Showing posts with label Journal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Journal. Show all posts
Friday, April 23, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Rajesthan
Our last destination in India was the one that we heard the most about. Rajasthan with landscapes looking more and more desert like as we go, women saris that look more colorful like if it was possible, and the people which are a little bit more conservative than the areas we travelled so far. I tried to be even more careful with my dressing, long pants, long sleeves and scarf but i admit i had to cheat a few times. The weather was just too hot.
We arrived in Rajasthan later than what was planned. We were travelling by bus and it got stopped at some point on our way to Jaipur. It really looked like they were waiting for us since we were the second car to be in line. There was two jeeps accross the road and branches with thorns, real thorns i tell you! That stop was also like a divine manifestation! I had spent the last 30 minutes wishing that the bus was going to stop close to a bathroom. I wanted to pee so bad!!! I am not a fast lerner, i had drank at least three cups of tea that morning. I evaluated the time i had to sneak into the field for a quicky and i decided to take my chances. I walked for five minutes to finally get to growing cereals that were pretty scrany but i had not seen anyone so far, so let’s go. In India, you are never alone… As i am crouching, there is a mad dog coming at me and he was followed by his master, a woman… ''Just peeing'' i said and i guess it's pretty obvious. Since I am a lucky girl, the bus is still there when I get back and we spent a good 45 minutes there. Men and women were carrying sticks and seemed to be mad at policemen in particular. I tried to obtain more information about what was going on but my bus partners did not speak much english. What I got from the conversations, well i am not sure if we can call it conversation when few words are used but many signs, is that, there had been an incident involving a young guy. I am not sure if he had been injured or was dead but the policemen either were responsible for it or made a big mistake that let the real suspect get away. What is the real reason? We will never know.
Jaipur
We did not explore much of the streets in Jaipur but we took a rickshaw to cross the Pink City. It is the oldest part of Jaipur so more chaotic and dirty with many little shops and markets directly on the side of the road. We are too tired to pay too much attention to what is happening but many buildings are stunning and most everything is pink.
We really liked the Amber Fort which is enormous. We could go up there by foot, by Jeep or riding the back of an elephant. They were superbs with their face painted up. I had never seen that many at once and certainly not from that close.
Pushkar
The lake is unfortunately dried up which makes the lanscape a bit less inviting than on postcards. It is a small town or more small village. The main road is lined up with stores for tourists. I did shop and bought pants and a blanket for the cold train nights coming up. I also found the anklets I wanted for so long. The prices were much better there.
We expected so much more from that place since it is very popular and talked about. Ah well!
Bikaner
Ah Bikaner and it’s rat temple! In my head, I imagined a floor covered with fat rats and their poop. I thought that they would be so glad to see me that they would be running over my feet and climbing my legs. I was affraid to be walking on one of them and have to buy a golden rat to give to the temple to be forgiven. We had to see the white rat as well since it is good luck. Some people spend hours looking for that rat. We had to take off our shoes like for all the other temples, but this time, we knew that we would be walking on dirty floors. Indeed, the floor was sticky but we see more pigeon droppings than rats. The floor was not covered with rat either, they tended to stay in corners where most of the food was. They clustered especially around bowls of milk and pieces of cookies left by the tourists. They are scared of us and so the risk of walking on one was very slim. I am very glad to have seen it but I imagined an experience rich in emotions which was not. We have seen the white rat and then everybody came once we said : ‘Hey the white rat’. Does it count for them then?
The old city within the fortified walls is worthed because you see beautiful buildins but especially because of the people we met. This is not the most touristic destination and we did see a huge difference in the interaction with locals. People are so welcoming and they are happy to pose to be photographed.They shake you hand and they all have great smiles.
Jailsamer
We arrived in Jailsamer on a night train around 5h30 am. It is cold and we are not quite awake at that point. Rob has a tout trying to get him to absolutely visit his guesthouse. He insisted so much that Rob got fed up with him pretty quick. We still used his car to get closer to the fort and, well, there was little other option at that time of the day! Even if the rooms were really good, there was not a chance that Rob would have stayed there so we started our quest in the dark for another place to sleep. We are surrounded by a dogs gang that do not like us a bit. They yapped so much that they probably have woken up the whole neibourghood. We finally stopped a car to get directions and he took us on board and dropped us off at his friend’s guesthouse. We need to sleep for an hour or two.
When we finally got up, the view from the rooftop is amazing. The color of the Fort with the surroundings that very much look like a desert. Very small streets lead to the fort entrance and people are nice. I would like to go back there and maybe do a camel safari.
Jodhpur
The blue city. Many of the old city houses are painted in a flashy blue. The view from the fort of the old city is therefor pretty nice. The Fort is supposed to be the best preserved one of Rajasthan and it is really nice. I had a short night though because of bad food and was found in the bathroom most of the night. I would like a few more days in that city for sure.
