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So from Jo’berg, and the familiarity of Africa, we landed into the stifling heat of unfamiliar Mumbai. There are a few things to highlight about India before we start:
The People There are lots of people everywhere and always. The idea of personal space does not exist in the same way that it does in the west. I guess there are too many people to allow it to. You are constantly in a crowd of people, like when everyone spills out of Croke Park at the final whistle and heads for home. And as westerners we have that expectation that just up ahead the crowd will thin out and we’ll be able have our own sense of space again. But no, this is India, and we travelled from the very south to the very north and the crowd never thins…
People tend to live and sleep on the streets, but not with the same sense of being homeless as we might label them, more in the sense of “I was tired after a long days work, and so I went asleep here”. It is very hard thing to witness the sheer number of people, even families with
small children, sleeping on the streets of Mumbai.
The Hot, Hot Sun Then there is the heat. It was pre-monsoon season when we arrived, and the weather is incredibly warm. Not the intense frying heat from the powerful sun that we felt on the coast of Kenya or the desert in Syria, nor is it very humid, sweaty or sultry. But sat in the shade in Leopolds café in Colaba, Mumbai, the heat is like a slow oven, it is over powering, soul sapping, fatiguing and exhausting. The temperature while we were in India varied from about 35C to 45C.
The Travelling To start, our planned route took us south on the train from Mumbai to Goa. The train system in India is a truly amazing/bewildering system. After the NHS in the UK, Indian Rail is the second largest employer in the world and has all the bureaucracy to go with it. After 5 months of dealing with the chaos of African bus stations and complete lack of any kind of order, we were now dealing with the most ordered bureaucratic system in the world. People have achieved Phd’s based only on how to
order a ticket in India. Even after 6 weeks and many train journeys we still only barely understand the vast number of concession tickets, the RAC, Takital, or waiting list ticket options. Even if you do get a ticket, there are 5 classes, each one slightly different in its configuration.
Goa
But on to Goa. Unfortunately we arrived a little late. About 20 years too late. The beaches once famous for all night parties are now overrun with hotels, package holidays and Russian tourists. The beautiful chilled out hippies relaxing with a smoke in the beach side cafes are still there, but their bodies are sagging a little these days and their skin a little leathery from too much sun. We did find a cool little village in the north called Arambola, which wasn’t too busy and had a few nice beach front cafes. And we nabbed a scooter for a day and explored some of the local countryside and villages.
Kerala
Then on south to Kerala where we stayed in a lovely little town (no doubt there are 50 or 60 million people there, but it seemed little by Indian standards) called Fort Kochin. There
we chilled out and enjoyed Indian fish curries and southern Indian Dahl, Naans and Rotis. And that was just for breakfast. We learned to cook the local curries with Mama Lulu, who showed us how to prepare an unbelievably fiery curry, although she kindly informed us it included only half the amount of chilli powder her children enjoy. From here we set off on a local boat made for two (but with two oarsmen and our own chef) to explore the backwaters and local villages of Kerala. It was a great way to spend Niall’s birthday.
With the heat taking its toll on our weak Irish bodies we set off for the hills and tea plantations of Munnar. The temperature dropped as we climbed up to some spectacular scenery of field after field of tea plantation. Originally established by the British in the late 1800’s, the whole area (65,000 hectares) is now a cooperative owned and run by the local people. In peak season after the monsoon almost every single villager works picking tea leaves as each plant needs to be picked every 15 days.
Tamil Nadu
We completed our tour of southern India with a brief
Tea Plantations, Munnar
It's so difficult to find a decent cup of tea these days...stop in Pondichery, a former French colony and it still retains some interesting Indian-French combination curries - though despite our efforts we didn’t manage to find any frog-leg-tikka-masala. But the clean streets (a novelty in India) and French architecture were a refreshing change. And, being on the south east coast of India we had the unique experience of being there during a Tsunami warning. Despite the Indian army closing the streets leading to the beach and truck loads of sand bags appearing on every corner, to a mix of relief (from Dee) and disappointment (from Niall) the dreaded wave never materialized.
Delhi
And so a quick flight to Smelly Delhi. We were in South Africa to witness them rebuilding every footpath and city centre street prior to the world cup and Delhi is in much the same state (i.e. half way through a bit of a face lift) prior to their hosting of the Commonwealth Games in October this year. But it served as a base for a few days from where we ventured south to Agra and the Taj Mahal. The Taj is truly unbelievable and seeing it reminds us again how lucky we are to be
The Taj Mahal
Absolutely spectacular! able to take this trip. While its scale is mesmerizing, the glare from the white marble is also breathtaking. It made the 45C temperature almost bearable for a few hours.
Himachal Pradesh
From Smelly we headed north and up into the hills to some cooler altitude. Mcleod Ganj is in the foothills of the Himalayas, and is the home of the Dalai Lama in exile as well as several hundred thousand Tibetan regugees, a good few Buddhist monks and the odd hippy here and there. A very chilled out eclectic mix, and yoga, chanting and drinking tea are the order of the day while enjoying the view of the Himalayas in the distance. We spent a lovely few days there.
Punjab
On a slight detour back to Smelly we went via the city of Amritsar in Punjab, the home of the Golden Temple, the holiest temple of the Sikh religion. India isn’t short of temples (we visited quite a few in our 6 weeks) but the Golden Temple stands out. It is surrounded by water and made of gold, but the Sikhs (probably the friendliest people we met in India) are the most welcoming of all
The Himalayas at Mcleod Ganj
If you look closely you can see snow and that was the view from our room! faiths and offer a free meal to all visitors (as they do in all their temples).
Just north of Amritsar is the India / Pakistan border. We weren’t planning to go to Pakistan, so it might seem strange to travel just to see the border. Thing is, this isn’t just a border. This is the India / Pakistan border. And every day there is an elaborate ceremony lasting about 3 hours for the closing of the border gate. This involves the Indian army parading, stamping, chanting, shouting, marching, and generally showing off their muscles in the faces of the Pakistan army who are doing exactly the same on their side. And all this in front of a staggering 25,000 Indian citizens roaring them on in emphatic nationalistic dementia, with a similarly ecstatic crowd on the Pakistan side. And it happens every day. Brilliant.
And then back to Smelly again.
Let the Travel's Continue Now our plan was to head east on the train to Darjeeling to visit Dee’s friend Emma who lives there. From there we would cross into Nepal for a few weeks before we flew to Thailand to explore South East Asia. But Nepal and
Thailand are both having political difficulties at the moment, and we were bracing ourselves for some difficult travelling. Then, as we were packing our bags to leave Smelly, a politician was stabbed to death in Darjeeling and the army were deployed to maintain calm on the streets. This was all becoming too much and add to that the relentless 45 degree heat in Smelly.
So we booked the next available flight out of there to where ever it would take us, which turned out to be…………Hong Kong!! From there we hope to get Chinese visas and head up to Beijing. But we’re taking our Asian adventure one step at a time, one country at a time and hoping for a cooler climate....
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Derek
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Eh...hk??
Have you left yet? I'm in HK until wednesday evening. If you're still here give me a shout on my citi address or britland mobile :-)