Brian and Tess Around the World 2009

The final blog?

2009-06-05T17:34:00.013+01:00

Maybe the best part of our trip is staring us in the face and needs saying? Tess and I have just spent five months in each other's company, 24/7 rarely being apart for more than the very occasional hour or two. In those five months we never had more than a muttered cross word, or a sulk or bad mood that lasted more than a few minutes. And we went through a few bad times of course and still came out friends.

I found the picture above on my phone, I had forgotten all about it. It was taken from my bed in St Augustine's Hospital in Kumily in the hills of Kerela, it must have been one of the less painful interludes of my stay. Tess is fast asleep on her 'by standers' bed - barely justifying the name bed, it was a narrow and extremely hard board. And the other picture is I think of breakfast, two milky sweet teas in a holder for carrying across the yard from the hospital kitchen and a large nan bread. One of the lowest points in our travels - but you know we were always OK even in the bad times, we had each other!

* * * * *

And a final word of thanks to our blog readers, we have enjoyed writing the blog and it has been very pleasing to be told that many of you have enjoyed reading it. If you haven't been following it then I don't suggest you start now - reading through five months backwards would take some stamina! But maybe if you want to dip in here are four blogs that might interest you (and we have added a few photos that we could not originally post):

'Valentines Day', 15 Feb
'Things are different here', 18 Feb

and if you want to read about some bad experiences then (among several) try:

'Crossing the Red Sea', 18 Jan
'Cursing Kurseong', 10 March

Brian

I have just read Brian's last entry and feel I must add that not only did we have very few cross, grumpy or combative words we have in fact laughed a lot, sometimes at ourselves and sometimes at the oddities of our fellow travelers and other members of the human race.

Tess

Blog #85 - Home

2009-06-04T20:51:00.011+01:00

I know this is really contrary but since we are home here is a photo of us back in January, finally on our way at Kings Cross station. And confidence in our first flight, BMI to Amman, was not high when we realised that the flight deck had to clean their own windows!

We really ought to do a blog saying we have reached home - so here it is. We arrived at Heathrow early morning on the 1st June to the most glorious weather we had seen in a long time - Tess said she felt warm for the first time since Tokyo (and our Canadian readers can justifiably claim that as an exaggeration - although not too much of one!).

Our last flight was fine although one passenger some rows behind us was taken seriously ill and we had a lot of rushing about and that call went out 'Is there a doctor on board?'. One duly appeared and we assume he stabilised the patient as we were not diverted to Iceland. We had a final kerfuffle on arrival, we were down to one debit card (mine stopped in Canada following a claimed fraudulent use which proved incorrect) and with only a handful of unspent Canadian dollars. Relying on Tessa's card for cash proved a trifle optimistic - it had expired the day before! We managed to buy coach tickets with a credit card and reached Cambridge (and our awaiting replacement cards).

Cambridge looked absolutely lovely in the June sunshine and the house was fine - cleaner and tidier following the departure of our German and Dutch students than when we live in it and with very few indications that they had been here at all, and our temporary gardener had kept the garden tidy. But we stumbled around wondering where anything was. Sophie had left a note that bread and other food was in stock - but where did we keep the bread?

We faced dealing with five months of unopened post (including Premium Bond prize cheques which had expired - don't get excited they were for £50 and the new lower amount of £25) but Tess faces a larger challenge - how on earth to find a summary of what had happened in the Archers over the past five months? A google search found a Nancy Banks Smith article from early March and its seems that Matt Crawford has gone bust - reflecting the general economic condition of the country. She continues to seek out vital plot information (Archer fans please email).

The cats have been returned by my sister and brother in law - there was some psychological adjustments to be made to the situation of course, and the cats have accepted the position as well.

We have downloaded the 3,500 photographs from the 10 countries we visited. Why so few you ask? Well the loss of two cameras somewhat cramped our style (yes, yes you knew about the loss of my camera in Eqypt but I felt too foolish to admit that I then lost Tessa's camera at the Indian wedding). My aim is to get that lot down to about 350 that we can show people and still retain friends and family who will visit us. We will buy one of those digital picture frame things which can spin through our trip and sit quietly in a corner somewhere.

Its still too early to say what we felt about the whole process, we are just two jet-lagged and slightly bemused seniors who have finally put down the backpacks and are wondering - What Now?

Brian

I am sitting here in Brian's office surrounded by the stacked furniture and crockery that we packed away before we left (things that we might have been upset about if broken) and wondering if there are some things we can get rid of. My sister in law Cath and I already have a car boot sale date booked, this was after I unpacked and hung up clothes and decided that after five months of having two sets of clothes I didnt need the number I was putting back in the wardrobe.

It is good to be home, but its also quite strange. The last five months has been exiting, tiring, varied and very very interesting and I must admit to feeling a little deflated at the moment. This may be partly due to jet lag and being a bit weary after two broken nights and I am sure my mood will improve as the house gets back to normal and I have met up with some of my old friends. I did my first food shop today and that seemed very odd, cooking and shopping are something else to get used to again.

As Brian said, Cambridge looks lovely in June and our garden is looking suprisingly good, the allotment too is burgeoning, thanks to Caths hard work, so there are lots of nice things to do and lots to look forward to. It is also wonderful to see Sophie, Douglas, Laurence and all the other members of our family who are here in Cambridge after so long.

So, onwards and upwards, perhaps planning our next (shorter) travels in 2010.

Tess

Leaving Montreal - Soon!

2009-05-30T22:46:00.010+01:00

We have spent a wonderfully relaxing two weeks with Tessa's sister Susan and brother in law Paul at their home in Cambridge (rd or rue), Baie D'Urfe just outside Montreal. After the rigors of world travel, trains, buses, taxis, hotel rooms, not speaking the same language as everyone else or indeed not being able to read signs, Montreal and Canada as a whole has been very relaxing. All we have suffered is a few sharp looks from French speaking Quebeckers and a bit of a problem with a video about an interesting artist in the Museum of Arts. The film was all in French too complicated for us to follow and we really would have liked to know more about him if the language police had allowed some sub-titling.

What have we done? Well not a great deal really, learned how to play a domino game called 'Mexican Train', watched the Stanley Cup round of ice hockey matches which currently grip N America, eaten lots of nice food and drunk quite a lot of wine and beer. We have been shopping, visted Duane and Carol in Ontario, been to local sites of interest and had a few shortish walks and cycle rides and been into Montreal three times, twice to museums and once today to the wonderful Botanic Gardens and Insectarium. On the whole the weather has not been kind, though today is lovely, bright sun and a gentle breeze blowing away the rain clouds.

We have visited a few museums including the Musee de Beaux Arts which had a special exhibition 'Imagine' on John Lennon and Yoko Ono - the most famous 'bed-in' having been held in a Montreal hotel. The exhibition had attracted large crowds of course but really suggested to us that here were a pair of rather shallow self-indulgent celebs posturing, but hey that sounds a really up to date thing to do does it not? Much better was a more local exhibition just along the lake shore which included an artist potraying West End Kids (that's the West end of the island) in 360 degree portrait series.

Hard to believe we pack up and catch our final flight tomorrow evening - but we are looking forward to seeing family and friends even if we have to admit that we have never been homesick.

Brian and Tessa

Best and worst of - journeys

2009-05-28T19:19:00.001+01:00

The Vypeen Ferry - the women's section in the bow. And some photos from the boat trip to Baku.

So what were the best and worst of our journeys? We both probably vote for one of the worst being the taxi ride up the mountain to Kurseong in West Bengal (and we have told you about that already) although Brian might suggest that discovering just how painful kidney stones are whilst traveling on a rough mountain road in a tuk tuk is also best avoided. Mind you the road journey from Delhi to Agra was in some ways worse, several hours of dust, delay, noise and downright danger and stress. Our advice to any future travellers is do anything and pay anything to avoid travelling this route by road.

For Tessa however the worst might have to be the trip from the centre of Kolkata to the airport. We had had a great day before finally leaving India for Singapore but Tessa had managed to drink something inadvisable. We walked to the underground station and the next hour was absolutely horrible, not only for Tessa but the people traveling in the carriage with us. Fortunately Tessa had a supply of carrier bags with her and after the metro journey, a search for taxis and an uncomfortable ride to the airport she was grateful to reach ladies loos with washing facilities. Tessa had spare clothes of course - just as well as none of those she was wearing could be worn again!. The saddest thing was that for our overnight flight wonderful Singapore Airlines offered the best food we had seen (on a plane) and Tess could have had a free Singapore Sling, all she could manage was water and apple juice!

Better to focus on the best journey. This is harder, journeys were great for all kinds of reasons; comfort (rare), scenery, people etc. A short journey could be great, for example one tuk tuk ride in Udaipur where we got caught up in a noisy wedding procession in a very narrow street was a riot of colour, noise and exhuberance literally right in our faces.

But for Brian - one of the best might be the journey from Fort Kochi in Kerala to Vypeen Island and the bus ride that was part of it. We had decided to spend just a few hours at one of Kerela's beaches and set off first on the short ferry hop across to Vypeen Island itself - in a large open wooden boat with space for men standing in the stern, a middle compartment for the two crew and engine, and a bow section for the women.

We were soon onto one of the many buses that draw up at the ferry terminal. It was crowded but we got seats right at the back for the 20km drive to the other end of the island. The road was village all the way, with endless small shops, temples and churches sitting among the palm trees - typical South Indian and very attractive. But the road was also crowded, so the three man bus crew had to work hard to keep us going at a good speed. The driver worked the horn in usual Indian fashion getting people, carts, bicycles out of the way or swerving around them if they didn't. The conductor at the rear sold the tickets and helped hurry people on and off the bus at the rear exit.

But the vital member of the crew was the whistle guy at the front entrance. He hurried people on an off that exit and controlled the bus movement, one blast on the whistle for stop and two for go. At the front of the bus was a picture of a god, illuminated by flashing lights. Everyone seemed to know everyone and exchanged greetings, and jokes were played on the conductor with one guy tapping the conductor's 'wrong' shoulder so he kept turning to see who wanted him. The easy going nature of South India was very much on display.

So we bowled along at a good lick with the whistle man blowing his one or two blasts, loud popular Indian music playing and people rushing on and off. We were already smiling at the happy scene but then the music changed to a particularly frantic version of 'Jingle Bells' - this seemed totally incongrous given the location, the humid heat and the date but we sang or hummed along. But then the whistle man also got caught up in the tune and was soon blowing along to Jingle Bells as loud as he could - and we could not stop laughing. A nice start to the day.

But Tessa enjoyed the boat trip out to Baku National Park in Sarawak best. Riding out to the ferry terminal in William and Becky's car, William being greeted like an old friend by all the guys at the terminal, the wobbly feeling of getting into a small boat and squeezing into the life jacket. Speeding through the brown, muddy water as we passed by houses on stilts and creeping mangroves, the possibility that we might see a crocodile and then moving out into more open waters and round the headland to Baku. It was so exiting and the anticipation of a walk in the rain forest and the animals we might see, Tessa really liked that.

Brian and Tessa

If I'd known you were comin.....

2009-05-26T22:49:00.001+01:00

A few photos of the people we met - the children in the Al Khaili household, Tessa and Sujata Shah at the Shah's house, and pictures of us and the Singapore 'Good Morning Yesterday' bloggers.

Now that we are nearing the end of our trip we thought we might take the opportunity in the last few blogs to reflect on some aspects of our experience . More than anything it is perhaps the personal contacts we have had in some of the countries we have visited that have made the trip so special for us. Each day may have presented new and sometimes extraordinary and exotic sights and experiences, but it was the chance to meet old and new friends that made our trip so special for us and gave us the richest and most enjoyable insights into life in other places.

Our first family visit was to the Al Khaili family in the United Arab Emirates. Ahmed Al Khaili had lived with us in Cambridge for about 12 weeks during 2008 and had become in that short time a valued friend. When he heard of our travel plans he asked us to visit his family home in Abu Samra near the Oman border. Without our friendship with Ahmed we would never have visited the UAE and experienced the hospitality and home life of an extended Arab family. We would not have been taken to the desert to see family farms, be nuzzled by Ahmed's camels, visit racing camel training and breeding places, take part in a demonstration from one family member in her Beduouin tent of how life was lived 'before the petrol', nor experienced the thrill as Ahmed turned his SUV off the track and across the desert sand dunes. We began to find the desert a rather suprisingly peaceful and attractive place. We will be eternally grateful for the privileged insight we were offered into a very different way of life and will always welcome Ahmed and family members back to his other 'home' in Cambridge.

In India we spent over a week with the Snehal and Sujata Shah in Ahmedabad. The Shahs have been friends of Tessa's cousin Martin and his partner Richard for many, many years, since Snehal Shah was a student at RIBA. In the summer of 2008 their daughter, Sunaina, came to stay with us while she went to a summer school at Cambridge University and though we didn't know Snehal and Sujata very well, they offered us hospitality in India whenever we wanted to come - and graciously dismissed our need to apologise for arriving a week later than expected! Staying with the Shah's was just fantastic, Sujata is the most wonderful cook of vegan food so tasty, varied and utterly delicious. We never sat down to the same dish twice! Our days were filled with trips to fascinating historical sites, shopping trips and family visits. We received essential help with the very complicated booking and purchase of Indian Railway tickets and - the absolute icing on the cake - were invited to two functions that were part of a family wedding including the actual wedding ceremony. An Indian wedding is a feast for all the senses, an opportunity absolutely not to be missed.

After six weeks in India we headed for Singapore, a place with family memories for both of us and made more special when we met up with a new but also 'old friend' made through blogging on the internet - Lam Chun See. Chun See and some of the 'family' of bloggers who contribute to his blog site 'Good moring Yesterday' dropped everything to accompany us to places associated with Brian's youth or Tessa's grandparents. Brian saw the house he had lived in as a teenager and the RAF School he attended. Tessa saw the house her Grandfather lived in (which must simply have the best position on the island overlooking the harbour) and where her father lived as a small boy when Grandpa Williams was involved in the building of the Causeway. We had lunch with some of the bloggers (one of whom 'YG', Chun See himself had only 'met' online before) and visited Chun See's home, met his wife and admired his son's collection of pitcher plants. Amongst the household we were introduced to the oldest rooster on the block - sadly just deceased we read from Good Morning Yesterday. It was a great experience to have such fun with people who have only been names and stories on a screen before. As he bade farewell Chun See said we felt like old friends and we certainly felt the same.

When we reached Kuching in Sarawak we were delighted to meet up with Diana Cook (friend from Cambridge) who was visiting her son William Beavitt and his partner Becky. Becky is teaching at an English mediun school in Kuching and William is studying Proboscis monkeys in the wetlands around Kuching. Though we only knew William slightly before (he is a little older than Sophie and went to a different school so we didn't know him as a teenager) he and Becky advised us on where to stay (the quirky, but fun, 'Fairview') took us to the Baku National Park and were very gracious as we puffed along the mere 800 metres path through the jungle. Full of interesting information and advice on what to see, eat, how to deal with dehydration, who to hire as a taxi driver, William and Becky were spot on with everything including expert advice on seeing lots of wonderful wildlife sights. They helped to make our two weeks in Sarawak a wonderfully interesting and restful interlude - including finding our luxury hideaway 'The Village House' in Santubong.

We flew from Bangkok to Japan where we were able to stay with Junko Koshinaga, her husband Morimichi and daughter Michiru. About ten years ago Junko lived with us for a year while she studied Music Therapy at Anglia Ruskin University. We had kept in touch with Christmas cards and on arrival in Tokyo, Junko and Morimichi put us up for three days, enabling us to get to know the delightful two and a half year old Michiru, do a little sight seeing in Tokyo, meet up with Mr and Mrs Yoshida again (Junko's parents who also visited us in Cambridge), enjoy some lovely Japanese home cooking and the most amazing meal at a resturaunt that we would never have found on our own. Junko advised on taking the trip to Hakone and on the special dish to try when we were in Hiroshima. It was such fun to see Junko again, to see her so happy with her lovely husband and daughter and making headway with music therapy which is relatively unknown in Japan.

And of course we have ended our trip with visits to Canadian relatives we have recently told you about. A great mixture of new places and people and renewing old friendships.

Tessa and Brian

The Land

2009-05-24T23:50:00.012+01:00

We have spent the weekend at 'The Land' - a small piece of forest on Charleston Lake in Ontario which Sue and Paul have owned for many years and on which they have erected a small bedroom plus screened 'bug house' for

sitting in. I don't think there are any facilities yet - you do what the bears do. The rigours of winter have also separated the bedroom from the bughouse - somehow ground movement has shifted one about a foot from the other!

We stayed in rather more comfortable surroundings - the log house that is the permanent residence of their neighbours Carol and Duane Dillman who we visited many years ago when the children were small and so was the log house. Their now extended house is built on rock and is rather more stable' has a lovely position among the trees and is surrounded by gambolling charming chipmunks. It was also good to see their son Jeffrey - he stayed a couple of weeks with us in Cambridge some years ago.

By very happy coincidence Saturday was Duane's 72nd birthday and we all went off to celebrate at a restaurant overlooking the St Laurence - this is the 1,000 island area, you can see New York State just across the river which is however full of tiny islands, actually over 2,000 of them. We spent the rest of the time taking a short walk in the adjoining Charleston Lake Provincial Park (sighting of a hairy woodpecker), walking the dogs Winnie and Rufus, and consuming enormous amounts of food at a BBQ attended by their friends Sue and Rick.

By the way we discovered the whereabouts of Leonard -performing at the nearby town of Kingston.

Brian

Not only did we see a Hairy Woodpecker but also a very large, green and brown frog in the Provincial Park. On the way to the restaurant we saw three Turkey vultures, one was ripping something apart on the side of the road and the other two were watching intently from a nearby fence. They are really big and a mixture of black and tan with a red wattle on their heads.

We also stopped on the way to make the acquaintance of a beautiful foal who was only a few days old and while waiting for our dinner to arrive we saw several eagles, one swooping to catch a fish and numbers of herons flapping of to their heron home.

At Duane and Carol's house we saw a Humming bird, no bigger than a big hornet taking sugar water from their Humming bird feeder on several occasions and also watched a Robin feeding it four young in their nest, built in the glass lampshade of one of the lights on the porch. What a weekend for wild life!!

Tess

Where's Leonard?

2009-05-22T16:30:00.017+01:00

The weather suddenly got hot yesterday, in the upper 20s, so we took a bus downtown. It takes about an hour from Baie D'Urfe which is near the far western end of the island, beside the lake and full of large houses on extensively wooded plots - you would all love to live here!* Sue and Paul's place is back from the lake but they have a lovely house and garden - the latter full of colourful birds attracted to Paul's many bird feeders; grackles, red cardinals, finches, chickadees and large American robins being among the regular visitors.

Good to be in downtown Montreal, its a fashionable place, the women have a city chic which is unlike Vancouver where practical cold weather gear is the order of the day - that or running/cycling or other activity gear. We took the metro to the Place des Arts to visit the contemporary art museum, paid our senior rate of three dollars for several exhibitions - the first artist was described as 'deliberately insolent' which I thought a good way of covering your own back and true enough he was of least interest - particularly as we were bowled over by much of the rest of what we saw, notably the large paintings and mixed media work of Betty Goodwin, who died last year and was a major figure on the Montreal arts scene and the extraordinary photographs of Robert Polidori from abandoned or ruined places like Beirut, Chernobyl and New Orleans after the floods. Talking of major figures we did not see Leonard walking the streets...

Its only in Montreal that you see virtually no English signage. The language police have done a thorough job since we were last here many years ago in getting rid of all English words. Sue and Paul's road has changed from Cambridge Road, to Upper Cambridge, to Rue Cambridge to settle on just Cambridge. Everywhere else in Canada the two languages get equal billing, here in Quebec Province its French only - with the odd private sign with a word or two in English or on interpretation board at sites but always in much smaller size. This is an odd sensation because one feature around the world is the use (and abuse) of English on advertising and signage everywhere - Cambodia for example was full of English signs on everything. But here you dust off that limited French to read the signs, not a lot of trouble of course.

Brian

* you would all love to live here in the few weeks of the year in the short spring and autumn when the weather is habitable!

We went into 'Baie' ( used to be Hudson's Bay Company) and I got a great bargain, a silk, long sleeved vest (undershirt) for $19.99 reduced from $70.00, even the lady on the till went "hmm" as she rang it in. I know it may seem a little unseasonable but I can tell you I can clearly recall the biting cold of my winter Thursday stints on the Country Markets stall on Cambridge market.

It was quite a funny shopping experience because there were two non french speaking women at one of the two tills doing something that seemed terribly complicated, things were exchanged, receipts examined, changes made and things returned. I don't know what was going on but it took the most incredibly long time and the ever lengthening line wanting to pay for goods was getting extremely restive. Then the lady on the remaining till had a problem with a ticket and her till stopped working, so things got even worse. The consensus was that the reason it was all going wrong was that these two women DID NOT SPEAK FRENCH!. The woman next to me said something to this effect to me, prety pointless as my French is just about non existent (I am good at body language though) I said 'sorry, but I don't speak French' but perhaps I was forgiven because I was a tourist and my shopping was mercifully uncomplicated.

We now know where the francophone cabin attendant from Air Canada go when they are deemed to mature to fly, they get retirement jobs at the 'Baie'. The three ladies I saw in the underwear department were very stately, well made up, beautifully dressed but of a very mature vintage and very disaproving of any one who made mistakes with the very complicated Baie offers, or who could not speak French.

All three photos by me!

Tess

The Canadian family

2009-05-20T22:06:00.015+01:00

We probably dashed away east from Vancouver without sufficiently acknowledging or blogging our Vancouver family - indeed an expanding family - first Tessa's neice Rachelle and her new partner Sheldon and his two children, Emma and Bremyn (sorry that's almost certainly misspelt). In Maple Ridge, just outside Vancouver proper, we stayed with Tessa's nephew Andre, wife Nicole and their two children who we met for the first time, two year old Daniel and the very new arrival, two week old Madeleine. Good of them to spare us so much time when they were barely getting any time to sleep!

And we are ending our trip with Tessa's sister Sue and husband Paul here in Baie D'Urfe in Montreal where the weather may be a little cool but the food is great and the hospitality is warm!
Brian

Oh Canada!

2009-05-17T18:43:00.010+01:00

Well here I am in the comfort of my sisters home in Baie D' Urfe, Montreal, where women cook and men watch sport on TV and I have time to think about our short interlude in the Rockies.

We travelled by Greyhound bus, how iconic is that? They are very comfortable and have really big windows, stop every 2 hours or so and sweep quietly along the excellent Canadian highways. The views from the bus were interesting from the start (7 am Tuesday 12th May) so we were both gazing out of the window the whole time and I dind'nt doze at all, even though it had been an early start.

The Rockies are so craggy and there are so many fir trees on them and great deep ravines with rushing water, waterfalls tumble down mountain sides and so much snow and icy fingers of small glaciers creeping down towards the ribbon of road. Sometimes a valley floor will open out and there is either wonderful alpine meadow type terrain or boggy wetland stuff, sometimes there are broad river beds covered in rocks, fallen trees and gravel beds with a small rushing stream meandering around. It is obvious that come snow melt that little stream becomes a rushing mighty torrent hurling rocks, debris and whole huge trees before its foaming waters. There are also huge lakes of a curious icy blue and the endless trees, taller and closer together than anything you would ever see in Britain.

Because of being on the highway we didn't really pass through towns, but stopped on the outskirts to drop and pick up passengers, we had a nice soup and sandwich in one place and were able to earwig on a Pinteresque, one sided conversation where an older man was loudly alternately harranging or plaintively asking a younger woman why she was going away, she didn't answer and just got up to go and board her bus so I guess she had her reasons!

Our trip lasted from Tuesday to Friday, stopping one night in the tiny and workaday Revelstoke and two nights in the more resort-like Banff. Both towns are laid out on a grid system with huge wide roads and low, mainly two storey buildings. Some of the buildings date from the 1880's and some are more modern. Revelstoke was a goldrush town and they both grew up about the time the railroad was built across Canada. Revelstoke boasts four museums and loads of eating places as well as hardware shops, shops selling snowmobiles and chainsaws and a very small mall. It also has a main street that looks like something out of a wild west film, even more so at the moment because they are digging it up to pedestrianise and so the road is just mud. It was cold on the evening of the 12th and we were glad of our borrowed gloves and I of my thrift store hat and jumper.

We woke up to a sunny morning and were actually quite hot as we waited on the steps of the "Same Sun Backpackers Hostel" for the taxi to take us to the bus stop. Imagine the deep quiet of a small town in the rockies, very few people about and a car passes you about every 5 minutes (cars stop at cross roads for pedestrians to cross, even when the pedestrians are quite a long way from reaching the corner), the view of snow covered mountains all around you and the crisp, clean air faintly scented with pine.

On to Banff, a funny journey, we crossed a time zone line and the driver didn't notice so there was a good deal of confusion about the lenght of time at a stop, he thought we had an hour and some of us knew that we did'nt. At the front of the bus is a notice that instructs not to talk to the driver when the bus is in motion. The very front seat was taken by a very senior lady who was a bit blind, this meant that she couldn't read the notice and she talked to the driver all the way from Revelstoke to Banff, about 4 plus hours, we knew all about her whole history by the time we reached our destination.

The journey took us through more breathtaking scenery, snow storms, clouds, past notices that said "Avelanche Area, no stopping", through tunels and over high bridges . We arrived in Banff on a lovely sunny, but cold afternoon and walked to the YWCA, where we had a very comfortable room and a great place to eat.

