Countdown to Christmas...

Encountered the rain again for the first time since the South of India in Hue, and it rained properly. The streets were flooded and Rob and I got absolutely soaked. The following day it was still raining, we'd booked ourselves onto a tour up to the DMZ (demilitarised zone) where we went through the tunnels that the locals used during the war. The tunnels were used as air raid shelters, they used to spend anything from a few hours down them up to 5 or 6 days! Came backto Hue that afternoon and decided to get mopeds to see the rest of Hue. Its definately the best way of getting about and seeing the place. The next day we were waiting for Colm to arrive so we could all head down to Hoi An together. He never turned up though, so in the end we hired mopeds again and went a bit further afield. When we got back we had an email from Colm saying he had stayed on the bus and was already in Hoi An. Rob and I decided we'd like to ride the 140km from Hue to Hoi An. On the route is the Hoi Van pass, supposedly the best bit of coastal road in Vietnam. We set off at about 10am and got to Hoi An at 5pm. The pass was spectacular, the pass itself is about 15km long and when we got to the other side we turned around and did half of it again. Met colm when we got to Hoi an. Hoi An is where most people get their tailor made clothes made cheaply, unfortunately because we wanted to be in Nha Trang for Christmas we only had the one day in Hoi An so only Colm managed to get stuff made because he'd been there the extra day! Hoi An is a nice little place and the beach is beautiful and there was hardly anyone on it! That evening we got the sleeper bus down to Nha Trang, got there at about 6am on Christmas Eve. Booked into a hostel and then spent most of the rest of the day with people on the beach. Being on the beach was an odd way to spend Christmas, its certainly different. We managed to find an all you can eat Christmas buffet that was doing turkey and the all the trimmings. Was ok but for an all you can eat they ranout of things very quickly, we still had a good time though. Went out for a few drinks after that and then rang Simon on skype when we got back, he made it home ok and should be back with us in a few weeks time if Tegan will let him leave again! Today's boxing day and we giot the bus to Dalat, its inland a bit and really hilly, the french used to come here because its cooler!

Will be back on again soon to keep you updated,

Happy Christmas everyone.

Paul, Colm and Rob

Re-united....for a day!

The last blog I made was back in China, neglected it a bit over the last few weeks but we're back on it now. I left the guys in China and headed off to Laos. Took 30 hours on the sleeper bus to get to Luang Prabang in the centre of Laos, was suprisingly alright, slept quite well. I met up with Kim and her friends in Vang Vieng. Spent a few days there with them tubing down the river and drinking too much. Then I went off on my own again down to the capital Vientienne. Shared a room with a guy I met on the bus, although it took ages to find a room as the Asian Sea games were being held in Vientienne. Met a Belgian guy while I was eating and we went out for the night with a dutch and american couple we met, ended up having a really good night with them. Was picked up from my hotel the next afternoon to get the bus from Vientienne to Hanoi. 24 hours on a normal bus (not a sleeper). Was stuck on the back seat with the rest of the travellers. Met Yvonne from northern Holland on the bus. Spent the next day with her seeing the sights of Hanoi, its a really busy city, the traffic is like being back in India but its suprising how quickly you adapt to it again.

That evening we booked a sleeper bus up to Sapa on the border of Vietnam and China to do some trekking. Colm and Simon turned up at the hostel just as we were about to leave so had a quick catch up with them before we left (They were more interested in watchin Harry Enfields Scousers sketch on youtube...!). Got to Sapa at 7am and by 9am we'd found a room, left our bags and gone off on a 2 day trek through the rice paddies. The views were spectacular and the weather was loads better than we thought it would be, everyone had told us to expect freezing conditions but it was boiling, needed the sunscreen! Had some really nice food at the homestay and got an early night after a hard days walking. The next day Yvonne and I got up and watched the sunrise at 6am, was well worth it, was spectacular and more succesful then the one we got up early for in Tiger Leaping Gorge. Walked back into Sapa that day and decided to stay another night so we could go to the Bac Ha market. Cost $10 dollars for the market day, the market itself was really good, bought a load of stuff and got my hair cut, it had been annoying me for ages. the rest of the day was a bit boring, they just wanted to find things to do to justify the $10. That night we were back on the sleeper bus again and back to Hanoi.

