After trekking we spent almost a week chilling out in Pokhara, seeing a few sights, eating A LOT of good cheap food, especially Tibetan, we even managed to watch a few premiership games on tv. We had to leave eventually though and headed to Delhi for our flight to China. It was an eventful journey lasting 36 hours and using various modes of transport. The first bus we caught to the border stopped 25km from the border and wouldn't take us any further as there were demonstrations on the road ahead and the bus driver explained that we would be pelted with rocks if we continued! No vehicles were going through for this reason, so our only option was a cycle rickshaw, which meant some poor guy had to cycle both of us and all our luggage the whole 25km to the border. We didn't feel too sorry for him by the end though because he kept trying to get more money out of us! We had 1 of our worst bus journeys 90km from the border to a train station, crammed full of people, elbows everywhere, no leg room and it stank - we were definitely back in India. Livestock travel in more comfort, but its all part of the fun. And we then experienced one of our favourite parts of India with some cheap and very tasty curry with an American couple we had met. Then we got the 16 hour night train to Delhi, filled with all the magic of Indian rail travel, and we only arrived half an hour late! We got the metro to the area where we stayed. The metro system was quite unlike the India we know - clean, efficient, quiet, cool and beggar and streetseller-free!
Delhi wasn't initially as bad as we had been led to believe by other travellers (the reason we had left it out originally). But with a mild case of Delhi belly, the heat, and the hassle from Indian men Alice was soon pretty glad to be leaving India behind! We did some sights in New Delhi including Humayan's Tomb and Connaught Place (which had a McDonalds and a KFC, normally this would have been avoided but Alice's Delhi belly meant we "had" to go (to both)). The following day we went to Old Delhi which was a good contrast but very busy and chaotic, especially around the mosque which had some sort of mass angry gathering going on outside (Alice's opinion). We then went to Gandhi's memorial park which was really nice, quiet and peaceful, and then walked up round the bazaars.
We flew from Delhi airport to Hongkong where we stayed overnight on the airport floor. The flight was good, we were able to ask for as much food and drink as we liked - making the most of our expensive flight tickets! This morning we flew from Hongkong to Chengdu. China felt very different to India, cleaner and colder, no hassle and very little English. We weren't offered a taxi or a hotel once! But we managed to navigate ourselves onto a bus to the city centre and then walked for 2 hours through the modern feeling city with skyscrapers and a lively square in the middle of the city overlooked by a statue of Mao. The hostel we were looking for had closed down and moved and took some finding and asking of non-English speaking Chinese people who tried to point us in the right way. Things were made more difficult by the fact that Chinese road names make no sense and often change for no reason, and neither of us had any idea about Chinese characters, let alone being able to tell them apart in our tired state. But Sim's Cozy Garden Hostel was well worth the search, very cheap with good facilities, even a snooker table and homemade gym! We have also had some pretty awesome food, even if it is a bit of a lucky dip as to what you might get. Everything we have tried so far has been really good. The beer is also finally getting cheaper with the local Tsingtao lager which is pretty good. We spend 2 weeks in Sichuan before we fly to Japan.
Saturday, 7 March 2009
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
The Annapurna Circuit
The main tourist attraction in Nepal is the trekking routes in the Himilayas. We chose to do the Annapurna circuit, we had originally thought that we wouldn't be able to as it is often closed due to snow at this time of year, but luckily for us (due to global warming!) the pass was open. It's a 2-3 week trek that has lots of varied scenery and culture. We considered getting a guide as it is recommended, but due to our budget and not wanting the company of a guide, we decided to go independently, and not take a porter to carry our stuff either.
We set off on an early morning bus to Besi Sahar at the start of the trek. There is a new jeep track that is being built down the valley so we could have taken a bus to the next settlement, but we decided to walk it instead, it was only 9km. The first part of the trek was ascending towards the world's highest pass. It mainly followed a river through a valley and we stayed in various villages along the way in basic teahouses. As it was out of season there were very few other tourists trekking (especially on this side of the pass). But there were a couple of groups whose paths we crossed throughout the trek which was nice for the company. As it was so quiet we were quite often the only guests in the teahouses. The rooms are generally cheap but this is because you are expected to eat there and meals were relatively expensive compared to down the mountain. We mostly ate daal bhat, the local dinner of lentil soup, veg curry and rice, this was mainly because it was a cheap option and you got a second helping, or sometimes thirds! In one lodge we got invited to join the family who owned the teahouse and eat in the kitchen (wooden shack) with them as it was so cold which was a really nice experience. The rooms were basic, normally just 2 beds and no furniture. Sometimes they had electricity, sometimes not. Sometimes there was a solar shower with warm water (if it had been very sunny), other times it was just a cold bucket.