Banff is smarter looking than Revelstone and has developed as a resort almost since its foundation. It has lots of mountain equipment stores, jewelry stores, smart boutiques and very expensive places to eat (hence the Y cafeteria being our resturant of choice). It had a powerful advocate in a man called Luxton who moved to Banff in the 1900's to recover from an ill advised 2 man canoe trip across the Pacific. He recovered and never left and became a 'Booster' for the town, married a local and ended up with all sorts of bussiness enterprises and has a whole museum dedicated to him.

We walked about the town, had short walks along trails, went to the museums, ate and drank and had a fantastic ride up to the top of Sulphur Mountain on a cable car. The weather was horrible on Thursday, snow and the mountainds hidden by cloud that played a sort of hide and reveal game with us, one minute you would get a glimpse of a snowy slope or peak and the next it would be obscured and another peak or rocky outcrop would slip into view. It was a bit grey too so though wonderful the veiws did'nt sparkle in the way they do on post cards.

The next day was different, sun out, snow overnight and the sparkle was there, on trees covered with snow and the peaks glistened and all the rocky ourcrops had their strata picked out in gleaming white. It was so bright and the trip up the mountain was breath taking with views that went on for ever.

We went up in the gondolas with crowds of other people, some really dressed up, some in suits, a Mounty in full dress uniform, all sorts of people with Canadian flags, while waiting in line for our gondola we were all serenaded by the high school jazz band. We asked the very statuesque blond dressed in National Parks uniform, whose name was Larie Schwartz, who shared our gondola what was going on and she told us it was a citizenship ceremony for 51 new Canadians, she also told us she was the anthem singer of 'O Canada'. At the top we goggled at the fantasic views, had a coffee and goggled some more and then joined in at the back of the ceremony. It was really quite wonderful, we were'nt there for the whole of it, but we listened to the heartfelt oration of the Judge who had taken the oath from all of the new citizens and then some speaches from local politicians and then Lorrie Schwatz sang the anthem, acappello - well it brought a tear to my eye, all these people from about 30 or so countries all starting new lives. It was a real priveledge to be present.

We went back down the mountain after an hour or two on the top and Brian went for a dip in the acclaimed Banff hot springs bath, I watched because I have a horrible cold (no colds for 2 years at home and this is my 3rd in 4.5 months). He was in the water or lounging on the edge of the pool for about an hour with the occasional snow flurry drifting around him and the other bathers. We spent the rest of the afternoon on a walk by the river to the museum that is on the sight of the origional hot springs pool 'The Cave and Basin Museum'. It is the place where some prospecters found a hole in the ground with steam coming out of it. The water is very sulphurus and the cave really pongs. You can't bathe there any more because it is the home of the tiny and endangered Banff Hot Spring Snail (about the size of a grain of rice). There is a good exhibition of old photos and the story of the development of the national parks, Banff was the first one in 1880 something.

Some funny things happened on our trip, we flooded our room at the YWCA, well it wasn't really our fault. The loo started making funny noises and wouldn't flush properly. We reported it as we went off to breakfast and came back about half an hour later to find them vac sucking about 2 inches of water out of the whole carpeted room. It had also ruined the ceiling of the room below. Two rooms ruined! Goodness knows what had happened but the water must have started flowing again after we had left the room. We had to gather up all our stuff and were moved to a different room. I saw the janitor the next morning and he said 'no leaks today eh?'.

Also I nearly broke the ticket machine on a local bus by feeding my $2.00 piece into the slot made for smartcards, the bus driver was very nice about it, but it was a bit embarrasing as we all sat and waited while he fished it out - all the other passengers looking at me!

Off now to take another decongestant and watch the last of an ice hockey match on the high definition T.V.
Tess

Kamloops - Revelstoke - Banff

2009-05-14T23:27:00.005+01:00

Its snowing outside so hard we can't get out for the fudge ice-cream we had promised ourselves. We are back on the road by Greyhound bus. First to Kamloops then a change for Revelstoke where we stayed the night and then yesterday another bus through the most spectacular mountain scenery to here in Banff. We are staying in hostels, the Samesun Backpackers Hostel in Revelstoke and the Y Mountain Ridge here in Banff (actually the YWCA in disguise). Mind you this might mark the end of our hostel stays - our room flooded this morning and ruined the room underneath as well. We had reported a problem with the toilet which suddenly turned into a very serious problem as we had breakfast. Fortunately the hostel handyman was on the case immediately.

Revelstoke and Banff are both mountain places, a small grid of streets by a river but there the similarity ends. Revelstoke looked like one of those places you see in cowboy films and was full of really useful hardware, working clothes, marine and other shops. Banff is one of those resort places full of high priced knick knacks and clothing - for those with loose minds and wallets.

And the weather? Well I had thought that mid May might constitute Spring in these parts but here in Banff which is at about 1350 metres the temperature is not much above freezing and its snowing hard at the moment. Just as well we borrowed those hats, gloves and extra fleeces from Andre and Nicole back in Maple Ridge - they are getting well used. Mind you our treking sandles which have got us around the world and are our only footwear may not be entirely appropriate!

Brian

I am wearing my sandals with my DVT socks, plus another pair of socks, so my feet will stay warm as long as I dont go wading in snow and get wet.
In 1972 I came over to Canada for an extended stay with my sister, Rachelle and Andre were very small and it was lovely just outside Montreal in May. I traveled across to Vancouver by train, three days there and three days back and longed to get off at intervals, particularly in the majestic rockies. Now a chance to see a bit more of these odd, modern yet far from anywhere towns is really great though I wasnt expecting snowfall and mountain views hidden behind cloud again (a bit of a theme in our travels).
Tess

ps hope to add some photos later

5406 Ross Street

2009-05-11T18:17:00.009+01:00

5406 Ross Street is the place in Vancouver where my mother Emily Garner and her younger sister Betty were born and raised. My maternal grandparents had got married in Liverpool in 1918 and shipped for Canada, ending up in Vancouver where my grandfather worked for the logging industry as an engineer.

I would guess that the houses in Ross Street were newly built in the 1920s when my grandparents moved in. Betty (always known to us as Aunt Betts) returned some years ago to revisit her childhood home and reported it much changed - they all have new windows among other changes. What has not changed is the magnificent view down the road to downtown Vancouver and best of all those mountains that ring the north side of the city - a little snow capped at this time of year.

The 1929 economic collapse also brought the logging industry to a virtual halt and my grandfather found himself without work. What must have been a terribly difficult decision led to the entire family returning to England, first to stay with my grandmother's family in Manchester and then to Glasgow where my grandfather got work with John Brown's shipyard on the Clyde.

When I visited Vancouver is 2003 for the first time and saw how beautiful it is and also visited Ross Street I asked Betty how it had been for her as a teenager to be wrenched out of her home, taken across Canada and then the Atlantic to end up in 1930s Glasgow, 'I just cried and cried' was her response.

Betty was later offered the opportunity to be demobbed to Canada after service in the WRENS during the war but my mother and father were returning from Alexandria to be married in the UK so she chose to return to the UK and then to the family home in Cambuslang, Glasgow. She remained in Glasgow for the rest of her life and it was many decades before she got the opportunity to revisit her childhood home and city.

Betts was a great traveller, she visited us in Cambridge every year and took cruises and other trips with her old friend Kath Scott right up to her death just over two years ago. She left us a little money - just enough, once it had been in the bank a little while, to cover the cost of our two round the world tickets we are currently using so we sometimes reflect that our trip is partly in memory of Betts. We also have taken the opportunity to scatter some of her ashes at Ross Street - a place she loved so much.

Brian

You are my sunshine

2009-05-09T04:53:00.006+01:00

We set off on Wednesday with our lovely niece Rachelle driving, for a little trip to the famous 'Sunshine Coast' an area that though part of the Canadian mainland is reached by ferry across Howes Sound.

The ferry ride was only about 50 minutes, but the wait at the terminal in Horeshoe Bay was quite long as the first ferry of the day had in some way broken down, no one told us how, in fact no one told us it had broken down until it was quite late arriving. Still we got on to the replacement ferry and had not had to wait as long as the man at the front of the queue who had been there for the first ferry sailing at 6.30 am (we were there for the 11.20)

On arrival at Gibsons landing we had a lovely lunch at the famous Mollys Reach, not many of you will know this, but it featured in a 1970s and 1980's Canadian tv series called "The Beachcombers". Anyway we were served cheerfully, promptly and the sandwiches were reasonably priced and absolutely delicious. After lunch we visited the tourist information office and the cheerful and efficient ladies there found us a lovely bed and breakfast in Sechelt, the Seschelt Inlet B & B on Snookumchuk Road.

We pottered of towards Sechelt, it was a bit rainy, but we saw fantastic sceenery. B C is so beautiful and you don't get all those big, green trees (often covered in hanging moss) without a bit of rain. The B & B was wonderful, it had a hot tub a view of a fantastic body of water and mountains and our breakfast the following morning was substantial and really tasty. That was just as well, as our stop for lunch in Pender Harbour was distinctly disappointing, for $9.25 Brian got the saddest bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon you have ever seen, no salad with it, nothing but a very small and poorly filled bagel.

After the sad bagel we went off to our next accommodation (found for us by Jean our landlady of the previous night) and checked in. 'The Lodge at Gunboat Bay', run by Laura and Yvonne is also wonderful, fantastically comfortable beds, lovely bathroom, friendly welcome, 3 well behaved dogs and one quiet cat, several Yurts one of which was a studio where wonderful yarn was spun and made into woven and knitted things. The peace and quiet was fantastic and the view so lovely.

After checking in we went off to Egmont to walk along a forest path to see the sea bore, if you look on a map you will see that the sea comes into this very long inlet and the retreating tide meets the incoming tide and a natural phenomenon occurs. After the walk we drove into Egmont (a very small place) stopping at Egmont Wilderness Lodge hoping to get our evening meal there but they had been varnishing their floor and the restaurant was closed, our second eating failure, the Ruby Lake resort was also closed and that meant no chance of seeing the paintings of one Joni Mitchell, their 'neighbour' that are sometimes in their gallery. Leaning over the balcony of the Egmont Wilderness lodge and looking at the fantastic view I asked the owner where he went for holiday and he just looked at the view and sort of shrugged in a 'who needs to go anywhere else' sort of way. We ended up having our supper at the Back Eddy Pub, lovely, good beer and good quality good value food (making the sad bagel seem even sadder)

Our rest was very restful and after another wonderful breakfast (and awarding best bed for 5 months award) we set off to meander our way back to the ferry. We had a nice walk at Smugglers cove (very amusing meeting with some Beavers, 'Chuck, where have you put your woggle' 'Dont climb that tree, I SAID DONT Climb) and another meal at Mollys Reach, we reached the ferry and set off home to Vancouver and Rachelle and Sheldon's house, tired but happy.

Tessa

Vancouver B.C.

2009-05-06T17:00:00.003+01:00

BC is of course British Columbia, but for us the BC stands for 'Becoming Cloudy' as Vancouver lost its nice spring weather the day we arrived. We have spent a few lazy days with nephew Andre and wife Nicole, their two year old Daniel and two week old Madeleine and of course with neice Rachelle and partner Sheldon.

We have only made one foray downtown. We spent a good time exploring Vancouver last time we were here in 2003 - when the August weather was a good deal more inviting. This time we just made a short shopping trip - Tess needed some socks and leggings against the cold - and also visited the art gallery where we saw two exhibitions, one on abstraction (left us Barely Concious) and another much better one of four landscape painters (Bloody 'Complished). Mind you for the 12 dollar entry fee each we felt that here BC stood for a Bit Conned as only half the galleries were open.

We had our first encounter with a Canadian eccentric in a shopping mall (drinking Black Coffee) when a character came in with his hat and jacket covered in home made large wooden badges - each poker worked with a different political or health issue slogan and then varnished. This BC (Badge Covered) resident than of course made a bee-line for us and we actually had a good chat with him. He was from Port Alberni in the middle of Vancouver Island, a place we have spent a few hours in, and told us how his family had emigrated from Scotland just before the war, having visited Germany and become convinced of the inevitability of war. It is our experience from our last visit that there is no-one on the islands without a long and interesting back story.

We are off shortly to the Sunshine Coast BC for a couple of nights - standing here for Better Climate as it gets its name from its rain shadow location just a ferry ride away to the north of Vancouver. But judging from the weather forecast for us it will stand for Bloody Chilly and Better Cancel. We will let you know how we get on!

Brian

Tokyo to Vancouver

2009-05-03T17:19:00.005+01:00

a few final pics from Japan - Hiroshima and Miyajima. That deer ate our map guide and Tess got the shot of the monkeys up the montain.

We did Saturday May 2nd twice. The first one in Japan, travelling from Hiroshima via Tokyo and onto Narita airport for our 7pm flight. The second began as we arrived at 12 noon at Vancouver - but it was also Saturday May 2nd so we spent the second one with Rachelle and partner Sheldon and his two children, had a couple of hours sleep and went out to a Greek restaurant in the evening. Such is the effect of crossing the international date line.

Thank heavens I don't have a day date calendar watch - I think I would still be adjusting it!

Two words of praise for Air Canada. First for their excellent entertainment system, essential for those like me who never can sleep on aircraft. Apart from that wonderful gps system so you can follow the flight path it included a wide range of films on demand including foreign, arthouse, classic and of course hollywood categories and we watched the excellent Terence Davies film on Liverpool (I also passed part of the nine hour flight watching the Tom Cruise film Valkyrie which at least passed the time!). And a second word of praise for Air Canada for clearly welcoming the more mature flight attendant, mind you some of them get a bit sassy with the advancing years!

Brian

ithinkimturningjapaneseimturningjapaneseyesithinkso!

2009-05-02T08:06:00.012+01:00

a few photos from Kyoto, plus below some of Junko and family and the Sunday Lunch in the next blog.

Our final day in Japan is being spent on a Shinkansen train from Hiroshim to Tokyo for our overnight flight to Vancouver. We are sad to leave - our 11 days here have rather flashed by.

Japan has proved to be one of the most interesting and enjoyable countries on our tour. Part of our enjoyment has been getting out of the extreme heat and humidity of our tropical leg and into warm spring sunshine. Part has been due to the ease of travel - despite the ocassional difficulty navigating huge railway interchanges or finding a sudden lack of any English signage. But mostly we have been entertained and sometimes amazed at the street life, the cityscapes and of course the wonderful temples, gardens, national parks, and landscapes.

Next to India, Japan has to rank as one of the most interesting countries to visit - at least in our widened by still limited experience. Street life in India is great theatre, but sometimes a little hard to take. In Japan the streets are also full of life but always entertaining, never appalling. We saw in Ahmedebd the more developed side of Indian urban life but in Japan we seem to be peering into the future.

Our enjoyment is however overwhelmingly due to the kindness of people here, Junko and her family of course but also the many people who have helped us on our way. They never bother you but if you stop and look a little lost, as we did at Hiroshima streetcar terminal, an old man rushed forward with route maps and advice on where to get our tram.

We thought Kyoto was a wonderful city and despite spending four nights there Tess was still finding things we had to do as we left, making a return trip necessary! It's an impressive modern city, good metro and wonderful bus system and is fringed by and interlaced with the most extraordinary temples, shrines and old streets and buildings. They are as seen in all those classic photos you have seen - right down to the artistically raked gravel. Mind you, I was continually surprised (even as an old cynic) by the sheer variety of ways in which those Buddhist monks had come up with ways to guarantee good fortune - all for a few hundred yen of course!.

Hiroshima seemed at first like just another modern Japanese city. We were travelling on a streetcar to our ryokan when the Japanese announcements of stops gave way to a rather stentorian English voice, 'The next stop is the Atomic Bomb Dome'. There were the stark ruins and in the distance the surrounding hills, also familiar from photographs and which were partially responsible for the choice of Hiroshima for obliteration - since they would contain and magnify the effects of the bomb.

Our ryokan was very close to the Peace Park, an area which was completely devastated. We wondered at the small graveyards crowded with grave stones that we found among the densely packed modern buildings. Our visit to the Peace Park was enlivened by groups of school childern seeking an interview - part of the work book they were all carrying for their visit. Most affecting of all were the underground Hall of Remembrance - a circular structure with a tiled stone 360 degree panorama of the devastated city - the 140,000 tiles representing each of the dead- and of course the Peace Museum which presented in graphic detail the impact of the bomb on people and the city.

This was a major purpose of our visit of course but we found time to explore the city centre a little, enjoy the local noodle dish and spend a wonderful day on Miyajima, a beautiful mountainous island a short train ride and ferry hop from Hiroshima. A lovely way to spend our final day before beginning the journey north to Tokyo and onto Vancouver.

Brian

I have really enjoyed Japan, it has enough mystery and surprise to make it feel really foreign (can't understand the language or writing) while being reassuringly clean, safe and organised. I was going to add 'comfortable' but as far as I am concerned the jury is still out on Futons as viable beds.

Things here that are wonderful: the hot bath to soak in, especially when fed by a natural hot spring; the food; the kindness, politeness and quietness of people in public places and private spaces; the cleanliness of all public spaces and facilities and the transport. There are many others but thats the list that springs to mind first.

Odd and different things: so many elderly people everywhere, smartly dressed, doing things and going places and using the public transport. The Pachinkos - huge halls of slot machines and one armed bandits; the huge size of the shopping centrs; housing packed as tightly as an Indian shanty town but so much less messy.

Watching people here is fascinating. Japanese girls dress modestly with few arms, shoulders or cleavages on display but lots of leg as they wear very short skirts or shorts. Often under these they wear black tights or calf length leggings or sometimes over the knee socks in black, I have also seen socks with bright pink with lacey tops, they leave an interesting (slightly Victorian naughty postcard) gap between sock top and skirt hem. I saw one woman on the streetcar with knee length black lacey shorts showing under the hem of her severe black business suit. Japanese girls like lace, frills, ruffles and sheer fabrics with small flower patterns - 'cute' in a big theme. Shoes and boots have very high heels or are completely flat and often brightly patterned.

Cyclists ride fast on pavements often holding an umbrella, some have a special umbrella clamp on their handlebars.

Queus are very orderly, train entrances are marked on platforms and lines form at them and only the very ancient push by.

No outling is complete without taking home a beautifully wrapped box of the local speciality food. On our trip to the stunning Miyajima island we watched the making of special waffles in the shape of a maple leaf which are then filled with a sweet bean paste and are very tasty. We saw other shapes of the same delicacy on our visit to Hakone. Our speciality food in Hiroshima was a sort of pancake cooked in front of you on a huge hot counter. First came the pancake batter, then a pile of finely shredded cabbage, a sprinkling of chives and crumbed nori, beansprouts, bacon and noodles. Each layer is added and pressed down on the hot plate with seasoning added with finally an egg which is first broken onto the hot plate and omleted then addedto the pile and the whole thing flipped over, preesed down and cooked some more. It is then slid over on the hot plate to your place on the counter with a cutter to cut off a piece, place in your bowl and eat with the chopsticks after adding some delicious brown sauce. There were three floors of these eating establishments in one building all making this same dish (with different fillings available), and all selling like hot pancakes!

Tessa

ps apologies for the lack of photos, they will be added we hope when we get to Vancouver. Despite being the centre of technology and communication we have found Japan the hardest place to get this blog done!

Sunday Lunch - Japan Style

2009-04-28T11:03:00.006+01:00

An early lunch because we needed to catch the train for Kyoto in the afternoon. Junko's Mum and Dad picked us all up in their people carrier and off we wentthrough the Tokyo suburbs to a shopping centre. Up to the 5th floor and turn into an unexciting looking doorway and suddenly its another world - somehow a space in a modern building has been made to look like a very traditional Japanese interior, calm, quiet and peaceful with beautiful caligraphy on the walls and waitresses in tight rolled tube skirts and loose kimono style jackets. We were shown to our table and given the menu for the set lunch. We had been told that this restaurant specialised in soya cake - which didnt sound too exciting but as the meal unfolded we realised how wrong we had been.

I think I have only had two other meals of similar complexity and delight and both of those were in Italy. I cant describe all the courses of this menu in the detail they deserve, I really wish I had taken notes! Course one appeared in a little blue and white three tiered china box with tiny tastes of delicious things in each box.

Altogether there were 15 courses, sometimes just one thing arrived, other times things arrived in sets. The most dramatic was a bowl with tofu blocks wrapped in something and placed in water. The dish was then placed on induction loops which were at the centre of each table and we had to let the water come to boil and cook for 8 minutes. The water was from a mineral spring and on boiling turned white - very health giving apparently.

Brian and I got two tiny but so delicious squares of steak to cook on hot stones brought to the table when everyone else had raw fish. There were tiny dishes on cooked vegetables and dishes of pickled veg. Finally we finished with a choise of deserts. I had soy ice cream with what tasted like balsamic soy sauce - if there is such a thing - as a topping.

It really was the most delicious, beautifully presented meal I have had and such a treat to eat with our Japanese family including the wonderfully well behaved Michiru, not yet three.

Immediately afterwards we were off to the station by the metro. We bade fond farewells and away we swept to Tokyo station and our first Shinkansen or bullet train, one with a few stops on the journey to Kyoto but still pretty fast. We knew the train was due when the gang of ladies, smartly dressed in pink - right up to their sun visors arrived on the platform. The train comes in,pasengers off,pink ladies in with a notice across the doors saying no entry cleaning. They clean two or three to a carriage, turn the seats 180 degrees so you face forwards, collect their cleaning stuff after every surface is cleaned, exit the carriage, bow and then the neatly queuing passengers alight.

The journey was fantastic, quick, quiet very smooth and WE SAW MOUNT FUJU! It was a lovely sunny day, blue sky and there she was, very close to the railway line and we got a good view - actually got some of the Japansese passengers to take notice of their national mountain and we got some pictures.

Tess

ps photos to follow - another of those PCs that refuse to recognise our card reader.

Fuji Come and Fuji Go

2009-04-25T22:26:00.004+01:00

The final photo shows the famous view of Mt Fuji across the lake, so if anyone can photoshop it in for us and email it back we will be grateful!

Seeing Mt Fuji is of course high on our list of things to do in Japan. But its not so easy, as we have discovered.

Actually I have seen it already, from the window of our 747 as we approached the Tokyo area (aircraft have a rather wonderful GPS system which they display when they are not showing those ludicrous films they select so you can see where you are etc). Gazing out across the coastline in the early dawn light I saw Mt Fuji rising snowy above the low clouds, a rather magnificent view but a fleeting and distant one.

And on our first day of sightseeing in Tokyo, which was clear and bright, Junko announced that she had seen Fuji clearly from her third floor bedroom window early that morning (at all of 100km distant), only for it to rapidly disappear.

So on Friday we set off for Shinjuku station to catch a train to the Hakone National Park below Fuji. You buy a Free Pass ticket for about 35 pounds which takes you there and back and allows you to ride an amazing array of trains, mountain railways, buses, cable cars, funiculars and even a fake galleon to cruise the lake (which provides one of the most famous Fuji views).

As we approached the Park however the weather became ever more cloudy and by the evening there was a distinct feeling of rain in the hills. No matter, we had a wonderful journey there ending on a bus which announced every stop in English, even adding the name of our Ryokan, or traditional Japanese Guest House, at our stop. It was a great friendly place, lovely traditional room, no en-suites but with both an indoor and outdoor Onsen, a bath fed by natural hot springs and with water heavy with sulphur and minerals in which you gently broil yourself pink. You book a private half hour session so you can be outdoors and naked!

A group of Australians/Canadians/Swiss arrived a little later, travelliing around the country as Intrepid Tours, and we spent the evening in the sitting area chatting and playing Chinese Poker.

We began the next day with another go in the Onsen before breakfast, out in the now heavy rain! And then set off to explore the area by every mode of transport on offer and of course realising that a view of Fuji was absolutely out of the question, with the rain and clouds thickening by the hour. But it was great fun, such an amazingly beautiful, wet and green area, even passing in a cable car over one valley thick with sulphur mining (by the look of it). And the transport system has to be seen to be believed, full of course of elderly Japanese and others pouring into the area despite the rain.

Brian

ps Success! Mt Fuji clearly visible from Junko`s bedroom window this very sunny Sunday morning.

Hai!

2009-04-24T00:08:00.007+01:00

Hai just means yes, but its how you get energetically greeted, said quickly and with emphasis. We had our first Hai as we bought our Tokyo Free tickets for roaming the metro and urban rail system. Its looks fearsomely complex but with great signage, colour coding of lines, numbering of stations and announcements in English on the train we have only made some minor errors.

Its the small things you notice (Tess will no doubt report on some of the fashion) but most of what we hear about Japan may be fairly accurate, its a well ordered, efficient and extremely polite society. Yes, everyone under our age enters the metro with their flip open mobiles and earphones firmly in place, there is a signal everwhere underground evidently, only the elderly are excused mobiles in constant use.

Getting back from our evening out in Shinjuku last night the metro was still crowded at 9.30pm with returning (mostly male) commuters and the very distinct smell of alchohol showed that most of them had been attending those urgent evening business meetings!

But its the politeness I love. Waiting for a metro I noticed the stationman, smartly dressed in cap and uniform and white gloves come to attention and bow to the approaching train. I could not see how the driver responded, I hope with just a nod. And as we explored the suburb where Junku and her husband Morimichi live with two year old Michiru we came across some pavement works which necesitated using a coned off section of the road. At one end a smartly dressed flag man flagged us to wait for a cyclist to come through before waving us on. Half way along a further smartly dressed man in hard hat bowed us through. Now when was the last time you were made to feel like royalty at some road works?

And I have yet to tell you about the wonders of electronic Japanese toilets and large screen HD television! Hai!

Brian

Yes Japan seems, quiet, blessedly cool. We had a lovely day yesterday, breakfast with Junko and Michiru and then after they had gone off to work and nursery we set off to the centre of Tokyo, first to get our Japan rail pass activated and book our train tickets and then to look at the Imeperial Palace and on to the National Museum.

