karen humes
myself and my hubby went travelling to india, srilanka, thailand, vietnam, cambodia, laos and malaysia in 2002-2003 for a year. I kept written journals at the time and now want to translate them into type!wish we were still travelling
Some of these will be boring as they will be exactly what I wrote at the time; lots of mention of e-mailing , sitting in cafes, sitting on buses, trains and boats!!!
I always had a really exciting picture of what travelling is about- in reality it is amazing days surrounded by what I used to call non days! The non days being either booking tickets to go somewhere else or trying to get somewhere else or sitting in a hotel room because it is pouring down.....!
Had a fantastic time none the less and wish we had known about this site at the time
Travel Blog Posts
December 2nd 2002
(b) 2/12/02 (day77)(/b) Up at 05:00 hours- packed and left to train station- purchased our Rs 45 tickets!- unbelievably easy. Managed to buy drinks, bananas and bourbon creams and even found the train and a seat easily! (blimey is this really travel in india!) .Quite a few westerners on the train as it goes to goa. Two brits joined us - pleasant company. Four hours later we got off the train and rickshawed to gokarna. Had to stop at a tourist police station en route . They wanted to know everything from how much cash to what colour knickers I was wearing!! Apparently they had to open this station up due to the amount of incidents there were. He also told us that "taking ganga makes you go mental and hurt people" Yes if you have ... read more
December 1st 2002
(b) 1/12/02 (day 76) (/b) Up at 10ish and went for a look around; very little open (forgot it was a sunday!) Doesn't look like there would be that much to do if it wasn't a sunday !! Wandered around trying to get inspiration on how to get out of mangalore!! Found a cool travel agency who gave us a possiblility (06:50 passenger train).. not in "trains at a glance........ the bible! " so decided we would check it out, but not before eating at an "excellent veg restaurant"( quote lonely planet) Mmmm excellent if you like hot/ spicy curry!! Then went to train station, where we were met by an "information centre", where you could indeed get information in a helpful and friendly manner!!(Think we must have left India temporarily!!) The train to gokarna is ... read more
back to mysore in order to get to mangalore
Published: March 12th 2008Asia » India » Karnataka » MysoreNovember 29th 2002
(b) 29/11/02 (day 74) (/b) Up at bloody 06:30 to pack! Had brekkie, chatted to a few people and got the bus. The "leader" on the bus was a right bossy boots "sit down... sit there...." We got prime position near the front (french men and John from manchester were on the same bus) Took 1 hour to herd 17 other people on in ooty and off we set. Views stunning on the way down... quite a part was going on, on the back seat (singing and brandy) We were subjected to a hindi tape; full of the usual screeching... singing!! Broke down on one occasion which was fixed by newspaper!! and only narrowly missed a jeep, a dog and about 9 women- not bad for a driver who looked like he might fall asleep at ... read more
November 25th 2002
(b) 25/11/02 (day 70 )(/b) Woken at 05:00 by teh mosque calling people to prayer over loud dpeakers! Quite eerie really. To breakfast for 07:00- finished by 07:20 and waited for the bus for 45 minutes . Got on bus- apart from a french lad (Nicholas) - who'm we've seen in hospet and bangalore and mysore!! Sat at the front with plent of leg room- thought it was too good to be true and sure enough it was!! Lasted for all of 10 minutes before we were asked to get on a different bus and quelle surprise....... only the back seat was free!! So 5 of us and several bags sat on the back seat of a mini bus!! Drove through bandipur wildlife park and saw spotted dder and elephants- although they were in a hospital ... read more
November 21st 2002
