Nepal: Mountains, Maoists and Croquet

We've had the most amazing month in Nepal and have both fallen in love with this incredible country. We travelled up from India by land and after a very long, hot and exhausting day being ripped off by bus people on both sides of the border, we arrived in Lumbini - birth place of the Buddha. We found a nice place to stay and relaxed for a couple of days, hired bikes and rode around looking at all the monasteries built by Buddhist communities from all over the world. Obviously this is a pretty special place for them - but being Buddhists they don't all rush here and stampede one another to death, as they fight for a place to pray. It is a ridiculously calm and quiet place where one is invited to use the "meditation platforms" (glorified benches) and reflect on... stuff. The prayer flags gently flutter in the breeze and the manic noise and stress that India has left buzzing around our heads, is blown away. We. Are. Hippies.


Now we just want to see some mountains. Only a 6 hour death/bus ride stands between us and the Himalayas.

We arrived in Pokhara 4 hours later than we'd intended, but were glad to be alive. It was quite cloudy and promised to rain as we checked into Hotel Nirvana, but we had time to walk down to the lake and catch one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. (All of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen have been on this trip!)




See. I told you.





That night we found a restaurant that did a meal deal of lasagna and a glass of red wine. We thought perhaps we HAD died on the bus from Lumbini and in fact this really was heaven. We're not really hippies. We love lasagna and red wine. The next few days were spent eating and shopping for trekking stuff. There was A LOT of rain and the clouds didn't really lift, until day 3 when we awoke to clear skies over Pokhara and suddenly we could see THE MOUNTAINS. And they were massive, towering over the town like giant, snow-covered... mountains. We couldn't wait to get amongst them.








This is us. Yes, I know - we look like dweebs. Well, I look like a dweeb. Sam looks quite cool. What's double-dweebey is that we had matching shorts and bags and walking sticks. It's very, very hard to look cool and be a trekker.





THE TREK


I will resist the urge to give you a step-by-step account of our trek. But it was amazing. After 3 months of touring around India - getting to places, looking at things and eating (and searching for our inner-selves, of course) - it is really, really good to have goals to achieve and a real purpose to each day. I'll be honest IT HURT. We are not gym-bunnies, as you all know, so 7 days of up-to 9 hours walking either UP (very steeply) or DOWN (very steeply) was hard. We did the Jomsom trek, which is in the Annapurna range of the Himalaya and took us to an altitude of 3193m (not that high for the Himalaya) and through the deepest gorge in the world, between 2 8000m plus peaks. The scenery is nothing short of spectacular. I have never felt so tiny as I did walking through those mighty, beautiful mountains. I felt like a hobbit. We walked through villages where people live pretty much as they must have done for 100's of years. Being slightly dim and a Londoner, it just hadn't occurred to me that we'd be going to places where there are NO ROADS - just mountain trails, where a rush hour is caused by 4 groups of donkeys carrying supplies pass through at the same time. When Michael Palin came here for his series 'Himalaya' he said "tremendous scenery, unpolluted air, brilliant light and utter silence.... I know I shall miss these things." And so will we. It couldn't be further from Bethnal Green Road. It was one of the best things I have ever done and we only touched the surface. I think we'll have to come back.





Here are some highlights, in pictures...






We found a lot of weed and met 2 Nepali chicks
Donkey Rush Hour.

Sam, the explorer. This is one of the little villages, with a mighty mountain behind. They are all so clean and peaceful with chickens and goats and yaks chilling out everywhere. The children run up and down the hills to school and home again. If they could see the life of a school child in Hackney, they'd be horrified.

Nice, eh?

A flat bit!! Indiana Bridger
A room with one hell of a view! Not bad for 70p.




The air was starting to get a bit thin at 3210m. Just call me Edmund Hillary.

Worth getting up at 4am and walking for 45 mins uphill for. The views from Poon Hill.





Everyone should do it.





We caught a very tiny plane back from Jomsom to Pokhara. Sadly it was cloudy, so the flight wasn't as amazing as it could have been - but still pretty cool. It was like a Led Zep private jet. I can't tell you how much we hurt when we got back to Hotel Nirvana. And how much we stank. We hardly took anything with us and hot water was a bit hard to come by. Hot showers and more amazing food and red wine brought us back to life.