The Imperial Palace is in the finacial district and we had a coffee at a very smart cafe (at the sort of price that made you feel you ought to be working for a merchant bank) and watched smartly dressed workers having their lunch. Women wear high heels, tights, very neat skirts in dark colours some sraight some quite full and a bit flirty, a neat blouse and a little fitted jacket or a fitted cardigan, all the young women carry nice bag some of which are quite colourful and the smartly suited men carry briefcases.

The museum is set in a large park, in an area a bit like the south bank with several museums, an art gallery, concert hall and the Tokyo Zoo. We had a curiously insubsantial sandwich at the cafe of the concert hall and watched loads of Tokyo OAPs out for a cultural day and also having sandwiches and tea. The typical Japanese elder is really quite tiny and fantasticly neatly dressed, no Nora Batty stockings for them! Many wear hats (men and women), the women can be in trousers, skirts or traditional Kimono ( we saw several kimono wearers) but they all wear very sensible shoes and walk briskly in pairs or small groups, chatting ernestly together. Older men take every opportunity to have a short sleep, we saw several streched out on the museum sofas , fast asleep.

The young are of course not such conservative dressers, wild hair, jeans so tight you think they must have been born in them, hats and tshirts with slogans and winkle picker shoes so long and pointed that it makes walking difficult. Lots of the girls wear silver shoes and so far we havent seen any outrageously dressed girls, though having seen a lot of teenagers in very formal school uniform you can imagine that both boys and girls must long for the time when they can express themselves with what they wear.

Tess　

Moats, Markets and Massage

2009-04-21T04:28:00.005+01:00

We are about to leave Chiang Mai but I think have told you very little about this rather remarkable place. Its a 700 year old city within a moat and what remains of its walls - of course it has now spread beyond its original 1km plus square moat aligned with the compass but the moat is still intact and contains the central part of the city - a place of roads runing NS and EW joined by numerous Soi s or Lanes.

When we were visiting the temples at Angkor Wat the most difficult thing was to imagine that they formed the centres of large cities - built of wood and surrounded by walls and moats, since they had long since been abandoned to the forest with everything but the temples disappeared. But at Chiang Mai the city has survived (no water supply problems as at Angkor), there are the centrally placed old Buddhist temples, still in use, to which have been added about 100 more - you find them just about on any corner and down any lane. For the rest the present day city is just a collection of mainly low rise buildings, loads of cheap hotels, guest houses, shops, stalls, second hand bookshops, restaurants of every kind and internet cafes everywhere. Its not particularly pretty but with most of the traffic on the roads either side of the moat the other roads and lanes are pretty quiet. Its a nice place to visit, we have enjoyed it a lot.

Brian

On to markets and the massage.

We went to the Sunday walking market, setting off from the hotel in baking heat at about 6pm, the sun was going down and there was the promise of a slight cooling to come.

We walked about 15 minutes alongside the moat to the begining of the market street, during the week it is an ordianry street, open to trafic, but on Sunday afternoon and evening it becomes a pedestrian only place and is lined with market stalls of all types. We wended our way through, negotiating round the thousands of other people, tourists and locals who were looking at things, disscussing price with vendors and generally gawping and chatting. The centre of the wide street was taken up with groups of disabled musicians, dancing children in various sorts of traditional dress, a beautiful girl doing traditional Thai dance and at one junction a green glass (Emerald?)
Buddha with attendants, being venerated by passers by.

There were so many people and stalls (and the stalls went off to the left and right along side streets too) that it must have taken us about two hours to see about half of what was on offer. We didn't buy much, too much choice, but I did get a new diary and a gift for the friend with whom we are to stay in Tokyo, we also had an iced mango drink and finished up with a very inexpensive supper at May Kaidee's where we were greeted like old friends and were able to show Duan her photo on the blog.

The massage was yesterday and given to me by a soon to be released prisoner at Chiang Mai's Correctional Institute (Prison) for Women. I dont know if any of you have had a Thai massage, I hadn't and it is not a bit like a gentle aroma therapy massage. You are dressed in very modest baggy trousters and a loose top, lie down on a matress and your masseuse goes at you with her forearms, feet hands and at times whole body whan she kneels on bits of your body in order to pummell other bits. There is also quite a bit of having your arms and legs pushed into yoga like positions and at the end she is behind you, holding your arms and sort of pulls you backwards onto her legs and stomach, oh and there is quite a lot of being slapped as well. I'm not sure if I would have another Thai massage, but at least if I do it won't be quite so suprising, the masseuse didnt have much English, but she had mastered "relax madam" and will have earned some money for her release with her skills.

Tessa

ps photos to be added when we can as we are about to fly to Bangkok and then onto Tokyo - we have just reached Day 1 Week 16 of our trip and still going strong!

Blocked? Unblocked now!

2009-04-19T10:36:00.009+01:00

We appear to have been blocked - lost all access to blogspot.com for some days and we also think we suffered a road block yesterday on the road back from a National Park when the highway traffic ground to a complete halt about 30km from Chiang Mai. We only got away through our minivan driver taking a u-turn and then some rough country roads. Even so we were held up again near Chiang Mai airport and there were large numbers of traffic and other police about and a lot of police cars. Not a normal road hold up we thought and I read in today's paper that three of the 'Red Shirt' protest leaders have been arrested in Chiang Mai so maybe it was connected with that.

And the blog block? Well blogspot gets blocked in China and sometimes in other places as people use it as an alternative means of getting the news out. It was certainly a major source of information on the corruption in Sarawak.

But apart from these inconveniences we have been enjoying life in Chiang Mai- its too hot by far, despite the fact that we are at least partially acclimatised to the tropical heat, we do find ourselves looking forward to the relative cool of Japan next week. But yesterday we experienced some real cold right here in our minivan trip with a small group to a national park containing the highest mountain in Thailand. We first viewed waterfalls, a really interesting small Burman village (where the residents did not appear to mind us poking about their place of living and work) and then a very impressive Royal Research Station where huge amounts of flower and other crops are grown to get everyone to stop growing opium poppies and then up to the highest peak at over 2,500 metres. And course it was into the cloud, thick cloud which then became a howling wind and driving rains. We at least had our cagoules (the first time we have actually had them with us when needed!), the visit to Buddhist stupas became virtually an impossibility, we could barely see them in the clouds and rain.

We treated ourselves in the evening to an excellent Italian meal (having had our more usual vegetarian Thai meal for lunch on the trip), real gnocchi and our first glass of red wine since leaving the UK! It must have encouraged Tessa to dream as she complained this morning that She had been dreaming of roast beef, gravy etc. Still she did do some cooking the other day at May Kaidee's vegetarian restaurant here. We met May at her Bangkok restaurant but there was no opportunity to take a cooking lesson there but she told us her sister, Duan, did classes at the restaurant here which is nearby. I will try to upload some pics including the array of dishes that Tessa cooked and which we both tried unsuccessfully to finish.

Nightrunners of Chiang Mai

2009-04-15T15:05:00.006+01:00

Thai Railways certainly have the mighty Indian railways beat! We travelled last night from Ayutthura to Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand by overnight sleeper - catching our train about 9.30pm last night and arriving (about a hour late) here by 10.45am today. We were well looked after, the platform guy came up to the European travellers a few minutes before the train arrived to check our carriages and get us to to the right part of the platform and Tessa's rapid ascent was ensured by a cry of 'Madam, Madam!' and a polite shove of the backside to mount the steep steps with pack on back.

We were met by the guard inside the carriage, shown to our seats and our bunks made up immediately - followed rapidly by the very smiley lady waiting for our beer order (a large bottle of Singha beer was ordered, we are celebrating the final completion of my Indian hospital
anti-biotics).

Not a bad nights sleep all in all, Thai railways only get in four bunks whereas India gets in six or even nine -it makes a big difference, imagine the layout in 'Some Like it Hot' but without Marilyn and you have it.

Getting up for the inevitable pee in the night I entered the corridor to see a French kid tumble from the top bunk - I think he was hardly aware of what had happened and his father was on the spot immediately. But apart from that it was an uneventful trip.

We woke quite early to find that we had fnally left the plains behind and were climbing through forested hills and we were cold! - the ac was rather too effective. But soon the coffee man came and then the breakfast man. All of this and the tickets were only about 15 pounds each for our14 hours on the train.

Arriving we were supposed to be met by a driver from the hotel, well after 40 minutes of waiting for a young English couple to sign up for trips and to do some food shopping at the station (what is it with young people?) we set off in our tuk tuk - but of course it is Songkran with a real frenzy here and our open sided tuk tuk was a perfect target at all junctions - we arrived at the hotel duly soaked and a bit grumpy after our long journey!

Chiang Mai is a moated place and its moats were full of people and those not in the water were dipping buckets or even hoses attached to pumps to get even more water out to soak themselves and passers by - quite impossible to stay dry.

Just back now from a lovely meal in a posh restaurant to celebrate Tessa's birthday!

Brian

ps this blog owes its origin to the fact that having blogged about our trip in Bengal on the North East Frontier Railway taking the Darjeeling Mail to Kolkata we totally forget to use the title 'Night Runners of Bengal' - finding an old copy of the book in Bangkok reminded us and short of returning to Bengal to do it again you have to accept this attempt.

Songkran: Happy New Year!

2009-04-13T14:53:00.005+01:00

Scenes from the New Year street celebrations plus Tessa trying to send a few emails with a rock band just a couple of metres behind her in full pelt!

It is really hot here, mid 30's or above today so a New Year custom of hurling water at each other makes perfect sense. It did get really wet in the streets of Ayutthaya, where we arrived at about 2pm after catching busses from where we were yesterday.

We saw the celebrations of New Year in every town and hamlet we passed on our five hour journey, young people with buckets, bowls, vast tubs, hose pipes and water pistols hurling water at each other and smearing faces with a clay and water mixture.

By the time we had found somwhere to stay, unloaded our packs, had a shower and got out to explore Ayutthaya the action was really hotting up, there were loads of pickup trucks packed with very wet young people determindly getting even wetter. We strolled around, trying to look as senior as we could (there is supposed to be the honouring of older people at New Year too), but we still got a bit wet and quite clay covered. People come up to you and gently wipe the clay on your face, its not at all aggressive, but the water hurling is just quite general and if you don't want to get wet, stay indoors. There is also a good deal of beer drinking and very loud music and the patrons of one cafe we had a drink at was having a very amusing tug of war competition with the patrons of cafe next door, every one was fairly drunk and a lot of both teams fell over at the first tug. There was also very drunken street volley ball, but it was all jolly, with lots of hugging going on and the Thai equivalent of ' I really love you' being shouted, anyway ' Happy New Year' to all our readers.

Tess

A quick note on our plans. We came here (and have been very glad to have done so) to avoid Bangkok which is the FCO advice. We also hoped to pick up our sleeper train (already booked from Bangkok) tomorrow night to Chiang Mai in the north. But we learnt this evening from someone else in the hotel (and now confirmed on the FCO site) that no trains are running. We can try to book a coach but the FCO site also mentions road blocks in Chiang Mai.

So we think tomorrow is decision day - do we travel north (if we can do so) in the hope that things will settle down or do we try to leave Thailand as soon as possible? There are a number of people in the hotel (a nice cheap and friendly backpacker place) in the same boat so I daresay there will be some discussion tomorrow morning. None of us want to over-react but on the other hand the news here is consistently getting worse.

Brian

Bridge on the River Kwai

2009-04-11T14:48:00.004+01:00

Just for the sake of being absolutely clear - those dogs at the station in Bangkok are just sleeping - examples of the ability and propensity of dogs to sleep in the most akward places and yet be certain no-one will tread on them.

Now you may be a little disappointed by the picture of the actual Bridge on the River Kwai. There was indeed a temporary bamboo structure built and used by the Japanese to transport construction equipment but the actual bridge was always metal - and those curved spans are part of the original bridge.

We are in Kanchanaburi which is west of Bangkok towards the Burma border and is on the infamous 'death line' of WWII. We got here on a rather charming (not quite comfortable enough) third class train through some lovely and interesting countryside.

We have spent the day on our hired bikes riding around Kanchanaburi, visiting some WWII museums and the extremely moving war cemetary where most of the servicemen who died on the death line are buried. We set off for the bridge itself, just at the northern end of the town late this afternoon and managed to arrive a little damp just as a major thunder storm erupted. This did not stop many Thai families making their way out on the bridge. We went a little way out on the bridge ourselves to discover that there were many ways to slip and fall into the fast flowing river below!

You may have heard that the political situation here is febrile, we are checking the FCO web site as we are currently committed to being in the country until the 21st and are due to return to Bangkok on Monday to then leave the following day for Chiang Mai in the north of the country. Its the major New Year Songkran festivities which start today and end on the 15th which we hope to see something of (this involves getting wet apparently!).

Brian

The Road to Bangkok

2009-04-09T08:14:00.006+01:00

A picture of the Cambodian rubbish bin, this one painted white but most of them left in their natural black. Cleverly recycling all those old tyres, they are seen everywhere you go. And a shot, not too interesting, of a stop during our bus ride to Bangkok.

We are in Bangkok - not at a good time it seems. Britain, among other countries, has just advised against being here as the former Prime Minister, Thaksin (the one deemed fit to own a Premier Football Club) is stirring up his followers, calling on the police and army to disobey orders and has just got his family out of the country. A very large red t-shirted demonstration is underway and violence is feared (we are due to leave tomorrow).

We got here by bus, it took almost 12 hours and included a lot of hanging around in the heat at the border crossing, but in terms of discomfort was a doddle compared to some of our India trips. And it cost only 15 dollars each - a tenth of the airfare costs. We decided on coming straight to Thailand having reserved seats on a flight to Laos but having second thoughts - even on Vietnam Airlines it cost a lot and road travel from Siem Reap to the north of Laos was a challenge we were not prepared to meet. In fact a woman on the Bangkok coach had tried the land crossing only to be told she had to wait three days for a visa when she reached the Loas border.

Our trip was uneventful, nice in some ways to be travelling overland, it gives you time to look and think. We were surprised to find huge modern multi-story buildings at the border. Having got our exit stamp we trudged through no-mans land to discover that it contained three large casinos! Given that this was the most utilitarian crossing point imaginable, handling just a stream of trucks and trailers and backpackers, it seemed incongrous. Who on earth would turn up to gamble here? Oh and Tess and I managed to lose our bus group for a very worrying hour before discovering them again languishing by the immigration exit.

Our journey through Western Cambodia was across an extremely flat landscape, much as at Siem Reap, yellow with nothing growing until the rains come - a sort of Fens with coconuts although the green mango trees give a bit of an European look to parts. As we got into Thailand it gradually changed to green - they obviously have a lot more irrigation from the rivers.

We got to the outskirts of Bangkok as night fell. As we swept in along the elevanted highway we felt a little like peasants wondering at the immense billboards (bigger, higher and more brightly lit than any you have seen) and the scale of the multi-story buildings in the centre. Surely we have not been out in the sticks so long?

Brian

We have landed up at a hotel that seems to be run by a selection of very decorative young men and we are just round the corner from the big market, bar and all night party street Khoa San Road. Brian had to get some cash to pay for the hotel and at first couldn't see where it was because it was located in a van parked in the crowded street. We went for a walk and a look about us last night and it was very entertaining. There were endless t shirts, beads, bags, cd's and DVD's to buy and loads of bars offering 'VERY STRONG COCKTAILS' or 2 for 1 drinks etc and hoards of young people and a group of tourist police offering to be 'your first friend' some dressed in blow up uniforms and funny cartoon heads in the style of a Disney character, perhaps the one who wears that suit has done something bad in the previous week.

We were back at the hotel and in bed by 10 pm and I should think we were the only people in this part of town in our beds at that time. I woke a couple of times in the night to the distant thump of loud music, but our hotel seems to be quite quiet. It does offer breakfast till 12.00 mid-day though and one of the breakfasts offered is a cheese and ham sandwich, so it obviously caters for the party animal.

Tess

Baguettes I've seen a few

2009-04-07T08:51:00.004+01:00

We are back in the land of the helmetless and 'how many people can you squeeze on a motor bike' competion land. So far the highest number has again been five, though four of them were children under ten, two at the front between the drivers legs (it was a scooter, so the taller child was standing and the tiny one was wedged onto the front tip of the seat) the two behind were clinging on with the concentration of the baby Ouran-utang we saw, but their arms were not as long.

Beside the road on the last two mornings heading out of Siem Reap towards the Roluos group of temples we have passed a huge market on the edge of town. Loads of vegetables and fruit, bikes, motor bikes & scooters, baskets, glittery things to take to temples, baskets of incense sticks and masses of people. All along the road there are small shopping opportunities including stalls with offering a strange yellowish liquid in old gin or whiskey bottles. We don't know what it is but assume its some kind of home brewed liquor, it looks leathal and I have never seen anyone drink it but they must do because otherwise no one would spend their day trying to sell it.

Early morning is also baguette time, bikes with bags and bags of them tied to the handle bars, stalls with mountains of them piled up. It must be the French influence, but we have had the best European style bread here much better than any bread we have tasted since Jordan/Egypt.

We have also seen less lovely things going to market on the back or strung all round motor bikes - live stock, well actually ex-livestock. Yesterday on our trip out to a very interesting silk farm we were passed by motorbikes with a very large oval basket on the back in which, reclining peacefully, with little trotters in prayer possition, was a recently deceased pig! We also saw at least two motor bikes with a frame round them and suspended by their feet about fifty, fully feathered chickens, dead of course! Even buying a watch battery in the market meant having to avoid fish, not so deceased, leaping out of an enclosure onto your feet

On a political note, we looked at an exhibition of paintings in a hotel and one of the artists had the unlikely name of Mao Soviet!

Tess

A Road Less Travelled

2009-04-07T08:20:00.005+01:00

We are in a completely open and treeless landscape of a few paddy fields and scrubland, miles from any human habitation. Tess is about 50 metres ahead of me and we are each clinging to the back of a bounching twisting motorbike. I am amusing myself thinking of Richard E Grant in 'Withnail and I' where they find themselves in the inhospitable Lake District countryside and are seeking help
"We have come on holiday - by accident!"
We appear to have got engaged in some extreme form of moto-cross - equally by accident.

This was our second attempt to reach Tonle Sap a large lake in the centre of Cambodia. Yesterday we were visiting some temples nearby and hoped to carry on to the Lake but we misunderstood our tuk tuk driver who appeared to be unwilling or unable to get us there. Today all was sorted out, we would go with the tuk tuk until we reached a boat landing stage to take us onto the lake.

There is an easy way to reach the lake, very close to Siem Reap, but that was too touristy for us of course, we were encouraged by William Beavitt from Sarawak and by the guide book both of which suggested that our tuk tuk would get us to Kampong Phluk and the lake, here was an area 'little visited by tourists'.

Well as Yang wrestled his tuk tuk on an increasingly difficult dirt road we finally reached the Kampong after about an hour. A couple of motorbikes had come alongside and spoken to Yang as we went along and one of the motorcyclists drew up as we stopped. In the limited English he had he explained that the tuk tuk could now go no further and we had to go by motobike. For a moment I thought that both Tess and I plus small rucksack were to fit on the back of his 125cc machine but he quickly explained that another bike was on his way, checked on his mobile and it appeared soon after.

How far is it to the boat? It was 8km further! The problem is the lake shrinks in the dry season and clearly it was in a shrunken state now. Tess and I looked at each other - well we have come this far so lets carry on. So off we set. But anything resembling even a country road rapidly disappeared and the route became a sandy rutted surface you could hardly call a track. We passed local people transporting various goods manouvering their motos around us, waved to women working the paddy fields but there was nothing else to see in the utterly flat landscape that I guess is inundated by the lake in the wet season.

After half and hour I called a halt. The lake, supposedly only 2km further was still not in sight and I had to reckon that this sort of high impact twisting and bouncing was exactly was I was supposed NOT to be doing if my Indian hospital 'fix' for my kidney stones is to get me the rest of way around the world. We turned back feeling satisfied that we had had a good look at a rural area and one hell of an exciting bike ride!

I know, I know - serves us right for not taking that nice world cruise with the rest of the pensioners!

Brian

Sunarise early in the morning

2009-04-05T07:58:00.007+01:00

The thing to do here is to see the sun rise behind Angkor Wat so we were off in the tuk tuk at 5am. Tessa's query to the hotel guy as to whether the strong breeze and lightning in the night sky might mean rain was met with a dismissive laugh. And we said to each other íts the hot dry season afterall!'

And of course by the time we got to Angkor Wat the rain was pelting down! Another sales opportunities for the kids who try to sell you guide books, postcards, penny whistles and what not - they were now chasing every tuk tuk with armfulls of pac a macs. So you can see the result in one of the photos - Tess has the fetching pink one and me the billious green one - and the sky behind is looking steadfastly grey, untouched by those rosy fingers of dawn! Oh well someone may photoshop it in for us.

This reluctance to ever give you bad news is of course a common problem for us travellers. Either people don't understand your question and a smile and nod of the head is deemed so much more acceptable. Or they understand your question but don't want to discourage you with bad news. As a result when you really need some information asking people often leaves you even more sceptical about whether that bus will arrive, whether seats are available, whether its going to rain etc - you get the distinctive feeling you have just been told what they think you would prefer to hear.

But despite the rainy start and the appalling apparel we were forced to wear for a while we have had another good day at the temples, with such an early start once again (apart from Angkor Wat itself of course) we found ourselves alone or nearly alone at many of them. One of the temples has been left in its ''original" state of discovery in the 19th century with great trees growing out of the walls and huge numbers of fallen stones. Many walls look like they are about to collapse and it was at this site that we found ourselves surrounded by a large tour group and I admit to hoping for a wall collapse as soon as I heard that American child whining about not bringing her camera and what a rip off it was!

Brian

My legs feel as though I have done several hours of step areobics, the muscles in my calves are protesting and the fronts of my thighs ache too. Its called 'Temple leg' (I just christened it) and you get it after two days of climbing up steps and then going up and down over the very frequent lintles between bits of every temple you visit. An Australian woman I was talking to yesterday who had done about seven hours of temple visiting has just hobbled past, suffering so much she could barely walk.

I am still laughing when I think of the two sweet Sweedish girls we met in Kuching, you probably need to read this next bit in a Sweedish acent. They had been to Siem Reap and said it was wonderful, but they hadnt really known what they were coming to see. They were made to get up at 4am and driven out to Angkor Wat, 'We sat there with many, many other people. What is going to happen we thought? We sat there some more and nothing happened and then the sun came up, oh! thats why we were sitting here, its a temple'. They spent the morning looking at temples and then decided they had done enough of that. There were ten of them then, we only met two and they had a lovely time in Kuching looking at wild life and then were off to Bali to meet up with the other 8 and PARTY.

Tess

Cambodia

2009-04-04T06:30:00.004+01:00

We had a couple of easy flights with Air Asia to get here. We had to overnight in Kuala Lumpur to catch an early morning flight (the only one) to Siem Reap in Cambodia and KL's airport is 70km outside the city - Air Asia have the answer, they have opened a brand new hotel so close to the terminal you can see it across the car park as soon as you exit the terminal. About 30 pounds for a smallish room (rather like Ryanair you pay extra for everthing, 12 hours of air conditioning, a towell etc) but it provided all we needed (even a small green arrow on the ceiling pointing to the direction of Mecca - although you would have been hard pressed to find any floor space for a prayer mat) and we only needed a few minutes to get out of bed and to the check in desk.

Siem Reap is the town next to the Ankor temples - many, many of them scattered around mostly to the north of the town. The hotel managed to get a driver to meet us at the airport (this is a first for us, its never worked before) and our cheerful driver Yang showed us to his tuk tuk - a sort of cart with roof attached to his small motorbike. They are all like this here and it provides a stately ride in great comfort at about 15mph.

What did we immediately notice about Cambodia? Well this place is developing like a gold rush town (as described to us by an Australian woman we chatted to last night), building work is going on everywhere. All the cars are flash, I have seen only two small cars which are not large saloons or Land Cruisers. Having equipped ourselves with about 50 pounds worth of local currrency (which translates to over a quarter of a million Riels!) we discovered that everyone uses the US Dollar and they look ascance at you when you try to use the local currency - that seems strange but there you go, there are several such places around the world.

Brian

We were up early again this morning, we were off in the tuk tuk by six am and at the first of the temples on todays list by about 6.30. It is cool then and there are relatively few people around so after going through the very impressive gateway, preceeded by lines of figures holding a cobras tail, we were able to clamber over Bayon Temple almost on our own. Bayon is the temple in Angkor Thom that has faces on each side of all its many towers and turrets, so many beatific, Budha faces that you would be hard pressed to count them all. There are also many comely dancing girls and a sprinkling of mythical beasts, the whole place looks as though a giant had got bored when building it and given it a bit of a swipe with his hand because it is all a bit wobbly looking and there are many many fallen bits arranged around waiting to be slotted back by the French and Japanese, who are restoring many of the temples in the area.

We went on to the larger Royal Palace area and goggled at the 300 mtrs of elephants carved into the wall that carries the platform entrance to the palace site. All the sites are set in jungle which has grown up arround and through the ancient ruins that are all that remain of the very large cities. The royal and temple buildings are monumental and of stone, but all the long since disapeared dwellings of the people were of wood, bamboo and other perishable materials.

Tess

A slow news day in Santubong

2009-04-01T13:05:00.005+01:00

We are back in our luxury place by the sea for another couple of nights - we could not resist another short stay before we leave Sarawak. This time we have The Village House completely to ourselves, no waiting to get into the pool or unseemly rush for the recliners. We sit at the foot of Mount Santubong - a truly impressive forested steep hill and on a wide estuary about 30km from Kuching.