Ranakpur
What a great place! A friend of ours had advised us to stop in that little place even if the guidebook did not make a big deal out of it. The choice for hotels is limited and they tend to be more expensive but the scenery is worted. And the silence…. We decided to spend one more day there! There is, first of all, a lake which level was a bit low but still looked like a postcard. The pictures are giving justice to the atmosphere and the serenity of the place. We have seen crocodiles
The other attraction that gets people to visit Ranakpur is the presence of beautiful Jain temples. So many carvings in one place is absolutely hallucinating! Wow!
Udaipur
We arrived there in the afternoon and we had to take the plane to Delhi early the next morning. It is too bad because I would have like to walk around a bit more. Zut de Zut! We had time to explore the main street full of shops and I finally splurged on flipflops, jewellery and painting. We had a room with view on the lake and I would have like to take the time to read looking at the landscape. Next time!
We arrived in Rajasthan later than what was planned. We were travelling by bus and it got stopped at some point on our way to Jaipur. It really looked like they were waiting for us since we were the second car to be in line. There was two jeeps accross the road and branches with thorns, real thorns i tell you! That stop was also like a divine manifestation! I had spent the last 30 minutes wishing that the bus was going to stop close to a bathroom. I wanted to pee so bad!!! I am not a fast lerner, i had drank at least three cups of tea that morning. I evaluated the time i had to sneak into the field for a quicky and i decided to take my chances. I walked for five minutes to finally get to growing cereals that were pretty scrany but i had not seen anyone so far, so let’s go. In India, you are never alone… As i am crouching, there is a mad dog coming at me and he was followed by his master, a woman… ''Just peeing'' i said and i guess it's pretty obvious. Since I am a lucky girl, the bus is still there when I get back and we spent a good 45 minutes there. Men and women were carrying sticks and seemed to be mad at policemen in particular. I tried to obtain more information about what was going on but my bus partners did not speak much english. What I got from the conversations, well i am not sure if we can call it conversation when few words are used but many signs, is that, there had been an incident involving a young guy. I am not sure if he had been injured or was dead but the policemen either were responsible for it or made a big mistake that let the real suspect get away. What is the real reason? We will never know.
Jaipur
We did not explore much of the streets in Jaipur but we took a rickshaw to cross the Pink City. It is the oldest part of Jaipur so more chaotic and dirty with many little shops and markets directly on the side of the road. We are too tired to pay too much attention to what is happening but many buildings are stunning and most everything is pink.
We really liked the Amber Fort which is enormous. We could go up there by foot, by Jeep or riding the back of an elephant. They were superbs with their face painted up. I had never seen that many at once and certainly not from that close.
Pushkar
The lake is unfortunately dried up which makes the lanscape a bit less inviting than on postcards. It is a small town or more small village. The main road is lined up with stores for tourists. I did shop and bought pants and a blanket for the cold train nights coming up. I also found the anklets I wanted for so long. The prices were much better there.
We expected so much more from that place since it is very popular and talked about. Ah well!
Bikaner
Ah Bikaner and it’s rat temple! In my head, I imagined a floor covered with fat rats and their poop. I thought that they would be so glad to see me that they would be running over my feet and climbing my legs. I was affraid to be walking on one of them and have to buy a golden rat to give to the temple to be forgiven. We had to see the white rat as well since it is good luck. Some people spend hours looking for that rat. We had to take off our shoes like for all the other temples, but this time, we knew that we would be walking on dirty floors. Indeed, the floor was sticky but we see more pigeon droppings than rats. The floor was not covered with rat either, they tended to stay in corners where most of the food was. They clustered especially around bowls of milk and pieces of cookies left by the tourists. They are scared of us and so the risk of walking on one was very slim. I am very glad to have seen it but I imagined an experience rich in emotions which was not. We have seen the white rat and then everybody came once we said : ‘Hey the white rat’. Does it count for them then?
The old city within the fortified walls is worthed because you see beautiful buildins but especially because of the people we met. This is not the most touristic destination and we did see a huge difference in the interaction with locals. People are so welcoming and they are happy to pose to be photographed.They shake you hand and they all have great smiles.
Jailsamer
We arrived in Jailsamer on a night train around 5h30 am. It is cold and we are not quite awake at that point. Rob has a tout trying to get him to absolutely visit his guesthouse. He insisted so much that Rob got fed up with him pretty quick. We still used his car to get closer to the fort and, well, there was little other option at that time of the day! Even if the rooms were really good, there was not a chance that Rob would have stayed there so we started our quest in the dark for another place to sleep. We are surrounded by a dogs gang that do not like us a bit. They yapped so much that they probably have woken up the whole neibourghood. We finally stopped a car to get directions and he took us on board and dropped us off at his friend’s guesthouse. We need to sleep for an hour or two.
When we finally got up, the view from the rooftop is amazing. The color of the Fort with the surroundings that very much look like a desert. Very small streets lead to the fort entrance and people are nice. I would like to go back there and maybe do a camel safari.
