Blogs from Diu, Daman & Diu, India, Asia
January 23rd 2011
So New Year had come and gone, and it was time to give Northern India another go. Because the flights were way too expensive, we resigned ourselves to a nightmare overnight bus journey to Bangalore, 5 hours waiting on a train platform, and then 25 hours cross country to Mumbai. After not sleeping on the bus, we wanted a nice quiet train journey but no, instead the locals decided to play cards next to our bunks, while simultaneously practicing their English skills and trying to make conversation. Its frustrating sometimes - at least in China nobody had the ability to talk with us; now its impossible to have any time to yourself - people have no compunction about tapping you on the shoulder while you're listening to your ipod...and the conversation is always the same - ... read more
December 31st 2010
"Well that was 'fun' wasn't it!" Our night in the big ass sleeper bus, in my eyes, was fun: People walking up and down the outside whenever we stopped, banging on the windows trying to sell us everything from kitchen utensils to bottles of water and so much chai. The speed bumps. The heat from all the passengers. The constant beeping of the buses horn and all the other vehicles. The swerving of the bus to miss animal, mineral, vegetable, vehicle or the wild lesser spotted pothole slamming us from one side to another. After a certain speed, the entire vehicle would try and vibrate itself to pieces. Every indian on board was playing songs from bollywood movies on their phones. The smell of feet, urine, shit, vomit, sweat, tobacco and animals mixed in with masala ... read more
November 28th 2010
It's been a while since I've written in my blog and a lot have happened since then but I don't feel like going into details. Suffice to say that things have considerably improved after leaving Rajhastan. the state of Gujarat is so much nicer. I enjoyed the Kutch province, with its unique handicraft, and the island of Diu, where I am now, with its quiet beaches and fishing villages. Despite all this I've been suffering from mood swings and had a lot of down moment. I've been trying to understand why. Of course it could be the rubbish scattered everywhere, or the noise, or the smell, but I believe there is one more important element affecting my mood and it is the one thing I thought would not cause me any problem: Indian food. Back in ... read more
January 15th 2010
After our unplanned stop in Ahmedabad and the hiatus of Jaipur it was good to finally reach the welcoming palm trees and the promise of a coconut prawn curry after we had freshened up. Finally some warmth. We shed our scarves and blankets with glee and prepared to kick off the shoes and get some sand between our toes. Beaches were for the most part pretty deserted, Australian beaches spoil you but we were lucky to spot a very large turtle on one which was obviously putting out the feelers for a nightly egg laying foray. Two days we sat around with the occasional short walk to the beach. Graeme doing a lot of reading and swimming in the pool, Meryl of course spending most of the time on the laptop. Sightseeing withdrawal symptoms on the ... read more
December 19th 2009
Leaving the fort city Junagad behind at threeish, we left towards the GIR National Park - only Home for Asiatic Lions. The road towards GIR was good with different shades of green farms of wheat and coriander/parsley. Saasan village looked to me more developed as compared to Tala village from where we have entry for Bandhavgarh National Park. It was 7 pm by when we reached GIR. First thing to do was to attend the Light and sound show offered free by forest department at 7 pm. Government Forest Lodge is recently renovated and so in good shape. It has all range of stay available. They also have tents available. Next day we got up early and were at the gates by 6:00 am. There were not many visitors as compared to Bandhavgarh and Kahna ... read more
October 2nd 2009
I arrive in Ahmedabad, Gujarat's largest city, for a spot of 'sorting stuff out' before moving on. Home to 5 million people, Ahmedabad is a sprawling, noisy city, but one with history hidden in amongst the chaos. The old town contains some beautiful old mosques, the Teen Darwaja ('triple gateway') and a bustling bazaar. I wander amongst the market stalls, and my overriding impression is of a friendly city... the people are very inquisitive and polite, and on the backstreets, children vie for the attention of my camera lens (which, I should point out, is now in a fairly bad way... it won't focus properly and has attracted an army of bits, which I can't shift, creating a resident flock of birds in the sky of any photo I take!). After doing my sorting of things ... read more
June 11th 2009
It was the best of times... It's no secret that India is a land of contrasts. Be it from accounts on these pages, or other, more reputable sources, evident it is that North is starkly different than South, East markedly changed from West. Language, food, culture, history, religion, geography all vary considerably as one shifts in and out of different states and cities- in a land of 1.15 billion people- a sixth of the world population- no less than seventeen official languages are spoken, and no less than 600 dialects. And you'd be hard pressed to find two places as different from each other as Mumbai and Diu, my latest two stops on the subcontinent. Mumbai, dubbed the Maximum City, lives up to its nickname. I arrived only a few weeks before the monsoon, and the ... read more
March 24th 2009
Olen viime kirjoituksissani kertonut paljon tekemisistamme. Nyt ajattelin pohtia jalleen Intian olemusta. Milta Intia on nyt uudelleen tulemiseni jalkeen vaikuttanut? Aikalaillahan samanlaista se on kuin muistelinkin, samanlaista kuin idassa pain. Intia on meluinen, yhta aikaa taynna karsimysta ja iloa, se on mopojen toottailya, pakokaasuja, hiekkapolya, vehreita palmuja ja vareissaan loistavia kukkia, se on nuorten miesten yhteiskunta, (minne tahaansa katseeni nostankin, lahes aina se kohtaa uteliaasti katselevan nuoren miehen) upeita temppeleita, ihania sadunomaisia pikku-palatseja, junia ja ihmisia ahertamassa erilaisissa fyysisesti vaativissa toissa. (kantamassa paansa paalla raskaita vesiastioita, hakkaamassa kivia sepeliksi, ompelemassa ym) Kirjoittelin tuon maaritelmani Intiasta vain ajatuksenvirtana. Tallaisia juttuja minulle tuli akkiseltaan mieleen. Toivottavasti siihen e... read more
February 5th 2009
How we love you. Take all of that tension and stress from the past 8 weeks of travelling in this country, and just let it melt, melt, melt away. I am not ashamed to admit that, though I was not fully aware of what was happening at the time, I was most certainly functioning on my very last nerve when we arrived here in Diu. Of course the regular stresses of travelling in India had been accumulating but also for the past week we had been going along at a far quicker pace than usual and cramming more sights and activities into our days than we are used to. So, YES, it is quite normal to feel as I did, absolutely ready to drop to the ground, kicking and screaming OR make a mad dash for ... read more