We may have achieved fame at last. We set off this morning after breakfast in the (forlorn) hope that it might be cool and walked along the beach and then back into the Village of Santubong. As we plodded slowly along a Land Cruiser passed us, then stopped, a guy jumped out with a large video camera and started recording. As we reached them they explained they were from Radio Television Malaysia and would like to interview us. This was quickly set up with Mt Santubong in the background and we were asked how we liked Sarawak, did we think more Europeans would like it etc etc. I gave them this blog address so they could realise that the round the world pensioners had hit Santubong! I suspect they had been sent out from Kuching and told not to return until they had found a story! We have been promised a copy of the interview.

This place is also wonderful for sunsets. We have managed to view rather wonderful sunsets both here and in Kuching without the camera! So below is a photo of us viewing a spectacular show last week courtesy of Wai Jein from Singapore plus one of ours from this evening when we finally managed to take a camera with us.

Tomorrow we fly to Kuala Lumpur and wish a sad farewell to Sarawak. We have been here now for nearly two weeks, the longest in a single place and this is no accident. Its a wonderfully easy and charming place to stick with, everthing works, its hassle free. And we needed a real rest from the travelling. Tess needed to recover from Kolkata and I realised my dash up to the West Bengal Hills and then Kolkata was hardly the rest the doctors might have recommended after my hospitalisation. So its been a restful and enjoyable holiday within the grand tour.

Brian

More Nature Notes

2009-04-01T10:36:00.004+01:00

At the lovely Village House our very comfortable bed has mosquito curtains of a fairly course, open weave cotton. Yesterday I discovered two small things stuck to the curtains that I can only describe as a sort of tiny, earthenware urn. 'How clever' I thought ' some sort of small, porous recepticle for insect repelent'. Well today I discovered I was mistaken, no hand of man involved, but the mandibles of an insect.

I had gone up to our room to collect my book after breakfast and noticed that a largish, but slightly built, wasp like creature was flying about. I stood at a respectful distance, hoping it would exit through the open french windows or out through the louvres in the bathroom. It flew around a bit and then landed on the little pot thing on the curtain amd proceeded to stick its rear end in the top of the pot. 'Hm' I thought 'I think its laying something'. It did a bit more flying about and then went out of the bathroom louvres. Later I found it trying to stuff a small green catapillar into the cup and much later this afternoon Brian saw it sealing the cup up.

Since then another cup has appeared, attached to the first one and when I went up for my shower the wasp was carefully finishinfg off the top, working round and round untill it had made a sort of lip at the top of the cup shape, so that now the container looks like a small vase with a very narrow top.

Now what do we do? Sleep with a wasp nursery attached to our curtains or what?

Tess

Bako wildlife

2009-03-29T11:21:00.008+01:00

The pigs are Borneo Bearded Pigs - a mother and four young ones appeared and then Tess found the monster male a little later. The monkey is the Silver Langur which was part of a very large group we watched for some time included a tiny bright orange baby. We also say Proboscus Monkeys - too high in the trees for a photo and also a Long Tailed Macaque hanging around hoping to steal someones food or can of drink. The snake is a Waglers Pit Viper.

Some photos from our visit with William and Becky to Bako Wildlife Reserve near Kuching today - reached via a rather exciting boat ride down the crocodile infested estuary (villager attacked last week William was told). We took a hike of 800 metres to which you say 'What? don't you mean 8km?" and we say you try 800 metres scrabbling up and down steep rises and falls of rocks and tree roots in this kind of heat and humidity! There was at least a nice beach at the end of it.

We will come back to add the correct names of the animals seen once we check back with William. Thanks William and Becky for a great day, three kinds of monkeys seen!

Brian

We swam in the South China Sea and it was very refreshing after our short jungle hike, 800m took us 3/4's of an hour, that included standing quietly fro some time trying to get a good sighting of some monkeys in the tall, tall trees. The trees are amazing with huge, twisted roots that spread around them and creepers hanging down and things like orchids and ferns growing in every crevice and fissure in the bark.

The beach had a rock garden cliff that would have won a gold at the Chelsea Flower Show, no trouble at all and every where you looked huge butterflies and big, red bodied Dragonflies flitting about. We also saw a White Collared Kingfisher, several waders, Asian Fairy Bluebird, Whimbrel, Cattle Egret in breeding plumage a Fish Eagle and the biggest ants I have ever seen.

Tess

The Longhouse visit

2009-03-28T12:50:00.003Z

There is nightlife in Kuching! We have had a couple of experiences of keeping restaurants open past about 7.30pm but tonight we strolled down to the riverside, stopped at a restaurant beside the river (which advertised itself as open for 24 hours) and were rewarded by the most spectacular sunset behind the distant hills and along the river, followed shortly afterwards by the flocks of egrets returning up river. Later as we strolled back we came across an indigenous musician wearing just a loin cloth and plenty of tatoos and then heard some noise up a street with a Chinese temple to come across a sort of talent night with karoake - we seemd to catch the Cliff Richard soundalike.

Cliff Richard was very much on our minds as we went inland with Ahmad today towards the Indonesian border to a longhouse. He turns out to be a big fan and we were rolling along to the sounds of 'Summer Holiday' and trying to temper Ahmad's admiration of George Galloway who he must see on Al Jazeera I guess, we tried to tell him that even if you agreed with him you had to suspect his motives but its an uphill battle ('but he's so clear, such a good orator!').

The longhouse visit was certainly a highlight of the Sarawak visit, it took about an hour to get there on a very good road into some beautiful hills until we reached Kampong Anna Rais. There we first registered and paid a small donation to the Bidayuh people's co-operative who run the visitor side of things. The village has some separate wooden houses but is mostly composed of raised bamboo platforms with houses on each side. As we entered we were given some rice wine and then left to stroll along the bamboo 'street' where some people sold beads etc or were busy making things, the street often filled with large mats with rice and barley drying in the sun.

At the far end of the third long house we were invited to sit and chat by a couple of guys, one proved to have excellent english and told me I could be a returning British serviceman - in the colonial days they had a camp nearby building communications and some of them used to come to the longhouse in the evenings and talk. He proved to have a strong grasp of world affairs (they all have satelite television) and we discussed everything from the Palestinians to the Premier League (on which subject he knew a great deal more than me since he confessed to having subscribed to 'Shoot' since the 1970s). It was peaceful and I have to say everyone treated us like guests, we really were sorry to leave - they obviously value the traditional way of life enough to keep it going, albeit in modified form.

Tomorrow William and Becky are taking us to the Bako National Park where we hope to see Proboscis monkeys and other wild life (and nothing too dangerous we hope!)

Brian

Steamy Sarawak

2009-03-26T07:29:00.005Z

one of the very best things in Kuching, an iced Sumatran coffee with ice cream at the Black Bean Coffee Shop, and a view of Fairview and its gardens

It is amazing how different ones outlook is when one is no longer plagued by a sore stomach. I spent a lot of the week in S'pore feeling very much below par, uncomfortable and frankly full of wind. I kept hoping as I woke each morning that I was better or improving and indeed on Thursday, the day I went to the fantastic Botanical Gardens I was feeling better, but on Friday I felt terrible. Thankfully Brian decided when we arrived at Fairveiw in Kutchin that I needed to see a Dr and (I was too woe begon for such assertiveness) and our new friend Ahmed Bin Said, took us off to the hospital and I got antibiotics and other stuff, including charcoal tablets 'to soak up the toxins' as the nice Chinese Dr said and now I feel really quite perky.

Sarawak is hot and steamy, sweating is what you do standing still and if you move about much you drip, it really is quite alarming to lose so much liqud so quickly and not difficult to understand why the Dr in S'pore told Brian that 'drink a lot of liquid' meant 2 to 3 litres per day.
The sun is really hot, in the early morning its ok, but by about 9.30 the sun is really quite high and from then till about 5.30 you want a hat, an umberella or to be in the shade. having said all that and though I thought I would never like it I am beginning to enjoy the heat, as long as there is a bit of breeze and its not too overcast.

Fairview guest house in Kutchin is a fun place. Its run by the admirable Eric on behalf of his nephew who is the owner. He was left the property by his adopted father, the first speaker of the Sarwak legislature. This guy sadly lost his wife on his wedding night (why? dont know), never married again and adopted Erics nephew because Erics family were kind to him when he was lonely. Eric said his nephew was born with a wooden spoon in his mouth, but I think he meant silver.

The guest house looks as though it might have been built in the 30's, its nice, big comunal sitting room with tv & computer, dining room and kitchen that all guests can use. There are two big fridges, one for guests to put their stuff and another with beer, water etc in it. You take what you need and put a note in the book. There is a good, inexpensive laundry service and I think all the rooms have a/c and fans and the prices are very reasonable. The rooms are basic, ensuit bathrooms clean, towels fine but the beds are a bit hard and the pillows leave a bit to be desired and there is strange green glass in all the bedroom windows.

The best thing about it is the complete informality, guests gather over tea and chat, watch tv toghether and swap tales. In our five days there we have met 2 Sweedish girls very blond and cheerful, a very nice American woman of our age visiting her daughter, a British guy and a Danish couple and a group of loud but nice young people from an International School in Singapore who were off to do some voluntary work at a school, oh and a large group of very cheery and kind ladies from Singapore who were having a four day holiday in Sarawak.

Our current abode is absolutly wonderful, only two days here, but what a treat. More later.

Tess

A little luxury

2009-03-25T12:28:00.002Z

We are at a rather lovely place on the Sarawak coast - found by Diana Cook, and William and Becky a few days ago (I am not sure how as its down a little lane and is unmarked except for a notice saying 'Private Property') but it is a small resort of about a dozen or so rooms around a lovely pool and a short step away from the beach. Iced water is brought to your side as you relax on the loungers and the food seems excellent on our first try. All this for about what you pay for a good B&B in the UK. I would tell you its name and location but I rather fear seeing it in a future travel supplement at the usual cost of several hundred dollars per night! Maybe not as Kuching I think is rather off the main tourist trail. We are having this little treat for two nights before returning to Kuching and the alternative attractions of the Fairview Guest House (of which more perhaps later).

Brian

Borneo Wildlife

2009-03-24T05:20:00.005Z

some pics from the visits, a jumping croc tempted by some hanging meat, a Sumatran Whip Viper seen nearby to one of the orang utang viewing places (dangerous), a couple of the orang utangs (can you spot the small baby clinging to its mother?) and one of Tess and Admad feeding some fish

This morning we were up before 7am, had breakfast by 7.45 (I ate, Brian did not having had a touch of tummy trouble himself) and off we went with Ahmad Bin Said to the Semengoh Nature Reserve. It is about half an hours drive away, in a forested area and they rehabilitate orphaned Orang-utans who have been found after forest fires or have been rescued from captivity. The animals are taught the skill they need to survive as wild creatures and there are about twenty four Orang-outans in the reserve, some of whom have been born there to released mothers, so it is a very successful programme.

Anyway the sky was blue, the sun was out and off we went, hoping that we would be lucky enough to see these wonderful, wild creatures in their natural habitat. By the time we got to Semengoh the morning was beginning to heat up and first of all we had to wait in an area near the animal hospital, while the wardens bustled about with big buckets of fruit and shouted into the Jungle. All the Orang-utangs have names and they know that if they are peckish, breakfast is served at 9am. Anyway as we stood and watched we could see the trees tops in the distance shake a bit, is it more breezy than I thought, no its an Orang-utang swinging from branch to branch to come and get some breakfast!

I can't tell you how exiting it was to get the first glimpse of a big, ginger arm or leg. It really was magic, they look so like humans, but so unlike as well, because they are so relaxed and so limber. To watch them move through the trees is just wonderful and I found myself longing to be an Ourang-utang for just a day, just an hour would do, to be able to hang upside down holding on to a branch with your toe whilst swinging in an arch in order to catch the next branch with the tips of the fingers of one hand. Never faltering for a moment, just flying through the branches, wow!

In all we saw seven Orang-outangs, two mothers, one with a big baby and one with a very small baby (the latest birth, born in early February), one teenager and two other young adults, it was so fantastic that I run the risk of repeating myself. We watched them for about an hour, interestingly they can hold a piece of fruit in each foot and in each hand and still peel a banana with their teeth and eat it. They really do love fruit.

Just to give you an idea of the temperature and humidity, glasses steam up while you stand about and clothes become soaked without any exertion and you drip (I am not kidding) as soon as you start moving around, only the locals don't seem to notice the heat though they do move slowly.

After the Ourang-utangs we went on to see the Crocodiles at Jongs Crocodile farm. The crocs have no charm, many more sharp teeth and are not vegetarian. There was also a huge lake full of very large fish and loads of lotus plants in flower, so that was good and we saw the most extra ordinary, huge flightless bird. It was from Java, I think and sadly I cant remember its name, but it had a tuquoise and red head and a black body and looked a bit like an Emu

Tess

Farewell to Spore

2009-03-21T00:45:00.005Z

a couple of photos from Tessa's visit to the Botanic Gardens in Singapore - free entry to the gardens and 1 dollar instead of 5 dollars for seniors to view the Orchids (one of which was named after Margaret Thatcher) - now that is what I call a reduction!

I will admit to having a large lump in my throat and more than one tear in my eye as we bade farewell to Chun See at Changi's budget terminal for our flight to Kuching in Sarawak. It has taken me 46 years to get back to Singapore and who knows if there will be another opportunity to visit. There we were, two ageing management consultants, joined together through the internet with a common interest in Singapore of the 60s when of course culture and class would have meant we would never have met, but now feeling like the oldest of friends - Chun See called me 'My Kampong Friend' which I take as a great honour. You can see some more pictures of our visit to Singapore on Chun Sees' blog - there is a link to 'Good Morning Yesterday' to the right of this blog so please visit.

For both of us Singapore has been a very special experience, the chance to see family related places from the past and the chance to meet some present day Singaporeans. There were probably many places we did not get to but we felt we saw all the places we really wanted to visit. And seeing how Singapore has been transformed has been an extraordinary experience for me, it was hard to look at places and remember how they used to look. The Garden City approach largely works well, some of the expressways with dense planting of large trees beside and between the carriageways are also rather attractive - I would never have thought I would say that of a road!

From the air Kuching can be seen lying alongside a river that seems to wind endlessly back on itself and although what is a large modern city lies on the flat there are sharp hills rising nearby. We are staying in a large rambling house very near the centre which was the home of the Speaker of the Assembly until a few years ago. The owner and his wife are both currently away which adds further to the 'make yourself at home' and 'do it yourself' approach to staying here.

Unfortunately Tessa has still not recovered from her Kolkata illness and seemed worse as we arrived here so with the willing help of Amad who is looking after the place and a phone consultation with the absent house owner we got her to a local health centre and she now has the anti-nausea and anti-biotics which hopefully will see her on the mend. This morning I found six ladies from Singapore at the breakfast table and they soon had me making some toast and peanut butter for Tessa plus a tea which she has drunk, then together with Ann a pensioner from Australia I was invited to 'join the seven old ladies' for breakfast. And I have just had a call from our good friend Diana Cook from Cambridge who unexpectedly is still in Kuching with William her son and will be taking me off to get some food and fruit to get Tess eating again!

Brian

With the bloggers

2009-03-18T09:32:00.004Z

photos from the trip to Pulau Ubin, the the bumboat and on the bikes (do you notice me getting seriously dehydrated? Well I did! Yes another trip to a hospital for a check up this morning - amazing efficiency, check up including xray of my Indian insertion etc all done in two hours)

One of the great delights of our trip to Singapore has been meeting Chun See and his friends - including those friends who contribute to his blog. Our second trip with Chun See included his friend Peter who takes a great interest in old buildings (of which of course there are very few left here) and our first exploration was to the Opera Estate where I lived for a few months. Unlike the Changi house however there was no sign of it, there were a few old style houses but none anywhere near where I thought I lived. It was a day of torrential rain showers but in between we visited the two former barrack blocks which formed Changi Grammar School in my day and then south to the harbour area where we found that a new park, Labrado Park, has been created with a viewing platform providing an excellent view of Cliff House - the large prominent house (I would think occupying one of the prime sites on the island) in which Tessa's grandfather lived and for a while also her father and uncle who was born there. It was a great thrill to see it in the flesh.

The next day we made our way on the excellent MRT to Clementi near where Chun See lives. This is one of what they call 'the heartlands' - the areas of new housing in huge highrise blocks in which over 80% of Singapore's population live. It is typical of the positive spin on everything here that these are not called Suburbs but heartlands - and of course they like everything else look well maintained and sit amongst a lot of greenery. Singapore styles itself as a Garden City and that is what it looks like - everything well manicured and maintained.

Chun See had organised a get together with some of the bloggers, Victor and YG plus another old friend who joined us for lunch. Lunch was of course in one of the ubiquitous food courts - there is a problem for us with our vegetarian bent of course, this is not something the predominantly Chinese cuisine understands. They have also developed the (no doubt entirely admirable) tendency to value eating the entire animal -so stall boasts of offering head and feet, entrails etc. As you can imagine this has me scouring the stalls, all of which helpfully offer photos of the meals, making sure there are none of these 'bits' included! This is quite hard work and nerve wracking because all the names are unknown to us. But we had a great meal together and then took off to the north of the island to view the causeway across to Malaysia. As those of you who have checked Tessa's entry on Chun See's blog will know this was built practically single-handed by her grandfather! Not only did we view it from alongside the waterfront (alongwith a group of scrap metal merchants dealing with old ac units) but they took us one of the high rise blocks so we could view it from the 25th floor!

After that we went back to Chun See's house, met his wife who is from Malaya and his son who is just about to start his two years of National Service. They have a wonderful front garden full of pitcher plants, staghorn ferns, orchids and flycatching plants, and had a passion fruit picked from their vine for us to eat. It was a lovely day and both of us are very grateful to Chun See and friends for helping make this visit so enjoyable - and I should say the weather has changed now to blue sky and hot hot sun!

Brian

Today we have been out to Changi village again and over the sea to Pulau Ubin. It was about a 10 minute trip on a very old boat, called a bum boat, costing $5.00 for the two of us, 12 passengers only and no messing about with tying the boat up, just keep the engine reving and in reverse and the boat more or less stays against the dock. It's the nearest to dangerous that you are likely to get to in Singapore which is a very safety aware place.

Pulau Ubin (Granite Island) is the place Brian used to canoe to in his Singapore days and it is also the place that all the stone fro the Causeway was quarried. We hire bikes and cycled very slowly for an hour or two, through tropical rain forest. We heard chickens, I saw a small, unidentified rodent run across the road, we saw lots of colourful butterflys and a thing that was either an extreemly large bee or a very small bird buzzing about on wings that beat so fast they were a blur. The very best thing we saw was a very elegant, green snake, it made its way down a small tree slowly and carefully and then slithered away across the leaf litter below the tree. It was bright green, very slender and about two feet long.

After we sat and looked back at Singapore and the Officers Club, the place where Brian and Carol spent most of their afternoons at the swiming pool. It is now Changi Beach club and looks quite smart.

After a very hot journey back to the hotel (actually the buses and tube are wonderfully cool but any walking along pavements makes you realise that it is really, really hot and humid here) we had a little rest and then a walk down the road to Mr Wan, the dentist, to check out a problem tooth. His advice, 'its root canal treated, have it dealt with when you get home' and we happened across an internet cafe, not so common here as in India.

Tess

Culture Shock

2009-03-16T10:26:00.005Z

Photos are of Tessa in front of her grandfather's house Cliff House, myself with Chun See and Peter at the Opera Estate and the amazingly largely unchanged Mitchell house in Toh Drive Changi.

Arriving in Singapore on Saturday morning at 6am provided the greatest culture shock of our trip. We made our way through the cathedral like terminal at Changi in the hushed efficiency that is Singapore, all is air conditioned comfort and the cleanliness of the Mass Rapid Transit trains we took to our hotel has to be seen to be believed. Only when we changed trains did we finally experience the open air and the humidity that I recall so well.

After six weeks in India we wondered what had happened to the chaotic streets and pavements and the constant honking and shouting. I would not advise any of you to start a trip to India in Kolkata, and certainly not the Sudder Road area where the cheap hotels are centered. The broken pavements, crowded streets, mutilated beggars, people living out their lives on the street are likely to confirm all your worst impressions of India. We had seen so may different sides already that we were able to put this in perspective. Kolkata has a lot to offer but also a lot of disappointments - for example we visited the Indian Museum to find a decaying grand building with water on the stairs (presumably from the rain before we arrived) and forty year old poorly lit exhibits with no environmental control against the Kolkata heat and humidy other than some mothballs - that had us leaving in disgust. In fact that day the City Council had agreed to close another major museum as the building was rotting. This one is surely not long for the chop.

Kolkata and Friday the 13th had its revenge on poor Tessa who after six weeks of no problems finally succumbed to a poor choice of drink, she saw it being brought into the cafe from the street, had no idea where the water came from, drank it anyway and had the most awful time on the way to the airport - a metro ride followed by a search for a taxi and the usual chaotic and dangerous ride to the airport. She was in no state to appreciate the excellent service of our Singapore Airways flight and had to decline the opportunity of a free Singapore Sling - she is bitter about this!

So what about Singapore? It is 46 years since I left and on our first day, whilst Tessa rested, I walked and walked - never seeing anything that was 40 years old, I concluded that I would find nothing here I knew and felt like a very old fella indeed!

The next morning we took the MRT downtown, tall buildings, a completly sanitised river (I remember it muddy and full of bumboats), the continuing hush of people and well ordered traffic, yes the British colonial heritage buildings were there, but the prices, 15 dollars for a couple of coffees! We were eating near our hotel at hawker centres for a couple of dollars each!

But in the afternoon our friend Chun See arrived and after a drink and discussion of what we wanted to see and do he took us for a little drive - just as the rain finally broke - and inevitably we headed to Changi, found Toh Drive where I used to live, found it completely rebuilt - almost. For there at the end of the road stood three of the original bungalows and I instantly recognised the third one from the end as the house I lived in for most of the time in Singapore. AC had been added, they had tiled the driveway and built a fancy front fence and gates but otherwise its virtually unchanged.

Today (inbetween the heaviest tropical rain storms you can imagine) Chun See and his friend Peter took us back to Changi, this time to visit the old buildings that were my school, also still there and very recognisable, and we drove around what used to be the RAF camp and then into Changi Village, the old single storey buildings and dirt replaced with paving and multi storey buildings - completely unrecognisable. We looked across at Pulau Ubin which we hope to visit by bumboat and at the waters I used to canoe in across to the nearby islands.

And then to the far south of the island, near the harbour where we found a wonderful new park from which we could view Cliff House - the house that Tessa's grandfather and father and uncle lived in so long ago. Quite astounding to actually see it so close to. If you have not already done so please check out Tessa's blog on Chun See's blogsite on her family connections to Singapore - there is a link to the right of this blog. And you will also find my recollections of being a teenager here, I can promise you ladies a picture of me in my short shorts!

I will try to add some photos tomorrow when we visit Chun See's house and hope to meet some of the contributors to his blog.

Brian

Billy Prance, Master Mariner

2009-03-13T08:42:00.005Z

I have visited the grave of an Uncle who died in Calcuta two years before I was born!
Uncle Billy was the husband of my Great Aunt Marion Prance, her eldest sister was the mother of my Father, so Marion and my Dad were more like cousins in their relationship. When they were young they sometimes went to dances together and Dad would annoy Marion by calling her Aunty.
Anyway, not long before the second World War, Marion married a jolly marchant seaman, William or Gwuillam (sorry if I havent got the Welsh spelling righ) Prance. Billy was from Solva in West Wales and judging by the photos I have of him he was really good looking and very jolly, hes always smiling and looks like he really enjoyed life.

During the war he was on convoy duty and spent a lot of time in convoys to Russia, in fact he was shipwrecked twice and ended up with a DSC and a medal from the Rusians with a citation signed by Molotov.

How unlucky then to be in Calcutta in Feruary 1946 and to get caught up in a riot and killed. I was always told he was thrown out of a window. we went to visit his gave todayin the Bhowanipore Cemetary, plot O, row F, in the beautifully kept Comonwealth war Graves part of the cemetary. It is a lovely, peaceful spot and the beautiful flowers attract the most wonderfully coloured, huge butterflies.

Before visiting Billy we went to get some flowers in the amazing flower market. It is down by the river at the base of the Howrah Bridge and just heaving with people, crows, lorries, bikes and evrything else you can think of.
Tess

Don't get me started on Kolkata taxi drivers. I had thought that the driver yesterday who did not know what or where the Victoria Memorial was an aberation - not so. Our first trip was to the flower market (there's only one, its very big and where everone buys their celebratory or devotional flowers) but asking for it drew a blank look from the taxi driver. fortuanately a local guy saw what was going on and told him where it was so we got there. After that we needed to travel right across town to the cemetary. This was always going to be more tricky but we gathered I guess about 15 people around us this time and between them they explained to the driver how to get there - and he got us right there. Coming back however we asked for St Pauls Cathedral and tried to explain what it was, next to the Victoria Memorial etc etc - and off he went missing the road, getting us stuck in traffic, and even resisting our efforts to point out the very large building up the road. He got us there eventually - about three minutes before it closed! I had told him he was a complete disgrace and that on the strength of ten minutes looking at the map I knew his city better than him and refused to pay more than a small fare. I would guess these drivers are all from outside town, know nothing of the heritage sites and can just about get you to the stations etc. We are takin the metro out towards the airport - I just dont trust them even to know where that is1

Brian

ps as you will see we have finally managed to get the technology working again to add some photos to this entry and to a few previous ones - so scroll down to check

International Womens Day

2009-03-12T15:15:00.002Z

Last Sunday when we were traveling from Delhi to Bagdogra it was International Womens' day and the Indian papers were full of stuff about women and at the baggage check in every woman was given a single red rose, not the easiest thing to manage when boarding a plane, though a nice gesture.