Jodhpur
The blue city. Many of the old city houses are painted in a flashy blue. The view from the fort of the old city is therefor pretty nice. The Fort is supposed to be the best preserved one of Rajasthan and it is really nice. I had a short night though because of bad food and was found in the bathroom most of the night. I would like a few more days in that city for sure.
Ranakpur
What a great place! A friend of ours had advised us to stop in that little place even if the guidebook did not make a big deal out of it. The choice for hotels is limited and they tend to be more expensive but the scenery is worted. And the silence…. We decided to spend one more day there! There is, first of all, a lake which level was a bit low but still looked like a postcard. The pictures are giving justice to the atmosphere and the serenity of the place. We have seen crocodiles
The other attraction that gets people to visit Ranakpur is the presence of beautiful Jain temples. So many carvings in one place is absolutely hallucinating! Wow!
Udaipur
We arrived there in the afternoon and we had to take the plane to Delhi early the next morning. It is too bad because I would have like to walk around a bit more. Zut de Zut! We had time to explore the main street full of shops and I finally splurged on flipflops, jewellery and painting. We had a room with view on the lake and I would have like to take the time to read looking at the landscape. Next time!
Orccha and Bundi
We took a night train to Jhansi. We were a bit better prepared for the cold with long underwears and double pair of socks. I still got the chills and the runny nose though. It was still a short night since the train stopped too many times and people do not always get that they are getting into a ''sleeper'' train! We then jumped into an autorickshaw for an 1/2 hour ride to Orccha. The city is small and is barely mentionned in my guidebook but a friend had mentioned that it was worth it. It is really!! We spent quite a bit of time at the Cenotaphs site while the sun was going down. Beautiful!
The next stop was Bundi which is somewhat similar to Orccha. The paintings of the Palace were were very impressive since the Palace was built early 1600. I also really liked the street markets and the people we met at small stands. They answered questions and made me taste what seemed strange looking like sugar cane sold as big squares and peanuts snacks. That is also where i started to feel that i should start shopping.
The next stop was Bundi which is somewhat similar to Orccha. The paintings of the Palace were were very impressive since the Palace was built early 1600. I also really liked the street markets and the people we met at small stands. They answered questions and made me taste what seemed strange looking like sugar cane sold as big squares and peanuts snacks. That is also where i started to feel that i should start shopping.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Cochin (Kochi)
I had seen a documentary about Cochin and was very excited about it. What i remembered the most were the suspended fishing nets and the spices. As soon as we got down the ferry, we saw the fishing nets but they were not in function at that time. The area is very lively and we see mainly tourists on the street. We even found the best coffee place ever serving excellent breakfast as well. We did spent a lot of time there in the morning...we had to wait a long time to be served!
There are maybe 30 fishing nets aligned on the coast. They are a structure similar to a four fingers hand, one finger attached to each corner of the net. The hand has an arm with weights (rocks of different dimensions) at the end of it to balance the whole thing. When the arm goes down, the hand opens and the net sinks into the water. It stays down for about 5 minutes before the fishermen starts pulling on the rocks to make the net come back up again. We spent a good 2 hours watching the nets going down into the water and back up, very often containing no fish at all.
I also rented a bike to visit the older part of Fort Cochin, Jew town. Lots of antiques shops but what i was looking for were spices storage rooms. I went in 2 places where women where sifting pepper. The air was filled with dust and i could not stay very long before starting sneezing. Great people and i would have stayed one more day.
There are maybe 30 fishing nets aligned on the coast. They are a structure similar to a four fingers hand, one finger attached to each corner of the net. The hand has an arm with weights (rocks of different dimensions) at the end of it to balance the whole thing. When the arm goes down, the hand opens and the net sinks into the water. It stays down for about 5 minutes before the fishermen starts pulling on the rocks to make the net come back up again. We spent a good 2 hours watching the nets going down into the water and back up, very often containing no fish at all.
I also rented a bike to visit the older part of Fort Cochin, Jew town. Lots of antiques shops but what i was looking for were spices storage rooms. I went in 2 places where women where sifting pepper. The air was filled with dust and i could not stay very long before starting sneezing. Great people and i would have stayed one more day.
Alleppey
They compare Alleppey to Venice. It is known for its 900 km of canals going inland and linking remote villages to the coast. The canals cross rice patties, fields of coconut trees and banana trees. They are still used by the local population as a highway to transport cashews, coconut and rice. However, the villagers use the water to bath and to cook and drink. Since cruises are the most important tourist attraction, the water quality is starting to decline. We decided to rent a canoe to be more nature friendly. We had a great time relaxing and observing the life within the small villages. There are also more and more plants growing on the surface of the water cutting out light underneath, plus all the garbage floating around... We still swam to cool us down but my bathing suit came back greyer than before!