On the way up towards the pass the scenery gradually got more barren. There were some very impressive mountains to be seen, including some of the highest peaks in the world. After 5 days of walking we had reached a height of 3500m and had to take a day off to acclimatise in Menang. It was then slow progress up to the pass as it is not far but it is not advised to ascend too far in one day if you are going to spend the night there due to the high possibility of getting Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) which can be fatal.
It took 2 more days to get to Thorung Phedi from where you go over the pass. We set off from here at 6.15am in order to cross the pass before the winds get too strong. It was a pretty tough ascent, climbing from 4400m to 5416m, made much tougher by the altitude which meant you were always out of breath even on the gentlest of slopes. We made it to the top in about 3 and a half hours and then had a 1700m descent (which we hurried through due to the altitude induced headache!).
The walking on the other side of the pass was mostly downhill now. The scenery was quite different and as we had now joined the route of the Jomsom trek it was more touristy. There was also (unfortunately) a jeep track all the way up, so there was not so much walking on trails as we had had before. We pushed on, walking over 20km a day. We stayed in some nice villages along the way, the food was a bit cheaper on this side. We got to a place called Tatopani after 3 days. They had some natural hot springs here which was just what was needed, especially as they served cold beer while you relaxed. From Tatopani we could have walked just one more day to finish the trek, but we decided to do an extra day which involved a gruelling ascent of over 1500m to a place called Ghorepani. It was a tough day, made tougher by the heat and also Alice hurting her achilles, so Ed had to carry quite a lot of her stuff as well. But we got there in good time to find Hotel Superview which really did have a phenomenal view of some of the biggest mountains in the Himilayas, for 50p each after bargaining!
We got up at 5am the next morning to walk up to Poon Hill (with a good crowd of other tourists) which is 45 minutes uphill to watch the sunrise over the mountains. This was a really nice way to start our last day of trekking. We had a porridge and headed down the mountain. It was another long day's walk but we made it down by 2.30pm and were bundled straight onto a bus (dripping sweat over all the unimpressed locals) to get back to Pokhara, where we are now chilling out for a few days, enjoying the sun, resting our bodies, and eating absolutely loads of cheap food before we head to Delhi and fly from there to China.
We set off on an early morning bus to Besi Sahar at the start of the trek. There is a new jeep track that is being built down the valley so we could have taken a bus to the next settlement, but we decided to walk it instead, it was only 9km. The first part of the trek was ascending towards the world's highest pass. It mainly followed a river through a valley and we stayed in various villages along the way in basic teahouses. As it was out of season there were very few other tourists trekking (especially on this side of the pass). But there were a couple of groups whose paths we crossed throughout the trek which was nice for the company. As it was so quiet we were quite often the only guests in the teahouses. The rooms are generally cheap but this is because you are expected to eat there and meals were relatively expensive compared to down the mountain. We mostly ate daal bhat, the local dinner of lentil soup, veg curry and rice, this was mainly because it was a cheap option and you got a second helping, or sometimes thirds! In one lodge we got invited to join the family who owned the teahouse and eat in the kitchen (wooden shack) with them as it was so cold which was a really nice experience. The rooms were basic, normally just 2 beds and no furniture. Sometimes they had electricity, sometimes not. Sometimes there was a solar shower with warm water (if it had been very sunny), other times it was just a cold bucket.
On the way up towards the pass the scenery gradually got more barren. There were some very impressive mountains to be seen, including some of the highest peaks in the world. After 5 days of walking we had reached a height of 3500m and had to take a day off to acclimatise in Menang. It was then slow progress up to the pass as it is not far but it is not advised to ascend too far in one day if you are going to spend the night there due to the high possibility of getting Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) which can be fatal.
