Mamalaporum

After a night in Chennai, which is a horrible city don't go there (!), we caught a bus to Mamalaporum about two hours south. It's a fairly touristy village with the dirtiest beaches we've ever seen, the Indians are happy to swim in the water and chuck all their rubbish on the beach, no bins here! Indian women and some men swim/paddle fully clothed, the whole family together.

Clarkie found the one person in the village who rented out a surfboard, the locals seemed to enjoying watching him on the board, which was covered in candle wax, no surf wax round here!

Clarkie and board are the white blob in the top right of the photo.





Hero Jet Gold


Random bolder at Mamalaporum caves


Carving at Mamalaporum caves

Christmas in Kochi

On 23rd December we caught a bus back to Kochi as a base for Christmas. We stayed at the same homestay we'd visited the week earlier. Christmas started with dinner and a few beers on Christmas eve with a guy from Manchester who is on a cycling trip from Delhi back to the UK via Nepal, China, Vietnam, Thailand and virtually the whole of Europe! We then made our way to the Bascilica for midnight which was packed, there must have been 1500 people there. The service was complete with carols, hundreds of fairy lights and the bishop addressing the congrigation in English, French, German, Spanish, Portugese and an unknown Indian dialect.

On Christmas day we had a meal with the couple we were staying with, mutton (goat) byriani, so no turkey in sight! Lunch started with sparkling pink Indian wine and three different types of cake followed by the byriani. On Boxing day we caught a 15 hour train to Chennai in east India, an uneventful journey mainly made up of eating and sleeping!

Claire xx

Santa hats courtesy of Mum, see we did wear them!


Rengu, owner of the homestay cutting one of the cakes to start the Christmas meal.

Cloudy Munnar

In need of a break from the heat we caught a bus the morning after our night on the houseboat to Munnar, about five hours inland. The views of the forests and tea plantations on the bus journey up into the hills were amazing. We had one day in Munnar and visited a tea factory followed by a really cold four hours in a tuk tuk to visit two dams and the top station. Unfortunately it was so cloudy we only got a really brief glimpse of the surrounding mountains before the cloud set in again.

View of the tea plantation

Clarkie at the top station

The top station and clouds

More tea!

We are sailing...

Unfortunately Claire didn't have time to finish the last post otherwise she'd have been locked out of the hotel, a little like The Crystal Maze, so I'll explain the pictures now.

We travelled by bus down to Alleppy and stayed there for a night with a plan of getting a house boat for the next night. All the boats were out for the day when we arrived so we couldn't look at one to see if it was what we were expecting so we had to book one based on photos shown to us by a travel agent. We were a little sceptical but when we got down to the boat in the morning our decision was made, it looked amazing. It had a little bedroom with an ensuite shower and toilet, a small seating area just in front of the bedroom with a recliner-type-area just behind 'The Captain'. There was also a top deck with a couple of chairs and a table and a kitchen out the back.

We were given a coconut by our on-board chef when we boarded and set sail (outboard engine) at 11:30 and had the most relaxing 24 hours of our trip so far. We cruised for about two hours through the lakes and canals of what is known as the Kerala Backwaters before mooring up for lunch. Our chef and captain served lunch on a banana leaf and we relaxed and watched the other boats and canoes go by for a couple of hours. We then cruised until we reached the village in which our Captain lived.

We took a walk round the village which included crossing a couple of 'bridges' made from palm trees, it was just a trunk across some water. It was pretty hairy! We then came back to the boat and had dinner and a couple of Kingfishers. I decided this wasn't enough and asked our chef if we could get any more in the village. Unfortunately they didn't stock any beer but did have some fresh 'Toddy', palm beer, which was really strong. We played cards and drank toddy and then went to bed leaving our chef to sleep on deck.

In the morning we were served breakfast and then headed on back to Alleppy. It was a very expensive treat, thanks Jo, but it was the most amazing and relaxing 24 hours.

Kerala- Cochin and house boat at Allepy

After a couple of nights in Kalpetta we made another bus journey, followed by yet another stint on a local train to get to Kochi/Cochin, a coastal town further south in Kerala. The Portugese took over the area back in the 1600s so everything is very European, lots of white washed buildings, and a church or shrine on most street corners in the centre of the town. We stayed in Cochin for a couple of nights with a really sweet couple in a homestay, which made a nice change from some of the grottier places places we've stayed in.

The Chinese fishing nets in Kochi, amazing contraptions.