Got to Hanoi at 5.30am and in a bit of a mad rush again booked a Halong bay tour and we were back on the bus again at 8am after a rushed breakfast. Got to the boat at lunchtime and got to know the rest of the backpackers on board. Spent the afternoon jumping off the top of the boat into the water (a lot higher than it looked) and then we went kayaking to a cave. The cave wasn't great but the kayaking was fun and the sunset (left) was really nice. Had a great evening partying on the boat and then the next day we were off to our own deserted Island to stay another night. Went tubing around the island (They tow you around on a tube behind a speed boat, I'll try and get hold of some videos that were taken, was great fun though) There were less of us this time and the generator packed up at about 6pm so we all played a few drinking games by candle light! The next day we came back to Hanoi, I was expecting to see Colm and Simon around somewhere, the one person I wasn't expecting to see was Rob, who jumped off the back of a bike in front of me having just come from the Chinese border. We found Colm and Simon and the 4 of us were back together again. Unfortunately Simon had just found out that his Gran had passed away and he decided to head back to the UK for a week or 2. Yvonne's trip was coming to an end aswell so she headed back to Holland, then Colm headed to Halong bay on his own so it was just myself and Rob heading South to Hue.

Hopefully I'll be back on to tell you about Hue sooner rather then later. We meet up with COlm tomorrow morning to head further South to Hoi An!

Love Paul

Ship Hanoi

Hurray......we have some nice shorts and t-shirts weather!!

Got here in the evening time, and took us a while to find the hostel. Dropped off the bags and went for some lovely local food. Enjoyed the free beer for happy hour (8pm til 10pm), until we drunk them dry, then off round town with a couple of guys we met at the hostel.

Up early for the free breakfast, met a sound guy called Roger who gave us a lonely planet guide to Nam. Off to the Ho Chi Minh palace which was nice and colourful. The mausoleum was closed so we had to go the day after. That night we met up with a guy we met in Guilin. Again made full use of the happy hour int hostel then off into town. Our first stop was full of very friendly boys, a proper working mens club. We met a sailor, which was quite odd as we were miles away from any sea. One in there then moved on, although the music was good!

Mausoleum to see Uncle Ho himself, then on to the army museum. They had a Huey!!!! Simon was happy. And loads of other crushed metal and tanks. The centrepiece was a load of wreckage from a US B52 bomber.

Luxury night train north to Sapa. Cabin to ourselves, I whipped Colm at poker.......he lost 30,000 Vietnamese dong. About 1 pound

Got to Sapa around 7am, quick bite to eat then off on a 25km trek. Saw some rice fields and nice hills. Hired a bike the day after, Colm had a go and did well. Then night train back to Hanoi..........

Rest of south China then on to Vietnam

Problems with accessing the blog in China meant we have struggled to post recently. So now we are in Vietnam we can give a quick update on what we have been doing the last few weeks. Prepare for a whirlwind tour.

After leaving tiger leaping george, we stopped for a couple of nights in Zhongdian (affectionately renamed Shangri-La by the locals for the tourists sake). Hired the old push rods and went exploring.

Then it was on to Kunming to get to Guilin via the train. We met the best dressed man here. He was a don. Paul departed our company in Kunming to go to Laos to see Kim, who we met in Goa, for about 10 days.

In Guilin we met Kristine who stayed with us for a few days (so back up to a full quota of people). After Rob fulfilling his constant desire for western food (especially McDonalds), we got a bamboo raft along the Li river to Yangshou. Arriving in Yang Vegas (as we named it) we had a surprise. We had some good times here, and managed to worm our way into teaching English for a couple of nights. This was in return for free food and dirt cheap accomodation. Only catch was 1 hour per night. The students just wanted to chat and drink so fine by us. They brought in moonshine, beer and fruit. Bonus. They entertained us with cards and after class took us to KTV which is a karaoke bar.

I (Simon) would have liked to stay here for a long time, but unfortunately our visas were going to expire soon. Rob and Kristine stayed here as they had loads of time left on their visas. So back on the road again. Off to NAM Colm and I went. A quick hop to Nanning then across the border the day after.

That was fun. At first the Chinese border guy told us we had overstayed our stay by 1 day, thus wanting more money. Finally we got it through to him that there were only 30 days in November!!!! Then on to the Vietnamese officials. Even though we had payed for our visas they wanted more money......10 dollars in fact. We blagged our way through because I had only a 50 dollar note. We were the only people on our bus that didn't pay!! Nice bit of corruption there then.

So on to Hanoi......................