We had arrived very early so that we could get a seat on the left hand side of the plane and have a chance to see the snowy tops of the Himalayas from the plane. Inevitably I needed the loo before we got on the plane, in my search I found two mens loo blocks and then finally the one block for womwn. Three loos, two with doors on and working and a line of about twenty women waiting patiently to go.

By the time I got out of there about half an hour later I was incandecent so I marched up to the customer service desk and told them what I though of their service to women. Oh I was cross.

Brian went to the Gents a while later and reported that one of the gents loos now had a hand written sign out side saying Ladies. Result!!

Oh! Kolkata!

2009-03-12T15:05:00.003Z

We left Siliguru on the day of Holi - where a large proportion of the population throw coloured powder over each other and go around looking like purple/green/blue/yellow ghosts. Even as we did some emails during the day the guy running the internet place was out in the street with some loud music and powder throwing with his mates. As we don't have many clothes we did not encourage any joining in!

We left overnight on the Darjeeling Mail and arrived in Kolkata around 8am - a couple of hours late which suited us fine as we did not fancy turning up at hotels soon after 6am and finding a room so early. As we arrived we saw that roads and platforms were wet - the first sign of rain we have seen since we left England and the overnight rain has had the effect of reducing the humidity quite a bit.

We worried about Kolkata's reputation for grubbiness, poverty etc but in fact our first impressions have been very positive, its a good place to walk about, there are tree lined roads, some fine buildings. Of course the pavements are host to every sort of cooking and eating and quite a lot of simple living. We have visited the Victoria Memorial (the taxi driver had not heard of it and I had to point it out in the book and on the map - this is equivalent to finding a London cabbie who did not know where Buckingham Palace is, its just about the most famout building here!) and we have walked the streets quite a bit, eaten some wonderful cakes and had our meals in the Sudder Street area with all the other travellers. We noted a group of mature French travellers in the restaurant tonight - noting down their expenses just like we do. Well we pensioners need to watch every Rupee!

Brian

Cursing Kurseong

2009-03-10T13:35:00.004Z

No More Hills! No More Hills!!! We both staggered out of our overheating and undersuspended Suziki taxi at Kerseong in the West Bengal Hills promising each other we would never ever submit ourselves to such a journey again. It was a nightmare of broken road surface (like dry river beds), half the narrow road fallen away and drops to nowhere that left us both shaking. To cap it all Kurseong was not bathing in mountain light but was enveloped in a damp mountain mist, everything seemed damp and grubby. The hotel we hoped to stay in was full and in desperation to just stop moving we took a decidedly third rate place - which would have had a great view but for the mist.

There was one saving grace, incredibly the place is on the railway - well the Toy Train to Darjeeling so as Tess had said she would die in the place rather than go back down the road we at least had one of the world's great railway journeys as a means of escape. So we agreed - back down the hill by train the next day.

Next day dawned a lot brighter but strangely quiet. We got up and found the street full of people but every shop shut, so we walked through the town - one main street with the railway line on one side of it - to the tourist lodge place in the hope of breakfast, but it was also all closed up and eventually a guy told us they were on strike! We returned to the hotel to find that the whole town was on strike! Nothing would open, nothing would move, including the train. More to the immediate point - what were we going to eat. Well a word to the hotel guy and he promised us fried eggs, toast and tea and then led us to the shuttered cafe beneath the hotel where a door was quickly opened and shut behind us - and we ate a very good breakfast. It turned out that the government had banned the opposition parties from holding meetings so the whole place went on strike for the day - putting a complete end to our hopes of escape! The roads were full of people playing shuttlecock and cricket and wandering around, the police had nothing to do as everyone was treating it like a holiday, in place of the police traffic post stood the Gourkaland flag in a sack of sand. Any vehicle that did move had a sign on it announcing what it was doing 'Exam Duty' 'Water Supply' etc.

So we went for walks around the place - to the outskirts to view the hills in the morning and keeping awary eye on a tribe of monkeys that came our way and clambered over a block of flats, and in the afternoon up the hill behind the hotel (all the buildings cling to the steep sides of the hills by their fingernails!) and we even found a cottage where the poet Tagore lived in 1924. Everyone was very friendly, lots of hellos etc - this has to be the least touristy place we have landed in however.

So back to the cafe under the hotel, once more admitted through the shutters for a strike breaking cup of tea and a good chat with the hotel owner and cafe owner and back there for dinner, cooked to order in what looked like a very dirty kitchen but we were then joined by a businessman who poured his whiskey (three pegs in a small bottle and then a further peg) and got slightly less coherent as the evening went on!

In the end we at least liked Kurseong for the people we met - and we finally today got on that train and what a ride it proved to be, 4 hours down to Siliguri where we are now at a snails pace round sharp bend, loops and z bends (where the train backs down), incredible views of the landscape but also we passed shacks and houses where we could have reached in and shaken hands with the residents so close (and slowly) did we pass them.

Brian

Brian has kindly not said that once we had found a hotel room and I had put my bag down, I burst into tears, so terrifying was that drive. After our leisurly decent today I think we must have driven up the steeper, but shorter rout to Kurseong, the road that followed the railway didn't seem half so bad (but that could have been becuse I was in a nice, safe train).

I am glad we had the enforced day in Kurseong, because though it will never feature in my 10 favourite towns in India, but it did redeam its self by having really friendly people and a large number of English speakers with stunningly good acents and vocab. There are lots of schoos in the area, it has a long relationship with the Brits, summer reteat from the plains, tea and of course the Army, lots of Gurkas come from the area.

Tess

Back on the road

2009-03-07T12:16:00.004Z

We are back on the road, actually in a place we don't particularly want to be - near Delhi airport in transit en route to West Bengal. It has been a rough week and our trip to the far south of India has been much disrupted of course and several of those sorely won train bookings lost and replaced with internal flights.

I posed a challenge to the urology guys at Lakeshore, how to solve my immediate problem and get me back on the road without an extended stay in Kochi. So far they seemed to have found a solution but obviously we will be keeping a close eye on health issues. It was a hospital that most of us in the UK would recognise, I would guess not far below the standards of Addenbrooks and I certainly had no worries as I went into theatre, the whole team had visited from big boss down and they had bags of confidence. Unlike in the UK we had a private ac room with tv etc which cost us (or rather the insurance company all of 20 pounds per night), my whole treatment cost just over 500 pounds. We had the usual stream of visits each day from nurses, from dieticians, for laundry and for food delivery. These rose to a crescendo the evening prior to going into theatre and we were particularly puzzled by the guy with the large wash bag - he had no English so got a nurse who explained he had come to shave me. He hussled Tess and the nurse out, carefully locked the door, got me stripped and lay a sheet of newspaper under my trunk. He marked out with water the area to be shaved - just below my nipples to my upper thighs with nothing missed out inbetween!

And then out came the cut-throat razor. I immediately thought of the slogan we saw on a barber shop in Jordan 'Show your wife how brave you are' encouraging men to come in and have their beard shaved - nothing compared to the bravery I was about to demonstrate! As the scraping began and he got to delicate tissues I needed some distraction so peered around him at the tv - which was showing the Coen Brothers' film 'Fargo' and had just got to the woodchipper scene!

The hospital at Kumily could hardly have been in greater contrast, a very simple country hospital with a smiling Nun as Matron, the day began with a small bell rung for prayers, then the dawn chorus of birds started up and as daylight came the hospital was shrouded in mountain mists. Gradually these drew back to reveal the jack fruit trees and coffee bushes on the hillside opposite. Not quite Shangri La but a better view than anything Addenbrookes has to offer! But the beds were hard - you had to be ill to want to lie on them and poor Tessa had an even harder one.

Brian

I just want to tell you all about the Hospital Canteen at Kumily. When I returned to the hospital with night things after Brian had been admitted I suddenly though 'oh, here we are miles from anywhere, what are we going to eat' but was reassured by the Matron, who said 'We have a canteen, its over there' (pointing to a single story building to the right of the hospital building) . I didnt get a chance to check it out till after dark (remember there was a power cut) and was amazed when I went in to find first a counter and cash desk and small shop area, sweets and stuff like soap called 'Dr Wash', then a small room with tables and on the right of this the kitchen. The kitchen was lit with a lamp and the light of the open fire over which the fierce looking male cooks had their cooking pots hung. For 18 rupees I was given more rice than I could eat, a portion of potato curry in a plastic bag and four small portions of sambals (sort of accompanyments) and no cutlery. When I got back to our room I had to eat out on the balcony, sort of hanging over my food, so that I could get at least some of it into my mouth and not all down my front!

Sometimes they took pity on me and delivered my meal, it would arrive wrapped up in a sheet of news paper to protect it from the elements. Tea was dispensed in glsses and carried over in a metal glass holder with a 1/2 sheet of news paper over the top of the glasses. The food was really good and because the kitchen was so dark it was impossible to judge the hygiene standards, but it was a hospital so presumably they didnt finish off too many people (Heston Blumenthal please note). Also no concessions to bland food for invalids, it was hot, like it or not.

Tess

The Patient Speaks

2009-03-06T08:52:00.002Z

Finally about to be discharged after our week in the two hospitals, this was a good choice, only six years old and aiming at world class treatment and with what certainly seems like a competent urology department. I have an extra bit in me and providing I can start peeing soon will be out the door very shortly. We have booked flights for Saturday and Sunday to take us all the way to the other end of the country - up in the West Bengal Hills. I hope to have time there to reflect a little on my time in hospital but for now will just say a lot of thanks to bystander Tessa (its a formal title here - she has a pass), Suresh at Green View who helped so much in Kumily and then got us to Lakeshore which proved to be just the place I needed to be and to all the others who have sent best wishes.

Brian

The English Patient

2009-03-05T06:00:00.002Z

Hes doing OK, at the moment he should be having a stent put in to relieve the pressure on the kidney and stop the pain. The stent needs to be taken out and the stones dealt with in the next few months, so hopfully the journey will continue after discharge and a few days recovery.

The Drs here are very nice and seem to be very thorough. I will let Brian give you the patients point of view as soon as he can, as his 'by stander' (thats what i am known as here) it seems good to me.

Tess

Well stone me!

2009-03-03T05:24:00.003Z

As family know, but most friends dont yet know, Brian is road testing the Indian hospital service.

On Saturday morning we set off from our lovely hotel Green View (owned by the charming, kind and very helpful Mr Suresh) for a "Spice Tour". It was in a tuc tuc and on very bumpy roads and Brian soon felt sick, he perked up after that and we carried on, only for him to start feeling really unwell as we were going round a tea factory. I decided that we needed to take him to hospital so a car came out from Kumily and took us off to a tiny hospital, St Augustine's.

The staff at Hospital were so kind and helpful. We saw a Dr Babu Pullicken, who quickly diagnosed Kidney stones. The pain had gone away and so he sent us back to the hotel, telling Brian to rest and come back if the pain returned. Well, we were back at the hospital by about 5pm, with a very sorry for himself Brian, the pain was coming and going, so it was decided to admit him.

I went back to the hotel to get assorted necessary stuff and returned to the hospital to stay over night with the patient. I found him in a single room, he had the bed and I had a much norrower bed, his was hard and mine was indescribably hard. The place was basic but spotless and the staff, some of whom were Nuns were so kind and helpful, some people could speak English, the Dr, a couple of the nurses and the Nun/ Head nurse (she may have been Matron), any one who couldnt speak English smiled a lot and tried to find someone who could.

I arrived at about 7pm, in the middle of the daily 1/2 hour power cut, sadly this power cut lasted till about 2 pm the next day. The Hospital had a small generator, but that was kept for emergencies, so the whole of Saturday night any nurse who appeared was carrying a large lamp torch and we were given a candle for the room. Thank goodness we had the windup torch with us.

Poor Brian had a very uncomfortable night, lots of pain, groaning and throwing up, he was on a drip and I had to keep trying to get him to drink water. Eventually a male nurse gave him some thing for the sickness and some knock out injection, so he did get some rest. The next day he felt very bruised, but improved as Sunday went on. We had a scan done on Sunday afternoon ( a taxi ride away at a scanning and diagnostics place. A bit of pain Sunday night and then very much better Monday morning. At this point it was decided that the stone must have come out and he was discharged.

Well, it hadnt come out and about 2 hours after we got back to the hotel, just I had come into our room with some lunch, Brian said ' I hate to say this, but the pain has come back'. We consulted with our fantastic landlord and the upshot was that about an hour later we set off on the tortuous 5 hour journey back to Kochi, heading for the large, modern Lakeshore hospital, where Suresh's brother in law had had the same problem treated. Here we are, an overnight stay in a reasonably comfortable A/C room and Brian is at this moment having xrays and discussing treatement. I have been emailing relatives and letting anyone else know via this blog. More news later.

Tess

Mountain Greenery (and monkeys)

2009-02-27T12:15:00.003Z

We were awakened around 7am with scrambling on the roof, sort of lolloping noises, lots of creatures and then a little while later they were back. Monkeys I thought and later as we stood outside our hut watching some of the cornucopia of exotic birds we see all the time in India and young German confirmed that a raiding party of monkeys had attacked the hotel - some had entered his room and his banana was missing! They have obviously learnt that at that time people are still asleep and have balcony doors and windows left open.

We were sleeping in a small hut at the end of the hotel garden, over the wall is the wildlife reserve complete with water buffaloes (which we saw) but even some tigers and wild elephants (which we have not) but it is nice to look out on. Mind you we realised we were on the front line - not for tigers or monkeys - but for mosquitos and made sure the hotel mended some holes in the door screen and then had to use our bodge tape to repair their mosquito net. We slept fine until the monkey raiding party but have moved to a much better hotel - a lovely 3rd floor room at tree top level, a sweet breeze and gorgeous view and probably fewer mossies.

We are in Kumily, still in Kerela but up in the Western Ghats and right on the border with Tamil Nadu. We had the most extraordinary bus ride up here, actually two buses, a 6 hour journey in all that cost us all of one pound fifty each. The first bus was fine, took us to a large town south of Kochi from which we sought out the Kumily bus. We have discovered that timetables mean little, we had turned up at Kochi 45 minutes early and still missed our direct bus to Kumily so we (and two German girls travelling the same route) took local buses. We discovered that our final 110kms up to Kumily in the hills was to be on the most decrepit bus in the bus station and the driver started her up and drove like it was some kind of race, there were no straight stretches on the road and we roared around each corner. We all jammed ourselves against the side of the bus (I have a bruised elbow and shoulder and Tess has a sore bum - excuse the technical term) but actually it was a fascinating drive. We passed many places covered in bunting for one political party or another, loudspeaker vans driving up and down - its election time here. And then as we ascended the Ghats there were jaw dropping views (Tess did not look), the bus careering around corners. As we got higher the lush jungle suddenly gave way to a bright green landscape of pin cushions with a few tall trees growing among them - it looked like a sort of Telly Tubby land and we realised that this is a big tea planting area, it looked just like the packets of tea, lines of pickers working on the steep hillsides. There are also spice gardens everywhere and Kumily is filled with spice shops. Just down the road we came across a Cardomen wharehouse with lines of women chatting and sorting piles of seeds - it looked very sociable work.

Brian

Brian isn't quite right, I did look but was extremely thankful that he was on the side next to the drop, we had both wedged ourselves in the corner of seats on oposite sides of the ailse to preven the one on the outside of the seat form ending up on the floor, I am not kidding the driving was that frantic. Strangely, I didnt notice the uncomfortable seats so much, probably due to the fear factor.

I have turned into a right moany old bag. I got us our 400 r back at the hotel in Kochi for a non appearing but prepaid taxi. At the Coffee Inn, very good write up in Lonely Planet; I had to ask several times for the many rents in the bug mesh to be mended, complained that the room was dirty (which it was) and complained about the wildly over salted pasta sauce. I was told that the room was dusty because their machine was broken, when I pointed out that a damp duster would have done the trick the man went into full Basil Faulty style hotel management school performance and got very sulky.

As compensation for the rigours of the journey and not having had a proper meal yesterday we went to the most expensive hotel here "Spice Village" (we now overlook it from our balcony). It's one of those 'if you have to ask the price its not for you' places, but had a very good buffet super for a reasonable amount. The food was lovely and you could have gone round again and again, if you'd had the appetite and the nerve. We ate plenty, had a beer and watched some lovely Indian clasical dance and went home tired but happy.

Tess

Fort Cochin - fine as long as you don't move

2009-02-25T05:08:00.002Z

Our second flight with Jet Airways from Mumbai to Kochi(Cochin) was as good as the first one - Mr O'Leary of Ryanair would no doubt not approve of the real cutlery, free food and excellent on the ground service. And the comfortable brand new budget airline terminal was great - and we enjoyed reading all the papers which without exception had the front page and much of the inside devoted to the success of Slumdog - plenty of good natured discussion on how British or Indian the film was but mostly they were celebrating the partnership and the success of their music man in particular. As we taxied out we passed one of those slums, hard against the airport perimeter wall, packed solid boxes of corrugated iron, wood and other building materials, not apparently an inch of space left - but presumably people were moving about in there (and being deafened by the jets).

Kochi is hot, I mean real sauna like, the taxi ride from the airport was fine and the ferry across to Fort Cochin was fun but as soon as we started walking into the town we realised that any movement leaves you wringing wet. We found a place to stay for two nights with AC and stood in front of the cool air until we had the strength to go outside again. It was dark and we noticed blue lights zooming up above the road and then floating down - we soon came across the boys selling 'Indian technology' - blue light on some kind of catapulted parachute, there is something every place we go!

After a stroll by the sea we had a meal in one of the road side places - this is a tiny place of small roads and full of Dutch, Portuguese, French, British and other foreign names and buildings, quite unlike anywhere else we have been - as you approach most eating places a whispered 'Wine? Beer?' greets you, and in the place we ate the beer was brought to us in a teaport and two mugs for drinking. On the bill we were charged for 'Special Tea'. They have no licence of course (and even the poshest place we stayed in Mt Abu went to lengths to disguise the availability of beer) but you might think that the presence of Kingfisher beer umbrellas and napkin holders might alert the local authorities to the prohibition breaking! Oh and on the adjacent tree an eagle sat and watched us ('Its our pet'). I should say its also an extremely friendly place and full of travellers, its another chill out place like Dahab only with a lot of Indians here as well - but chill out is hardly the right term when a nights sleep depends on a blast of the AC every few hours!

We have already told you of how we booked twice for our first flight on the way here. In fact we got Rifaq to take us out to the airport on the evening before we were due to fly to try to sort it out with the Kingfisher airline office. A young woman Garima (I think that is spelt correctly) checked our booking
'Here it is you are four people"
'No, we are two people but booked twice by accident, we need to cancel one booking. We need to then catch an afternoon flight to Kochi'
'But this is an evening flight, we have no morning flight, its 8.30pm not am'
You can imagine our crestfallen faces followed rapidly with a stream of invective against the web site not using the 24 hour clock - nor actually including the pm. Seeing our faces Garima sprang into action - I will help you, I will sort this out!
Then despite all the phone lines being down (like power cuts a constant problem) she got on her mobile for a long discussion and negotiation, culminating in a big thumbs up sign as she got both sets of now useless tickets cancellend for only a small fee. Then she went into the airport to the Jet Airlines check in desk and got us cheap seats on their flight in the morning - and all she asked was that Tess wrote a good comment - we would have struck a medal for her and given her the freedom of Cambridge we were that grateful! So Garima is front runner for the most helpful person we have yet met.

We are off for a short ferry ride to Vypeen Island and then up to a beach about 25km away shortly and are due to leave here in the morning for the mountains - a nature reserve where we will not need AC to survive!

Brian

From Mumbai Airport

2009-02-24T05:59:00.002Z

This key board is very sticky, I am typing standing up, look on the bright side, it's a free connection
but it may have even more typos and spelling mistakes than ever!

Aurangabad was good. The hotel was basic but clean, with the most amusing loo. It had a very large sort of wing effect around the seat, ridged too, we thought it might have been an unsuccesful prototype of a combination squatter come western style toilet, regected because of health and safety issues.

We also had a lovely, safe, slow, cautious driver called Rifaq, he drove us about for 2 and a bit days and was so nice and helpful. Best of all his car was an old Ambassador, white and shining, bench seat at the front, some thing from the 50,s.

We saw the Ellora ansd Ajanta caves and they are just fantastic. I had never heard of them till we got here and as no one had properly described them I thoughtwe were coming a long way to see some caves ? They are better described as rock temples, carved out of cliff faces in the way that Petra is. Talk about impressive, we will up load some photos when we have an opportunity.

Ajanta caves are hughe and it was extreemly hot in the deep gorge in which they are situated, there are 30 caves, I saw about 7 and Brian made it round the whole lot. I sat in the shade and waited for him, between us we drank 2 l of water in about 2 hours!

Ellora caves are more easily accessible and much more exiting, they are so carved and decorated, just beautiful, with much more of the origional colour visible and one of the caves is actually a complete Jain Temple carved out of a cliff. Loads of Gods of all sorts and many live bats in the darker deeper recesses. My 50p torch from the Marks sale came in very handy.

Travel today much better, we left the hotel in the dark due to a 6am power cut, we had packed last night and had the wind up torch for room checking. No breakfast, hotel staff still asleep on their quilts in the lobby. Fortunatly the budget airline jet is fantastic and we had breakfast on the plane.

Tess

Aurangabad

2009-02-23T02:55:00.003Z

We are in Aurangabad and this might be a short blog - power cuts a constant threat and even when you have power there are load sharing arrangements - good way to get you up is to cut off power to the ceiling fan at 6am! Its hot here and a fan is essential.

We had one of those great railway journeys you hope to forget on the way here from Mumbai. We know you like to hear that we are also suffering and this was suffering - we were on Sleeper Class, not AC and thought that would be OK as it was a 4.30 - 11.30pm ride not an overnight. It was in any case all we could get. But we could not have been more wrong, at the first stop in a Mumbai suburb loads of people swarmed into the carriage, some commuters and some longer distance travellers, any notion of seat or bunk booking went out the window (well there weren't windows there were metal bars). Tess looked out to see a face looking in - someone hanging on the outside! Well it might on paper have seemed like a shortish journey but on those hard seats with little padding and several extra people crammed onto the seat and up on the top bunk it seemed an age. Things got worse when India's version of Harold Steptoe arrived with two women (wife and daughter maybe) and started busying himself inserting them into non existent seating spaces and inserting his copious bags under seats - even chucking out other bags. When he started under our seat it only took about 10 loud Noes and Tessa's legs firmly in the way to convince him he was not going to move our bags as well. Mind you the way he got those women seated (and eventually on bunks) got space to lay out the evening meal was a sight to behold. We did not have seats together (the big problem of having Reservations Awaiting Confirmation we discovered) so sat togother anyway and then declined to shift for bunk putting down - Tess had the bunk but we would have had to shift an old couple and have me got back to shift the several people occupying my bunk space. So they hated us but had to wait until midnight when we and most of the train got off to get their final bunks down.

We decided that with the RAC status for our long trip down to Kochi that we had been overenthusiastic about the following days travel. We have a nice cheap hotel here with other travellers to chat to and we have already been to the stunning Ajanta Caves and will go to the Ellora Caves today. Tomorrow we fly out of here to Mumbai and then onto Kochi - arriving the day we would have in any case if we had taken the long train ride. We got our money back on the train tickets and have spent a good deal more on the flights - and the constant power outages meant we have managed to book ourselves on the first flight twice! Just as I was about to press Send the power went so with a loud OH NO! we started again - and how have two tickets each! Hopefully a visit to the airline might sort it out but its one of Indias' budget airlines so we might not get a refund - that will mean that power cut cost us 100 pounds.

Brian

Impressions of Mumbai

2009-02-21T05:54:00.004Z

Brian enjoying the true backpacking experience at the Taj hotel.

We have bid a sad farewell to the Shahs, Sunaina struggled through horendous traffic last night to deliver us to the station for our overnight train to Mumbai. I had told Tess that when travelling in 1974 I noticed that I was always placed in sleeping compartments with 'suitable' fellow travellers. When we reached our compartment we met an elderly Indian lady with good English and then were joined by a man - our immediate discussion of the level of senior discount for train travel immediately identified us all as pensioners - and it turned out both the man and woman were visiting from the States - so we were a compartment formed of international pensioners! It seems our wedding in Ahbad made the local papers, when we mentioned we had been to a wedding the man said we might have been in the papers as he had read about it that day.

Across the ailse in the further two bunks were a young woman, her sister and a 1 and a half month baby - presumably on the basis that pensioners would look kindly on babies! The Indian rail system really in a marvel and this business of forming up suitable groups is just a further aspect of it.

You get perhaps half a nights sleep on the sleepers and we were in to Mumbai Central station before 7am - most passengers having left at an earlier station in the north of the city. At the station we discovered two things, they dont have tuk tuks here and they don't have the small stripey squirrels that have been dashing in and out of the corner of our sight ever since Delhi. What they do have is taxis - yellow and black ones, all exactly the same, old model Fiats I would guess and every one built maybe 25 years ago at least and perhaps delivered covered in bumps! As it was so early and we had to get to the other station to leave our bags (we leave on another train this afternoon) we took one of the taxis to discover that they were double parked on every street - too early for business and enough taxis for the whole of Asia by the look of it.

Depositing our two bags for the day took just about one hour! First our rucksacks were not acceptable without locks (how can you lock a multi-pocket rucksack?) so we were sent away. We discovered a stall selling small locks and set about fixing them to Tessa's pack whilst I used my cable and lock to bind up mine. So back we went. Now we had sticky lables wrapped around each of the locks and were sent away again - a vague wave across the station forecourt (this is the busiest station in Asia so for 'forecourt' you need to imagine a version of Hades), then we saw a xray machine and put our bags through - the man at the end then waving us away when we pointed to the Left Luggage. So back to the Left Luggage to be sent away again! We needed a signature from the man at the machine (well obviously - but why did he just sit there?) so back to him and then finally back to the left luggage where this time our bags were accepted, forms were completed and we were left to get out of the steamy station. Tess was meanwhile warning several other travellers of the process and sending them across the station to purchase locks.