After a few days recovering it was time to move on. We caught a bus to Bandipur, a beautiful little town in the hills, half way between Pokhara and Kathmandu, made up of lovely 18th century houses and a 'pedestrianised' and paved main street. Our guest house had the feel of an olde worlde 18th century Inn, with dark wood panelling and windows with shutters, but no glass. Frequent power cuts added to the old school atmosphere.


People in this town seem to have a very happy life.





As an aside, I'd like to mention that it was here that we were sharing our room with THE BIGGEST SPIDER IN THE WORLD.
I like this picture. It's Sam looking like Michael Palin or Alan Yentob, leaning against a pillar and looking, thoughtfully, into the middle distance.



It rained a lot while we were here and so we did a lot of reading and eating Momos. Momos are worth a mention and were best described by Len (who we met in Hampi) as "little balls of deliciousness". They are a Tibetan dish and are like little pasta parcels or those Chinese dim-sum things, with anything you like in them - either steamed or fried. We love them and we are going to call our first dog Momo.





We also went on a 3 hour trek to the biggest cave in Nepal. Unlike caves in Europe it has not been high-jacked, lit and opened to the public. You are allowed to go in, but you have to do it with a torch and hope you don't get lost. We hired a local to show us around and although we couldn't see much, we could feel the bats swooping past our faces. I also took photos and blinded us all with the flash.


Next stop: KATHMANDU.


We were very lucky to be invited to stay with a family friend and alumni of my school whose husband has a very interesting job in Nepal with the Gurkhas. Anyone who has been to Kathmandu will know that it is a very busy and dirty city, much like Indian cities. Their home is a beautiful, leafy oasis in the middle of the city and as you come through the gates you could almost be stepping into Surrey. Clean sheets, roast beef, fry ups, lovely brown bread. Heaven.





We have been in Nepal during a very interesting period in Nepali history - as the Maoists came into power and got rid of the King. The day after we arrived in Kathmandu was Republic Day and they eyes of the world were on Kathmandu. There have been several bombs and many marches - but the general feeling of most Nepali people we've spoken to is one of excitement and optimism for 'New Nepal'.







We've had a fantastic week with Fiona, who kindly gave up her time (as well as her home) and took us to every sight there is to see. It's wonderful having an insiders knowledge, especially when it comes to shopping - and Fiona is a Kathmandu shopping expert. Poor Sam has been into far more Pashmina shops than he ever thought possible.





Getting some sense bashed into me! Testing the healing powers of a singing bowl.
with Fiona

Croquet. How British. (sb-nice action eh?)

And so, it's with heavy hearts that we say good-bye to Nepal. We think we'll be back.

We're bracing ourselves for the full force of Delhi, where we fly to on Friday. We hear they are suffering sand storms there at the moment. Excellent.

Cricket, Big Marble Buildings and the Holiest City in India

We've had a very exciting few weeks.
Friends in the right places got us into the Chairman's box to watch the underdogs, The Rajasthan Royal's, thrash the Calcutta Knight Riders. It was SO exciting. It's not like boring old cricket in England (you can tell who's writing this now, Sam loves boring old cricket in England) NO! There are, loud celebration music and lots of shouting and jumping up and down. Not a cucumber sandwich in sight. I'm a convert. Go team Jaipur! (They're top of the league now!)

We then celebrated with the team at their fancy hotel, followed by a Bollywood themed party at a local club. Ya! This is Sam with Manoj and Shane.

And the next day we hung out with them by this pool - before getting on the team bus, for a team outing (followed by the press & army escorts) to the Amber Fort in Jaipur. We felt like we were actually team members of the Rajasthan Royals by this stage.
Sam with his armed guards.The celebrity sports star life-style had to come to an end at some stage and we packed our bags and headed off to Agra to see THE TAJ.

Needless to say, it's beautiful. You've all seen this picture before... the only difference is that I took this one. We got up at 5.30am to beat the crowds. Everyone else did too, sadly.

Agra itself if a bit of a dive, so we hurried on to Varanasi - which has to be one of the most amazing places I've ever been. Anyone who saw any of the India series on the BBC last year will have seen shots of the Ghats at Varanasi - it's one of the images that we came to India to see. It's the centre of the Hindu world and regarded as holy by Buddhists and Jains, the place where people hope to come to die and have their ashes scattered in the Ganges. The river is worshipped as the giver of life. It is at it's most incredible at dawn and at dusk when the activity and bustle of life along the ghats is quite breath taking. It's like stepping back in time.

