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