Mysore
We are really happy to have decided to stop in Udupi to cut the travelling time short. We left Udupi by bus around 11h30 and it is supposed to arrive at destination around 18h. We did stop a lot for 5 minutes at a time and the road is under construction for quite a distance. On top of that, we had to drive across the region of Kodagu where the road is pretty narrow and goes up and down mountains with ravines lining the side of the road. It becomes dangerous to pass other cars and so we stayed behind tractors for a while. The landscapes are awesome though! We got to Mysore 4 hours late. We are starving after having skipped lunch and dinner. We finally found a rooftop restaurant to eat something before crashing into bed. The food is awful, but full of tourists. I guess the view of part of Mysore was pretty good.
This city is descibed as flamboyant in the guide book and it has many palaces. The oldest one, Jayachamarajendra, is now a art gallery. It is notvery impressive when compared to the newer palace, the Maharaja’s Palace. Very impressive! There is so many people there with groups of students. One of them has Micheal Jackson’s look with a leather jacket and 2 others are wearing what looks like winter jackets, to be stylished we assumed since it is 30 degrees! We also walked through the city markets, one that they called the old market and the other which is much bigger, the Devaraja. There are so many stands selling exactly the same things. Flowers for the offerings in temples, fruits, vegetebles, colored powders, essential oils (?) and eggs. How can they make money when there is so much competition? We had an excellent Thalli served on banana leaves. Portion of rice with oil and spices, a bit of lentils, vegetables, pieces of fried cheese (???) and few hot peppers. We have to mix whatever we want with the rice and squeeze the rice between your fingers to eat it. Delicious!
Mysore is also where we witnessed a street fight. There are 2 women and 4 guys. The victim is wearing a beige shirt (Mr.B). The first thing we saw was Mr. B laying on the ground after one of the guy stamps its foot in Mr. B’s face. Mr.B gets up and he received a fist in the face, on the temple and in the belly from the guys. There is about 5 secondes in between each hit and it is weird that Mr.B don’t make any move to protect himself. One of the woman is screaming and she slapped him pretty hard. Yeah! The police is coming! Oupss, it looks like the policeman is running after the woman who hit the guy and he is slashing her back with a 4 feet-long stick. She disappeared finally and the policeman turned towards Mr. B that hasn’t reacted yet. Mr. B got got the stick treatment a few times before he starts running away with the other woman. It is the best way to end a fight!
This city is descibed as flamboyant in the guide book and it has many palaces. The oldest one, Jayachamarajendra, is now a art gallery. It is notvery impressive when compared to the newer palace, the Maharaja’s Palace. Very impressive! There is so many people there with groups of students. One of them has Micheal Jackson’s look with a leather jacket and 2 others are wearing what looks like winter jackets, to be stylished we assumed since it is 30 degrees! We also walked through the city markets, one that they called the old market and the other which is much bigger, the Devaraja. There are so many stands selling exactly the same things. Flowers for the offerings in temples, fruits, vegetebles, colored powders, essential oils (?) and eggs. How can they make money when there is so much competition? We had an excellent Thalli served on banana leaves. Portion of rice with oil and spices, a bit of lentils, vegetables, pieces of fried cheese (???) and few hot peppers. We have to mix whatever we want with the rice and squeeze the rice between your fingers to eat it. Delicious!
Mysore is also where we witnessed a street fight. There are 2 women and 4 guys. The victim is wearing a beige shirt (Mr.B). The first thing we saw was Mr. B laying on the ground after one of the guy stamps its foot in Mr. B’s face. Mr.B gets up and he received a fist in the face, on the temple and in the belly from the guys. There is about 5 secondes in between each hit and it is weird that Mr.B don’t make any move to protect himself. One of the woman is screaming and she slapped him pretty hard. Yeah! The police is coming! Oupss, it looks like the policeman is running after the woman who hit the guy and he is slashing her back with a 4 feet-long stick. She disappeared finally and the policeman turned towards Mr. B that hasn’t reacted yet. Mr. B got got the stick treatment a few times before he starts running away with the other woman. It is the best way to end a fight!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
OM beach, Gokarna
We arrived at night and the beach is a lot less touristy than expected. It`s pitch dark on the beach. We wake up with a new view, a nice beach, quiet and clean with a lot less vendors than in Palolem. It is hot, so much that i decide to spend the day under a tree. I had red cheeks anyway at the end of the day, even after wearing my hat. I want to move more than that and there is so much to see still in India. We left the next day by train to get to Udupi. It is going to be a short stop since we use that city to cut the long trip to Mysore.
Badami
Badami is not so much of a tourist destination. We haven’t seen that many other white faces while we walked the streets. We became an attraction for all the locals but mostly for Indien tourist coming to visit the cave’s temples. There are only 4 caves and it should not take that long to visit usually. We have been asked so many times if they could take our picture! The funniet thing is more that they want to take a picturewith us but using our cameras! We could not simply stop for 5 minutes to admire the view since we were causing a jam in the stairs. After 3 hours of that, we thought it was a little crazy and my cheeks were hurting from all that smiling which was a bit forced at the end.