'Varanasi is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together." (Mark Twain)

People come here to bathe...

...eat, mingle and worship...

....wash their clothes...
....learn to swim...

....and do yoga (look closely for the rows of meditating bodies.)

We also walked past no fewer than 7 games of cricket. There are also the burning ghats - where 100s of bodies are brought everyday to be burned on the banks of the River Ganga. Cows, goats and dogs swim along side people and rubbish is everywhere. Apparently it's not uncommon to see a dead body float along next to the boats, because a family could not afford a cremation but wanted to return their relative to the Ganges. It is amazing that the river still has any life, it is so polluted. The combination of sights, sounds and smells is quite overwhelming.

We took and evening stroll along the banks and then got up at 5.30 for a dawn boat ride. It was one of the most amazing moments I've ever experienced.

We're off to Nepal next. Peace out.

Bombay, baby! And Adventures in Rajasthan

Holly here! Before I get to Bombay, I must tell you about this charming man we met on our last day in Hampi. (Weak? Yes, sorry.) Anyway, it was amazing/slightly scary. Obviously they've been de-venomed, but still... IS HE MAD?!!


We got an overnight, "luxy-semi-sleeper A1, top class, super-duper bus" to Mumbai, and I woke up just as we were driving into the outskirts of the city. The first thing we saw were slums, as far as the eye could see. It was early morning and people were getting up from their 'beds' on the pavement and brushing their teeth by the kerb. Children sat in piles of rubbish, playing with dogs that quite frankly you wouldn't let a child near in England. It's difficult to write about the poverty that we've only really caught a glimpse of here. The enormous slums in the middle of Mumbai are home to millions. Row upon row of shacks made of cardboard and corrugated iron, with 10 people living in a rooms the size of a garden shed. What I'd happily spend on an ice-cream would feed a family for over a week. Once we'd driven past the slums and were into the centre of town, it was a very different Bombay that we experienced. But it's important not to forget the other, very real, Mumbai.


We were only there for 3 days, but I really enjoyed every moment. Even the hot, smelly, overpriced room we stayed in grew on me. Or perhaps I'm just saying that in retrospect. We hit the city hard, we walked and walked and walked, taking it all in. We went to the Prince of Wales Museum, which was very like the V&A. (see right) It was very stuffy and quite taxing. (SORRY!) There was a brilliant audio-guide, which was very funny - although I'm not sure it meant to be.

We wandered for hours around the colourful, smelly, hot, busy and very exciting labyrinth of markets and bazaars in the backstreets. (We found a jar of Marmite for 120 rps. We've been carrying it around like a pot of gold, since.) We definitely would have got lost if it weren't for Sam's excellent sense of direction.

We ended up coming across a scene of total colourful chaos outside a Hindu temple. We were grabbed by a policeman and loudly and very indiscreetly ushered into the temple, as if we were VIP's, ahead of all the worshipers. It was very embarrassing, but quite amazing once we were in there.




We popped our heads in at the VERY grand Taj hotel. The closest we got to experiencing the luxury was using the loo. And a very nice loo it was too.


We got asked to be extras in a Bollywood film about 30 times. They were amazed that we a) didn't want to stand around in the heat ALL day doing nothing b) we don't like Bollywood. We did see one scene being shot outside the Gateway of India. As always in India there were millions of people there and not a lot happening.

We went to the train station to book our onward tickets. The above scene amused me.

And below is a cricket match taking place in the middle of the city.


We're in Rajasthan now... and it's HOT, HOT, HOT. I'll hand over to Mr Bridger for an update. We all know how he loves to update....

You’re coming from?……….England……..London Bridge is burning down lovely jubbly! You’re coming from?……….England……..London Bridge is burning down lovely jubbly! You’re coming from?……….England……..London Bridge is burning down lovely jubbly!

A ten second slice of life as a tourist in India for you there. We’ve been asked where we’re from so many times that we’ve begun to do odd things like forget or accidentally lie. Probably the brain trying to keep itself interested. It gets very tiresome. Although one street vendor kid the other day did the whole ‘london bridge is falling down lovely jubbly’ gig and when he realised it wasn’t getting much reaction he resorted to a slightly more avant garde ‘that’s asda price!’ and slapped his arse twice. His extra effort was appreciated.