Tiger Leaping gorge and the bamboo forest

We left the Tea horse guest house at about 9am and got up to the point where we were in the sun at about 10am, as soon as the sun gets on you its t'shirt and shorts weather again. Our second day of hiking wasn't as tough as the first day but still definately a challenge. We stopped at a few other guest houses on the way just for a break and a cup of green tea. Got down to Jane's guest house, which is the end of the main trek, in time for lunch. Had a bite to eat there and then decided we would take the ladders down to the river at middle tiger leaping gorge. We had to pay a pound each to get down the ladders which as you've probably seen from the pictures, they wouldn't be allowed in the UK. They were fairly sturdy though and it was definately worth the climb down to see the gorge from the bottom. Unfortunately its hard to see the scale of the gorge from the photo's. Its 2000m from the river up to the top of the peaks!

We carried on back up out of the gorge to Sean's guest house, stopping on the way for a quick dip in a pond to cool off! The original plan was to leave the next day but we decided to stay instead, we hiked up to the bamboo forest, we had a guide from the hostel for the first section and she took us to her grandparents house for a cup of tea. It was the grandfathers 73rd birthday and they invited us to stop on the way back down for dinner with them. We got up to the waterfall at the bamboo forest (suprisingly little bamboo) and had a little paddle in the water to get some better pictures, the water was cold enough that it physically hurt when your feet were in it.

We went back down to the hostel, bought a few bottles of wine for the birthday boy and climbed back up to the party. They had slaughtered a goat for the meal, see pictures. The food was amazing and they kept plying us with the local wheat moonshine. It was a little too easy to drink and Paul and Colm were a little bit merry on the walk back down to the hostel.

The day after we didn't really get much done apart from a little walk. It was nice just to relax in the gorge itself though. The day after that we got a minibus back to the start of the trek to pick up our bags and then it was on to Shangri-La. We had been warned that it was absolutely freezing there but it wasn't too bad. We hired bikes again, its definately one of the better ways to see areas. Some americans in the hostel we were in invited us out to a local bar with all the local tibetan dancing going on, we had a go at it but it was a lot harder than it looked, had a great time there though.

Finally out of the city...

Its been a few days since the last entry, still having trouble getting onto the blog so were doing it in a roundabout way. We caught the sleeper bus from Chengdu to Lijiang. The driver was quite happy to put his foot down on some rather uneven roads. We got the back 5 beds between the 4 of us and it was actually suprisingly comfortable, was very bouncy though, got ourselves a bit of sleep but we did all hit the beds above us during the night on some of the stronger bumps.

We got to Lijiang at about 9am, 2 hours earlier than we were expecting, which was nice, although we were all pretty warm and comfortable in bed, didn't really want to get off. We found a nice cheap hostel in Lijiang old town (2.50 each for the night). It was nice to get somewhere that wasn't a big city, it seemed a lot more relaxed so we hired a bike each and went for a bit of a cycle around. The bikes had certainly seen better days so we took it easy and took the first aid kit with us just in case one of them fell apart. All the bikes survived and we all had a good time on them, was nice to have a change from walking or getting a taxi.

The following day we got a bus from Lijiang to Qiatao. This is where we were going to start the trek along the tiger leaping gorge. It was something we had all been looking forward to and we certainly weren't dissapointed byit. We left our bags at a hostel at the start of the trek and just took the basics with us, food, water, towels, toothbrushes, etc. We actually had to dig out the suncream aswell which made a nice change. We set off at about 1pm, later than we'd planned but still enough time to get us to a decent place to stay for the night. We walked 2 hours up to the naxi family guest house where we had a bit to eat and a drink. After that we walked another 3.5 hours up the "28 bends" which are a set of hairpin bends on a very steep path. We made it the top though and views were certainly worth the climb. Stayed the first night at the Tea Horse guest house. It was very basic but a really nice place to stay, and again the views were amazing.

The following morning we got up at 7am to go and watch the sunrise, we should have asked the hostel owners though, they were laughing at us when we left, we came back at 8am with still no sign of the sun, they told us then that the sun doesn't get over the peaks at that point until 9.40am.

I've wittered on quite a bit now and Simon's put hundereds of photo's up which I've got to start captioning so I'll stop there and let you all know the rest of our Tiger Leaping Gorge experience tomorrow!!