(b) 21/11/02 (day66) (/b) Up in the middle of the night! 06:30 to check out of uor traveller friendly hotel!! Kipped down for a few hours in Bert and Joliens room . Had a shower......... yes a shower- apparently in non deluxe rooms you get one???!!! Back to Negris for brunch- had a fab salad. Said our farewells (sad to say bye bye) and back on our travels we went. Got aircon c.c - could have had non aircon c.c only they failed to tell us that these were available. Knackered- dozed on and off. Scenery lush- rice fields and fields growing pampas grass. Got cheap rickshaw to hotel palace plaza- slightly over our budget but need some normality- it has a BATH, HOTWATER, towels and sheets- months ago since we had sheets and a bath!! ... read more
November 19th 2002
(b) 19/11/02 (day 64)(/b) Into bangalore at 06:30 at our "chosen hotel"- airlines at 07:00 (lonely planet have got alot to answer to!) Shown four shitty rooms- chose the least shitty one! Rs 680 for a shabby room, no shower (water fron a tap!) and a tv that only had 10 indian speaking channels!! To top it all they didn't serve breakfast until 09:00 (ho hum!) Went to bed for a while, thn wandered the streets looking for a cafe - eventually found one at midday . Had chicken burger and chips. Went in our first supermarket- which was a novelty! Bangalore is wall to wall shops and coffee bars! Went to email and found out that Bert and Jolien are heading to bangalore tonite- how fab Went to labagh gardens- really clean and peaceful. Have ... read more
November 13th 2002
13/11/02 Up at 4!! Rushed to get packed. Pete and cherry said good bye at 5 am!! Journey to vasco took 1 hour- not too bad; very little on the roads. Found carriage, with the assistance of a blokie (baksheesh wallah!!) First hour , our carriage was empty, then alot of back packers got on at magadon. We were joined by and aussie couple (Dave and Emma) - sat and chatted and looked at the scenery- amazing water falls and mountains. Got to hospet- rickshaw to hampi- cool to see india again. Had to get a coracle boat, once at hampi to cross the river to where we wanted to stay. Oh, such fun!! Getting in a coracle ,with a rucksac on and 10 other people in it- the floor was wet through and we had ... read more
October 20th 2002
Had breakfast-yummy porridge. Got taxi to vagator. Could not really find where we wanted to stay, so looked at Boons Ark- fab cottage style room- immaculate and lovely grounds for Rs300.. we think!! Completley unpacked (glorious!) and had a wander- we like vagator; lots of bars and restaurants- a reasonable beach surrounded by rocks. Had lunch at a cafe on the beach- hummus and falafel. St chatting to an indian lad who works/smokes there!! Sent emails. Went to Willy at night; very good spagehtti. Had a few beers at tin tins / jaws. Cool storm in the distance; no rain seen 21.10.02 Up at 11ish- had breakfast; cornflakes with fruit (very tasty). Strolled down to the beach and got a sunlounger outside soclipse. Chatted to a few of the beach sellers- not too hassly really. Sun ... read more
October 18th 2002
Had a big lie in , packed and went to Gourmet restaurant for brunch (tomato soup and cheese on toast). Wandered up to the email place- spent 3 hours there. Emailed lots of people and told lonely planet about the farce aka Shree Maya and the rickshaw rip off merchant in pune. Wandered back to Gourmet place and got a banana pancake. Hired a rickshaw bloke and left the shit hole at 18:30 on a sleeper bus- interesting layout- 2 share a bunk which consists of a walled 6ft by 4ft room- which is one complete matress and at the end of the matress is a pillow moulded into it - comfy enough although not alot of space for 2 peole, 4 bags and trainers. Stopped twice for drinks, loo and .Appeared to have slept some ... read more
October 17th 2002
day 31 = SHIT DAY!! (wrote this in our room in pune at night- not in best mood!!) Started off badly at 05:20 with stomach cramps at 05:45- got laundry back ; wet through and not pressed. at 06:30- no breakfast insight (" eat as much as you want" brekkie no where in sight) at 07:00 got breakfast, in turn they questoned whether we had paid for the breakfast( we had!) at 07:15, finally got rickshaw as there is a rickshaw strike today at 07:30 bus nowhere in sight for pune ( it comes 15 minutes late) at 08:00 shree maya ring our bus driver up wanting to speak to us "did you stay 4 nights!!??)- shan't write down what I wrote in my journal! at 08:45 finally leave aurangabad with a driver who wants... read more
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