It took 2 more days to get to Thorung Phedi from where you go over the pass. We set off from here at 6.15am in order to cross the pass before the winds get too strong. It was a pretty tough ascent, climbing from 4400m to 5416m, made much tougher by the altitude which meant you were always out of breath even on the gentlest of slopes. We made it to the top in about 3 and a half hours and then had a 1700m descent (which we hurried through due to the altitude induced headache!).
The walking on the other side of the pass was mostly downhill now. The scenery was quite different and as we had now joined the route of the Jomsom trek it was more touristy. There was also (unfortunately) a jeep track all the way up, so there was not so much walking on trails as we had had before. We pushed on, walking over 20km a day. We stayed in some nice villages along the way, the food was a bit cheaper on this side. We got to a place called Tatopani after 3 days. They had some natural hot springs here which was just what was needed, especially as they served cold beer while you relaxed. From Tatopani we could have walked just one more day to finish the trek, but we decided to do an extra day which involved a gruelling ascent of over 1500m to a place called Ghorepani. It was a tough day, made tougher by the heat and also Alice hurting her achilles, so Ed had to carry quite a lot of her stuff as well. But we got there in good time to find Hotel Superview which really did have a phenomenal view of some of the biggest mountains in the Himilayas, for 50p each after bargaining!
We got up at 5am the next morning to walk up to Poon Hill (with a good crowd of other tourists) which is 45 minutes uphill to watch the sunrise over the mountains. This was a really nice way to start our last day of trekking. We had a porridge and headed down the mountain. It was another long day's walk but we made it down by 2.30pm and were bundled straight onto a bus (dripping sweat over all the unimpressed locals) to get back to Pokhara, where we are now chilling out for a few days, enjoying the sun, resting our bodies, and eating absolutely loads of cheap food before we head to Delhi and fly from there to China.
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Darjeeling to Pokhara
We spent 2 days travelling from India to Nepal, staying in a small Nepalese town on the border overnight before a long (17 hour) bus journey to Kathmandu, slightly hairy and involving a long walk with all our stuff over a bamboo bridge, but with amazing views. We spent 4 days chilling out and trying to sort out trekking permits, visa extensions, flights etc in Kathmandu. British Airways held us up from our original plan to trek last week, so we headed to Pokhara (another popular town near the trekking route) in the meantime.
Pokhara is a beautiful place, set on a lake, surrounded by hills with the snowy peaks of the massive Himalayas reflected in the lake. So its a really nice place to chill out (and spend Alice's birthday!). We took a boat out on the lake in the pitch black at 5.30 on our first morning to watch the sunrise. It was definitely worth the effort, absolutely magical, and worth all the paddling in the end. Yesterday we walked up to the world peace pagoda, a big buddhist stupa up a hill for some more amazing views. Today we went paragliding from a high hilltop, it was an awesome experience with views up at the Himilayas and over the lake.
Our flights are finally sorted (no thanks to British Airways but a big thanks to STA!) so we finally leave for trekking in the morning. We are doing the Annapurna circuit, which takes about 3 weeks. Its a pretty well-walked and popular trail so we decided not to bother with a guide, and this is much cheaper! Its supposed to be a really good trek with good scenery and culture as well as reaching an altitude of about 5500m. Luckily the hotel is allowing us to leave a bit of our stuff behind so we don't have to carry all of it. Will let you know how we get on!
Pokhara is a beautiful place, set on a lake, surrounded by hills with the snowy peaks of the massive Himalayas reflected in the lake. So its a really nice place to chill out (and spend Alice's birthday!). We took a boat out on the lake in the pitch black at 5.30 on our first morning to watch the sunrise. It was definitely worth the effort, absolutely magical, and worth all the paddling in the end. Yesterday we walked up to the world peace pagoda, a big buddhist stupa up a hill for some more amazing views. Today we went paragliding from a high hilltop, it was an awesome experience with views up at the Himilayas and over the lake.
