Now in Bangalore...

...and enjoying the more cosmopolitan feel. We're off to a bar in a minute for example - it's like getting back to what we know really. Having said that Michelle ordered a chicken salad for lunch and it was too hot to eat!

Only downer is that we forgot to check if the TV worked before we paid for our room and it doesn't, so we'll just have to go to the bar to watch Pietersen and Collingwood slay Ireland at cricket (very optimistic considering we're only 89-3 right now).

Tomorrow I'm meeting "a work associate"(!) for lunch so Michelle is looking forward to doing lots of shopping - there are plenty of shops to choose from...

Chandipur

I think I called it Chandigar before - it was Chandipur I think - which had the 5km beach. We nicknamed it "poo beach" for obvious reasons you will see in the photos....the water was so shallow for a long way that we could be 100m into the sea and still only ankle deep.

The Similipal locals...

There is no electricity in the National Park so just thought you might be interested to see the way the locals create a little power for themselves....this is one of the priviliged few with a proper house with solar power...and clean running water in his back garden....

Michelle was keen to take a photo of one of the cute kids in the chacks by the side of the road after we'd driven past so she ran back, only for the kids to run away to find their parents as they were scared of her! She left a packet of biscuits outside their "front door" to make up for it....

Waterfalls

We made our way to a small town outside Similpal National Park - Barapada - by coach, arriving in the middle of the night. After a couple of closed hotels, we found one that was open much to our relief and it seemed nice so all was good. After sleep we tried to organise a trip into the park....of course you are meant to organise these type of trips weeks if not months in advance, so we found we had to wait a day in a small town with nothing going for it. Fortunately we had cable TV so we thought we'd spend the day relaxing - I was very glad we did as I was ill after a firey curry the night before!

We were a little sceptical as to whether we'd see many animals in the park as we'd been warned by people that there aren't many, but we went for it anyway - the waterfalls were the highlight rather than the animals! But we did see mongoose, kingfishers, eagles, monkeys, fireflies and deer - something at least. As mentioned in a previous post our guide soon annoyed us so we didn't exactly socialise with him as we did with our guide on the camel safari, for example.

We realised why no-one sees any animals except for deer at the salt lakes - we got there and despite all the signs saying "SILENCE" all the Indians were chatting and joking and playing music loudly from their mobile phones. Is it much surprise that only deer come any more?! They have kind of missed the point of being there really - they also squeezed through the barbed wire fences to try and get better photos of the deer!

We went to bed in a crusty shack at the salt lakes and it wasn't long before there were lots of noises coming from the roof. I wasn't sure what it was but suspected rats....whatever it was it woke us up each time they scrabbled around. Michelle wasn't worried - she thought it was monkeys playing on the roof - ah, sweet! When I asked what it was the next morning Michelle was very glad that she hadn't known at the time - it was rats!

To come....

We've been to Similipal National Park and seen some amazing waterfalls, but few animals. Also seen our guide shamelessly rip off an incredibly poor villager by stealing 2 bits of fruit and then when he was confronted he only gave one back....he also stole a day or so old chick out of the park - needless to say we hated the guy! We then survived a lunatic bus driver who didn't use the break and kept the accelarator to the floor at all times on our way to Chandigar (while also seeing nice Indian landsapes - I was beginning to wonder if they existed outside of national parks) where we enjoyed a day on a vast beach - the sea goes out 5km!

We're now back in Bhubaneswar to get our flight to Bangalore tomorrow...but I've got to go so you can read the rest when I update from Banagalore (which we're assuming will have decent internet cafes)...

Nandanganan Zoo

Michelle was feeling a bit rough and this didn't quite live up to expectations given that you had to have a minimum of 15 to go on a tiger or elephant "safari" and there was only 2 of us! But we got to see a few animals we wouldn't normally see.....

Only a few days ago we were saying how we were liking Indian food and weren't we lucky not to

have got ill....then Michelle was ill and I spent a day in bed only a few days later....we're hoping it's because we have been in Orissa which is a poorer area of India and less well equpped for tourists so we were eating "real" Indian food. Hopefully from now on in it will be the Indian style food that makes you feel like you are taking in the culture but also doesn't do your stomach damage!