This is us on the train up to Rajahstan from Mumbai. We decided to splash out and go executive class for a laugh. The food just kept on coming and the ice cream (which didnt seem to turn liquid even when melted) was a bit too much for me...Holly liked it.

Rajahstan is like a different country. Its landscape is predominantly desert and its extremely beautiful not to mention boiling. A hole melted in the middle of the road a few days ago when it was 45 degrees. Theres not a lot you can do in that heat.

Rajahstan is a state with a great history of royalty which most city's cash in on in the form of luxury hotels in old palaces and 'fancy goods'. This is well known. What is less well advertised is the fact that everyone here seems to belch and fart in public at will, to a degree i have never experienced anywhere in the world. Its hilarious and we still havent quite got used to it.

Imagine... if you will ...sitting down awaiting your meal in a restaurant and having the waiter placing your meal delicately infront of you whilst belching in your face. what? eh? it just doesnt compute. The reflex to gag and the reflex to laugh get confused and usually results in an odd contortion of the face. Or imagine sitting in a train carriage and seeing an elderly lady letting rip opposite you...not one eyebrow is raised. im not sure whether its brilliant or awful...either way we're certainly not in kansas anymore.




Our first port of call was Udaipur. The picture above was taking from our balcony....yes we had a balcony. Its a desert city set around a lake and its absolutely magic. One evening we saw hundreds upon hundreds of bats flying past us and a full moon at eye level. Brilliant.

This was our rooms interior. All the architecture has a very islamic feel to it. It reminded me of Marrakesh...not that i've ever been there.



All for 6 quid a night!

Udaipur is where Octopussy was shot and dont you dare forget it while you're there! Every restaurant in town starts the Octopussy screening at 7pm sharp...and at 7.45 pm sharp the DVD player breaks...perhaps that was just us though.

Thats Holly in the solid marble Octopussy pool at the Taj Palace. We paid 3 quid to get in for an afternoons swimming. Thats a fair wack in India...but it was worth every penny. And below is another picture of the palace. It is a labyrinthe of tiny winding corridors and suprise courtyards. Incredibly beautiful.



One night we were walking about telling people where we were from and a Rajahstani wedding came marching down the street. Marching band, kids holding lightbulbs, more kids behind pushing the generator and a dashing, slightly nervous looking young groom on a horse in the middle.

Notice the sword. Probably a cheap do by Indian marital standards.

We then bused for 6 hours up to Jodhpur, another desert city for a couple of days. The fort there is HUGE, it dominates the city. Its like looking at Ayers rock...you can just feel it even when you cant see it. But apart from that not a lot can be said for the place as we spent most of our time shielding ourselves from the heat in our haveli. We got another 6 hour bus to Jaisalmer where we stayed inside the walls of the old city fort. I couldnt help but feel slightly like Indiana Jones walking around the bazaar in the old city fort. I half expected a man with a cobra on his head and one eye to challenge me to a dual. Unfortunately they didnt sell whips. What they do do in Jaisalmer is camel treks in the Thar desert. This is Holly and I with our loyal steeds.
Holy mother of Sudocrem these beasts chaffed. A couple of hours on a camel is a torture i would wish on no man. But the desert was beautiful. So quiet. And when we got to the sand dunes and the sun was setting we almost stopped feeling the burn.

Anyway...better go. Think we've just spent a days budget on the internet. Off to watch some Indian Premier League cricket next week which we are VERY excited about.

Namaste!

Bangalore, Burgers and Belly ache

Greetings Friends.

We've had some highs and lows since we last wrote. From the dizzy heights of the 13th Floor cocktail lounge in Bangalore, to the desperate lows on our hands and knees in the bathroom। Yes: we got sick।

But before we go into that, a few words on our last days in Kerala. Kochi was HOT HOT HOT and very humid. We took a lovely walk in Fort Cochin down to Jew Town and enjoyed looking in all the wonderful old shops full of antiques and caught a glimpse of the world of a spice trader. Fort Cochin is beautiful. The Chinese fishing nets are particularly unusual. Sam had a go helping the fishermen.