The reason why we decided to go to Badami was for its red sandstone cliffs. We had read in our guide book that there was a climbing school where we thought we could rent a rope. Well, it existed at some point but was no longer there. We saw from far away 2 guys dangling from a rope on one of the cliff, Andrew and Harry (same Harry that made a topo for the climbing in Hampi...small world!), and they allowed Rob to get a shot at the problem they were doing. Lack of muscles from his last 6 months of travelling didn’t allow him to get to the top. I have great pictures of that but he said it would be blackmailing and he would take revenge. I decided not to try since my muscles haven’t appeared yet.
We decided to stay only for 2 nights promising ourselves that we would come back with gears but especially muscles. We feel like we haven’t rested enough maybe and so, we choose a destination on the coast, Om beach of Gokarna.
The reason why we decided to go to Badami was for its red sandstone cliffs. We had read in our guide book that there was a climbing school where we thought we could rent a rope. Well, it existed at some point but was no longer there. We saw from far away 2 guys dangling from a rope on one of the cliff, Andrew and Harry (same Harry that made a topo for the climbing in Hampi...small world!), and they allowed Rob to get a shot at the problem they were doing. Lack of muscles from his last 6 months of travelling didn’t allow him to get to the top. I have great pictures of that but he said it would be blackmailing and he would take revenge. I decided not to try since my muscles haven’t appeared yet.
We decided to stay only for 2 nights promising ourselves that we would come back with gears but especially muscles. We feel like we haven’t rested enough maybe and so, we choose a destination on the coast, Om beach of Gokarna.
Hampi and its temples
We leave Margeon by train. The trip lasted almost 7 hours. There are 3 beds on each wall and we reserved the bed closest to the ceiling and the one in the middle. We found out that the one in the middle doesn't exist during the day, it serves as the back of a big seat which is the lower bed. In theory, there supposed to be 3 persons sitting on that bench. We had during the trip from 4-5 people sitting there and one person laying down on the upper bed. They are so thight in other compartment that they decided to invade the comfy section! It is hot and we can smell the toilets continuously. Our brain don't like doing abstraction of that smell for some reasons. I tried to sleep for the most part of the trip to avoid all that smell, heat, questions and cell phones playing very loud Indian music. The problem is that our backpacks are on the top bed as well which doesn't leave that much room up there. I squeezed in the best i could with my legs on top of the bags and my hips against the railing. I knew that my body would protest after that treatment. My back was soar for few days not allowing me to sleep and i had bruises on the hips from the banging against the railing. Since we were going to Hampi to do some climbing i got into my pharmacy kit and took muscle relaxant pills. I felt a little dizzy the first morning, it's strong!
We spent the first night in downtown Hampi it sounded like. We had a room with 2 windows opening up on 2 different alleys. People went to bed very late and they seemed to have a competition on the noise they could make. I used my iPod for the first time in India.
We decided to change room to get closer to the climbing spot. We had to cross the river with a ferry which is more of a small boat able to sit maybe 20 people. It's a paradise for climbers so we drop our bags and rented a crashpad and hop we go. We met up with 2 american girls (Rob was happy). OUCH! My muscles, well i thought i had muscles... I am so weak at the end of the day...my arms feel heavy, my hands have cramps and my skin is scratched and its burning. I needed some rest really bad and miracle! It was raining the next morning. We ended up climbing only few hours which was enough. We spent the next day touring temples. Hampi has great landscapes with boulders everywhere and the temples were actually interesting to visit. Even after that rest day, we are not fit to climb again so we decide to leave for Badami, that would give one more day to my skin to get better! Oh la la! When we got to the ferry, there was more than a hundred people waiting to cross. There was a festival going on in town. We thought we would have to wait about an hour since everytime that more people arrived, they went to the front of the line. Eventually, faster than we thought anyway, we succeeded in cutting in, we had our backpacks and were taking a lot of space. People are almost fighting to get in the boat so when we tried to get onboard, the boat was moving non-stop. I untied my bag from my hips because i was sure to end up in the water!
We spent the first night in downtown Hampi it sounded like. We had a room with 2 windows opening up on 2 different alleys. People went to bed very late and they seemed to have a competition on the noise they could make. I used my iPod for the first time in India.