So we wandered down to the Taj Mahal Palace hotel - the older part now closed after the attack of November, in fact we walked from one major site of the attacks, the CST station to the other one. The new part of the hotel is however open and after bag and body searches we entered the hushed and air conditioned splendour of those able to spend about 600 dollars per night. Our target was a quick wash and then a sumptious breakfast. The buffet breakfast has to be seen to be believed and we spent just about half our daily budget on filling up for the day! You could get used to the level of service mind, Tess wanted a stamp for a postcard and it was immediately taken away to be posted for her - mind you she did not wait for the change as that seemed out of place!

So eventually it was back out into the haze and humidity of Mumbai, a stroll around the Gate of India from which the British finally left in 1947 and then to a nearby internet cafe - although we were somewhat alarmed to see smoke pouring from every window of the first building of the street and then from every other building - including the internet cafe, a fearsome smoke machine was being used to fumigate everything for mosquitos. But we found this cyber place away from the fumes.

We taken another train this afternoon to Aurangabad arriving about midnight and tomorrow we will go to the Ellora Caves, we leave that night on another overnight train back here to Mumbai and then begin our 35 hour trip down to Kerala - we suspect we will have had enough of train travel by then and may end up regretting not flying. Our train this afternoon is not air conditioned either, it will be a case of hoping the open windows create enough breeze.

Brian

We went to a marvelous party!

2009-02-20T09:05:00.005Z

Photo of the Shah's new house - designed by Snehel Shah

Well, it was two parties really; our hosts in Ahmedabad, Snehel and Sujata Shah asked us if we would like to go to part of the marriage celebrations of the daughter of Snehel's cousin. The Shah family is large and very close and there are many Uncles, Aunts and cousins.

Of course we were really delighted to be asked to join in the celebrations, it is marriage season here and we have seen and heard many wedding parties as we have traveled about, to see more at close quaters was a priviledge not to be missed. Also, because of our 'traveling light' policy it meant that the shopping embargo was well and truly broached, because we could not go to two wedding party evenings looking only slightly better than tramps (at least in the very well dressed context of an Indian wedding). Brian, as previously reported had a silk Kurta and a nice pair of white trousers made. I had bought some fabric in Udapuir and had that and some more fabric I bought in A'bad made into two 'Punjabi' suits (its what they call the top with split sides worn over trousers here). I needed two though Brian could get away with one outfit and his smartest Rohan trousers and shirt for evening no 1.

Evening one (for us, it was about evening 4 for the brides and grooms family) was an evening of music and dance put on by the Grooms family. We drove quite a long way out of A'bad to a sort of country club. There was a stage and the biggest buffet supper you can possibly imagine. The catering at these do's is on a very grand scale and so slick. Tables staffed with chaps who might be cooking rice pancakes or puris or chapati, others with heated serving dishes with about 5 varieties of different curry, salads, relishes, rice, dahls and some things like soups, bruchetta, pasta etc etc,all vegetarian all delicious. You go round with a huge plate and a spoon and are served small portions of everything and encouraged to go back for more of anything you really like and then there is pudding, at this event it was a very nice chocolate cake. As Jains are vegan and teetotal the drink is water, pepsi, fruit juice, Indian tea (spiced, sweet, with the milk already in it) or coffee.

After eating and talking the party all drift over to the seated area to watch the show, the gathering is of at least 400 people, all related to the bride or groom or very close friends. The show, lasting about three hours is a mixture of professional singers and musicians doing a mixture of film music and Indian oldies but goldies and younger members of the family (bride and groms age) who do dance routines and put on a cod quiz show called 'Perfect Partner' and based on 'Do you want to be a millionaire?' Everyone sings along to the oldies but goldies and the evening ends about 1.30am with dancing to the band. By about 10.30 its begining to get a little chilly so at the rear of the audience some braziers are lit and the old (and those who hadn't the forethought to bring a warm top) sit around them and talk.

Every woman at this event is dressed to tha 9's. Jewelery (real not costume) glitters on arms and ears and at throats. The gleam of high carrat gold is soft and luminous, red beads really are rubies and the earings have to be seen to be believed. Women are dressed in a variety of styles, saris of every hue you can immagine, punjabis, dresses with high waists and gored skirts worn over tight trousers (like the outfits you may have seen in Indian minature paintings), there are also Rhajestani style outfits of full skirt, tight blouse and a length of fabric sort of wrapped round the waist and up over the shoulders. Seqins glitter, gold and silver brocade falls in elegant folds, little girls skip about in pretty skirts and blouses and silver or gold sandles.

Many of the men have also put a lot of effort into their dress. Many wear Kurtas, some wild silk, some made of fantastic brocade in all sorts of colours, trousers are often quite theatricly baggy and of a different colour to the Kurta, almost everyone wears sandals.

The next day was the actual wedding ceremony. All the women had stepped up their outfits and the jewelery was even more dazzling, I really have never seen anything like the display put on by Indian women at a big wedding, they looked fabulous.

The bride arrives and is danced into the wedding ground by her family to the noise of a very loud band. The groom arrives in a car covered in flowers and they are both escorted in. The guests sit around the sacred area (where the priest conducts the ceremony) chatting, eating delicious snacks, listening to musicians playing traditional music while the ceremony carries on under the tent in the middle. The ceremony takes about an hour and a quarter and is quite complicated, ending up with the bride and groom being tied together with a red rope and then a pink scarf and doing 7 (I think) circuits of the sacred area, the groom leads for 4 times and the bride for 3, signifying that this is a partnership.

Then the bride leaves with her new husband and his family (she returns after an hour or so) the guests all mill about and talk. There are at least 750 people so there are plenty of people to talk to. Later the bride and groom come back, more friends and business associates arrive and the huge buffet is served. Much like the night before but more of it!! While guests are eating the bridal party sit on a dias and receive their guests, much shaking of hands, embracing and taking photos. The bridal party and their close family (100 or so people) sit down to eat at about nine, after everyone else has had the buffet.

We left at about 9.30pm, our hosts did not get back till midnight and they have the final function of the week long event this evening!

Sorry this is a bit long, hope you find it interesting,

Tess

I don't think I will ever forget the scene as we arrived. The band was in full pelt, the young men and women dancing - particularly the young men forming circles, hands in the air, gyrating, it was a complete thrill to be part of the accompanying throng moving towards the marriage ground.

There were some very touching points of the actual ceremony (Sujata had persuaded us to sit with the close family in the front row so whilst most of the guests sat further back enjoying chatting and the excellent Indian classical music Tess and I could have a very good view of the actual ceremony - with relatives explaining what was going on from time to time). Tess has mentioned the seven steps taken by the bride and groom, there was also the point at which the two fathers came forward, sat close facing each other and placed food in each others mouths signifying that the marriage was the joining of the two families and not just the two young people. The ceremony was conducted by the priest and two assistants with a complex series of symbolic acts involving fire, liquids, flowers etc and all the while the priest explaining to the groom and bride the significance of each act and how it provided guidance to them in their future lives.

Afterwards as the only non Indians there we were constantly approached - particularly by Indians who had lived in England - for a chat. The atmosphere was quite unlike any English gathering, the ability of Indians to explain exactly how they are related to each other is astounding - it made my head spin to try to keep track and I had to observe that the complete lack of alchohol was a definite advantage, just copious amounts of excellent food and trays of cold water brought to you every few minutes. We had many good discussions about India, its economic growth of which Gujartis are very proud - and of course of the success of Slumdog Millionaire about which they also take great pleasure! Two days we will certainly not forget!

Brian

Things are different here

2009-02-18T07:20:00.005Z

Brian is suffering from a bit of a hay fever out break, the mustard harvest at Mount Abu meant there was a lot of 'stuff' in the air and it has made him very sneezy and bunged up.

So anyway I thought I would do a list of a few things that have made me look twice, wonder 'what on earth?' etc. This is not in any way critical or intended to be rude about India and its people, it is just stuff that is different.

People work really hard here, if you only have a basket and a few vegetables you display your veg nicely in your basket and sit by the road to sell them, if you have a brush you sweep things, the old (men and women) pick up rubbish or dead leaves or dust monuments etc. Whole families do building or road works, women in beautiful saris wield pick axes or carry stones or sand in big bowls on their heads, the oldest child looks after the little ones and the baby sleeps in a cradle made out of two A frames with a pole between them, on the pole is tied a large cloth by its four corners and inside is a baby - this can be on the central reservation of a 4 lane highway. Seen this morning on our way by road from Mount Abu, a woman grouting between the kerb stones of a bit of central reservation under construction while her two small boys (aprox 18mths and 3 yrs) played in the gap (maybe 3 feet) between the two sets of kerb stones that made up the central reservation.

People also work by shifting things or people about, there must be millions of tuc tucs in India all ready to squeeze in up to about 10 people (possibly more). There are also bicycles and these are used for personal transport and for delivery. There are 4 wheeled trolleys that people push about, some are used as stalls in markets or at road sides, some for delivery of goods, next come the large 3 wheelers, like a really big tricycle, over the two back wheels is a flat bed and this can be a mobile stall or a peddle powered delivery cart, at night the place where you sleep. There are also carts pulled by animals, donkeys, oxen, and most exotic looking, camel carts. Sometimes you see donkeys with panniers carrying building rubble or bricks, occasionally you see Elephants carrying people and stuff (I'm not sure what, something no one needs in a hurry).

There are also tuc tuc vans and Apis, just like the ones you see in Italy, these are often laden with gas bottles, produce and huge numbers of cardboard boxes. Motor bikes and scooters are used for personal transport, but rather more people on them than we are used to seeing at home. So far my largest count has been 5 - small child on petrol tank, dad driving, larger child, mum side saddle (in sari) with largish toddler casually under her arm. Only the driver wears a crash helmet (and not always) often even if worn the helmet has not got the chinstrap fastened. The young drive scooters, girls looking like exotic bandits because they swathe their faces in scarves so that only their eyes show, in order to protect themselves from dust I think.

There are also very old fashioned invalid chairs that are a large tricycle with the chain worked by handles rather than peddles. I have not seen a single wheel chair as we know them.

Lorries here look very solid and quite old fashioned, I think its because they don't seem to have many of the sort that are a cab that you can hitch a container to. Also they are decorated with tassles, painted patterns, shiny metal that has been punched with patterns and aways "horn please" or "Horn OK" in fancy writing on the tail gate.

Things you may have read about the way people crowd onto transport are all true, shared jeeps are filled beyond reason and then people get on the roof, small lorries transport swaying crowds squashed into the back, people ride on top of loads of sacks of produce or on lorries full of bricks.

Bricks, that reminds me of the huge number of brick fields and brick kilns we have seen as we travel around. Also miles and miles of firms selling cut marble and granite, you can hardly think there could be any mountains left.

Oh, lastly (for now) there is absolutly no concept of 'mutton dressed as lamb' here. No matter how old , tiny and bent you are you will never think 'perhaps I am past the age where this cerise/turquiose/red/peacock blue/lavender/baby pink sari will look good on me'. No; pattern, colour, sequins, embroidery - bring it on, and very good they look too. You occasionally see a woman in a white or grey sari and women in banks and offices sometimes wear darker colours, but they certainly are not the norm.

Tess

Jain Temples, Mount Abu

2009-02-17T08:32:00.003Z

This is day one of week seven, I can't believe we have been away from home for so long. The time is flying by!

Yesterday we traveled by by train, 3 A/C (three bunks , one above each other, in an air conditioned carriage) train was not very full, it started from Amhedabad at 9,30 and got to its final destination, Delhi many hours later. It took till 3.20 to get to Abu Road only a couple of hundred K from A'bad. We rocked gently along, sometimes looking out of the window at life in the villages and fields, sometimes sleeping like the rest of the passengers. Indians seem to be really good at sleeping - on trains or almost anywhere else they seem to be able to take their ease.

Once we got to Abu Road we found a taxi to take us up to Mount Abu, about 45 mins up a huge lump of rock that just errupts out of the plain. We are staying at the Kishangarh House , the former summer residence of the Mahararaja of Kishangarh. It is very pretty and very quiet, there were only three of us in the hotel last night. Brian and I had our dinner about 7.30, in the large, gloomily lit dinning room, watched closely by the waiter who rushed forward as each dish was emptied. Slightly un-nerving but you couldn't fault him on polite and prompt service.

When we finished eating we read for a bit in the very attractively decorated sitting room, sitting on one of the many red covered sofas. The room and adjoining corridor are decorated with assorted princely photos of wonderfully dressed family groups, there are also large brass elephants and a range of decorative items like teapots and such.

We slept well after the lovely hot shower, I was warm enough but Brian could have done with another blanket, its much cooler up here at night. Today breakfast in the sunny courtyard and then a walk round the very pretty lake, followed by coffee and a cake (a rare indulgence). After that a jeep up to the Temple complex at Delwara.

If any of you reading this ever come to India these temples are not to be missed, the carving is the most beautiful and the most detailed I have ever seen. The stone is mostly white marble and honestly some of the carving looks more like piped sugar paste than stone. The workers were paid by the amount of dust they collected, so I guess it was in their interest to carve in the most tiny detail they could manage. Just fantastic and glowing in the noon day sun. There were loads of people being shown round, but only two other Europeans that I saw. It is a pilgrimage site of great importance to Hindus and the temples are of the Jain sect.

Tessa

Valentine's day

2009-02-15T15:44:00.006Z

We are just back from two days in the lush and beautiful Gujarat countryside. Snehal Shah was taking a group of students out to the world heritage site at Champaner on which he is completing work on a book on the many beautiful mosques and other monuments in this 'lost city' of the 15th century.

We first visited a hunting lodge at a place called Jumburghoda where we were to stay the night - in fact an old rambling building with outhouses (in which our bedrooms were situated) at the end of a sandy track amonst the fields growing just about everything - including rice. This track is called Palace Road - the reason for which became apparent when we were taking tea and a distinquished woman approached us and to whom we were introduced, Snehal had almost snapped to attention when she came and I did likewise. We discussed our visit and the evening meal - all organic food from their fields and we all broke our strict vegetarian regime to try their chicken dish (peacocks and guinea fowl were wandering about but are apprently not for the table) and we were also introduced to her daughter. Our meal arranged we bade farewell when Snehal told us she was not just the proprieter but in fact the Queen of Jumburghoda - a former Princely State prior to Independence and of course with no remaining powers. The Lodge and grounds are the royal residence - hence Palace Road, a grand name for a sandy track!

On to the Champaner sites, and whilst Snehal took his student group off we were passed onto Professor Joshi as our guide - a 75 year old former Professor of Economics who is a resident of the area and an enthusiast of the monuments. Having been shown around one of the astoundingly beautiful old mosques Joshi asked us where our car was so we could start visiting some of the other widely scattered sites, we replied of course that we did not have one when lo and behold we spotted Ghiselle, a Swiss woman we had met in Ahmedebad who had just arrived with a driver! So Joshi immediately hijacked Ghiselle and driver to make a single group to visit further sites.

After the site visits we were dropped in the village to get a bus or shared jeep back the 25km to the Lodge and our problems began. Noone spoke English nor could anyone understand my obvious mispronunciation of Jumburghoda so we got only vague wavings of fingers or assurances that there were no buses. Finally one shared jeep said 'yes' and we squeezed in the back, Tess with a small child on her knee, when the jeep was full (that is with five in the front seat, people hanging on the side and back and squatting on the roof ) we set off - the wrong way!
Finally we got him to stop and trudged back to the village (and past the dead dog again!)

Snehal was texted, came to our rescue and eventually located a bus, already full but we squeezed in and even got seats at the first village - not for long however as we turned a corner to find a whole bus load of people beside a broken down bus, all plus their driver were somehow squeezed in and we set off - with us now quite unable to see the road and to spot Palace Road - however the driver had been asked by Snehal to stop and he did so. Very hot we walked the kilometer or so to the Lodge showered and took some tea in the shady gardens.

As the sun was setting we decided to take a walk through the fields, as we left the Lodge grounds a car with Queen and daughter and another couple drove out, the man driving wished up good evening in excellent English and told us about a step well across the fields and how to reach it. We replied that we had just been discussing the six storey underground step well at Ahemdebad so would indeed be interested
'Well this is a very simple country one, but well worth the visit' - and as he said farewell and drove on we concluded that we had just met the King!

We found the well, the way pointed out by a woman among what I guess was a tribal group, they all occupied small tents made of blue plastic gathered around a couple of trucks. The well was a large circular construction with a spiral of steps leading down to the water. We passed also coconut palms, all their trunks burned to make climbing easier and with poles and foot holds lashed to the trunks.

Returning to the lodge as the light failed we noticed that all the egrets (which are in every field) had gathered in flocks and were flying low through the trees along a small river valley. Reaching our bedroom block we found the hot water wallah busy making a fire under the old boiler attached to our block wall - for Snehal's shower as it turned out since he had just returned with a promise of cold beer to accompany our looked forward to dinner under what was now a very starry sky. And Tess and I agreed that this was a lovely place to be spending Valentine's Day!

Brian

News from Ahmedabad

2009-02-12T08:55:00.003Z

Life since we reached the Shahs' wonderful, modern house (Snehel is an architect) has been really fantastic. Sujata is a truly talented cook, what she can do with vegetables, pulses, grain and spices is a treat for the taste buds and the eye and the nose too. We are being looked after, taken out and entertained in a very generous and friendly way and we are profoundly greatfull,

One of the treats we have been offered is to join the Shah family when they attend the wedding of the child of a cousin of Snehels'. As you can immagine this is an opportunity not to be missed, a Hindu wedding is a feast for every sense, but not to be entertained in our present disreputable traverlers clothing.

I am glad to report that the shopping embargo has been well and truly breached. I have bought fabric in a shop that would make my fellow textile friends weep for joy. Bolts of cloth in every colour, texture, pattern and state of embelishment that you could wish to see, some very resonably priced to stuff that must have been very expensive even here. The staff in the shop were willing to take down endless bolts of cloth and let one hold it up, feel the texture, try and match colours and advise on fabric content etc, none of the serve your self malarky.

I have bought stuff for a trouser/top combo that I think is really nice and that will look not too exotic to wear at home and have been measured up and it is being made up as I type. The tailor lives across the way from the Shahs and Sujata has known him since he was a by and played with Sunina. once we hace the card reader sorted I hope to be able to show you my outfit. Sadly, because of all ths hospitality I have regained any weight I managed to lose in Jordan and Egypt, so I will look as chuky as ever.

Brian has also been measured for trousers and a Kurti (mid thigh Indian gents shirt) and trousers. He also had to be taken to a shop to choose fabric and has a very tasteful raw silk in creams and pale browns, the natural colours of the silk. We both have new sandles as well. We will have to post stuff home, but there you go!

Tessa

Senior Citizens, Disabled, Freedom Fighters, Tourists

2009-02-12T08:35:00.002Z

Yesterday we achieved a very important task - booking our train tickets for the final weeks of our time in India - involving getting down south to Kerela and then (via one flights) travelling up to Darjeeling and (we hope) a good view of the Himalayas.

Getting all the tickets booked was little less than miraculous - after some initial research using the timetable book we approached the ticket counter marked for tourists (and freedom fighters among other groups) checked out some further information and were sent away with request forms to fill in for each journey - a total of 8. Back to the counter where the clerk started checking our forms, finding a number of mistakes and correcting them, it all took time whilst the line behind us grew longer and restive, perhaps even mutinous! So we were sent away when the checking was done to wait whilst the queue was dealt with and the clerk took his advertised 'recess' after which we were finally called back. One by one he started issuing our tickets but inevitably by the time one was done someone had pushed forward, guesticulating, shoving their form through, shouting about one query or another. In truth we were quite happy to let him deal with people - international relations could otherwise have been damaged!

Finally we had our tickets although I had no idea with what degree of success, the high noise levels and my poor hearing meant I had nodded through all sorts of queries in the hope that it would work out. We staggered away from the counter after three hours with what we hoped were the right tickets.

The Shahs driver Ghitu drove us back to the house but it was only later when Sehal Shah came home that I was able to check the tickets with him.
"All OK, you will get on every train and because you are a foreigner they will definitely allocate you a berth"
I said that back in 1974 before computers that booking that number of tickets could have taken three days
"Three days! Three months - they would have had to telegraph all your destinations!"

So we have our tickets, we travel thousands of kilometers, there are six overnight trips and one trip to Kerela is about 30 hours. And the cost for second class with our senior citizen reduction?
About 125 pounds for the two of us - match that Richard Branson!

Of course we have already done one rail trip from Udaipur to here on the very slow and old fashioned narrow guage railway. We had a four person compartment but shared only with a nice psychiatrist from Chittogargh, it left on time we chatted for a while, made up our bunks with the supplied bedding and settled down at about 9.30pm whilst the train wended its way through the invisible hilly landscape. It rocked and bounced, rather comforting, rather like being in a large pram pushed by a drunken nanny. It got us here on time, the night passed reasonably quickly, a knock on the door at 4am to get ourselves ready for arrival where we were met by Snehal Shah and his daughter Sunaina.

Brian

Udaipur

2009-02-09T10:00:00.003Z

What a lovely town! It is in a very hilly area and the town (at least the old part) is quite hilly too. Small streets crammed full of people, animals, fruit, veg and animal feed being sold on the pavements, shops, loads of cooperative groups who do traditional minature painting and many temples and cows - absolutely loads of cows.

Subhash told us that people keep cows in their houses (I think he meant courtyards) they feed them in the morning and evening, but in the day they are free to roam the streets and they eat any vegetable left overs that people give them and chapatis.

We have been to the "City Palace", home of the former ruler of Rajesthan and he has a very extensive home indeed with a very great deal of colourful decoration, carving, painting, whole rooms done out in coloured mirror glass etc, etc. The Indian Princely dewelling is big on decoration and it looks wonderful.

Today we have been to a lovely park, nice and quiet after the busy streets; seen a wonderful wedding procession on the way back to town. There were the bride and her attendant in a carriage pulled by two white horses, followed by the most colourful group of about 100 ladies you could ever wish to see, followed in turn by the town band in their red uniforms all blowing their brass instuments fit to bust.

Once back in town we went to visit the largest of the temples and watched a bit of a ceremony, a lot of very elderly women chanting, a couple dancing (far more gracefully than most English pensioners could manage) and a chap in white doing priestly things at the back in the shrine. After the chanting everyone got something to eat and had a chat to each other. It was so interesting to watch and as long as you keep still and quiet, no one seems to mind. Also I did donate to the food fund.

Tess

We really like Udaipur, its a spectacular setting and as you will see from the photo when we can upload it, surrounded by hills and set among several lakes. Its also a place we can navigate - the streets are a teeming bustle like all streets in India (particularly fascinating are the group of four donkeys laden with rubble from a building site which navigate their own way across town and back again - how do they do that?) but the central part of town is compact and after being totally lost the first time we walked through it we rapidly found our way around. Of all the places we have been in so far in India this is our favourite and the hotel we had for our second night had the most wonderful view both from our room and particularly from the roof restaurant.

I have to report that the shopping embargo has collapsed and we have been in several fabric shops today where substantial (in Indian terms but not in Sterling perhaps) purchases have been made - just irresistable to T. We also visited one of the painting cooperatives yesterday and a further gift was purchased there.

In a few hours we leave on an overnight train for Ahmedebad - where we are greatly looking forward to staying with the Shah family. From there (and with advice we hope from the Shahs) we will be making our way further south.

Brian

Through Rajasthan

2009-02-07T13:19:00.009Z

We are currently in Udaipur and have just been watching the sun set over the lake with the palace -or rather very expensive hotel - sitting in the midst of the water. Last night we were in Pushkar again at a lakeside at sunset by the bathing Ghats and in the crowded market street. Both these places are rather more user friendly that the previous places we have been - nice to wander the streets and enjoy the bustle.

We had better come clean - we are living in luxury at the moment, being driven from place to place by Subash our driver and enjoying some rather up market accommodation -last night in Pushkar we had a room in the finest place there complete with beautiful gardens, swimming pool,man in turban at the gate who saluted you. We are going to be drummed out of the backpackers fraternity for this. And today we are in a similar place overlooking one of the lakes. We took this form of travel when it became clear that getting a train out of Delhi to Agra and then training it down in stages to Ahmedebad was going to entail at least two extra days in Delhi so we have taken a budget busting decision to go in comfort. This means we get delivered to lots of sites, get advised on what to pay, get told stories and sung to a bit as we go. The downside is some very long journeys and the indescribably dangerous driving that is the norm on Indian roads. We are here two nights and then at last we get a train to Ahmedebab - an overnight and very slow sleeper which I can assure you we are greatly looking forward to - particularly as we are in first class (and this means first class with bunks not the Egyptian version) but as senior citizens we get one third off all rail travel so that puts first class in the good value category.

Brian

Pushkar was realy lovely and I am beginning to think that I might be able to manage India.
The god all the temples are dedicated to in Pushkar is Brahma, he went to Pushkar with out his wife, took up with a young woman selling yoghurt and married her. His wife came along and was extremly cross and said that his punishment was that the only place in India that would have temples to him was Pushkar. It is lovely, higledy piggledy little streets full of shops selling lovely things, the mosy gaudy temples you can think of, all coloured lights and garlands of flowers. Monkeys, cows, loads of little birds, pidgeons by the hundred and hippies of all nations.

At the lake side there are steps down to the water (a bit murky looking for bathing) and people walk down to the water and pray and throw in flowers, all sorts of ladies in the most beautiful cloured clothing, old chaps in dhotis, youngsters in western style clothing and lots of chanting and bell ringing coming from the temples. Also you can look at people's shops with out being chased down the street, its all fairly relaxed.