Paul, Simon, Colm and Rob

Warriors and Buddhas

Well... had a mammoth post all set up and was feeling quite pleased with myself for getting on the blog, unfortunately I tried to save it and it vanished so here we go again with a more condensed version this time. We left Beijing on monday after collecting our vietnamese visa's, was all straight forward. Got on the train down to Xi'An with our panda hats, a few beers and some music, went quite quick for 12 hours.
Got to Xi'an and booked a train straight out again the next evening which only gave us 36 hours, should have spent a bit longer there really but never mind. On the second day we went to the teracotta warriors which were really spectacular. Farmers found it in 1974 when they were digging a well and since then they have unearthed 2000 different warriors and pieced them back together. They were built and buried to protct an emporer after his death.
That evening we got the train from Xi'an down to chengdu where we went to see robs highlight of the trip, a 71m high buddha built to protect people on the river beneath, was really impressive, well worth the trip down there. Yesterday we got up early and went to see the panda's at the research centre. personally i thought it was a bit of a let down, was nice to see the pandas but they were letting people into the enclosures for 50 pounds to stroke and hug the panda's. Today we're heading to lijiang on the sleeper bus, takes 23 hours which should be an experience....
Paul colm simon and rob

China, Beijing!

Hello everyone!

Sorry that we haven't been updating the blog recently but the Chinese government has blocked the website (and facebook). We landed in China with no problem whatsoever, (we were expecting them to be really strict but it was easier than getting into India. Simon and I met up with Colm and Rob at about 11pm after being ripped off by a taxi driver, he was the only driver there and he got out the motor and turned the engine off so we had no choice bu to give him what he asked for!! It was really nice to meet up with the guys and its definately completely different to travelling with just the 2 of us!

The next morning it was up and out to get the visa's for Vietnam, the one thing we hadn't sorted before we left. When we finally got round to getting to the embassy they told us we couldn't pick them up again until Monday (5 days later). It wasn't a bad thing really because its meant that we've seen loads of different sights in Beijing. The first thing we went to was a section of the great wall. Walked all the way to the top and then back down again, which took about 1.5 hours. We got lunch and a trip to Mings tomb included in the price.

The following day we went to the Forbidden City which was really close to Tian'amen Square which is in turn really close to the hostel. It was quite good looking round but it was really cold, the wind is the worst thing, I've had to buy a coat and Simon's bought a hat and a pair of gloves. We did walk to the top of a hill that gave us a really good view over the city. We also went to the national stadium (Birds Nest) which was really spectacular and then when the lights came on at about 6pm it got even better.

We're hoping to get some pictures uploaded pretty soon but for some reason it doesn't seem to be working.I'll try and get up in the morning and put them up if I can manage it (its a bit tricky working out wha the computers telling me when its all in Mandarin characters)

Paul, Simon, Colm and Rob (uploaded by Richard)

Pictures on photobucket tomorrow (hopefully)

The final few days...

So, as Simon mentioned he didn't have the best of times on the train up to Delhi, after 24 hours in bed he was well enough to the next morning to move hotels, so, having spent 50 pounds on one night we went back to the more familiar grounds of a 5 pound a night room. Simon spent the rest of the day in the room again although he did make it out in the evening for a little bite to eat.

The following day we had a train ticket booked to go to Chandigargh. This is one of the thigs that Simon has wanted to do throughout the whole trip so we decided that we would go even though he wasn't feeling 100%. The main reason for going was the rock garden. A man called Nek Chand started collecting rubbish and stone that no one wanted for about 15 years he built a garden on government land that no one else knew about. When they did eventually find out they made it into a tourist attraction which is now the second most popular attraction after the Taj Mahal. Its all incredibly impressive that one man can build all those sculptures with no-one else knowing, have a look at the pictures we put up of it. The other thing we liked was Chandigargh itself, it has no culture or history whatsoever but its a brand new city, built on a grid system like the american cities but because its new, the roads are all very good and there isn't the usual rubbish and sewage in the streets like we've come to associate with india. The train back took 5 hours but was fairly uneventful.

The next day we stayed around Delhi and did a bit of sightseeing, unfortunately the city was smothered with smog which got into your eyes and also visibility was really bad, not good for photo's! We went to the national railway museum and the gateway of India, that was about it though, we were both fairly tired and the smog was getting to us so we just played on the internet and watched a film or 2 in the hotel.

Day 5 round here was another early start (about 5.30am) to go down to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and the red Fort. It was definately worth the early start, we got a car and guide to take us around a few different sites, although we did have to play along while he took us to local handicraft sites.