Our flights are finally sorted (no thanks to British Airways but a big thanks to STA!) so we finally leave for trekking in the morning. We are doing the Annapurna circuit, which takes about 3 weeks. Its a pretty well-walked and popular trail so we decided not to bother with a guide, and this is much cheaper! Its supposed to be a really good trek with good scenery and culture as well as reaching an altitude of about 5500m. Luckily the hotel is allowing us to leave a bit of our stuff behind so we don't have to carry all of it. Will let you know how we get on!
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Pushkar to Darjeeling
We got a (chaotic) night bus from Pushkar to Agra, arriving at 5.30am. There was some sort of mix up with our ticket which meant that we ended up in a single berth sleeper for 9 hours with all of our luggage! We dropped our bags at the left luggage office at the station and headed straight to the Taj Mahal for sunrise. Even though its so visited and we felt almost obliged to go, the Taj was breathtaking and well worth the visit. The rest of Agra didn't have much to offer us, it was pretty filfthy and polluted!
That night we got a night train to Varanasi. We stayed here 4 nights. It was a very interesting city, still very busy but built along the Ganges. There are ghats all the way along that pilgrims come to and bathe at, the Ganges water is thought to be very holy, even if it is heavily polluted, they still use it for everything, including drinking, laundry, scattering ashes (sometimes whole bodies) and washing buffaloes! This makes the ghats really interesting to wander and to watch the goings on, especially early in the morning with sunrise. You can really feel how spiritual the place is, even as an outsider. It is definitely one of the more relaxing place we have visited in India. There was a ceremony with lights and music every evening and one evening we took a boat down the river at sunset and lit lotus flowers on the river (trying not to touch any water!). We stayed slightly longer than planned because Alice got sick, but it only lasted 24 hours.
We got a night train from Varanasi to Siliguri in the West Bengal Hills. The train was delayed by 4 hours before we got on it, and we arrived into Siliguri 6 hours later than scheduled. We were pretty knackered after 24 hours of travelling but found a jeep with some Canadians we had been travelling with up to Darjeeling (3 hours away). Due to our train being delayed this meant we didn't arrive in Darjeeling until 11pm and by this time everything was shut. Luckily our jeep driver had a friend with a hotel which turned out to be pretty nice, with wood lined rooms and balcony and hot shower (when requested) for 2.50 each which isnt too bad.
Darjeeling felt like another country with much cooler (often very cold!) weather and no autorickshaws and the people look very different (lots are from Tibet and Nepal) and are much friendlier and give you much less hassle than in all other parts of India we have visited. It has also been very nice to be up in the mountains (Darjeeling is at 2300m) even if clouds obscure most of the views, and to be in the home of tea. This morning we even got up at 4.30 am to get a taxi with an Aussie guy up to Tiger Hill where you can watch the sunrise from a high point looking out over the Himalayas, including Everest and Khanchenjunga, the 3rd highest peak in the world. Unfortunately it was very cloudy but we did manage to see the very top of Khanchenjunga above the clouds, and may have seen Everest but it was probably just a big cloud. It's been nice to explore Darjeeling. The tea is good, we wandered through a plantation, although it wasn't picking season. The food is quite different here but again very tasty!
We head to Nepal tomorrow, taking various jeeps and buses (maybe even a ferry due to bridge damage) to cross the border and get to Kathmandu. It will probably be quite a long journey and Nepal night buses don't have the best reputation for safety but hopefully it will all be worth it!
That night we got a night train to Varanasi. We stayed here 4 nights. It was a very interesting city, still very busy but built along the Ganges. There are ghats all the way along that pilgrims come to and bathe at, the Ganges water is thought to be very holy, even if it is heavily polluted, they still use it for everything, including drinking, laundry, scattering ashes (sometimes whole bodies) and washing buffaloes! This makes the ghats really interesting to wander and to watch the goings on, especially early in the morning with sunrise. You can really feel how spiritual the place is, even as an outsider. It is definitely one of the more relaxing place we have visited in India. There was a ceremony with lights and music every evening and one evening we took a boat down the river at sunset and lit lotus flowers on the river (trying not to touch any water!). We stayed slightly longer than planned because Alice got sick, but it only lasted 24 hours.
