Respiratory infections after 3 weeks in India (20th - 22nd Dec 07)

We have been spending a few days in the Rajasthani town called Jaipur.

We have both had a nasty cold for the last few weeks, which doesnt seem to be going away due to the pollution problems. So we are going through a bit of a despression about India, as it is hard to see all the positive things when our noses are pounding, and we are blowing out black stuff. Every time we leave our guesthouse there are horrible car fumes and dusk that is permantely around. Natalie has taken to wearing a head scarf and covering her face (looking like a Muslim women) just to filter out some of the dust. So now we are trying to arrange the remaining part of our trip that minimises our time in the larger cities. Yet this is hard as most of the great sights are in the larger cities.

In Indian towns there are two main means of getting around (other than walking). There are auto-rickshaws which are like the Thai tuk-tuks, and then there are cycle rickshaws. The auto ones are much faster, but after our little grumble about pollution we have since converted to the cycle ones. We feel a bit sorry for the poor man pulling us along on a rickety old bike without gears, but its a great environmentally friendly means to travel.

On the back of a rickshaw

(an autorickshaw ahead on the left, and a cycle rickshaw ahead on the right)

One thing that Jaipur is famous for is the Juntar Mantar, which is a type of observatory that has a collection of sun dials and other instruments that utilise shadows to pin-point the current time, suns position, longitute and latitude, etc. It dates back to the 18th century, so was pretty fascinating for the science-inclined tourist.

The largest sun-dial in the world


Jaipur is also known for its famous Hindu cinema. While we were in Jaipur we were told all about the latest releases of Bollywood movies. But unfortunately there were no English sub-titles so we decided not to go along. The cinema itself is also pretty famous for its lobby and exterior which looks a bit like a giant meringue.

A famous Hindu cinema


It is pretty amazing that today is the 22nd of December and Christmas is in 3 days. We have not seen a single christmas tree or heard a carol the whole time in India, and it has been fantastic. We both hate that pre-Christmas build up in New Zealand, along with all the stress associated with it, so we are glad we timed our return in the new year.

For those who are interested in our plans, Nat is coming back to Ak in mid-Jan, whereas Nick will be returning in mid-Feb as he has taken up a 1 month contract with his former employees in Aus (a way to replenish the funds after not working for a year).

"A teardrop on the cheek of time" (17th - 20th Dec 07)

The above quote was by an Indian poet Tagore, to describe the Taj Mahal. I really like this quote, as no adjectives that I use will quite compare. But the Taj Mahal is definately one of the most stunning buildings that we have seen on this trip.

The Taj Mahal


The Taj is situated in a city in Northern India called Agra. The beautiful story behind the Taj is that it was built by a heart broken Emperor, who dedicated it to his wife that died giving birth to one of their children. It is made of marble and semiprecious stones and the effect is stunning. Just looking at the detail of the work on various parts, makes anyone fully appreciate the skill in the work.

Us at the Taj


Visiting the Taj is one of the most expensive sites in India, at 750Rupees for foreigners ($25nz). And it is a bit hard watching locals enter for only 20Rupees, but thats the Indian system to have double-tear pricing at tourist attractions. It is a piece of their history after all, so we cant complain too much. But it was worth every penny.

The next day in Agra was Nick's birthday. And we had a few exciting things planned for the day. But unfortunately Nick was up all the night before with his first serious bout of Delhi Belly. Even water was hard for him to have, so we had to stay in bed for most of the day. That night we had train tickets booked to go to a town about 250km away called Jaipur. Nick was adament that he wouldnt be able to catch the train with his sickness. But we had all our accomodation booked in Jaipur and no where to stay in Agra, so we decided to splurge and get a taxi there. The taxi cost no more than from the north shore to auckland city, but for India it was a lot of money. It was worth it though, as it meant that we could travel comfortably with making stops if needed. Thankfully Nicks stomach behaved itself for the trip.

It was pretty crappy birthday for him all around. So the next day when he was feeling his normal self, we made up for it. We went full out shopping and splurging (which is totally unlike us). We spent a few hours at a great western style cafe that do excellent coffee, then hit the shops. We brought a fantastic Indian cookbook, a pair of handmade leather shoes each and some clothing. This is something that we rarely have done on this trip, but now we are near the end we can buy a few things for back home.

Nick drinking a Frappe(!!) with his new Cookbook

Delhi in a Day (15th - 17th Dec 07)

After getting off the train (after 2 nights) in Delhi the legs took a while to get moving, but once the touts closed in, the legs remember how to walk fast.