Note, Michelle feels rough and struggles through....I, being male, spent a day in bed recovering!

A couple of pics from Varanasi

Charades

I don't know if charades is spelt right, but anyway....

We've had cause to work on our charades many times while we've been away given the language difficulties, but when we first came to Bhubaneswar (I think) we had an episode that took the biscuit. We were shown to a room and then Michelle tried to explain that this wouldn't work for us as it had no Western toilet. The guy got increasingly irate thinking we were saying that the toilet wasn't clean, so in the end there was nothing for it - I had to mimic sitting on the toilet so he could understand. Miming that is going to be the peak of my acting career I think....I can't help thinking John Cleese would have done it better.....

Puri

We liked Puri as we had a nice place to stay and it was nice and chilled....Michelle particularly liked the breakfasts....one pic is of us tucking into breakfast (sorry it's sideways)....me with vegetable omlette, toast and fruit - Michelle with chocolate cake!!

Rats...

We've had a few run ins with rats....on the train from Varanasi we had 20 hours to endure rats on the train! It wouldn't have been so bad except that there were also insects on the beds and we think we got bitten by some kind of bed bugs in the blankets...

It was such a depressing journey that our next long distance trip is going to be by plane tomorrow, but that is likely to be equally as disasterous as we are flying Air Deccan - recently an Indian news channel ran a story about them offering terrible service so they are in the news....but it was 30 pounds each for the tickets!

Dirty Water

Pics to follow, but we went to Varanasi which is the religious centre of india apparently. We were told that the many ghats were thriving with activity but there didn't seem to be that many people there to us.

Michelle said "the Ganges doesn't seem as bad as I'd expected" and of course from that moment we saw a dead rat, a dead dog and a dead cow in the river, not to mention a huge amount of litter. The locals think that the Ganges is a holy river and so they bathe in it but it would be a very unclean person who would come out cleaner than they went in!

We'd seen enough dead floating animals so moved on after a sunrise boat trip along the ghats....

Varanasi

We're of to Varanasi on another sleeper train tonight - a mere 12 hours this time. We'll be watching our bags though - we've heard of two people who have had their bags stolen on that train...

A quick one on sport...

Glad to see that England won against France in the 6 nations...I'll be rooting or the Irish to win by 4 more points than France so that they win the title. Feel sorry for Josh Lewsy missing out on selection for England in Wales - I know from his BBC website collumn that he was desperate to play v Wales his welsh blood...

And glad to see West Indies beat Pakistan in the cricket world cup - always good to see the hosts to well in these tournaments...

The Taj Mahal

In the end we didn't spend hours at the Taj as it started to rain and there was thunder and lightening around us - although it never rained hard we were paranoid after the night before! We were both pretty impressed - the Taj is certainly a beautiful monument to see. For me Angkor Wat in Cambodia just shades it, but that could be because it was beatiful weather there, creating lovely sunsets and sunrises...although we set our alarm to get up and see the Taj at sunrise, the cloud was so thick we decided to go straight back to bed!

The Baby Taj

A few pics....the Baby Taj was a nice warm up or the real thing...but the clouds were closing in on us...

Freak Storm

We decided that it would be fun to get a cycle rickshaw back after dinner which was a bad mistake! It started to flash with lightening and we were willing our driver to speed up, but to no avail. We resigned ourselves to getting very wet. But that would have been fine compared to what happened....

Our driver was hit on the back by a hail stone so pulled over under a tree only for a fierce deluge of golf ball size hail stones to rain down on us - no exaggeration! We had a small piece of fabric above our head which we sheltered under with our driver. It only lasted or two minutes and we were on our way.

Thinking that was it, we just sat in our soggy clothes hoping to get home soon and discussing how large a tip we would give our persistent driver who was more wet than we were....but then a power line fell down across the road with a spark and all the lights went out. And a short while later the golf balls pelted down again and we tried to shelter under a tree again. This time a woman who was passing also sheltered with us so she and Michelle sat on either side of me while our backs got pelted with ice...it was really painful! We were just trying to make sure our heads stayed under the abric cover we had as one on the head could have been lethal....