We decided to change room to get closer to the climbing spot. We had to cross the river with a ferry which is more of a small boat able to sit maybe 20 people. It's a paradise for climbers so we drop our bags and rented a crashpad and hop we go. We met up with 2 american girls (Rob was happy). OUCH! My muscles, well i thought i had muscles... I am so weak at the end of the day...my arms feel heavy, my hands have cramps and my skin is scratched and its burning. I needed some rest really bad and miracle! It was raining the next morning. We ended up climbing only few hours which was enough. We spent the next day touring temples. Hampi has great landscapes with boulders everywhere and the temples were actually interesting to visit. Even after that rest day, we are not fit to climb again so we decide to leave for Badami, that would give one more day to my skin to get better! Oh la la! When we got to the ferry, there was more than a hundred people waiting to cross. There was a festival going on in town. We thought we would have to wait about an hour since everytime that more people arrived, they went to the front of the line. Eventually, faster than we thought anyway, we succeeded in cutting in, we had our backpacks and were taking a lot of space. People are almost fighting to get in the boat so when we tried to get onboard, the boat was moving non-stop. I untied my bag from my hips because i was sure to end up in the water!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Mumbai
Also known under the name of Bombay
Population of 16,4M of which 60% are living in the slums
Day 1- Out of our element but so amazing at the same time
After 14 hours flying and 16 hours spent in airport, I found myself under the sunny sky of Mumbai. It is noon and it is 25 degrees. My friend Rob is there which is really reassuring. It turns out to be easy to get a taxi and find the hotel. No need to negociate since it was a prepaid taxi. We will learn later on that it is best to negociate! Rob had booked a 3 * hotel so we started the trip in luxury and confort, air conditionning, hot water, doorman... We dropped our bags, took a ahower, ooofff needed with a change of underwear even more important... and we went on our first exploration tour of the area close to the hotel. 1- It's dirty with garbage everywhere, 2- It smells like urine and goats but some good smells of food altenate with the bad smells. Add to that the smell of incent and you're set for a bit of an olfactory surcharge. 3- We need to be very careful to where we put our feet. Holes, kids that grab our arms, people sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk. 4- Lots of men saying ''hello'', ''Which country'', ''Your name''. They want their picture taken.
Seems we are not in a highly touristic area, we take the risk to eat in a local restaurant. Huummmm!! Indian food! Chana Masala for me please...no cramps afterwards! We then walk to the Chowpatty beach where families and couples eat and enjoy some fresh air. No swimming since the water there is supposed to be toxic! They have some rides that are running with arms power but the kids scream even if it is not fast at all. We have food on the beach and after Masala dosa, no cramps!
Day 2- Exhausting day in Colaba
Old buildings are photographed even if we don't always know which ones are which. We end up at the Sassoon Dock and the experience is interesting. It doesn;t look like they are visited that often because people are watching closely where we go and what we look at. It smells like fish a lot! It is amazing how they do to cramp so many boats in a tiny port and especially be able to take them to sea without too much damage. There's also the question of when do these guys sleeps? They come back from the sea early morning and they are still repairing nets and cables in the afternoon. We had to get the India's Gate where the atmosphere is extraordinaire. We eat a papaya looking at other tourists, mostly Indians. Peolple again take our picture, we feel like Stars. The way back to the hotel is long, street food again, no cramps!
Day 3- Rich area of Mumbai
Getting up is hard! My legs are hurting from all the walk of the last days, i have blisters... We get to Malamba Hill where the tallest appartment buildings do not fit at all with the simpliest houses. Real smiles though all the way there and back with nice temples hidden away. We were impressed by the biggest washing area of Mumbai, Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat and la mosquee Haji Ali which is reachable only during low tide. After that day, my legs are done. I wore my running shoes to make it easier on the blisters. I am getting old... or i should do more exercise. Watchout when I come back though!! I will need to keep it up.
Day 4- Elephanta Island
The experience started with the train experience. It is not rush hour so the experience isn’t one after all. Nothing to do with the number of people that we were expecting. It is difficult to imagine that in a city that looks so poor from the outside, that the train routes are monitored with an hitech GPS system and that the railways are taken care of by robots. We left Mumbai Central station and stopped at Churchgate station where i was hoping to see Dabba-Wallahs. They deliver about 200 000 lunch boxes a day everywhere around Mumbai. They first pick them up at the door and are able to reach work places without that making that many mistakes, 1 in 6M deliveries!
9 km from the coast, Elephanta island is reached after 1 hour boat trip during which we can finally get some rest from all the walking around Mumbai. The island should be called the Monkey island really. They are everywhere and they keep fighting and keep trying to get at my bottle of orange pop! After too many stairs to be climbed when it’s this humid, we arrive at the first cave. There are 5 but only the first one is of some interest. It has many temples carved into the rock dedicated to various Gods. Work of art!
That night, first bad Indian food experience. Maybe we chose a restaurant in an area a bit too touristy. I never thought that bad indian food existed and certainely not in India.
I haven’t shop and will leave Mumbai with only Ballons which were more a test of bargaining that a real need. My friend Sophie could not do the same and that’s a fact.
9 km de la côte, on doit embarquer pour une heure de traversée qui enfin nous donne un peu de repos. L'île devrait s'appeler l'île des singes puisqu'il y en a partout. Ils se chamaillent et veulent ma bouteille de Fanta à l'orange. Après une série de marches interminable avec cette humidité, nous arrivons à la grotte 1. Il y en a 5 mais seulement la première est d'intéret réel. Il y a plusieurs temples faconnés dans la roche de la montagne qui sont dédiés à plusieurs Dieux. Impressionnant!
Ce soir là, première mauvaise expérience de resto. Un quartier un peu trop touristique peut-être...on peut manger de la mauvaise bouffe indienne même en Inde!