We got a night train from Varanasi to Siliguri in the West Bengal Hills. The train was delayed by 4 hours before we got on it, and we arrived into Siliguri 6 hours later than scheduled. We were pretty knackered after 24 hours of travelling but found a jeep with some Canadians we had been travelling with up to Darjeeling (3 hours away). Due to our train being delayed this meant we didn't arrive in Darjeeling until 11pm and by this time everything was shut. Luckily our jeep driver had a friend with a hotel which turned out to be pretty nice, with wood lined rooms and balcony and hot shower (when requested) for 2.50 each which isnt too bad.
Darjeeling felt like another country with much cooler (often very cold!) weather and no autorickshaws and the people look very different (lots are from Tibet and Nepal) and are much friendlier and give you much less hassle than in all other parts of India we have visited. It has also been very nice to be up in the mountains (Darjeeling is at 2300m) even if clouds obscure most of the views, and to be in the home of tea. This morning we even got up at 4.30 am to get a taxi with an Aussie guy up to Tiger Hill where you can watch the sunrise from a high point looking out over the Himalayas, including Everest and Khanchenjunga, the 3rd highest peak in the world. Unfortunately it was very cloudy but we did manage to see the very top of Khanchenjunga above the clouds, and may have seen Everest but it was probably just a big cloud. It's been nice to explore Darjeeling. The tea is good, we wandered through a plantation, although it wasn't picking season. The food is quite different here but again very tasty!
We head to Nepal tomorrow, taking various jeeps and buses (maybe even a ferry due to bridge damage) to cross the border and get to Kathmandu. It will probably be quite a long journey and Nepal night buses don't have the best reputation for safety but hopefully it will all be worth it!
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Udaipur to Pushkar
We got a night bus from Udaipur to Jodhpur. The bus was an experience! We had a sleeping compartment so we were being thrown around with all our luggage at every pothole (of which there are many on Indian roads!). We got chucked off the bus at 4.45 am in Jodhpur with nowhere booked to stay and 4 tuk tuk drivers shouting at us to give us a ride. So we got dropped off at the clock tower and then walked through the dark, eery streets, empty except for the stray dogs and cows looking for a suitably cheap hotel. Unsurprisingly everywhere was shut! after about an hour we had managed to find our way into the old town and found a hotel that was letting people out so we were able to get in.
Jodhpur wasn't as touristy as we had expected, the guest house owner told us that they were suffering since the mumbai attacks. We had one night in Jodhpur, it was an interesting place to explore with vibrant markets and an impressive fort, but we (mainly Alice!) weren't feeling too great! We got a night train out of Jodhpur to Jaisalmer - the desert! We were picked up from the station by the hotel people and crammed into a jeep. It wasn't very big and there were 10 passengers, one was even hanging off the back. Our luggage was thrown on the roof. After a good sleep we were persuaded to take a camel safari. We had originally decided to wait until Bikaner to do this, but the half day trek running from our hotel that afternoon sounded like exactly what we wanted.
We were driven out to the desert in a jeep and stopped at a couple of local shools and villages on the way. The benefit of being in the jeep was that you could get far away from all the touristy places. We were dropped off by some camels (we were with an Aussie couple and a Dutch girl as well) and we rode for an hour and a half through the desert scrubs and dunes. It was fun but a bit bumpy and neither of us were envious of the people who had booked 7 days on a camel trek! We stopped at some secuded dunes for sunset. It was very peaceful and beautiful, and nice to be away from other people! we had dinner cooked for us and we ate round a camp fire before we were driven back to the hotel. It was a lovely evening.
The next day we explored Jaisalmer and its fort before heading on another night train to Bikaner, also in the desert but further north. The train was freezing, the desert was hot in the day but very cold at night. We stayed in a very nice hotel in Bikaner. On the first day we checked out the town and the old city and ate some good and different street food (which may have been the cause of our illness a couple of days later - but it tasted good!). The next day we followed Eddie's wishes and took a bus 30km to Karni Mata temple, famous because it is full of rats. They are looked after and encouraged as it is thought that a God called Yama had turned the storytellers into rats. Unfortunately, as it was a temple, you still had to take your shoes off, and walk amidst the rats and their droppings. and there were a lot of rats! luckily, admission was free. We got the bus back and went to the fort in Bikaner, and had a yummy dinner at a streetside restaurant.