Tessa

ps added a few pics to this one and to the Taj Mahal, here is a picture of the lake at Pushkar, Standing by the swimming pool at our Pushkar hotel and (sorry its the wrong way round, its the wrong pic) a picture from the Amber Fort, Jaipur

Taj Mahal

2009-02-05T15:33:00.005Z

We were advised to start our day with an early morning visit to the Taj Mahal, so we were up at 6am and off into thee dark and quiet streets. Subash dropped us off at the battery bus for the short trip down to the Taj, we didnt have to pay, but I think that was because we got on an empty bus and then a group also got on and I think it was assumed we were with them.

At th gates to the Taj we got out tickets and were then formed up into Mens and Ladies queues in order to go through security. You cant take in any electronic stuff, pens, pencils etc. I had to give up my felt tip pen and Brian his torch, we were able to put them in a locker, though that meant Brian had to go through the search and electronic gate again. Finally about 7.25 we were walking towards the gate into the Taj from which you get the first veiw of the building. Having seen so many photos of it it is difficult to explain how very much more beautiful it is in real life. The early morning light was pearly but with a touch of gold in it from the rising sun and the building does look as though it is simmering and floating. It is so hugh and so solid, but it does look delicate and airy.

Up close the decoration is so beautiful, every surface is patterened in some way, either white on white with delicate carving or the lovely flowers and patterns in coloured stone that you have all seen. Also the building its self isnt plain , stark white but a mirriad of shades of white, grey, buff and the palest pinl all gleaming in the rising light, just lovely.

Tess

It really is the best time to see the Taj I think (and apologies for the lack of photos but this is yet another PC that won't accept our card reader) and all the better for being relatively quiet. I first saw the Taj Mahal in 1974 and that was in the dying light of the day. I had been attending a conference in Delhi and a couple of coach loads of us set off for Agra only to find the road blocked by an accident. The coach drivers decided to take a side road and inevitably one coach became stuck on the unmade road, it took several hours to get a tractor and enough villagers to get it moving and by the time we arrived at the Taj it was closing. In those days there was just a guy on the gate, not the extensive security of today and I guess somehow ("important guests from Delhi!") we were allowed in after hours. So just a few dozen of us had the place to ourselves in the dying light of the day. I was with a young Indian woman Veena and one other person looking down that long stretch of water towards the main Mauseleum when Veeen (named after a musical instrument) began singing as we walked slowly in time along the path, a rather lovely way to arrive.

Emerging from the Mausoleum we noticed a bit of noise at the railing along the river bank. The Taj stands high above the river and we saw down at the river edge an old man shouting and gesticulating, with a small boy beside him. I asked some others what he was shouting
"he is saying if you throw down some Rupees the boy will jump up and stand beside you"
This seemed an unlikely feat given the height so I asked what would happen if you threw some money down
"The man will laugh at you and tell you what a fool you are!".

Another person in our group from Bengal told me of his first visit many years before when he was a student. It was the time of full moon and he had of course heard of how wonderful the building looks in the moonlight. As he left he asked the gatekeeper if he might return to view in the night
"Absolutely not. Garden closed. Entry forbidden".
He pleaded with the gatekeeper, telling him he was all the way from Calcutta and might not get the opportunity again. Eventually the gatekeeper relented, pointed to a small gate and told him that if he came back later, paid a little money, he might be admitted for a short private view.

So he turned up, the gatekeeper emerged from the shadows, pocketed the bribe, opened the gate just wide enough for our friend to enter. He was immediately entranced by the glow of the dome through the trees and walked forward his eyes only on the dome. But then a soft sound reached his ears and he stopped gazing at the beautiful domed building and looked about him - to see hundreds of others, sitting, standing and lying on the grass - all who had bribed the gatekeeper for a private view!

Brian

ps: we noted a comment from Mike (do we assume that is Mr Levy?) about Delhi asking if it has become more middle class since his visit in 1974. Well yes and no is the answer. There are plenty of large banks and other indications of a large burgeoning economy and I would guess all that goes with a large middle and industrial class. There are for example places like Costa Coffee in the New Delhi area and one we went into twice (it was opposite the office of the company of our driver Subash), the second time was just before we set off on our current Agra-Jaipur-Udaipur-Ahmedebab trip and Subash has to repair a puncture. So we sat in the Costa Coffee enjoying the same coffee you do wherever you are (and at nearly the same prices) but we could not help noticing that directly across the road a parade of single story offices has a great number of people living on the roof, out in the open and no doubt one step up from living on the pavement. And we had also tried not to look at the group of crows breakfasting on a dead rat on the pavement outside. So yes there is a new trendy middle class Delhi with its laptops and coffee houses - but the crows are still feasting outside!

Impressions of Delhi

2009-02-04T15:18:00.008Z

We had meant to blog a bit more about Cairo and to conclude that it was not for the fainthearted but lying in bed last night and thinking about Delhi I take it back, Cairo was a doddle compared. We walked wherever we wanted, we used the metro (although we never saw a single obvious non-Eqyptian on it) we were out in the evening sitting with a tea, we went into the old area and its markets, it felt OK and we only came nearly adrift getting to the Pyramids where we met the oldest Pyramid selling scheme in the book - taken to a 'government office' where we were told we had to take a camel/horse/buggy to see them 'its the desert" "its 15km to see them' etc etc. We got out of it but it was the only real problem we faced.

But Delhi is something else, simple chaos in the streets, large distances between places, no understandable public transport, the crappiest vehicles plying for hire, human life on the streets in more forms that you can imagine, horses, dogs, dogs, cows, goats and sheep. We have copped out and hired a driver Subash to take us around, its the only way to do it. And we had a fairly expensive hotel after I read some horror stories about Delhi's cheap hotels on the web.

There are the odd moments however - we heard a tremendous noise outside our hotel one evening and looking out from our fourth floor balcony saw a wedding party moving around the block to a large open banquetting area opposite, the groom on a large carriage pulled by two white horses, a huge number of people banging drums, playing trumpets and dancing wildly carrying lights and stopping every now and then to let off fireworks, it almost made Delhi seem human. And I was amused when we were stopped interminably at a traffic light to be assailed by the usual sellers of cloths, large bunches of peacock feathers (which look splendid) but also by a young man with a pile of novels all wrapped in plastic including the Booker prize win
ner and William Dalrymples City of Djinns about Delhi - both of which i have read - and many others that could have been carefully chosen by a literary critic for him.

Brian

What can i say about our two days here? Well the traffic is asstounding, Brian said its like a ball bearing run, where all the balls just manage to move around each other and really it is. Motor bikes with ttwo adults and children wedged between them, the man has a crash helmet but no one ellse does, a woman riding side saddle on a motor bike and holding a baby, tuk tuk's with upwards of ten passengers and a driver, carts pulled by poor old horses or very large bullocks with huge horns. All the time the noise of car horns, they hoot at each other all the time, from little toots to long sonorous blasts, that was Delhi and our journey to agra today has confirmed the though the traffic thins out slightly you hav to factor in herds of sheep, loads of donkeys, camel carts and lorries driving the wrong way up the fast lane.

This makes it sound as though all we have done is drive aboutbut we have seen fantastic monuments, all sorts of wonderful buildings set in tranquil expanses of green with beautiful green parakeets flying about, monkeys and the most delightful little squirels hopping arround.

Today we have seen the agra fort, hugh and wonderful and seen the Taj Mahal fron the top of the Fort, looking along the river. Tomorrow the Taj at dawn.

Tess

ps managed to add some pics see blogs below and to this one the pics are:

the wedding celebration outside our hotel in Delhi, monkeys at the Presidents mansion and Subhash and Tessa by the final steps of Gandhi prior to his assasination

Delhi and before

2009-02-02T07:42:00.004Z

Our taxi ride into Delhi at 5am rates as one we are surprised to have survived, just our luck to get the smallest and most decrepit taxi on the rank and as he swerved throught the mercifully light traffic in the pram sized vehicle we did wonder if and in what state we would get to the hotel - the major accident we passed on the way did not help.

Our overnight flight was on a cheap shuttle flight for some of the millions of workers in the UAE from this part of the world, we think there were only three women on the flight of which Tess was one and that we were the only foreigners. Everyone else of course had huge amounts of excess luggage as booty was taken back home.

We left Dubai after three astounding and amazing days with Ahmed's family in Abu Samra. The experience was at first a totally disorientating one as we arrived in the bosum of a large extended family in a very large house served by numerous servants. After we arrived we thought our visit was about to be severely truncated when Ahmed came to our room to say his cousin has just died as a result of a car accident the previous night - we decided we really should not stay in the house in the circumstances and made some unsuccessful efforts to get an earlier flight onto Delhi but in the morning Ahmed would not hear of our going and arranged for a driver and housemaid to look after us and take us about until after the funeral. Once that was over the family assembled and we began a round of visits, coffee and teas, meals traditional style on the floor, visits to small farms, to camel stables, and late nights (the main meal is not until 10pm with men always eating first and ladies afterwards) with the family chatting. We soon were dressed in the traditional Kedora and I hope tomorrow we can get some photos posted to show you how we looked.

Brian

The differences between our life in Egypt (clean but tatty hotel, lots of walking, eating very modestly) and our three days of complete pampering in UAE are just so huge that it is difficult to describe. We were looked after, our washing and ironing was done and we were fed in a lavish manner, the food in Abu Samra was fanstastic. The household is traditional so men and ladies eat separately, men first, women next. You sit round a large plastic covered table cloth in a huge, carpeted room. I was given a spoon (I discovered that I am useless at eating with my hand and being left handed is a bit of a problem because of course the left hand is only used for one purpose and it isn't eating), even with a spoon I still spilled more rice than anyone else.

The house hold concists of Ahmeds most charming mother, his Dad (very handsome), Ahemed and up stairs his older brother (who is a policeman and not about a grat deal), his brothers wife, Minou and their four very lively children - Mubarak (9), Moser(7/8), Meera(5) and Salem(3), with the exeption of Salem who dosnt go to school yet, they all speak really very good English and even little Meera can write and knows all her letters. They are lively though and the reason we couldnt get on the internet at Abu Sabra was an unfortunate incident with a glass of Ribena and a laptop. We did however manage to look at the wedding photos of Sophie & Laurences wedding, which every one love (they were particularly taken by Elspeth, ooh went all the ladies.)

Only the young people speak much English and they speak very good English, women of 25 to about 35 speak some English and older ladies only speak Arabic. Every one was absolutly lovely to us though, very generous with their time and with assorted gifts and as I was taken about to tea with various ladies the younger ones always translated. I was also allowed to do 'Man' things, like visit the camels and the camel racing training place and Brian was allowed to be in the same room as unvieled ladies (as a sort of adopted family member). We both had a lovely visit to a cousin of Ahmed's who showed us her traditional holiday home in the desert and told us about the ways in which people used to do things.

I could go on for ages, but I will finish here.
Tessa

Alexandria

2009-01-28T11:18:00.006Z

Tuesday 27th January 8.30pm

We are hurtling across the Nile Delta in one of the fast 'Spanish' trains (hand me downs from Spain complete with bull and bullfighter motifs) back to Cairo after a long day in Alexandria. A bit of a pilgrmage really, carrying my copy of Durrell's Alexandria Quartet, now nearly re-read after many years. I read it first as a young teenager (and still have the lovely old Faber paperbacks) because Alexandria is also the place where my parents, Emily Garner and John Mitchell met at the end of the war and returned to Scotland to be married.

Its still a lovely city, a bit more ritzy and cleaner than Cairo, delightful weather today, fresh air off the Med and the swell crashing against the rocks. We walk the streets, have coffee and treats at Delices Patisserie (Banana Split for Tessa, croissant with olives and cheese for me) but are denied the beer at Trianon's (where scenes from 'Ice Cold in Alex' were filmed) as it has no licence. But we ride a tram, get caught up with thousands of students streaming out of the University, visit the Museum and the incredibly impressive Library opened only in 2002 - it has to be one of the world's most stunning library buildings.

I know nothing of my parents time in Alex but have my picture taken on the Corniche where they most certainly will have walked. We look for 40 Faoud Street where Durrell lived with Eve Cohen ("Justine') but despite our new ability to read Arab numerals (the alphabet is quite a different matter) we cannot locate it so a picture in the street has to do.

After sunset its back to the station and once again we are immediately seized on by a decrepit and scarred porter who insists on showing us to our carriage and then handing us over to the train guard to show us to our seat - its baksheesh all the way despite our best efforts to pose as independent travellers requiring no help we are lambs to the baksheesh slaughter. This morning at Cairo we declined a Porter to have a coffee first but he was at our side as soon as we stood up, insisting on taking our one small bag and showing us the carriage. He declined my small wad of one eqyptian pounds
'Not enough, it should be 10 pounds'
'But there is only one small bag'
'There are two of you'
Further protest is useless, if we are lucky we get away with 50 pence or less, if unlucky as in this case its over a pound.

Tomorrow its the Pyramids!

Walk like an Egyptian

2009-01-26T17:55:00.004Z

We have spent today walking round Cairo looking at lots of Mosques, shabils, mausoleums, markets and looking at life in the very oldest part of Cairo.

We have crossed lots of roads,( hence the title) and are begining to get the hang of this death defying business, once or twice we have managed a road all on our own, with out the protective shield of a bunch of locals.

We have seen fantastic feats of cycling. Cycling in this city should mean you are removed from the gene pool fairly quickly, but we have seen young men weaving in and out of the trafic with very large trays of bread balanced on their heads, they move so quickly we havent managed to get a photo of one yet, but we will keep on trying.

After our four hour walking tour of the old city we returned to the hotel for a short feet up and then went to meet our young traveling companions from the day at Wadi Rum, Penny and Corrin. We had a lovely strong Americano coffee in a a European style cafe with them and echanged travel news. They are extremely nice, funny girls, full of verve and a thirst for adventure, so it was a real pleasure to meet them again. When we left we watched them drift across the road like real locals. We have used the Metro though and fathomed out the arabic script.

Tessa

ps sorry for lack of photos but this pc at the hotel does not want to accept the memory card from the camera

First Class?

2009-01-25T18:53:00.002Z

Well if this is first class I would hate to see Second or Third! This was our disappointed reaction as our overnight train to Cairo pulled into Luxor station after 11pm last night. Instead of the rather swish train we came down from Aswan on - where our second class reclining seats had buisness class legroom and comfort - our supposed first class train pulled in dark and dusty and without lighting. As we were led down the corridor we realised that the carriage was simply a series of dark boxes (as it turned out the lighting was only temporarilly off) each with six seats which at first sight looked comfortable with lots of space between them but the whole carriage was dark and tatty in the extreme. We had a compartment with two young Koreans (who wondered why we were not on the very expensive sleeper train with normal grown ups) and a couple of young Eqyption guys and after that initial feeling that these seats were OK we actually tried to relax and even sleep in them - oh dear why oh why did we not take the day train!

By dawn and after some intermittent sleep gained sometimes at the expense of the back or neck or some other part of the body we were looking forward to reaching Cairo. After a tantalising glimpse of a distant pyramid (which turned out to be far south of Cairo) we took ages to crawl into this city of 27 million people - think of it, London is only 7m! We finally reached Cairo about 10am, rang the hotel contact we had been given in Luxor and got the cab driver to telephone for instructions. The Cairo traffic has to be seen to be believed - as the guide book says its the chariot race out of Ben Hur played with ageing Peugeots and Fiats, no car is unscathed.

We have however quickly understood how to cross the road, the local people just drift across the lines of traffic (which is generally slow moving as rush hour starts about 8am and finishes by midnight) so what you do is place some local person between yourself and the oncoming traffic and kind of hug close to them without seeming too rude and tripping them up - they after all have some mysterious ability to avoid death whilst we know that being hit by a car will hurt!

Been to the Cairo Museum, Tess has travellers' tummy, bound to happen and she is dealing with it personfully.

Brian

Sites

2009-01-24T14:06:00.004Z

Today and yesterday we have been doing sites of great historic interest. The first day we went to the Luxor Temple for sunset, pretty grand, but the next two days' visits made the Luxor temple look quite small and restrained.

Yesterday we went in a small minibus with a charming guide called Al a Din and his driver who was called Mohammed. We were picked up at our hotel at 8.15, along with three young men from Armenia (you meet so many different nationalities whilst traveling), the bus filled up at other hotels and then we all went off to - Valley of the Kings to visit tombs and to two temples and a couple of huge statues in the middle of a site that is being excavated. The stuff we are seeing is so overwhelmingly large, decorated and beautiful that I haven't got enough superlatives to describe it, so I am pretty much going to leave it at that.

Today we got a service taxi out to the temple of Karnak which is the most vast site, we spent about two and a half hours wandering around and again it defies description, vast forests of pillars that are immensely tall. Carvings, obilisks, pylons (these are huge gate ways) and enough broken bits to keep an army of archaeologists working for many years to come.

We walked back to Luxor town along the corniche (no small change, so couldn't take a service taxi and we are not good at haggling yet) We went to the Luxor museum and were very impressed. It is quite expensive to get in, but very interesting with some absolutly wonderful small sculptures and lots of interesting things like bows and arrows, architects drawings, 3,500 year old bits of linen and all sorts of other stuff.

On the way back to the Hotel we called at the train staion and managed to get 2 first class tickets to Cairo tonight. We catch the train at 11 pm and arrive in Cairo about 7 am, ticket price 10.00 English each. Yesterday we tried and a very glum man told us no tickets, today a different man, all smiles, tickets available, when do you want to go?

Tessa

Hotels - rooms with no views

2009-01-24T13:47:00.003Z

What sort of hotels have we found? Well in general we have done very well. We have sought out budget hotels, although not necessarilly the very cheapest and have paid between 7 english pounds and 35 pounds per night including breakfast in all but the Aqaba hotel. Those in Egypt have been cheaper (as with everything) than in Jordan and have varied considerably in what they provide and how much of it is working. Only our one night in Aqaba could rate as a run down place, it called itself the Hospitality Palace and whilst hospitality was on offer, palatial it wasn't. But even that one was in a great postion. Best of all was Dahab, a large balcony and sea view, the sound of wave lapping.

Sound or rather noise is a big issue of course. Many places are in noisy lanes and streets and with the exception of Dahab all have been close to at least one and sometimes several Mosques - we are well used to the 5am call to prayers, the verses end in the morning with 'Prayer is better than sleep' - not something we have found agreement to. We also suffer from cockerels, the Aswan hotel was surrounded by collapsed mud buildings (the result 6 years ago of an unpredendented 24 hour rain storm) and these were occupied by sheep (quiet) and chickens and cockerel (not so quiet and getting in the swing of things even before morning prayers) How delighted we were to find that the flat roof across from our current room has chickens and a cockerel in fine voice!

We suffer from short sheets, pillows that are in fact carefully selected large desert rocks covered in a pillow case, sometimes lack of hot water, but little else bothers us. On arrival here in Luxor at the excellent and friendly Princess Hotel on a small lane we lay down for a short siesta before tackling the Luxor Temple - the local community kindly laid on a demonstration of motorcyle rallying, car horn testing, childrens games and loud debating among the grown ups , plus a little metal working - but it does get quiet later and this really has been a pleasure to stay at, lovely people (run by a Frenchwoman Emmanuel and her Eqyptian husband).

Everywhere has been clean and in most places there are roof top or lobby places to sit and chat with other travellers. We don't envy those people in the posh hotels one little bit (except for the pillows - we saw a group getting off a coach and boarding one of the Nile cruisers all clutching big fluffy pillows and found ourselves thinking about a quick pillow mugging).

Brian

Aswan to Luxor

2009-01-22T11:39:00.005Z

Well here we are again, happy as can be!

Our last day in Luxor was really busy, up early and off to find a boat to take us across to the west bank of the Nile, we were found by Mohammed, a 48 year old Nubian man with few teeth and some English and agreed a price for a ride across the river to the Saint Simeon Monastery and then back up the river to the Tombs of the Nobles.

We puffed up a sandy hill, past lots of camels and their drivers (Brian a bit averse to riding on animals since his brush with the mule) and then about 1 km up a rocky, steep hill to the Monastery. This is an enornous structure, looking a bit more like a fortress than a place of worship and contemplation and largly made of mud bricks. We have been told that it almost never rains in Aswan, so mud bricks work fine and last for centuries and you really would be amazed at what can be built with a lot of nud and some straw!

After our walk round the monastery (we had been up to the top, in and out of various bits while a German group listened with rapped attention to a long talk by their lecturer\guide) we went back down to the boat, weakening only for a moment and buying 2 white cotton shirts fron a charming salesman on the way. Off up the river about half a mile and another dusty slog up a very steep hill, there were actually some steps, but the dessert was making a spirited attempt to reclaim them (how many men with how many brushes would it take to keep them free of sand?) . At the top we fought off the offers of guiding and wandered round looking into deep dark holes and reading stuff off boards and from our guide book. It may seem abit mean to fight off guides, but our experience has been that they dont know much or perhaps more charitable cant express what they so know in anything like comprehensible English yet still expect to be given not inconsiderable ammounts of money.

Back down to Mohammed and his boat and a lovely, cool and breezy trip back across the river, it about 11.30 and quite hot by now. Lunch under the trees in a small park and back to the hotel for a rest. In the evening we watche the most fantastic sunset that I have seen for a lonfg while, took part in an impromptue English tutorial whilst watching the fantastic red, golf, orange clouds in the Faayer Gardens. It is a popular spot and where we has first met our friend Ismael, I got talking to a Teacher of Chemistry and had to help him with his pronunciation and word choice/meanings. Off to the expensive but very interesting Nubian museum, fantastic building, a present to the Nubian people from the Egiptian governemet as a "sorry for building a dam and drowning your history" . We then joine Ismael for tea at his house, went off for a late meal at a very nice returant about 10.00 English for as much as one could eat. Packing and bed.

Tess

Today we are in Luxor, an early train from Aswan (one that foreigners are not supposed to catch but the hotel assured us that noone would stop us and that the train conductor would simply add a bit of baksheesh to the proper fare - it was still only about 8 pounds for the two of us) wonderful journey along the Nile Valley, sometimes on one side the desert rocks and hills and the other side of the track the green irrigated fields and irrigation ditches and endless palm trees, in every field you could see one or two people working, no machinery and all working is attended by groups of egrets.

Arrived in Luxor to the inevitable scrum of taxi drivers, one Tourist policeman trying to hold them back and we agreed a (no doubt too high) price and off we sent - down back streets, picking up the taxi drivers father, then another man, and still in unpaved streets full of goats etc - we were pretty suspicious when we arrived at The Priness Hotel and suggested it could not be the right one (I thought it was on a major road) but the bloke from the hotel came out to reassure us and the place is just great - never felt so warmly welcomed. The place is in fact owned by a Frenchwoman Emmanuel and it is in her office that we are currently using the internet.

Off the the Temple for a late afternoon and sunset visit and then tomorrow we join a small group for the Valleys of the Kings and Queens (we have so far declined the hot air balloon experience!)

Brian

Aswan

2009-01-20T16:48:00.006Z

Today we have been exploring the islands in the Nile at Aswan but our first stop was to visit Ismael who we met last night whilst walking alongside the Nile, we were up by the Freyar Gardens which overlook the river and got chatting to Ismael who is a retired diving instructor and yoga teacher and with many other skills. He invited us to visit him this morning and so we were searching a dusty road off the Corniche, were helped by a shopkeeper and sent down a further dusty lane with goats and small children playing. Finally a door opened and there he was smiling and welcoming us to his home - a very old three storey building with an open stairway with rooms off it. We discovered that he often invites those he meets to visit him and has a page a day diary in which visitors express their thanks for his hospitality - including massage and yoga advice.

We then took a ferry over to Elephantine island, and no sooner had we got off the boat andwe met two men each claiming to be the headman and offering his services as a guide, and at the Museum and adjoining site we fought off enough offers of guiding to manage to enjoy exploring the amazing ruins under our own steam. This is a beautiful place and the views from the islands are truly amazing with the steep west bank rising into sheer desert only a few metres from the river edge.

After wandering and getting thoroughly lost in one of the Nubian villages we arrived at the other side of the island to see if we could get a ferry boat across to a small island with what looked like a very fine Botanical Garden. Below us was a moored boat and its owner Agassi persuaded us to take his boat over and that he would then wait at the exit ferry steps to take us back - he said the season was very bad and he was hardly getting a fare a week, so how could we refuse.

The Gardens were fantastic, well laid out, very shady and cool in what for us was a hot day, we got a cheap ferry back, the guy could not change a 20 LE note (noone here has any change we have seen only two coins in all of Eqypt and noone selling any service has any change to give so its a nightmare) but in this case I just gave him the 3LE notes I had and he had to accept them and I am certain that the local people pay less than that anyway.

Brian

Hurghada to Aswan

2009-01-19T14:38:00.005Z

Today is Monday, Isay that more for myself than any readers we may have, becuse it is easy to loose track.

Yesterday we spent a quiet day in Hurgada, on a sunny but very windy beach. it is quite a holiday town, a lot of big resort hotels allong the front so not much public beach and I cant say it would be on my top 3 holiday destinations list, still it was ok.

In the early evening we collected our packs from the very nice people at the hotel , no news from the Police about the bag, so we wended our way to the bus station to wait for the 10,30 bus to Aswan. It gats dark at about 5.30 here and after dark all the little streets light up with chains of lights above shops and it all starts to look very foreign, but there was no hussle, come to my shop stuff in the small local shop streets. Our wait was enlivened by two things, an extreemly cheap meal, about 4 English pounds for both of us and a table groaning with bread, chicken , rice, salad, two sauces for the rice and tea. All this achieved with no common language.