Not our houseboat but a very nice looking one.

Claire with our crew (there were as many of them as us, 2), The Captain in the middle and the chef and Rummie shark on the right.

The first meal on our houseboat, severed on a proper banana leaf chopped from the banana tree on the bank.

Clarkie drinking from a coconut when we'd just got on board our houseboat.

Kerala

After a couple of days on the beach in Palolem we caught a local train to Mangalore, the journey was fine until it got dark and various bugs started flying into the carriage biting us rather than the Indians who never seem to get bitten! We spent one night in Mangalore before catching another train to Calicut in Kerala and then a bus onto Kalpetta to see the Waynard Wildlife sanctuary. We hired a jeep for the day with some Germans, an English girl and a Polish girl which was a squeeze with eight of us packed into a tiny jeep but we had a great day. We visited a national park area and then the sanctuary itself where it was into another jeep. Apparently the sanctuary is home to a tiger, we didn't see it, but we did get lots of glimpses of elephants, bison, monkeys, and deer. The landscape was amazing and it was much cooler in the mountains than on the coast which suited us just fine!


Tucking into a delicous all you can eat thali meal, served on a banana leaf, at the national park.



A local train, not sure if the window bars are to keep people on or out!

Photo catch up - Goa

The beach at Palolem where we spent a couple of nights.

Our beach hut

Photo Catch up - Ellora caves

Clarkie in a cave.


A random family who liked having their picture taken with us with waterfall in the background.

Photo Catch up - Udaipur

Women washing clothes on the lake at Updaipur.


One of two lake palaces on the lake, both very swanky hotels that were a bit too posh for the likes of us but we got to look at them from afar on a lake cruise!

For the Eclipe Software Services Team

On the lake at Udaipur, the lake palace, featured in the James Bond film Octupussy, is in the background.



On Palolem beach, Goa.

There's a rat in ma kitchen what am I gonna do?

Ok, I appologise now for the lack of photos but we're sat in a baking hot room which should fit about five people but actually holds about 20, most of whom are trying to sort out their CVs. We're in Mumbai for one more night and then we're heading to Goa on a sleeper tomorrow.

We left Jodhpur on a bus to Udaipur. For most of the journey we were on single track roads and as such it was very bumpy and would sway from side to side quite a bit. This resulted in a child being sick from the upstairs window and as a result of the bus not being air conditioned a few people below may well have been splattered. As we were a little further back we didn't but we did have to watch it work it's way along the bus for the next two hours.

Udaipur was a lovely little city set around a lake with a couple of palaces in the middle, one of which was used in the James Bond film Octopussy. The little place was nice but there was a large amount of shops and stalls aimed at the western tourist which was completely different from anywhere else we'd been.

We spent three nights in Udaipur then got another bus to Ahmedebad which fortunately was along a dual carriage way. We didn't really like that city too much, it was really dirty and the one museum which we wanted to see was shut. It didn't open until 10:30, we were there at 10:15 but were told it was full by a very rude and obnoxious guard with a very big stick and an even bigger gut. We did, however, get to see Gandhi's Ashram which was really interesting and a peaceful escape from the rest of the city.

We got a sleeper to Mumbai and on the same day that we arrived we got a train to see the caves at Ellora. They were amazing (photos to follow). We stayed two nights in Arungabad and then get a train back to Mumbai. We've been here for two nights and have really enjoyed it. It's far more expensive than anywhere else we've visited but it could almost be a European city. We've been to all the big sites here and we even managed to visit a doctor. It turns out I've now got Giardiasis (a parasite), something else in my stomach that I can't remember and something wrong with my throat. So I'm taking more drugs and it seems to be clearing up.

So we're off to Goa tomorrow night and we'll hopefully find an internet place that's a little cooler.

Clarkie + Claire xx

Jaipur and Jodhpur

Guides working at the palace in Jaipur - Unfortunately, due to Delhi Belly I didn't get to see these guys but they were working at the palace in Jaipur which the Maharajah still lives in. Apparently, it was very nice.

The view across to the fort in Jaipur from the Hawa Mahal - again, I believe the views were wonderful from the top of this residency of the women of the court. Like most of the buildings in the old city area of Jaipur this building is pink; Jaipur is known as 'The Pink City'.