We got another night train from Bikaner to Jaipur. We then got a train (3 hours) from Jaipur to Ajmer and got a local (very crowded) bus to Pushkar, a Hindu holy pilgrim town. By this time the food we had eaten had caught up with us (in particular Eddie!) and we ended up staying here for 4 nights, twice as long as we had planned. The town is fairly peaceful though, and tuk tuk free! Its in the mountains so the surroundings are beautiful. On the 2nd day we climbed a big hill/ mountain to visit a temple. We nearly didn't make it up due to a particularly vicious monkey and when we did make it up we didn't stay long due to Eddie's nausea. The next couple of days were fairly chilled out while we had some recovery time, but we think we are over the worst now. We get a night bus to Agra tomorrow to see the Taj Mahal and then a night train on to Varanasi.
Jodhpur wasn't as touristy as we had expected, the guest house owner told us that they were suffering since the mumbai attacks. We had one night in Jodhpur, it was an interesting place to explore with vibrant markets and an impressive fort, but we (mainly Alice!) weren't feeling too great! We got a night train out of Jodhpur to Jaisalmer - the desert! We were picked up from the station by the hotel people and crammed into a jeep. It wasn't very big and there were 10 passengers, one was even hanging off the back. Our luggage was thrown on the roof. After a good sleep we were persuaded to take a camel safari. We had originally decided to wait until Bikaner to do this, but the half day trek running from our hotel that afternoon sounded like exactly what we wanted.
We were driven out to the desert in a jeep and stopped at a couple of local shools and villages on the way. The benefit of being in the jeep was that you could get far away from all the touristy places. We were dropped off by some camels (we were with an Aussie couple and a Dutch girl as well) and we rode for an hour and a half through the desert scrubs and dunes. It was fun but a bit bumpy and neither of us were envious of the people who had booked 7 days on a camel trek! We stopped at some secuded dunes for sunset. It was very peaceful and beautiful, and nice to be away from other people! we had dinner cooked for us and we ate round a camp fire before we were driven back to the hotel. It was a lovely evening.
The next day we explored Jaisalmer and its fort before heading on another night train to Bikaner, also in the desert but further north. The train was freezing, the desert was hot in the day but very cold at night. We stayed in a very nice hotel in Bikaner. On the first day we checked out the town and the old city and ate some good and different street food (which may have been the cause of our illness a couple of days later - but it tasted good!). The next day we followed Eddie's wishes and took a bus 30km to Karni Mata temple, famous because it is full of rats. They are looked after and encouraged as it is thought that a God called Yama had turned the storytellers into rats. Unfortunately, as it was a temple, you still had to take your shoes off, and walk amidst the rats and their droppings. and there were a lot of rats! luckily, admission was free. We got the bus back and went to the fort in Bikaner, and had a yummy dinner at a streetside restaurant.
We got another night train from Bikaner to Jaipur. We then got a train (3 hours) from Jaipur to Ajmer and got a local (very crowded) bus to Pushkar, a Hindu holy pilgrim town. By this time the food we had eaten had caught up with us (in particular Eddie!) and we ended up staying here for 4 nights, twice as long as we had planned. The town is fairly peaceful though, and tuk tuk free! Its in the mountains so the surroundings are beautiful. On the 2nd day we climbed a big hill/ mountain to visit a temple. We nearly didn't make it up due to a particularly vicious monkey and when we did make it up we didn't stay long due to Eddie's nausea. The next couple of days were fairly chilled out while we had some recovery time, but we think we are over the worst now. We get a night bus to Agra tomorrow to see the Taj Mahal and then a night train on to Varanasi.
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Mumbai to Udaipur
We've been in India for a week now and it still seems as chaotic as when we first landed. We were jammy enough to get our flight upgraded twice so we were flying business class with our club world bed seats, complimentary champagne, wine, smoothies, unlimited use of the club world kitchen, and 3 course meal etc. Not a bad way to start and at least we weren't too sleepy when we arrived in Mumbai.