We decided to give the backpacker area a miss and stayed in the Tibetan area of Delhi. This is a truly amazing place. It is called the Tibetan Refugee Colony and it is a tight amalgamation of buildings. There are narrow lanes that weave between the buildings and around every corner is small markets and shops. It is like being in Tibet. There are 'Free Tibet' flags and 'boycott the olympics' posters not to mention the mandatory Dalai Lama pictures.

We only had 2 nights in Delhi before heading to Agra to see the Taj so we planned our day to the max. We spent the morning in Old Delhi which is a chaotic part of town with dirty streets, busy markets and street vendors on every corner. But this is where lots of sights from the Mughal era are located. We first went to the Red Fort then to a huge mosque called Jama Masjid.

The Red Fort


The chaos of Old Delhi

(notice the goats on the right)

It was then time to head to New Delhi on the super clean and efficient Delhi metro system. This metro puts New Zealand to shame that they cant even get their act together to organise a metro system in Auckland. The metro is only half completed, but still at present makes travel around the city much easier.

In New Delhi (which was built by the British) we spent a while in Connaught Place, which is a lot of roads designed in concentric circles around a park. We then visited the Supreme Court Museum to learn about the history of India's independent judiciary. A few cases of interest were highlighted such as the case against the 2 Sikh bodyguards who killed Indira Gandhi, a former Indian Prime Minister.

It was interesting checking out New Delhi to compare the broad, clean streets with what we saw in the morning in the chaotic Old Delhi.

We then visited the inspiring Mahatma Gandhi museum. This great museum, albeit pretty run down, documented Gandhi's life, from his days fighting (non violently) for Indians in South Africa to his work gaining independence for India. On display were some great photographs and even the robe he wore when he was killed as well as one of the bullets that killed him. Of special note was the story of how he marched 400km to a beach to make salt in retaliation to the British policy that no Indians could make their own salt and had to buy it (at high prices) from the British.

Overall Delhi had a great feel to it, a mix of chaos and a new modern vibe. Now we head to the mighty Taj Mahal!

Local kids playing Cricket in Delhi

Slow life in the Backwaters (12th - 15th Dec 07)

After finally leaving Varkala we caught a short train north to a small town called Kollam. We came here to do a canoe tour of the Kerala Backwaters.

Nat, Nick & Tahlia on a backwater cruise


The backwaters are a series of natural estuaries and man made canals that run for a few 100km the length of the coast and are joined to the sea, hence they are salt water. There are small clusters of villages that live on the small patches of land between the canals. We went on an excellent afternoon canoe tour of the backwaters. After driving for and hour out of town on extremely bumpy roads we reached our leaving point. At one stage the minibus driver while driving was trying to screw the gear lever back on as it had worked its way off after all the bumps!!

The Backwaters


The canoe trip was fantastic. We started in narrow man made canals and ended up in large lakes and wide estuaries. We saw locals fishing, collecting sand for cement and
also coconut processing areas. It is amazing how much they can get out of one coconut. They remove the husks and dry them for making rope (which is also used to make the boats), they use the water for drinking and they press the flesh for oil or milk. Along the way we also visited a spice garden where we smelt curry leaves, ginger and some cashew nut trees. MMMmmmmmmm

Some locals in their fishing canoe


After Kollam we headed further north to Fort Cochin, which is a small peninsular across the harbour from Kochi town. Life was relatively peaceful here compared to the normal bustle of Indian towns. Walking along the waterfront we were mesmerised by the huge chinese style fishing nets they use. These huge contraptions are balanced on a tripod of 10m high logs and they use huge rocks tied to rope as counterweights. They put the nets down for 5mins then pull it up and retrieve the (small) fish from the net.

The Chinese fishing nets at Fort Cochin


From here we caught a train up to Delhi. This train took 2 days, so we decided to get one of the nicer classes of trains with Air Con sleeper. On this train all our meals were brought to us, so we didnt have much else to do but watch the scenery and be feed 5 times a day. The food was actually pretty good, and it was interesting chatting to some middle-class Indians. We shared a berth with a young married couple, who had just been on their honeymoon in Goa. They are both doctors in Delhi and it was interesting getting their perspective on Indian politics and social issues.

We now have 3 weeks in the north of India. How fast time is flying, with already spending a couple of weeks in the south.