An Indian wedding procession we stumbled across - it's wedding season in India at the moment so there are plenty of noisy processions. This one that went past our guesthouse in Jaipur was followed by a band and a tuk tuk carrying a generator to power the lights. The family of the groom were dancing through the street. Not a bad idea we didn't think, Jo! ;-)

A monkey at the sun temple in Jaipur - we got pretty close to around 4000 monkeys which congregate at dusk on the hill on top of which a temple dedicated to the sun god is situated.

Looking up at the fort in Jodhpur - we took a six hour train from Jaipur to Jodhpur. The fort here overlooks the whole city and today we walked up to it. This photo was taken on the way up, it looks pretty ominous in real life.

Me in the fort in Jodhpur - in the background you can just see the blue houses which are typical of the old city in Jodhpur, known as 'The Blue City'. You can probably see that there is a running theme here! The indigo stain helps keep the houses cool and also helps keep the mosquitoes away. Our guesthouse is pink. :-(

Claire's backside walking through one of the back streets in Jodhpur

We've spent the last two nights in Jodhpur and will be catching a bus to Udaipur early in the morning. We'll be staying there for a few nights before heading down to Mumbai.

Clarkie
P.S. Norflox 400 did the trick and we're both fighting fit again.

We made it!

Lot's more photos to come but until I can work out how to put labels on them the photos below are as follows, at the top it's Clarkie with the Golden Temple in Amristar, the Sikh version of Mecca. The Taj Mahal! Finally a camel near the Taj Mahal, we've seen lots today out in the desert on the way to Jaipur and loads of monkeys!

We arrived in Delhi last Wednesday and had a couple of days there seeing a few sites, including the Red Fort and acclimatising to the Indian way of life and all the sights, sounds and smells that come with it! There are pigs, cows, goats, horses and donkeys roaming the streets, lots of open drains and piles of rubbish so it can be a bit smelly! Having said that we're having a great time :)

After Delhi we caught the train to Amristar, we ended up with first class tickets which included breakfast, lunch and mid morning tea, our train journeys since haven't quite lived up to it! Amristar is the Sikh version of Mecca, all Sikhs are supposed to make a pilgrimage to it once in their lives to bath in the tank surrounding the temple. It's covered in gold and we needed to cover our heads, hence Clarkie's orange headscarf! We met loads of lovely people at the temple especially those wanting to practice their English and have photos taken with us. Whilst in Amristar we also went to the Pakistan-India border to see the border closing ceremony which 4000 people watch from the Indian side, there was chanting, flag waving and the crowd generally tried to hype the Pakistani spectators on the other side of the gate! This happens every night when the bordering crossing closes.

The next stop was Agra to visit the Taj Mahal which was beautiful and just as good as it looks on TV and in photos, we stayed there for a couple of nights and visited the fort as well.

We're now in Jaipur in Rajasthan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaipur. The plan at the moment is to spend the next week traveling around Rajasthan and then make our way to Mumbai.

Love to everyone

Claire and Clarkie
xx

P.S. The map has also been updated if you want to see where we've been or are planning on heading next.

More jabs and more plans

5 weeks to go and we're getting there! We've now had 7 of the 10 jabs, our rucksacks have arrived and we've started packing some of the clutter into bags for the charity shop and boxes for the parents's garages.

We've now got a plan for India; we land in Delhi and will spend a few nights acclimatising and seeing the sights, we'll then head on to Agra and Jaipur. Next we'll stop in at Mumbai on our way to Goa, follow the coast round to Kerala, spend a little while on the southern tip and work our way round to Pondicherry for Christmas. From there we'll move up the east coast to Chennai and fly out to Colombo for New Year. We've got a couple of weeks in Sri Lanka and then on to New Zealand.

Our plan in New Zealand, although likely to change, is to spend a few nights in Auckland to give me chance to buy a surfboard and hire a camper to go up to Northland for a couple of weeks. We'll then fly down to Christchurch and spend another couple of weeks with Annette. We're flying out from Auckland so we'll hire another camper and work our way back up through the rest of the county for another 3-4 weeks.

We've both handed our notices in and now with only 24 working days left this is now becoming a reality... :D

2/10 Jabs

We've started our jabs and to be honest it wasn't a great experience, I felt a bit faint and Claire looks like she's been a victim of domestic violence. Only 8 more to go. We've booked another flight so we're sorted until early next year now. We're getting very excited now with roughly 43 working days left but so much left to sort out.

The Plan

View Travelling in a larger map

The plan is as above but we've only booked two flights (each). We leave for Delhi on 18th November and will work our way down to Chennai where we'll get a flight to Colombo just before new year.