Our meal over we walked back to the bus station, seeing lots of three wheeled bikes selling nuts, bread and something that neccesitated wheeling round a small charcoal fire, lots ofshops to mend things and loads of people shopping and eating. Back at the bus station we met Amr, an Egyptian man off back to Aswan to see his family after 45 days of 12 hour shifts as catering manager at the airport. He invited us to sit with him at the cafe and took us under his wing, helping us not to panicabout the late bus and the fact that we couldnot tell where any of the busses were destined for etc etc.

The bus journey through the night was eight hours with a couple of leg stretching stops, the second one was at 5 am in time for morning prayers, much washinfg of feet before prayer in the roadside prayer room. As the sun rose about 6.30 we caught our first sight of the Nile and it really is wide and surrounded by green areas of intense cultivation ad palm trees which suddenly stops and becomes dust dry, yellow earth.

Bid farewell to Amr at his village before Aswan, of which more later.

Tess

Crossing the Red Sea

2009-01-18T14:29:00.005Z

The four of us (we are travelling with Vera and Marianne who are from Holland) have ourselves tightly wedged in our seats, eyes tight shut with two of us trying to be distracted with our mp3 players. We are hurtling across the Red Sea in a small catamaran from Sharm el Sheikh to Hurgarda on the African side of the Sea. Having left just before sunset in the calm waters of Sharm we are now in mid channel, in the complete darkness, bucking and rocking, careering from swell to swell, shuddering with the engines roaring. Things have fallen off the table, some people have staggered to the toilets at the rear, some have not made it, one woman is stretched out on the seats tended by some crew and other passengers, one large woman is stretched out on the cabin floor. Our advertised ninety minute glide across is turning into a three hour marathon, we are all just hoping for this to end, we know people pay money for this sort of thing at Alton Towers but we feel like we have been shot from Sharm, aimed at the African coast to skim over the heavy seas - it feels far from safe, no wonder there was so much doubt about the ferry running today (we thought we were going to have to divert via Cairo), clearly bad weather and plenty of it!

But worse was to come.

Arriving at Hurghada the four of us pile into a taxi, with the Dutch girls large packs I am squahed in the front seat with my pack the other three in the back, the suspension bottoms over every bump. We get to the bus office for Luxor and Aswan only to discover its not the right place, the taxi has disappeared and it is then that we realise that my small black day bag I had with me in the boat was not unloaded from the taxi's boot - no doubt not seen by the driver in the darkness. It has my camera in it, our guide book, my diary and a few other items including my prescription sunglasses.

A moment of despondency but quickly recovering phlegmatic mode we ask another taxi what to do - no problem if we had the taxi number which we don't. I ask him to take us to the Tourist Police which he does regaling us of tales as his days as a professional footballer, the police HQ is in fact a long way away (this place stretches for 30km along the coast!) near the airport. So we are dropped, enter a small side door, explain to the guy on the desk our problem and he takes us through to an office. There Office Agmad listens carefully to what has happened;
'Are you accusing the driver of anything?
'No, it was an accident we are sure, it was dark, he would not see the small black bag'
'What was he like? A black man like me?'
A bit difficult to answer this, I just say 'an Egyptian from Luxor'

A lot of form filling and further details later (we have Officer Agmad, another officer dealing with my passport and a younger civilian on the job) we have our carefully stamped report form. Both Officers had a lugubrious and world weary air (they had seen it all before and far worse of course) but we were dealt with quickly and with politeness. We left with Officer Agmad's phone number promising to let him know where we were staying - we decided we had to stay to at least give an outside chance of the bag being returned via the Tourist Police.

So out in the street, wide and empty, no guide book or map or any idea of where we were! As ever a taxi driver drew up and we asked to be taken 'to the town centre and to an inexpensive hotel'. Another long drive along big highways with short cuts, once down an umade road but eventually we get to lights, hotels and restaurants. The taxi driver has phoned a friend and he stops to pick him up to show us to the hotel. So to the Hotel Snafer, we knew nothing of it, where it was but the room was a reasonable price, it was clean and the disco down the road stopped around 11pm.

Down to the lobby in the morning, no news of the bag of course, our first task to consult the wall map and ask the hotel guy to show us where we are - we had in fact realised from our rather wonderful balcony view of an intensely aquamarine sea that we were right on the coast - and in fact our taxi driver has got us to a good spot.

Then a minor miracle - there on the lobby desk in a pile of book swops (mostly German) is a copy of the Lonely Planet Guide to Egypt! Liberated originally from the San Francisco Public Library, resold via a second hand bookshop ('stained throughout' it says in the front) we really don't care what state it is in - we have a guide book again - eyes for the traveller!

Lazy days continued

2009-01-16T14:15:00.003Z

Today has been hot and quite humid and I havent done very much but sit and read. We had a lovely day yesterday, it was breezy and very sunny and we walked along the shore to the south of our hotel fro a couple of miles. We found that the hotels peter out after a bit and those that are there look really nice but very quiet, some are actually closed and at least one was only partly built and no work seemed to be happening on it.

We walked to a large circular concrete construction and saw from the information board it was called shade, we watched some divers going in the water, all kitted up in wet suits, it looks such a performance but apparently this is a fantastic place to dive, the reef is wonderful and very extensive.

We ate at our new friend Ahmeds place, a kebab, stuff off the spit and some salads. While eating we were entertained by his very small daughter being thrown about by one of the other guys there, tossed up into the air and squeeling with delight. Like Jordanians, Eygyptians seem to be very fond of children and everyone seems to keep an eye out for them.

Later in the evening we repaired to the tented area in front of our hotel, slowly drinking a beer and talking to some Australians who were approximatly our age (rare) and we bid farewell to our American fellow traveler Jenny, who was off on an overnight bus journey to Cairo.

Tessa

I went snorkeling today, there is a place called Lighthouse at the other end of the bay with easy and very direct access to the coral reef so for about 8 pounds I hired a wetsuit (very fetching as you can see in one of the pics below) and snorkle gear and had a couple of hours with the multi coloured, striped and iredescent fish - also fascinating to see the divers below in the sharply deepening reef with their silver lines of air bubbles rising up - all rather exciting in a small way.

We leave Dahab tomorrow (with some regrets, we are living very comfortably and quite cheaply and need never come home!) but about noon we will go off to catch a bus to Sharm el Sheik and then a ferry across the Red Sea to Hurghaba, from there we hope to catch an overnight bus to Aswan, although may have to spend a night at Hurgaba depeding on the bus times. We hope for an easier ferry journey (no international border is involved, both ends are Eqypt) but will let you know from Upper Egypt!

And just get on a Easyjet flight and get yourselves to Dahab - thoroughly recommended, yes there is the "mixture of hippy and beduoin ambience" and all that but its a great place especially in the quiet time as now.

Brian

Lazy days in Dahab

2009-01-16T14:02:00.005Z

Aqaba to Egypt

2009-01-14T12:19:00.004Z

We are now in Penguin Village in Dahab on the Gulf of Aqaba in Egypt - yes normal life and traveling are temporarily suspended whilst we chill out in this laid back holiday resort full of camps, hotels, restaurants, divers and backpackers. We have a wonderful hotel room with a huge balcony overlooking the sea all for 20 pounds a night, a restaurant on the sea shore with carpets and cushions on which we can while away the daytime and nightime - its a lot warmer here, we have lost those cold desert nights - getting here however was not as much fun as being here.

After Wadi Rum we went by taxi to Aqaba, shared with the two girls from Leeds Univ who then went back up the road to Wadi Musa for Petra - our driver Mohammed got carried away with chatting and hand waving to loud arabic music and was pulled in by the police for speeding - his instant fine was 25 dinars - his fare from us!

After a rather tatty hotel in Aqaba (but great food in a market stall) we left the next morning for the ferry to Neweiba in Eqypt - walked along to the harbour only to be assailed by a large group of taxi drivers informing us that the passenger ferry now left from 12 kms down the coast towards the Saudi border - despite an attempt at haggling (they had us and they knew it) we had to pay the 5 dinars to get taken there. At the terminal nothing was clear, we trailed about getting tickets (at 70 dollars each more than double what we had expected), getting our exit tax paid, getting our passport checked and finally left in a large hall to await departure. Eventually with people suddenly disappearing we realised we had better move and found that people had boarded a shuttle bus to the ferry - a fast catamaran. There were about a dozen of us foreigners, the rest were Eqytian workers returning home - possibly far more than usual as the land crossing at Eilat had been closed. Interesting to stand in Aqaba - you can see three countries Jordan, Israel and Eqypt. We had to leave our packs in the cargo and vehicle bay and were then corralled in a foreigners area whilst the Eqyptian immigration official stamped everyone else's passports - including women in Burkas who had to lift their veils to show the official but no-one else their face.

Eventually the ferry left Aqaba, we had to sit and wait to have our passports checked, there was anyway nowhere else to go so we got to know each other, a Korean girl travelling alone for one year, Sebastien from Italy, Jenny from the US, Benjamin an organic farmer from Australia, running his business from his mobile and travelling the world with no end date in mind.

The ferry arrived at Neweiba but we were not allowed off, Sebastien and the Korean girl had by now apparently missed their overnight bus to Cairo and we looked in danger of missing ours to Dahab but finally we were allowed off streaming off the cargo bay to cries of Mohammed! Mohammed! from a seething group of porters with large metal trolleysm in fact they were calling out the names of the workers who had hired them to carry the huge loads of tvs, carpets, even a wc that they had bought in Jordan - and it just happened that a large proportion of them were called Mohammed.

All of the foreigners (except Tess and I who already had our full visa) had then to find doorways and offices at which to pay for visas, collect visas and passports - it was chaos but was eventually achieved and we all moved off the the arrivals shed - there was further chaos as the goods were scanned by security - but we were invited to put our packs through straight away and so were were finally through the bureaucracy. Sebastien discoverd a bus for Cairo in the port area we were told to find our Dahab bus outside the gates - and of course there was no bus! There were eight of us going to Dahab now surrounded by a noisy group of taxi drivers - Benjamin took control and began bargaining with the right degree of utter disgust at the prices first quoted pointing out how many of us there were, eventually we got an offer of half the amount - 30 egyptian pounds each (about 5 pounds) so were piled into minibus for the 45 minute ride through the most desolate landscape we have ever seen - just piles of bolders and small hills - welcome to the Sinai desert!

As the sun went down we reached Dahab, piled out of the van and madeour way to the Penguin Village which had received votes from those with guide books and previous experience. It was a relief to arrive. No more travelling for a few days - the sun is hot and the evenings are balmy, think of us lying around on those carpets and cushions and around the wood fire in the evening!

Wadi Rum

2009-01-14T11:53:00.004Z

Wadi Rum was so much more interesting and exiting than I thought it would be. We arrived in a small mini bus taxi with three other people, two very jolly girls from Leeds University who are studying Arabic in Cairo and were on their Christmas holiday and a technical journalist from Spain, called Manuel.

We all got transfered to a 4x4 and driven from the visitors centre to the Bedouin village where we were transfered again into an ancient pickup with 2 bench seats in the open back. Our driver and guide was a young Bedou man in a long white gown, baggy trousers and the headwrap thing that everyone here wears. Off we set, clinging on for dear life as he bounced along dessert tracks. As we left the village behind the hugeness of the dessert hits you, there are enormous outcrops of rock, very steep and high and swathes of sand, some brown, some yellow, red close to the rocks, all undulating all over the place.

We drove a bit and then stopped to look at sand dunes, drove a bit more and stopped for a look at some rock art, then a wonderful lump of rock with a natural arch at the top. Our guide was always keen to get the girls to climb/explore with him!! It was really good though. The most scary bit was after we stopped for tea when the guide encouraged the girls to try driving. The vehicle was without brakes and driving in sand is a skill that needs practie, so for those of us on the back it was a bit of a white knuckle moment.

We saw Laurence of Arabias house and his spring and ended up sitting in a Bedouin house being ernestly converesed with by a 10 year old Bedouin boy while we waited for the taxi.

Fantastic .

Tess

Two days in Petra

2009-01-11T14:59:00.007Z

Some short notes on our visit as this pc keeps losing our entry.

We set off early today and were in the Siq before 8am, we had the place almost to ourselves but with our fingers tingling with the cold as despite the sun being up the nights are verycold. We reached the Treasury (the carved building you all know at the end of the Siq) even before the camels arrived grunting and regurgitating. We moved once again through the incredible and extensive site of weathered and carved sandstone, sometimes difficult to tell which was mand made and which was natural.

Falling in with Mohammed with the gold teeth leading his small son, two donkeys and a mule we chatted and he must have been a good if quiet salesman because we found ourselves bargaining him down from 50 dinars to 30dinars (still a great deal of money) to go up to the monastery on his donkeys - its one ofthe great buildings but practically inaccessible except for the very fit. So with Tess on the donkeyleading the way andme on the mule off we set.
What an experience, up a winding and very narrow gorge with rocks andsome steps we clung on trying to relax, we were the only ones on the route and eventually got off the animals fora final short walk. The monastery (we will post a pic if we can manage it) is incredible and once again we had it to ourselves. We walked back down to a Bedouin woman and her daughter who had a blackened kettle on a fire and made a place for us under the tent whilst she brewed tea for us.

Setting off back and clinging for dear life it has to be admitted we made our way down - until my mule lost his footing and tipped me off - fortunately onto the rocky track and not down a gorge, i landed not too heavily, just a few cuts on my hands and covered in dust. At the bottom (sweet relief to be off that mule i can tell you) we bade farewell to mohammed and sat down - near a Red Crescent 4x4 so i gave them a bitof work to patch up my handswith iodine and plasters. They finished by taking our picture, giving us a biscuit saying Welcome to Jordan and Donkeys are dangerous - now they tell us!

Brian

The assent was ok, but going down was very scary. On the way up Mohammed showed us th cave in which he was born, though now all the bedou live in a village beyond Petra, built for them by the King in the 1960,s, about 2000 people live there and Mohammed and his wife have 6 children. Childeren go to school fron aged 6 to 18 and all learn English,though Mohammed (aged 35) learned his English from tourists.

Later we met 2 small boys who tried to sell us postcards, we refused, shared our biscuits with them and ended up with the gift of 1 postcard and a small rock and Welcome!!

Tess

Day 1 in Petra

2009-01-10T16:41:00.002Z

A wonderful day in fantastic Petra. Ihave just typed a whole entry and lost it, so I am going to leave it at that. Blue sky, slight breeze, glowing stone, few other people. Many donkeys, some camels, lots of children selling postcards and rocks.

road to Petra

2009-01-09T18:33:00.003Z

We took the King's Highway today, 300 kms south from Madaba to Petra, driven by our trusty driver Ahmed who we seem to see every day and today all of the day! There is no public transport on this route and as we travelled down it we realised why. There are the boring sections on top of the plateaux with the usual untidy villages and towns along it, the pickups full of Bedouin and their goats but there were also the most spectacular gorges to travel down and then up again and incredibly beautiful views from heights of up to 1,200 metres. The sun was bright and hot but the breeze was chilly. Our only stop was at Karak to visit an old Crusader fort later captured by Saladin. After a visit (and having picked up the inevitably guide - they are always useful but difficult to avoid) we rejoined Ahmed for mint tea and falafels, in fact we could live on them (well we almost have been), we ate and drank with the ringing Friday sermon being loudly broadcast all around us and then pressed on with each village also ringing with the sound of the sermons. One place also had a small protest march of young people protesting the slaughter in Gaza.

We reached Wadi Musa - the small town for Petra during the afternoon, taken to a hotel that
Ahmed knows where we were greeted with more mint teas and a cheap room rate - that can't be bad and helps pay for having to take a taxi most of the way down Jordan! Tomorrow its the Rose Red City for us, in fact probably for the next couple of days.

Brian

Some photos (we hope)

2009-01-08T15:46:00.003Z

Tessa's feet in the salty sand of the Dead Sea - sorry this is the first photo, but very slow getting any loaded up and this at least will give you a laugh!

Madaba Jordan, Thursday 8th Jan

2009-01-08T15:17:00.002Z

Here we are in Madaba, the end of our second day and it only took 15 mins to work out how to change the instructions on the computer from Arabic to English & get started on this blog.

Madaba is full of c Churches and Mosques & is famous for its mosaics. We have sem some very beautiful & incredibly old stuff. We visited all th major sights in the town yesterday, walking about the vry confusing streets, made more confusing bcause of course all the street names are in Arabic, with the odd one in English. Still we saw St George's church across the road from our nice, basic hotel. We were alerted to the church by the very loud bll ringing at 7 am, followin the several calls to prayer during the night. The other places we saw were the town museum, the archeological park, Church of the Apostles (huge mosaic), while walking round we had to take great care as the pavements are mad, hole, fissures, lups, bumps some completely dug up, all sorts of obstructions, you certainly cant walk around with your head in the air.

Food great, people very friendly and unhassly, there seems to be a law that all boys under 16 must say hello to tourists.
Tessa

Today we got Ahmed the driver who brought us here from the airport (along with David an American on his way to Baghdad) to drive us to Mt Nebo and then onto the Dead Sea - where we floated as swimming is quite impossible, even getting your feet down onto the sand is difficult and just one quick taste of a salty finger has your mouth puckering up. On the way down the mountain to the Sea we passed a surprisingly large number of Bedouin tents and camps and large flocks of goats, sheep, some camels and donkeys all tended by single shepherds plus a few dogs, seeing and hearing the flocks with their bells looked like something straight out of biblical times. What is not out of those times or maybe it is) were the number of police road checks we had to get through (we are of course right next to the West Bank border) but with Ahmed with us there were no problems in getting through.

Tomorrow we are taking a minibus to Petra all being well - we will update you from there. Thanks for your comments which I see are there, we will read them as soon as we have successfully got this blog posted, and we might also attempt to get some photos added.

Brian

On our way

2009-01-06T13:34:00.002Z

Heathrow Airport: We are finally on our way. We leave a snowy Cambridge and with the London newspapers predicting minus 10 degrees. After what seems like weeks of getting the house ready, fostering the cats out and a myriad of organisational tasks we are finally really on our way. Thanks to all friends, neighbours and family who joined us for our 'At Home' on Sunday, it was a great distraction and highly enjoyable.

We had perhaps the poshest taxi driver to take us to the station, a woman with a cut glass accent, listening to Radio 4 in her very large merc - this is luxury we may not experience for a while! And it was nice to meet David Mander (Brian's business partner) for a coffee and a bit of cheque signing at St Pancras station.

We are exciting interest on the train and at the check-ins here at Heathrow with our minor amount of luggage (Tessa's bag is a mere 7kg, mine in a bit over 9kg), everyone is very interested (sometimes a bit doubtful) that people can travel for five months in this way - we will see and you will hear.

So at Heathrow terminal 1, after some extraordinarily slow service in the Cafe Rouge we are watered and fed and now ready to get through security - mind you the man with the sub machine gun across the way with his trigger finger twitching wildly is not what you want to see if you need to get into a relaxed frame of mind.

All the best and our next blog entry will be from Jordan.

Travelling light

2008-12-06T11:51:00.004Z

One of our most important decisions for our trip was to travel light - you can't take enough stuff for five months in climates that might vary from snow in the Jordan hills to tropical heat. And I keep telling people about the research done at airports where backpackers had their packs measured and weighed and were asked what they were carrying - a lot of dirty washing, books, and formal shoes they had never got to wear! We want to be carrying neither dirty washing nor clean clothes we are not wearing.

This way we have packs we are comfortable wearing, that we can keep with us on buses, trains and shared taxis, it means we can walk at least reasonable distances if we need to.

So we are going as light as possible. For Tess that means a 22 litre capacity pack, that's about two small cushions worth. Mine is 32 litre, think about one pillow size (I tried a very cheap 25 litre and that would have just about done).

How will we manage? Well its partly down to sensible clothes, Rohan mostly, one set to wear and one spare set, stuff that will roll tightly, dry overnight in the warmer places. We will both have light fleeces and a folding cagoule. We have taken Ahmed's advice who knows the desert cold and have a set of thermal underwear, an extra t-shirt, a silk sleeping sheet etc. We will only have one pair of shoes - treking sandels but will have some DVT socks for the flights which might also be useful in the cold.

We will have one book to read each and guide books for a couple of countries (others we will mail ahead). We need basic toiletries of course plus some medical kit. We will each have a mobile phone (doubles as mp3 player), a camera, small wind up torch, and I have my solar powered Power Monkey recharger. And of course a small moleskine diary or notebook for recording the experience. Actually when you squeeze that lot in its quite heavy enough.

If we need other things then we will buy them as we go, reading and guide books can get left at hotels and hostels as we finish with them. We will let you know how we get on!

Injections!

2008-12-05T09:14:00.001Z

We are in the Masta travel clinic in Cambridge completing one of their forms prior to getting advice on immunisation. We had the standard jabs ones at our GP but were advised to contact the specialist clinic for more advice.

As we complete the forms it becomes clear that the length and nature of our travel (local transport, travel in the countryside, malaria infected areas etc) means that only in a few places (UAE, Singapore, Japan and Canada) does our itinerary place us in the low risk 'Tourist' or medium risk 'Reasonable' categories - for much of our travel we are in the high risk 'Rural' category and will need immunisation against Rabies, Hepatitus B, and Japanese Enchephalitus. Three injections at each of three visits - and at £40 plus per injection I leave you to work out just how much this is costing - there goes a big hole in the budget!

We are also given sheets of information about the countries we are visiting and the risks involved - a bit too much information really (30,000 deaths per year from Rabies in India for example!). We are also briefed on the three possibilities for anti malaria treatment - the first needs only one pill a week and continuation for only one week after the relevant areas, but costs a couple of arms and a leg for every pill, the second one you take daily but gives you nightmares ('and not just whilst you are taking it but afterwards' warns the nurse) and is clearly only for the most mentally robust and the third needs a pill a day, continuation for one month and will ulcerate your throat if you don't take it with lots of liguid and keep standing up afterwards! Some choice there! And our packs now need to accommodate a mosquito net.

Visa troubles and bigger troubles

2008-11-28T17:07:00.001Z

After two hours filling in the on-line application, nearly £80 on the credit card and the best part of two days spent in the Indian visa agency I look at our passports with their new visas for India - and they are for the wrong period - barely covering two weeks of our planned six week stay! Back to the visa office:
'You have given me the wrong visa, I asked for six months I have only got three months'
'What is your occupation?' (my reply of 'management consultant' provokes no comment, or enlightenment)
'Well it is at their discretion whether they give three or six months'
'But I clearly asked for six months so it covered our planned dates in India, I gave the dates on the form'
'Oh they never look at the dates of travel..'

And so on to the supervisor.
'What is your occupation' (again that does not provide a reason for our plight)
'Well we can appeal to the High Commission but I warn you now we won't get an answer before you go'

So nothing for it but to start again, more form filling, trips to the visa office and another £80!

But this time it worked, we have the visas and they are for the right period! And they are multiple entry, in fact we can spend the next six months going into and out of India.

Which at the moment, with the dreadful events in Mumbai does not seem such a good idea. Added to the present occupation of Bangkok airport and things along our planned route seem a trifle troubled. I can see we will be visiting the Foreign and Commonwealth Office web site with its advice for travelers quite a lot during our trip.

Only two more visas to get. Jordan because we fly in but have no flight out (we expect to leave by boat for Egypt) and Egypt because we need a full visa to travel around the whole country and searching for that in the port of Aquaba might be a nuisance.

For other places we either don't need visas or our supply of dollars and passport photos will get us by at various airports and border crossings - as long as they don't want to know our occupations!

We have our tickets!

2008-08-05T16:23:00.000+01:00

On this wet August day (the English summer!) we made a trip down to Trailfinders and have come away with our itinerary finalised and our Round the World tickets purchased. And apart from the still rising fuel surcharges (which encouraged us to buy the tickets now rather than later) the ticket cost was as estimated.

Flying with the Star Alliance group of airlines has meant our preferred route was feasible with direct flights in all cases - with the exception of an additional stop in Dubai which will give us an opportunity to meet the family of our current house guest Ahmed - so an additional pleasure to look forward to.

So our itinerary is:

We leave the UK on Tuesday 6th January and fly to Amman in Jordan (Petra and Wadi Rum among other places) then overland and ferry through Jordan to Eqypt (Sinai, Luxor, Cairo, Alexandria)
We fly from Cairo to Dubai on Thursday 29th January
Then Dubai to Delhi on Sunday 1st February for a six week tour of India mostly by train
We finally leave India (Kolkata) on Friday 13th March for Singapore where we hope to meet our new blogging friend Chun See and for Brian to revist old haunts from his teenage years
After a week or so in Singapore we travel to Sarawak, back to Peninsula Malaya, train up to Thailand and Cambodia and finally leave South East Asia by a flight from Bangkok to Tokyo on Tuesday 21st April
We will travel in Japan until Saturday 2nd May when we fly to Vancouver and visit neice and nephew and their families in British Columbia.
We then travel overland to the Rockies, take an internal flight to Montreal and visit Tess' sister Sue and husband Paul until our departure for London on Sunday May 31st

Something to look forward to! We now have plenty of time to arrange to meet friends, get visas organised, check our innoculations and also get the house let (and a thousand other things to do).

Getting Started

2008-06-03T09:34:00.000+01:00

Tess and Brian will be leaving for their round the world trip early in January 2009 and expect to be away until June. Its a sort of gap year for oldies (we are both now in our 60s) and we intend to leave carrying no more than a hand-luggage sized backpack each

We hope to visit Jordan, Egypt, India, Singapore, Malaysia (Borneo and Peninsula), Thailand, Cambodia, Japan and Canada. In some of these places we hope to meet old friends and we will be visiting family in both Vancouver and Montreal in Canada. Brian will be returning to Singapore for the first time in 46 years having left as a teenager in 1962.