The Varkala Stranglehold (7th - 11th Dec 07)

Varkala is a small town right down on the southern tip of India. We heard that it had beautiful beaches and was a nice chilled out town, so we planned to stay for a couple of nights. But upon getting there, we couldnt quite get ourselves to leave after such a short time. So we ended up there for 5 nights.

The stunning cliff at Varkala


It has quite a travellers atmosphere, which means that all the restaurants are twice the price, but they were still nice to hang out in looking over the sea. The town is set up on a cliff, with all the shops, hotels and restaurants high up on the cliff, with the beach below. This was nice as it gave the beach a secluded feel to it, with out all the shoppers gawking at you.

There was a social atmosphere at the place we were staying and met other interesting like-minded people. One women in particular, Tahlia, we bumped into while we were in three different Indian towns, and we hopefully talked into joining us for Christmas in the north of India. After hearing that we cut each other's hair, she bravely let us near her with a pair of scissors, and she went from a long brunette to a short cut. So we are thinking of earning some money on the side, by opening up a travellers hair dresser.

One of the pleasures of staying here was walking along the cliff top road, eyeing up the fresh seafood on offer at the restaurants, and negotiating prices. We had fresh fish a few nights in a row, and it was absolutely fantastic. On offer was small snapper, but also large marlins and smaller sharks, and the most gigantic tiger prawns we have ever seen.

Other than the beach and cafes, we spend one afternoon doing a private cooking course. This was a great way to see how Indian curries are made from scratch, and also making an Indian flat-bread Chapati.

Nick making Chapati


We also caught a traditional dance while we were there, known as Kathakali. This was apparently started around the time of Shakespere, and uses elaborate costumes and make up to play out stories from the Hindu ramayana. The actors were men, and train for years to master the facial expressions which dictate the story. They are accompanied by live music, and singing. The plot brief provided to us before the show was a god-send in order to understand what was going on.

Kathakali costumes


But then after about 5 days here, we started to get cravings for authentic India, with cheap, good food and the chaos (although chilling at the beach was a nice break). So we headed out from the comfort zone to further north along the Keralan coast.

Trains, head waggling and masala dosa (1st - 6th Dec 07)

To those who have read 'Life of Pi' you will be familiar with Pondicherry, a small former french enclave in the south east coast of India. This was our next stop and was an interesting fusion of a seaside French resort in India. The town was divided by a canal with the French part near the sea and the Indian part inland. The French part had wide roads, colonial buildings at it seemed that as you stepped across the cannal the hustle and bustle stopped and there were no more motorbikes hooning past or bus sitting on their horns.

But Pondicherry had a lovely boulevard and a french feel, but there was not much else to do. So after a couple of nights we moved on.

One of our favourite meals has been the Masala Dosa. Dosa is a huge thin rice flour crepe. The masala version is filled with curried potato and onion. The dish is served with an assortment of coconut chutneys and a vege curry. A great dish that can be had any time of the day, for a mere 60cents.

A tasty Masala Dosai


The Indian Head Waggle:
Now this is something we are only now starting to get used to. When Indians agree with something or are confirming something they waggle their heads from side to side. It is kind of like a shake but with no rotation. When we first encountered it we were a bit confused.
"We will have the vegetable biryani and two coffees....." Then the waggle, we thought this meant no biryani, but it means ok. we have started practising our waggle, and hopefully in a few days will be brave enough to put it to the test with some Indians.

From Pondi, we caught a train to Trichy in the central south, a temple town. As you know we really love trains, and avoid buses at all costs. We tried our hand on the "unreserved class" which is basically a free for all - first on first seated. Since we did not get on from the departing station we were standing in the aisle. The carriage was packed but before long the people we were rubbing shoulders with were asking the 'set questions'.

Where are you from - New Zealand - ahhhhh - good cricket team. If it wasnt for cricket, no one here would know NZ.
What is your job.....
Purpose of visit.......
It starts to feel like a customs interogation but it is good natured. After this we were talking about the 2nd cricket test between India and Pakistan and who would prevail on the final day.....most agreed draw. And it was.

One of the best parts of being in the lowest possible class of train, is the hospitality of the people. There was one quite large women, who was flopping off the side of her seat as it was, who felt sorry for Nat and moved over so she was hanging off even more so that Nat could rest 1/2 her bum on the seat to. It was so kind of her. One of our criket c chatting friends dived for a seat when one opened up, only to give it to Nat, which was also lovely gesture.
Nick, being a man, ended up standing the whole 4 hours but it was worth it.