Today was our last day, we took it fairly steady and didn't get up to early, we went to the Delhi fort but as the pictures will show you, the only day in the week it is shut is a monday, and guess what day we tried to go! We spent the afternoon at Huammans tomb instead which was very impressive and made up for not getting into the fort. Now its time to go for a bit of food and then its our last night in India, tomorrow is another early start to get to the airport in time and then its off to China to meet up with Rob and Colm.

we get there at 2pm GMT and we're both really looking forward to it, although its really going to be a shame to leave India, we've really enjoyed our first six weeks, only another 4.5 months till we get to Australia...

Paul and Simon

Done Varanasi, now in Delhi

So we eventually arrived in the cess pit of Varanasi after our nightmare train of 27 hours (was meant to be 14 hours).

We had a guy who free rode our rickshaw, got ripped off by our "guide" (we didn't even want one) for the rickshaw journey, and then got taken to a rather nasty but exorbitantly priced hotel. So good first impressions. And of course it was late, with the festival of lights (Diwali) being held that night so no room any where else etc etc etc. I am sure you get the picture of our pretty disastrous day. A couple of beers then bed.

An early rise to visit the Ganges, we took.

Along our stroll along the river front (with steps down to it or ghats). Saw a few of the cremations taking place (around 250 to 300 bodies burned here everyday, but only at certain places along the river). Very smoky and quite weird. Once the body has been burned for 3 hours they put it into the river. It is not completely ashes, i.e. the mens torso or the womens hips are not burnt yet, so alot of human remains are in there!

Then there are the locals washing in it, just next to where a dead body is. Thats India for ya.

Then to the train station to catch our carriage to Delhi. During the train I got sick, came down with sickness and diarrhoea, which was fun. My problems started getting worse towards the end of our journey (which involved a lot of toilet action), so I asked Paul to find the nearest hotel, in the guide book, to our arrival station. He did. We made a hasty trip to our destination hotel, money no object. I would of paid everyting in my bank to get back onto a toilet. To be honest it nearly was everything. Only 'deluxe rooms left sir......'. Fine by me, the hotel was amazing!! Hot shower, big plasma telly, comfy duvet cover, the works! I stayed in bed a full 24 hours, r and r. But it was time to move on, mainly the cost but also the room was booked.

So our last few days in India..............

Simon and Paul

Been and left Darjeeling, now in Varanasi

After our big trip to Zero point, the highs and lows (literally and geographicaly)

Its been a while since the last post, Simon wrote this one last night but the computer packed up and got rid of it so I'm having another go while he is in bed!

As we said before, the trip to Zero point in Sikkim was amazing, best thing we've done so far. From Gangtok we took a jeep up and down some very impressive inclines for about 4 hours to reach Darjeeling. The origonal plan for Darjeeling was that we'd only be there for 1 full day and 2 nights, after that we were going to get the train down to Varanasi. But... as we have realised on this trip "the best laid plans...". We couldn't book the train we wanted which meant 3 nights and 2 days in Darjeeling, and the only class we could book on the train was sleeper, more of that later!

We weren't holding out too much hope for Darjeeling, the people we met on the trip to from Gangtok said it was very dirty and dusty. We thought it was ok though, although the rubbish here was just as bad as everywhere else. The Friday in Darjeeling was a very productive, woke up at 3.30am to go up to Tiger hill where you have a spectacular view of Katchenzunga appearing in the sunlight, later on we had a walk down through the botanical gardens (they have loads of orchids there) to the Happy Valley Tea estate, it was quite interesting to see how its all done, its really quite straight forward. We bought some tea from them and were pursuaded to buy even more from a woman just outside the factory who sat us down and apparently made us the best cup of tea in the world!!

After that it was a walk up the hills to the zoo and the mountain instute, the zoo is doing a lot of conservation work for himilayan animals and the zoo had loads of exhibits about mountaineering in the himilaya's, mainly about attempts on Everest, including Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay, the first people to the top.

The saturday was quite a slow day in contrast, sent some parcels and the like but that was about it. The day after we had a quick jaunt on the toy train and then it was back down 7000ft to NJP where we were getting our train to Varanasi. This trip was due to take us 14 hours, we got on at 5pm and didn't get off in Varanasi until after 7pm the next day, over 12 hours late, it was apparently due to a damaged track which meant they had to detour us an extra 400km!

I will be back on later this evening to add pictures and let you know how we got on in Varanasi and our trip to Delhi!

Paul and Simon

PS. Finally caught up with some photo's again!

