't got pissed in weeks too. So that night we consumed 1 and a half bottles of vodka, 1/2 bottle of bacardi and some other alcoholic beverage!
Granted we took a bit of waking the next day but at least we made it to brekkie, unlike someothers we could mention!
Time is short, this keyboard is crap with its diagonal arrangement and space is running out.
needless to say we spent two days on the rapids and the second was better as the water level was higher. We were like bollywood start running down the water with all the nomdaic kids running down the shore in time with us, Kingfisher vibrantly flying past us! Truly unforgetable.
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Apr 22, 2004 06:00 PM Delhi (Stage1)
21st
Arrived in Delhi at a decent time of lunchtime ish, so we thought before we hit the hostels we should grab some lunch. Backpacks at teh ready we wandered out of the New Delhi station, manovered eventually past the cycle rickshaws, Tuk Tuk's and Taxi's at the door and headed down to Connaught Place. Once there we made our way to Mc'D's for a spot of sanity and simple known food.
Unfortunately while there, I received my first bad feeling warning. While we were sitting a group of old oriental ladies came in and because it was crowded had to sit around us on to tables. To be honest we never thought too much of them as we were in the corner of the restruant and the packs were placed there too. After about 5 mins I noticed my day pack had seemed to disappear, however as M turned around to look she spotted in lying on the floor next to the packs. Only problem was that the top part was open and my walkman which I know was originally at the bottom of the pack was now on top. Fortunately I had my wallet and important docs about my person, but it was certainly a shock that it had happened, let alone that it had been some group of old oriental ladies... Must have been someone else we thought.
We looked around and got us a central hotel for 350 rps a night right in the centre of CP as we wanted to be central so we could organise our next trips. So once done, we found an internet place with a decent conneciton and did some digging.
Emails sent we retired and got some tasty tea at Pizza Hut, definitely a big dose of western food today as we wanted to see if it would shift our dodgy delhi bellies that we had had for a week or so now.
22nd
Up we get nice and early as found a small booze emporium last night so purchased some vodka. Unfortunately I had only a few drinks before falling asleep, M however wasn't tired and drank slightly more than that.
Poor wee M woke at 5 am and felt a little thirsty however on opeing said water she managed to spill most of the water to the floor...
5:30am - M feeling pretty thirsty starts prodding me in the side to try and get my attention
6am finally roused and grumpy we hed out in to the streets of Delhi to try adn find somewhere we can get some Mineral water. After about 20 mins of walking about we succeed. Of course M now sated is now tired, great as I'm wide awake. Reaching an impasse we stay up till 8 where I can be convinced to go back to bed.
We grabbed a spot of lunch today at Subway (yes we know) and wonder of wonders the sme group of oriental ladies walked again. Again they sat around us, however not so subtely this time as the restruant was empty and there was plenty of tables that were big enough for them all. This time however, one decided to put her handbag over the back of the chair where M's day pack was. This time we werent taking any chances, and M grabed her bag and moved it to her lap. Strangely approx 2 mins later they all left again without ordering anything. Mental note for the future!
I went for a wander in the afternoon and wonder of wonder's a cool kick ass thunderstorm kicked in and washed most of the smell of stale piss away!
23rd - Unfortunaltey had a mad organising day today as had to first go to the STA local office to try and organise a golden traingle tour and then on to visit a guy who runs the Aquaterra Indian outdoor pursuit company. Quick trip in to South Delhi and fortunately we managed to book on for the next day as we had already purchased the tickets for the night train to Dehra Dun that night! We did have a good idea (before we booked though) he could take us as that was the first week day of the first term at this years Tons Valley camp. Everything sorted we headed back with teh same Tuk Tuk chap that we had hired, however on the way back he needed to get some fuel. Fair enough we thought, however when he stopped at the India gate and tried to convince me that I really did want to go to his mates shop, and me refusing he wasn't too happy. When we got back to CP he demanded that it was meant to be 200 rps each! Load of shite my good man, as I have all ready given you 50 for the fuel and here is the further 150 we agreed. Not very impressed he tried to embarass us by exclaiming to the world that we had short changed him (well thats the inflection we got). A quick shout of 'Bas!' in Hindi and something close to 'Coblers my good man' in english, followed by exiting stage left before he could try anything else we headed off and he didn't even bother to chase after us!
After that on to the train for Dehra Dun and white water fun!
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Apr 16, 2004 06:00 PM 31-Mar-04 to 17-May-04
Hi All, hopefully I'll have done it correctly so that you should all receive this mesage without giving away all your names and address's to each other...
We had a reasonable flight across, and landed in Goa just fine. On grabbing our luggage we headed out to meet the touts and taxi drivers, as were pleasantly peased to find that the governement had a proper running taxi system going, in that you paid your money to a counter and were issued a receipt which you then gave to the driver. Fantastic, we thought, jumped in the next available taxi and headed on our way.