If the trans mogolian train was a bazaar on tracks, the Indian trains are a restaurant on wheels. Throughout the journey vendors were squishing their way past bodies, selling tea, coffee, fried vege patties, biryani, samosas and other premade meals. When the train stopped, more vendors jumped on to offer premade meals or sold them through the grates in the window.

Vendors passing an Indian train


We spent a couple of nights at Trichy visiting a few temples. There were some huge multi level dravidian temples and a ganesh temple perched high above the city on a huge outrcrop of granite which gave spectacular views of the tropical palm forests.

A Hindu temple on a rock outcrop

First impressions of India (27th Nov - 1st Dec 07)

From Turkey we flew into the Indian city of Chennai, which is on the south-east coast. While it is still a big city, it was preferable to flew into than Delhi or Mumbai so we could spend a few days getting used to things on a smaller scale.

So far we are really enjoying our time in India. One of the first things we did was head into a full-vegetarian restaurant for a set lunch meal called Thali. This comes with a selections of curries, sauces, sweets, rice and chapati all for around 35 rupees (about $1nzd). Then once you have had all that, they come round and top up your curries to the point that you are bursting full. It was a fantastic way to start our dining experience in India. In the south most people are full vegetarian, which suits us just fine as we are happy to eat vege food and it is probably safer for our weak-western stomachs to handle.

A smaller version of a Thali
(the bigger ones have up to 14 different parts)


As arriving in any Asian city there is always the first hit when you arrive in the city. The things such as the smells, the pollution, the heat and the poverty all hit you. But then there is also the fantastic smiling people, the interesting history and the food that makes putting up with the former so much more worth it. And we also love the chaos. Sometimes things in Europe are so efficient, clean and organised that it is boring. But here there is never a dull moment with something new to observe.

We had our go at trying out the train network to get round the city. It was super efficient, and the carriages are open style so you have people hanging out the train as it goes along (Nick had his go at this). A few years ago you use to be able to ride on top of the train, but they have since decided that it is too dangerous. The Indian train network is one of the best in the world, with lines all over the country. Also they are the largest employer in India, and the second largest employer in the world!! Pretty impressive. So we tried to buy our overnight train tickets for later in the trip early as we heard that they often fill up. This was a bit of a process and we had to reaarange our plans a bit, but in the end we got our tickets and are looking forward to trying out the long distance trains. There is no better way to experience a country than on trains (after a bicyle of course).

A few things have been quite funny so far. One of these is the language. Most people we have spoken to so far (in restaurants, guesthouses, train stations, locals) all speak perfect English. Sometimes they have a pretty heavy accent which is hard to interpret, but it makes travelling for us pretty easy with an english-speaker always there to help. A term used to describe the India form of English is 'Hinglish' (ie. Hindu English). Sometimes they make new words that follow English grammer rules that arnt used in English language. In our train book they talk about 'preponing' your train ticket (ie. opposite of postpone). Also on some back alley ways you see 'please enter by the backside' (ie. please use the back door). And then there are new words that I dont know where they come from, but 'eve-teasing' is a word that means sexual harrassment. But it is all pretty entertaining, and these are all part of the fun quirks of a new country.

From Chennai, we caught a bus to a small town south called Mamallapuram. This town is famous for its stone carvings. We showed up to the bus station to catch a public bus there, and after tracking down the right bus, a vendor man said in a thick accent 'this isnt a very express bus'. We laughed him off and hoped on the bus, and over two hours later we had only gone 50km. Cycling would have been faster. But we are in no hurry so its a nice way to see the city and countryside.

Beautiful saris at Shore Temple


Mamallapuram has lots of amazingly carved temples. Two of the main ones are the Five Rathas and the Shore Temple. The Five Rathas was fasinating as the stone carving were done into rocks already in the ground, rather than ones moved there. Heading off to these temples we realised that we have to do a lot more reading about Hinduism and Indian religions to fully understand the significance of the carvings.

Natalie at the Five Rathas


Mamallapuram is said to be a bit of a travellers enclave. This is pretty much right, as we have seen more foreigners here in the first hour than we did in 3 days in Chennai. While its a bit of a pain with touts hassling you more than at other places, and more western restaurants than Indian, its understandable why a town is so popular with foreigners with all the amazing stone carvings - hence the reason we came. But it will also be nice heading to some less popular spots to see a different side to India.