Bone rattling worth it for stunning views

So we set off on our big expedition to the summit of Everest (well it felt that far), but really only 120ish K's to a place called Lachung. This was a place high up in the Himalaya mountainous region at approx 8800ft. We set off at around 11am on the tuesday, arriving in the pitch black to our hotel around 7pm. With only a couple of stops along the way this was some serious hard core off roading. Both Paul and I respect the people who do the Paris-Dakar rally a bit more now after our measly 2 day effort, and we have the aches and bruises to prove it!

So our shared 'Mahindra Marshall Maxx' 4x4 jeep with a capacity of 10 plus driver was brimming with passengers, fuel and luggage. I happened to glance at one of the tyres on one of our short breaks - mistake.... it was just showing bare wires! Anyway it made it.

The places we saw along our trek gave hope for the future, including 3 hydro electric power station projects and road building on a large but somewhat crude scale - they lay tarmac in flip-flops (cringe). We often reached places where the road had only recently been subject to a landslide and drove precariously close to the edge.

But it was all worth it!

We awoke the next morning around 6am to some stunning, clear views from our hotel (we arrived in the dark). So from there it was another journey higher, through more and more military check-points (it is very close to the border with Tibet and China) to Zero Point at 15000ft. Along the way we saw a couple of wreckages of jeeps that had failed to make it. A rather stark reminder. In fact the one shown in the pictures (in the middle of the track) only crashed the day before!! Not nice.

The guys in our jeep were all very friendly (some a bit too friendly) and all of Indian origin, we had a few drinks with them on the first night. They gave us advice on our "eating with your hands" technique, but failed to understand the hand alcohol gel to wash your hands with - they thought I was a proper scruff.

Hope I have not waffled on too much but both Paul and I agree that this single two day excursion has been the highlight of our journey so far, so it was worth a decent narration!!

Oh and please LOOK AT THE PICTURES

Simon and Paul

PS. Internet is a bit slow, got loads of pictures but have only been able to upload a few, will find somewhere else tomorrow hopefully for the rest!

Finally made it to Sikkim!

I took us 72 hours, 3 different trains and a 4x4 to cover nearly 2000 miles but we have made it at last. I (Paul) had a minor mishap in calcutta station when the solitary bottle of beer in my bag smashed cover all my clothes in beer and glass so what with that and my tablets wearing off I wasnt the happiest of people for Simon to be with. A few more tablets and a reasonable nights sleep on the train and everything was alright in the morning though. When we got off the train in New Jalpaiguri we met 3 philipino volunteers who had in turn met someone on the train who was going to help the get a 4x4 to Gangtok in Sikkim for a reasonable price. When we got off the train we were still unsure as to whether we were going to Sikkim or Darjeeling but we decided we couldn't turn down the offer of help so Sikkim it was. It cost us 300Rs for 4.5hrs in a 4x4. The roads in a lot of places were pretty good and they're working on the roads where they're not good but there were still some places that seemed to have just been washed away and the drivers insist on going as fast as humany possible. There a loads of road safety messages all along the road including "Better late than Never", "Safety on the road means a safe tea at home" and the favourite "It is not a rally, enjoy the valley!" Despite all this we made it safely, crossing the border (picture) was a mere formality and we arrived in Gangtok about 5pm. Today we looked around at a few of the local sights, cable car, waterfalls, viewpoints, etc while they are making up some permits for the two of us because tomorrow we are off on a 2 day 1 night trip up to the north of Sikkim to a village called Lachung (google it and check it out). We'll be back in Gangtok on Wednesday evening and then thursday we'll take a 4x4 over to darjeeling if all goes to plan, which it usually doesn't!

I've uploaded a few more pictures so have look at them.

Hope everyones well at home and Simon says Hi!

Paul and Simon

39hrs down, 10 to go

Just a quick hello to let you know what we're up to but no pictures, haven't really taken many while we were on the train. We left Cochin for Chennai. That was an overnight train and took us 12 hours. spent two hours waiting in Chennai station and then it was back on the trains again for the 27 hour slog to Calcutta. It was all relatively uneventful although while simon was sleeping like a baby I have unfortunately been dashing backwards and forwards to the toilet. Have since taken a few tablets though and hopefully it should be ok now. We got into Calcutta at midday today and at 2345 were back on the train overnight again, heading up to Darjeeling or Sikkim, whichever one seems easiest to get to when were there!

We'll hopefully get some pictures up in the next day or two when we finally get off the trains!

Paul and Simon

The anticlimax after our big excursion

So, after our big day out on the backwaters around Alleppey in our chartered houseboat for the day (a full 24 hours) we have moved up north to a small place called Fort Cochi.