Well that has got to be the scariest ride I've had in my time, and no mistake. The guy driving was approx 120 (real age 78) called Eliasbab and things were just fine for the first 20 minutes. However at one point we were overtaken by an equally mad driver on a left hand corner with approx 4 cows, 6 cyclist and another two vans the same size, coming towards us! At this point because good all Elias had to momentarily touch his brakes, he went in to a bit of road rage at the driver and proceeded to chase after the other nutter! This please bear in mind was acompanied by the sounds of "Twinkle Twinkle little start", "London bridge is falling down" and "Happy Birthday", which we presumed he had put on to show us he liked English music.
Fortunately after 10 mins of him chasing and finally overtaking him, the other driver had the good sense to turn off on to another direction, at which point good old Eliasbab turned round and informed asked us our opinion of the others driving abilites. Great, but please turn back round and stop aiming for the ditch your currently aimed at was the first thought that entered my mind, however I relented and whole heartedly agrred with him. After that Maranda, Me and Elaisbab got on like a house on fire, with him showing us his single handwritten on the back of a cigarette box business card (GSK bobs take note, definitely the next big thing), and letting us knoiw he was officially the best driver on the isalnd for 17 years with a silver badge to show.
We arrived safe and well and our hotel, and spend our first day tottering around some of the side streets, and eventually found this internet cafe. So with this in mind adieu till next time.
E + M 01-Apr-04
Well hello again, currently I'm sitting opposite a wonderfull beach with an average temperature of 30. Were in a place called Baga, which is just North of where we were staying before. Got here a few days ago and basically have just chilled. Niggles so far are the constant stream of hawkers that come along the beach and try and sell you anything at all, but even before that you get harassed by the various people trying to get you to come in to their particular pub / restruant or even just to use their own sun loungers. Ohh well, its all part of that I suppose but its a shame as after the 3 day in a row you can't help to be cynical that everyone who comes up to although they attempt to make light conversation that they will try and sell you something before they leave. Rather frustrating at times, but as I said it was to be expected.
One of the wierdest things happened yesterday, there we were sitting on the beach enjoying the sun, when a few people started gathering around Maran's and me, initially we thought that its was a rather large family, indeed a very big family! However it wasn't until the 4x4 truck came and parked in front of us (approx 5 m away) and 10 guys carrying a large wooden crucifix stopped in front that we realised that they were holding a church service! Fantastic, sitting there with a variety of people sunbathing, some topless, some drunk already and there you go your ready own church. After about 20 mins or so they picked up their cross and continued up the beach. Definitely a first in my book!
Well current plans are to stay here for another week or so as it is gorgeous and cheap (which helps), before heading back up to Mumbai either by day boat or train. Untill then, ciao for now.
E + M 05-Apr-04
Well as mentioned above, we succeeded in not doing anything too usefull up until Monday 12th. After a bit of fun trying to book a train ticket on th enet for the indian train compnay. This is a feat that apparently is possible, although after I had spent a good 2 hours trying and failing and we ended up doing it through an agnecy and paying a bit extra.
The train journey was fun, as we were in the 'Sleeper Class' with no air con but there was fans. It was kinda fun actuallyas it was just normal people coming back from their hols so we ended up playing cards with a few guys who had come down from Mumbai for an extended weekend break. Although on the map the distance from Goa to Mumbai is apparently fairly small in comparison with the rest of india it did take us about 10.5 hours to get to Victoria Terminus (CST) in Mumbai. After a bti of fun last night, and us staying in an 'ok' room for 500 rupees, we found another one this morning that is just down the road and is a lot nicer for 300 per night (much better).
We did a bit of sightseeing today with a wander around the 'Gate of India' followed by a stream of people trying to get us to be blessed (for a donation of course), go out to some island somewhere, buy a flower etc before we took a couple of pics and scarpered out of the way. We then wandered around the Duke of Edinburgh Museum ( now renamed to something else which I have forgotten) and then had a spot of lunch for the first time in a western fashion - TGI's to be precise, but all we cared for was the air con.
Not sure what the plans are yet for tomorrow, but will probably do a wee bit more sightseeing and the like and try and arrange our onward travels so we have a plan for the next 3 weeks. Until then, I hope your all having fun.
E + M 13-Apr-04
Well Mumbai is certainly a fun place, we ended up staying up until the 15th and got the night train out at 20:00, me arrived in a place called Aurangabad which is about 220 miles deom Mumbai. Its lovelly here with the people really friendly and not nearly so insitent that you must buy something, thank goodness! one thing though is that is a lot hotter here today averaged about 42C so definitely toasty and definitely not a good plan top walk about at lunchtime! Were planning on visiting a set of caves near here that were carved out by Budhists and Hindu's around the 100 AD mark before facing a 24 hour train journey up to Dehli on the 20th! When we get there were going to spend about 4 days going through the Golden Triangle that is Agra (Taj Mohal and Fort), Jaipur nd back to Dehli, visiting all the tourist stops on the way. After that the plan is to spend about a week trekking and white water rafting about 120 miles from Dehli and then fly to Kathmandu, well thats the theory anywyay.
17-Apr-04
Will keep you updated as to how this pans out, and if you don't want me to include you in the next installment then just ping me one email back to let me know and I'll sort it out.
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