They caught a very small Barracuda, if anyone's interested

After a few days exploring it was time to leave Kerala behind us and head inland to the city of Bangalore in Karnataka, where we had been invited by माय family friend Natalie and her boyfriend, Goz, to stay for a few days. We were pretty excited about going to 'The Cocktail Town' - where the young, hip and newly rich Indian's live the high life।

Our train got us into Bangalore at 4.30am on Monday morning and Nats VERY kindly woke up to let us in. We thought we'd died and gone to heaven as she showed us our own lovely big bedroom with en-suite bathroom,a bed that we didn't need to check for bed-bugs and clean तोवेल्स. After a few hours sleep we got up and spent the morning catching up with Natalie and enjoying things like being able to make a cup of tea in their lovely kitchen, hanging out on the balcony, the sofa, watching their big TV and WASHING OUR CLOTHES. Western home comforts are ridiculously exciting when you haven't had them for almost 2 months. We got a 'Ricky' (as we now 'amusingly' call them) to an American style diner for some lunch and had our first bit of meat since being in India. A cheese burger. It was SOOOOOOO good. Nat then took us to Gourmet Foods - the shop that Natalie loves, to buy some supplies. A 'half way decent' bottle of red wine costs 500 RPS from Gourmet Foods. We've been spending that on a 'pricey' nights accommodation, but if you're thinking in pounds - it's just over 6 quid, so not too bad. We decided to think in pounds while in Bangalore! We had a lovely evening in - our first glass of red wine since coming to India, pasta and pesto with Parmesan. The next couple days were spent eating, exploring Bangalore's fancy (oh my gosh, so fancy) hotels and shops and arguing with Ricky drivers. The law in Bangalore says they have to use their metres. They don't like using their metres and see white tourists as prime 'mug' material. Sam takes exception to this.

This is us in the back on a particularly amazing Ricky। 'Pimp My Ricky'. Westwood would be proud. The driver (a bit of a 'card') had decked his rickshaw out with a padded interior and it had a sound system - which he proudly switched on a blared the most terrible Bollywood music so loudly that everyone on the street turned to stare at us. We loved it. Until he whacked an 'idiot tax' on our bill and it ended in another argument।

Wednesday night was cocktail night. Goz got off work early and we headed to Ruby Tuesday's for 2 for 1 cocktails.

From there we moved on to the 13th Floor - a top floor bar in the highest building in Bangalore (they don't built that high here!)। The doorman told us that it was full and if we didn't have a reservation we couldn't get in (oh, so L।A.) but Goz charmed them and we managed to get a table on the balcony overlooking the bright lights of the city. From there we moved on to the Hard Rock Cafe. By this stage I can honestly say we'd totally forgotten we were in India. This is a million miles away from Chennai and our first impressions of hot, smelly, poverty stricken India. George Harrison's sitar hung along side some t-shirt that the someone in the Black Eyed Peas wore once, signed photos of Madonna hung next to one of Elton John's cat-suits. And The Menu, Oh! The Menu. Burgers and Cocktails of every kind. We were living the Indian High Life.

This is me, look how pleased with myself I look.

Let this be a lesson to you children Gluttony is a sin. Pride comes before a fall. Hubris was inevitable. I can hardly bring myself to look at this photograph. I'm sure I don't need to go into the details of what happened next. We woke up at 4am and our fate was sealed. NO, we wouldn't be catching the night train to Hampi that night. NO, we wouldn't be leaving the bathroom for 24 hours and then the sofa for another 3 days. YES, we would watch the entire DVD box set of 'The Long Way Round' with Ewan McGregor and the entire first series of The Tudors and countless movies. Nat and Goz (Who Didn't Get Sick!) were very kind and let us stay in their flat over the weekend even though they were going away, and we will never be able to express how grateful we were to be in a lovely home rather than a dreadful hostel. It was a few days we don't really want to remember.

You will all be delighted to hear that we did survive the terrible episode and we are now in Hampi, which is a beautiful ruined Hindu city set in an extraordinary landscape, covered in massive boulders. It's like being on the set of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Or the Flintstones. It's very, very hot here - which means we've done a lot of lolling about. Luckily there are lots of interesting and fun people here to loll with. Here are some highlights in pictures.

Tomorrow we leave for Mumbai. We've had a last moment change of heart and decided to shun Goa. We'd rather spend more time in Nepal. So we're saying good-bye to beaches and good-bye to South India. Look out The North.