Mumbai was a great way to start in India. It was much hotter than we thought it would be in Winter - close to 30 degrees. We had a nice but basic hotel 2 minutes from the Taj Mahal palace, where the terrorists attacked, it is a very nice building but now surrounded by armed police and still not fully open. Unfortunately it was still popular enough not to be offering rooms out cheaply! We had a few days wondering around and exploring the city. Can't believe how good the food is here - and so cheap too. Mumbai started to get a bit tiring as its such a big city and wherever you walked you were constantly being hassled by street sellers and followed by beggars (but spose this is just part of Indian life, especially in tourist areas). Highlights of Mumbai were: walking along Chowpatty beach at sunset, banganga(?!) tank a pedestrian area with temples and very few tourists, very serene!, elephanta island which we got a boat out too and then walked around caves with carved pillars and statues. And of course the food.
From Mumbai we got a night train to Ahmedabad. There weren't any seats available in any of the air conditioned coaches so we had sleeper class tickets which was good because you get to travel with just locals and the Indian train service is a very interesting experience. Ahmedabad wasn't the nicest of places! We had to book into a really cheap hotel in order to leave our bags somewhere for the day. It was pretty horrible, Alice would have cried if we had to stay there overnight! One good part of Ahmedabad was Ghandi's ashram, a really interesting place, Ed's got a new hero! As one of the men sitting outside told us: there's nothing to see in Ahmedabad!
We got a night train out of Ahmedabad to Udaipur. A guy on the train told us it was Asia's third most beautiful city. Don't know if that is true but if it is we can understand why. There's a lake with a couple of islands with palaces (1 of which has been turned into a luxury hotel where part of Octopussy was filmed - Udaipur's claim to fame!) in it, and lots of palaces and temples throughout the city. It is a lot more relaxing than Mumbai or Ahmedabad but it is very touristy, but only really in the central area. We went for a walk to look for a local place to eat away from all the tourists. It took some finding through the narrow streets with street names all in Hindi and narrowly avoiding being hit by tuk tuks and mopeds, but the food was really good. We had thali which is an Indian all you can eat meal, for 70 pence!
We head to Jodhpur by night bus tomorrow (sadly no trains do this route!).
Mumbai was a great way to start in India. It was much hotter than we thought it would be in Winter - close to 30 degrees. We had a nice but basic hotel 2 minutes from the Taj Mahal palace, where the terrorists attacked, it is a very nice building but now surrounded by armed police and still not fully open. Unfortunately it was still popular enough not to be offering rooms out cheaply! We had a few days wondering around and exploring the city. Can't believe how good the food is here - and so cheap too. Mumbai started to get a bit tiring as its such a big city and wherever you walked you were constantly being hassled by street sellers and followed by beggars (but spose this is just part of Indian life, especially in tourist areas). Highlights of Mumbai were: walking along Chowpatty beach at sunset, banganga(?!) tank a pedestrian area with temples and very few tourists, very serene!, elephanta island which we got a boat out too and then walked around caves with carved pillars and statues. And of course the food.
From Mumbai we got a night train to Ahmedabad. There weren't any seats available in any of the air conditioned coaches so we had sleeper class tickets which was good because you get to travel with just locals and the Indian train service is a very interesting experience. Ahmedabad wasn't the nicest of places! We had to book into a really cheap hotel in order to leave our bags somewhere for the day. It was pretty horrible, Alice would have cried if we had to stay there overnight! One good part of Ahmedabad was Ghandi's ashram, a really interesting place, Ed's got a new hero! As one of the men sitting outside told us: there's nothing to see in Ahmedabad!
We got a night train out of Ahmedabad to Udaipur. A guy on the train told us it was Asia's third most beautiful city. Don't know if that is true but if it is we can understand why. There's a lake with a couple of islands with palaces (1 of which has been turned into a luxury hotel where part of Octopussy was filmed - Udaipur's claim to fame!) in it, and lots of palaces and temples throughout the city. It is a lot more relaxing than Mumbai or Ahmedabad but it is very touristy, but only really in the central area. We went for a walk to look for a local place to eat away from all the tourists. It took some finding through the narrow streets with street names all in Hindi and narrowly avoiding being hit by tuk tuks and mopeds, but the food was really good. We had thali which is an Indian all you can eat meal, for 70 pence!
We head to Jodhpur by night bus tomorrow (sadly no trains do this route!).
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