The boat trip was absolutely amazing, we were waitered on hand and foot, had 3 fantastic meals prepared for us and had a brill time. Right is a picture of our floating palace. We even bought some huge king prawns which they prepared and cooked for us as a starter to our main meal at dinner time (see the pics). The only downside was the heat during the night, I don't think either Paul or I slept much at all......one of the rare occassions we wish we had not been tight and paid that extra for air con (although we probably spent 3 days budget on just hiring the boat)! We moored up twice during the voyage, the first time for our lunch (which was a feast) with beautiful views of the padi fields and then stopped again for the night. We ventured into the narrower backwaters, during our second mooring, in a canoe which was fun. We haggled them down to 200 rupees (about 3 quid) plus a beer which had them all in fits of laughter. As they say a picture tells a thousand words so check them out, Paul is currently trying to get some uploaded which going on past experiences may take some time but we will push through.

Fort Cochi is ok but we cannot seem to get a feel for the place, although we did have a go with the local fisherman and their counterbalanced net (influenced by the Chinese). We caught some fish!!

Tomorrow we are going to head for the hills of Munnar to see some tea plantations and (hopefully) be in a cooler climate at least for a while.

Simon and Paul

Killing time in Alleppey

So we have arrived in Alleppey, after a 3 hour bus ride from Varkala - this time we had to stand most of the way as the bus was very full and cramped but it went quickly, we reached terrifying speeds on the pot-holed roads but managed somehow to get here un-scathed. We witnessed some one being ejected by his fellow travellers (an indian chap) because he apparently 'made a scene' which was all very interesting!

We are staying the one night at a rather nice Kerala government heritage accomodation site, that was reccomended to us by a fellow traveller we met in Anjuna (Goa), ready for the off bright and early tomorrow to try and find a backwater cruiser (houseboat) that we plan on spending a full 24 hours on. It's apparently on the Lonely Planets top ten things to do before you die (in at number 7) but we will reserve judgement until after the event. It's going to be expensive at around 20 quid but with meals included (apparently the fishermen come alongside in their boats and show you today's catch, which you choose - be it prawns, lobster, fish etc.) and hopefully a few beers, if our negotiation skills are up to scratch it should be worth it!!

After the day living on a boat we plan to move up to Kochin (or Cochi, it's old name) wher we will probably spend some time and then move up north.

Ciao for now,
Simon and Paul

Okey doke then,

few changes since the last post. We're no longer in Goa. We took a train from Margao in Goa, 17hrs and 1050km to Thivandrum, Kerela. We're now as far South in India as we're going to go. The picture was one taken a while ago in Goa of Simon under a Just Gents sign, (Just for you Paula). We'll keep an eye out for a hardressers with the correct spelling!! The train trip down here was actually really good, we were in 3AC class, a lower class than last time, but we were with 4 Indian lads on holiday to Kerela, they gave us some of their food and we kept them going with some good old ninties tunes, they loved Michael Jackson. We managed to get the camera working again when we were in Margao, cost about 18 pounds and they bussed it in all the way from Mumbai for us and it arrived about 5mins before we left for our train. The other little matter we sorted whilst we were in Margao is we finally managed to get around to unlocking my phone, (we have tried before, honest!). Got a sim card in it now and the number is 00919744873360 just in case anyone fancies ringing or texting us at any point! I dont have any numbers saved on the phone so send us an email or text so we have your numbers. Had a little stroll around thivandrum today and somehow managed to get ourselves standing next to the police with loads of communists on one side and anti chinese government protesters on the other side. It all went off quite peacefully though, bit of an anticlimax in the end. Had a look around the zoo here, has some quite cool animals in it although a lot of them looked extremely bored. Had a look around an art gallery aswell which had an artist called Nicholas Roerich in it, his son paints aswell and they both had really good pictures!

Tomorrow is all change again. We're going to make our way to the coast to a place called Varkala to let simon catch up on the beach time that he missed with his heat rash. After that were heading further up the coast to Cochin, hopefully doing a backwater cruise on the way if we can afford it!!

Glad you've finally worked out how to post comments Rob, wasn't too hard was it...?

PS. Just to remind you all leave us a comment with your phone nunmbers or even better, send us a text!

Talk to you all soon!!

