andyr

I didn't get much sleep on the bus from Udaipur to Jodphur, but what's new! I only stayed in Jodphur a day as it's much more of a 'city' than Udaipur with all the crowding, noise, higher prices, and other hassles that come with it. All I really wanted to see here was the fort so I checked into a cheap hotel and deciding to go early as it was already really quite hot (heading eastwards into the Thar desert now) trekked (this is the right word, it was damn steep) up the hill to mighty Meherangarh fort which occupies the crown. The fort is an impressive sight even from the town, towering over everything with it's huge battlements still bristling with canons. The first gate is still pockmarked with canon ball scars and the fort ... read more

Udaipur is fantastic. I could leave it there but I've done almost nothing for the past 3 days so I'll add some more! I arrived in the early morning (5ish) weary but ready for the necessary battle with the rickshaw driver to take me to guest house I weant to go to, not the one he wants to take me to! So what a nice surpirse Mustafa was - took me straight there, no hassles, polite, good english - in fact all he gave me was a little book full of reccomendations of his tour of Udaipur from previous backpackers and explained that if I was interested to let him know, and that was that! I actually considered doing it if I could find someone else to split the cost with (it was reasonably priced anyway) ... read more

So Friday was the Big Cheese's (HH Dalai Lama) birthday, and wasn't Mcleod absolutely rammed for it! The day started with traditional Tibetan cultural dances at the temple complex by student groups, TIPA (Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts) and lots of groups of very cute and small children from tibetan schools. I managed to senak into a bit of space just behind the seated VIP area so I had a good view... until the boring speeches finished when everyone stood up to watch the show - so I ended up climbing wherever possible to get a decent view just like everyone else! Unfortunately His Holiness didn't come to the celebrations himself even though his house is just opposite the temple, but not because he's a lazy bastard - in Buddhism birthdays aren't usually celebrated as it ... read more

After the month of hectic traveling, getting back to Tashijong was the perfect remedy; cooler temperatures (slightly), mountain views, relaxing days and just generally being back with Tibetans (who in general are much calmer and give less hassle) - especially our monks! Our work's decreased a lot since before the Holidays, I'm only doing 3 hours a day now and Bhaarat has none at all! All the tuition lessons we gave to monks from the institute have stopped now that their holidays are finished (they're not allowed to study English in term time, the focus is solely on philosophy - they get fined for speaking English or Hindi or playing football!) and Bhaarat's big lamas class at the school are on holiday now (they had to stay behind to do pujas while everyone else was on ... read more

Well, the travels are coming to an end, today we pack onto the Rajdhani Express which will whistle us back to Delhi in just 20 hours! From there we grab a bus back north and should be back with the monks in Tashijong by Sunday latest. It's been a lot of fun, we've seen some awesome places, done some amazing things, met some unforgettable people (well until I reach my parents' age, you lose everything then) and discovered some delicious foods. But now, read on for the final days spent in the glitz and glam of Mumbai... My reputation (a B in GCSE drama) obviously preceded me to the capital of Bollywood; having checked into our guest house in the Colaba area, it was no less than one shower later that an indian guy knocked on ... read more

Well, we're finally in Hampi and it's quite possibly one of my favourite places in India so far. But first of the muchos hassles it took to get this far... So there we are, watching the stars on the aft deck of the ferry as it chugs noisily back to Port Blair, contemplating our imminent departure from the islands in the morning, when Bhaarat's phone rings. Nothing unusual there, but there is with his facial expression - the travel agent who booked our flights has forgot to reconfirm them and thus we have been cancelled off the flight. What a sheer and utter knobhead. So we spend the next day camped at the airport trying to get on any flight we can, highly conscious that our island permits run out the following day... In the end ... read more

Sorry for the length of time since my last update - I have actually tried to write twice but power cuts foiled me both times and I couldn't be bothered to retype them. From Varkala we headed east to Chennai to catch our flight to the Andaman Islands, we had to spend a night here and, an amusing cinema trip aside, the less said the better. Basically Chennai sucks, it's got all the bad characteristics of Indian cities (crowding, air pollution, noise, rubbish, smells etc) but no redeeming factors. It's too spread out and just seemed to have a total lack of the character you find in, say, Old Delhi around the Red Fort and up Chandni Chowk. It also didn't help that the temperature was 43 with humidity too. By the afternoon we were bored ... read more

Hey everyone, very quick update as I've only got a day and a bit here plus the internet's expensive! We arrived in Fort Kochi in Kerala from Bangalore (on an AC bus, gloriously cool and with cheesy bollywood flick) last Sunday. Kochi is really nice, it has these great big chinese cantilevered fishing nets on the coast with little stalls selling the fish fresh by a market. We stayed in a little homestay run by two friends who were really nice and cooked for us on monday night - fish masala curry at a bargain 50 rupees. It was a nice place to chill out with an almost European feel to it thanks to it's mixed colonial origins from Portugal, the dutch and Britain. Unfortunately it was more than a bit humid too! From there we ... read more

Inda 2007 andy runcimanJust a quick update here, had written a bigger one yesterday but the power cut on me! We left Mcleod by bus on Sunday evening - the journey was unremarkable except for the very loud driver and conductor who chatted all night! Arriving in Delhi in the early morning we grabbed a tuk-tuk to rekha's (the GAP rep in Delhi) who is amazingly nice and cooked us a wonderful breakfast of bhuji (scrambled eggs indian style - i.e. with spices), chai and toast with real english-style strawberry jam! I couldn't get enough... We then tried to book some train tickets for getting about the south at the local ticket office but the guy at the counter was chatting some shit to me about the train not existing so I walked out and ... read more

It's quite an awesome sight, and I still find it funny! A couple of monks gunning it down the track to the road and town with red robes billowing around the enfield! Just a quick update as I'm in Mcleod again, but for the last time for 5 weeks! Just about to head south for some travelling, including a quick stop in Banagalore, 10 or so days around kerala before heading to chennai to fly to the andaman islands for 8 days. On the way back we're hoping to make a quick stop in Hampi and spend a few days in mumbai to launch my bollywood career. Still to convince bhaarat that a jungle trek in kerala is just what he needs though! The last few weeks have been a lot of fun, the monks ... read more