Sophie, je quitterai Mumbai pour la province de Goa sans avoir fait d'achat. Pourtant plus de variété qu'au Maroc et je crois bien que nous pourrions sortir nos talents de négociatrices! Tu vois que c'est toi qui me fait dépenser!!!
Day 5- We are going South
Our first idea was to take the train to get to Madgeon in the province of Goa. The waiting list was of over 300 names so we decided to catch a flight. More expensive but so much time saved without talking about the energy level. Time is money!
The most complicated thing was to find our guesthouse tucked behind other stores and this even knowing the address. We had some scary moments in the taxi getting there since we circulated on a two ways road that i would have compared to a bicycle patch at home.
We decided to start with Anjuna as a starting point. It is supposed to be a party place but we decide to just relax and get prepared for the rest of the trip.
Population of 16,4M of which 60% are living in the slums
Day 1- Out of our element but so amazing at the same time
After 14 hours flying and 16 hours spent in airport, I found myself under the sunny sky of Mumbai. It is noon and it is 25 degrees. My friend Rob is there which is really reassuring. It turns out to be easy to get a taxi and find the hotel. No need to negociate since it was a prepaid taxi. We will learn later on that it is best to negociate! Rob had booked a 3 * hotel so we started the trip in luxury and confort, air conditionning, hot water, doorman... We dropped our bags, took a ahower, ooofff needed with a change of underwear even more important... and we went on our first exploration tour of the area close to the hotel. 1- It's dirty with garbage everywhere, 2- It smells like urine and goats but some good smells of food altenate with the bad smells. Add to that the smell of incent and you're set for a bit of an olfactory surcharge. 3- We need to be very careful to where we put our feet. Holes, kids that grab our arms, people sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk. 4- Lots of men saying ''hello'', ''Which country'', ''Your name''. They want their picture taken.
Seems we are not in a highly touristic area, we take the risk to eat in a local restaurant. Huummmm!! Indian food! Chana Masala for me please...no cramps afterwards! We then walk to the Chowpatty beach where families and couples eat and enjoy some fresh air. No swimming since the water there is supposed to be toxic! They have some rides that are running with arms power but the kids scream even if it is not fast at all. We have food on the beach and after Masala dosa, no cramps!
Day 2- Exhausting day in Colaba
Old buildings are photographed even if we don't always know which ones are which. We end up at the Sassoon Dock and the experience is interesting. It doesn;t look like they are visited that often because people are watching closely where we go and what we look at. It smells like fish a lot! It is amazing how they do to cramp so many boats in a tiny port and especially be able to take them to sea without too much damage. There's also the question of when do these guys sleeps? They come back from the sea early morning and they are still repairing nets and cables in the afternoon. We had to get the India's Gate where the atmosphere is extraordinaire. We eat a papaya looking at other tourists, mostly Indians. Peolple again take our picture, we feel like Stars. The way back to the hotel is long, street food again, no cramps!
Day 3- Rich area of Mumbai
Getting up is hard! My legs are hurting from all the walk of the last days, i have blisters... We get to Malamba Hill where the tallest appartment buildings do not fit at all with the simpliest houses. Real smiles though all the way there and back with nice temples hidden away. We were impressed by the biggest washing area of Mumbai, Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat and la mosquee Haji Ali which is reachable only during low tide. After that day, my legs are done. I wore my running shoes to make it easier on the blisters. I am getting old... or i should do more exercise. Watchout when I come back though!! I will need to keep it up.
Day 4- Elephanta Island
The experience started with the train experience. It is not rush hour so the experience isn’t one after all. Nothing to do with the number of people that we were expecting. It is difficult to imagine that in a city that looks so poor from the outside, that the train routes are monitored with an hitech GPS system and that the railways are taken care of by robots. We left Mumbai Central station and stopped at Churchgate station where i was hoping to see Dabba-Wallahs. They deliver about 200 000 lunch boxes a day everywhere around Mumbai. They first pick them up at the door and are able to reach work places without that making that many mistakes, 1 in 6M deliveries!
9 km from the coast, Elephanta island is reached after 1 hour boat trip during which we can finally get some rest from all the walking around Mumbai. The island should be called the Monkey island really. They are everywhere and they keep fighting and keep trying to get at my bottle of orange pop! After too many stairs to be climbed when it’s this humid, we arrive at the first cave. There are 5 but only the first one is of some interest. It has many temples carved into the rock dedicated to various Gods. Work of art!
That night, first bad Indian food experience. Maybe we chose a restaurant in an area a bit too touristy. I never thought that bad indian food existed and certainely not in India.
I haven’t shop and will leave Mumbai with only Ballons which were more a test of bargaining that a real need. My friend Sophie could not do the same and that’s a fact.