Just as we were asking ourselves how long it could go on for as it looked like it might never end, it stopped with the hailing and just rained hard....our driver got back on and drove us through the blacked out streets back to our hotel (which fortunately had a generator) - needless to say the driver got a big tip! The locals tell us that the last time they had a storm like that was 28 years ago...

Agra

Having secured a slightly overpriced rickshaw driver who showed us a book of comments from tourists praising him or his honesty (one asked "did you get the cheque that you asked for for 1000 pounds?"!!), we went to the back of the Taj Mahal to see the view from there in the evening. Pics above....

Delhi

After a 20 hour train journey to Delhi we managed to make it through all the taxi and rickshaw drivers to get to the fixed price booth so that we didn't get ripped off. But our rickshaw broke down short of our hotel so we had to walk the last bit....

We saw the red fort there and then went for a meal...it rained while we were in there which meant wading through the puddles of diluted animal excrement on our way back to the hotel in open toed shoes!

We tried to book a train to Agra but it was a Sunday afternoon so not possible - in the end we had the usual rip off travel agent deal...an overpriced "luxury coach" which took 2 hours longer than they said it would, but we were just pleased to be getting out of Delhi....

The Dung Beetle

On the second night in the desert Michelle hardly slept thanks to all the dung beetles in the bed! I think I captured in this photograph why there were so many of them....

Sunset on camel safari

The others....

....that we met on the camel safari....and our guides. The guy in blue spoke only in rhymes - spicy food gave him "full power, 24 hour", and he contantly told us "no worry, chicken curry". He was very impressive considering that he hadn't ever been to school and couldn't read or write - his English was excellent which he said he'd learnt at "camel college"! They all worked 7 days a week except for 3 months of the year when tourists aren't around - so for 3/4 of the year they don't have a roof over their heads...

On the dunes...

Most of the day we saw a few plants and scrubs, but towards the end of each day our guides found us a nice place with sand dunes to camp. We saw wild camels, antelope and some kind of

rabbit thing, not to mention our friends the dung beetles.

Camel Safari

From Jaipur we went to Jaisalmer where the done thing is a Camel Safari. We weren't quite sure what to expect but we had a great time - largely thanks to meeting some really nice people - Diane and Simon, Dylan and Jamie (from Canada), and Mike and Sarah (from Ireland) - they had travelled in the other direction around India so as they had already been through Delhi and Agra and were able to tell us the good places to eat and stay....and most importantly where to avoid!

Our 2 days on camel safari involved a similar pattern both days....ride to a small village and then go and play with all the kids who clammered for attention...then get back on to the camels until lunch at 12. Our guides (who walked all the way) cooked for us and then we had a siesta until 3pm as it was too hot to go anywhere. A couple more hours from 3 til 5 and then we set up camp for the night which simply involved the guides making a fire on a dune for us to eat around, and a few things to lie on (with a blanket). Our guides also sang a bit for us - they encouraged us to do the same but no-one was keen, least of all me and Michelle - anyone who has heard our singing voices will know why!

We had to cover up from the sun while we were on the camels so as you can see Michelle was her usual stylishly dressed self, while I looked like a bit of an idiot with her scalf covering the back of my neck from the sun. It wasn't a fashion contest!

On the whole our camels, Simon and Papu, were well behaved, but when Papu (Michelle's amle0 saw women he started making noises like a dinosaur and foaming at the mouth as it was mating season - this left Michelle and our guide trying to stop it from going after wild females (and avoid any flying spit when it shook it's head around). But the main thing that the camels did was fart....all day and all night - there is something surreal about waking up in the desert in the middle of the night to the sight of beautiful stars and the moon above, and lots of camels farting!

Happy Holi

Holi seemed to be a festival that only the outgoing women enjoyed, and even they only enjoyed it in the morning, as by the afternoon the young men were very drunk and started groping any women they could lay their hands on. Of course, if they were gay then they groped the men instead as I found out. Michelle definitely had the worst of it though - we fund ourselves surrounded by about 10 men who all tried to grope her to wish her "Happy Holi". I wish I had got the chance to wish them Happy Holi in a rather different way....

This is us back in our hotel room trying to be happy about things! Little did we know that we really did have a lot to be happy about - many people got covered in semi-permanent colour meaning that they were pink for many days aterwards, but ours washed out...