Paul and Simon

Palolem and Patnem

Right then everyone,

hopefully people are still keeping an eye on what were up to. Its been a while since the last blog, been trying to find somewhere where I can upload photo's at the same time (really been struggling with that recently). Unfortunately, we have no pictures from the past few days anyway because something seems to have gone a little bit haywire in my camera. Hopefully its just a case of getting a new battery but we need a big enough town to get them.

Palolem is beautiful, and I do have a few pictures of it. Its still about two weeks before they're official holiday season starts here so its relatively quiet on the beaches, etc. We ended up spending 5 days in Palolem, which is a lot more than we expected to but we were having a really good time with the guys we met (hello and happy travels to Andy, Kim, Josh and Kerrie) It was a bit odd seeing them go, we've actually had more time as a group with them than we have with just the two of us. We went for a little boat trip up the river at the end of palolem beach and we swam to the island there aswell, you'll see it in the pictures when I finally get them up. We've been eating out, generally with the others and its been seafood all the way really, its hard to not eat seafood when your this close to the sea. All the restraunts have fresh shark, prawns, tigerprawns, calamari, tuna, the list goes on and we've been slowly working our way through it.

Now were in Patnem (only about 3Km down the coast) and its back to being just the two of us and it is quite a nice feeling to be back on the road again after quite a long stay in one place. Today is Tuesday 13th and tomorrow morning at 10 we have to be out of the hostel so the plan for this evening is some food and then a quiet evening in with the maps and travel guides to try and formulate some kind of a plan for the next few days.

Hopefully when Simon gets online in a bit he might have more luck uploading pictures.

We'll try not to leave it so long before we post again. 2 weeks down, 4 more to go in India!!

Paul and Simon

Arrival in Anjuna

Ok, been quite a while since the last post, tried using the internet a few times but it takes so long to load up. Simon and I left Mumbai at midnight on saturday night. Got the sleeper train down, we were in 2tier AC class which will probably make more sense when we can upload photo's, got loads by the way. We got picked up from Thivim by the hostel. Were staying in the evershine hostel in Anjuna, Goa. Paying 200Rs a night, its a really basic room, literally just beds and a table but the place is really nice and Sebastianna, the woman who runs it has been really nice to us. Goa is worlds apart from mumbai, they're still crazy drivers but there a lot less of them. Just to panic the parents a little we decided to hire a moped, its by far the easiest way to get around and all the tourists seem to do it. Met a group of 4 people here who had been here a day or two before us, been doing a stuff with them. Been to the beach a few times and had a look at an old 1612 fort on top of a hill in Vagata(Photo above). Tomorrow were off to the flea market which is mentioned in the lonley planet as something that you really shouldn't miss. I'll try to get some photo's uploaded asap.

Paul and Simon

In at the Deep End

So, we've got to india and we really were in at the deep end. We got picked up at the airport with no problems. Got to the hostel and really weren't sure about it, it didnt look anything like it did online but having been here for a little while now its really good, the rooms are clean and everything works, the staff here are amazing (I'm using their internet for free at the moment). Spent a bit of money yesterday having a buffet meal at a hotel, (I know its not real india but we were a bit dazed when we got here). Both of us sat in the room when we got here and we didnt have a clue what to do!! Half an hour later and we were stepping out into traffic thats flying along and hoping they'll stop for you, apparently people are supposed to have right of way on the road so we are trying to overcome 20 years of road safety by stepping out.

Took the train down to the centre of mumbai today (were about 10 miles out). Took us 45 minutes and cost us 7Rs which is about 10p (1 pound is about 80Rs). Had a look at the gateway of india, you should see that on the pictures, was built for king george's visit back in 1911. Tomorrow were going to elephanta island with a couple of kiwi's we me at the hostel and then after that were hoping to get a train at 23.05 down to goa, takes us about 12 hours so we might get a few postcards written so keep an eye on your post!

Don't know when we'll be back on the net but hopefully we'll be back in touch soon.

Ps. If anyone wants to leave comments then there should be a link at the bottom of each message!

Talk soon
Paul and Simon

Hello from Bahrain

Hello everyone,

In bahrain at the moment, managed to get here in one piece an hour ahead of schedule. Had a slight moment in heathrow when we got to check in and the guy said we wouldn't be able to land in mumbai with the visa we have (he was half asleep and his supervisor put him right). Got to wait for a couple of hours now until the onward flight to mumbai. We landed att 6.20 and it was already 34 degrees outside! We were well fed and watered on the flight, had 2 meals and complimentary drinks.

We'll upload a few pictures when we find a computer that can do it.

Paul & Simon