9 km de la côte, on doit embarquer pour une heure de traversée qui enfin nous donne un peu de repos. L'île devrait s'appeler l'île des singes puisqu'il y en a partout. Ils se chamaillent et veulent ma bouteille de Fanta à l'orange. Après une série de marches interminable avec cette humidité, nous arrivons à la grotte 1. Il y en a 5 mais seulement la première est d'intéret réel. Il y a plusieurs temples faconnés dans la roche de la montagne qui sont dédiés à plusieurs Dieux. Impressionnant!
Ce soir là, première mauvaise expérience de resto. Un quartier un peu trop touristique peut-être...on peut manger de la mauvaise bouffe indienne même en Inde!
Sophie, je quitterai Mumbai pour la province de Goa sans avoir fait d'achat. Pourtant plus de variété qu'au Maroc et je crois bien que nous pourrions sortir nos talents de négociatrices! Tu vois que c'est toi qui me fait dépenser!!!
Day 5- We are going South
Our first idea was to take the train to get to Madgeon in the province of Goa. The waiting list was of over 300 names so we decided to catch a flight. More expensive but so much time saved without talking about the energy level. Time is money!
The most complicated thing was to find our guesthouse tucked behind other stores and this even knowing the address. We had some scary moments in the taxi getting there since we circulated on a two ways road that i would have compared to a bicycle patch at home.
We decided to start with Anjuna as a starting point. It is supposed to be a party place but we decide to just relax and get prepared for the rest of the trip.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Anjuna / Palolem
Anjuna, finally a beach where we can get into the water without being scared of diseases. It was quite needed with this heat that I find difficult to adapt to. The hotel is 10 minutes away from the beach. It could be much closer but it has been made sothat wehave to go through a little bit of shops with vendors wanting us to stop so bad. It gets annoying quickly since they do it in way that is a little rude. We sleep in a guesthouse recommended by Hostels World but euhhh... It's maybe that i haven't travelled enough...but i think the room is way too expensive to sleep on a matress as hard as wood! The night is short!
The plan for the first day was to visit the Fort in Chapora but... life being life, we are stopped on the side of the road by a guy on a scooter who gives us cards to scratch. He says that everyone is a winner. Yey right! Well it was true. Rob won a bottle of wine and i won 1 week accomodation in one of the resort he was promotting. The only thing we had to do is go to the resort and visit the place! They even paid for the taxi to get there and back. I will have to claim my price within a year and will have to reserve it 2 months in advance. It's seems like a good reason to come back next year!!
We still visited the Fort where the view on Vagatore and Arambole's beaches is amazing. Since the atmosphere there was not what we were expecting, we decided to go a little further down south on Palolem beach. Wow and rewow! We are somewhere else that is not India, anyway not the India that we see in documentaries. More tourists it seems than people from there but still quiet. We rented a hut directly on the beach. We spent 5 days without the need of wearing shoes. We were on the beach for most of our time there, went on a dolphins excursion, drank pinapple and mango shakes and went to silent discos. The music needs to be turn down after 23h so the bars rent headphones on which you can choose from 3 different channels\DJs. It's weird since you can have a very normal conversation once you take the headphones down and you can hear people singing the words of the songs playing. On top of that, nobody has the same rythm and it gets very entertaining to watch! Palolem is also the place where my intestines started working again but they seem to do some overtime for a whole night. Well the hut was close buy and we didn't feel like eating too much since it was so hot. Only good souvenirs remaining! After 5 days of sun, too much for me, we decided that the next destination was to be Hampi to move a little more. A bit of climbing is on the schedule and temples hopping.
The plan for the first day was to visit the Fort in Chapora but... life being life, we are stopped on the side of the road by a guy on a scooter who gives us cards to scratch. He says that everyone is a winner. Yey right! Well it was true. Rob won a bottle of wine and i won 1 week accomodation in one of the resort he was promotting. The only thing we had to do is go to the resort and visit the place! They even paid for the taxi to get there and back. I will have to claim my price within a year and will have to reserve it 2 months in advance. It's seems like a good reason to come back next year!!
We still visited the Fort where the view on Vagatore and Arambole's beaches is amazing. Since the atmosphere there was not what we were expecting, we decided to go a little further down south on Palolem beach. Wow and rewow! We are somewhere else that is not India, anyway not the India that we see in documentaries. More tourists it seems than people from there but still quiet. We rented a hut directly on the beach. We spent 5 days without the need of wearing shoes. We were on the beach for most of our time there, went on a dolphins excursion, drank pinapple and mango shakes and went to silent discos. The music needs to be turn down after 23h so the bars rent headphones on which you can choose from 3 different channels\DJs. It's weird since you can have a very normal conversation once you take the headphones down and you can hear people singing the words of the songs playing. On top of that, nobody has the same rythm and it gets very entertaining to watch! Palolem is also the place where my intestines started working again but they seem to do some overtime for a whole night. Well the hut was close buy and we didn't feel like eating too much since it was so hot. Only good souvenirs remaining! After 5 days of sun, too much for me, we decided that the next destination was to be Hampi to move a little more. A bit of climbing is on the schedule and temples hopping.
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