It is official, we will be leaving for Africa at the end of May! Pictures to come!
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Colaba
We have been staying in the Colaba area of Bombay since yesterday and it is so nice. Our room has a view of the harbor and the hotel has a lovely restaurant with a pretty patio area. We are just a two minute walk from the Gate of India and the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. We've spent the majority of our time in this area just relaxing and shopping and enjoying a Kingfisher on the patio. The weather is very hot and humid, so walking around gets tiring after a short while. Our flight leaves tomorrow evening, homesick for our beagles and some American food! =)
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Mumbai
Our last day in Varanasi was nice, we went on a sunrise boat ride, which was really pretty. An interesting cultural experience to watch all the Hindu pilgrims performing their morning prayers and bathing in the Ganges. We spent the rest of the day exploring the the maze like alley ways filled with homes, cafes, and little shops. It is frowned upon to drink alcohol near the holy ganges... The night before we ate at a place that served Casey's beer in a tea pot and coffee mugs! Hah!
We flew to Mumbai later that evening and our taxi driver could not find our hotel.. and then brought us to the wrong hotel. He did not speak any English. Luckily, the receptionist at the hotel he brought us to called the correct hotel and had them pick us up. It was past 2 AM by the time we got the keys to our room. Today we went to the largest forest in an urban area... it was nothing special. I am sure it is just because of the area we are in right now and the park we went to today, but from our first impressions of Mumbai, we do not care for it very much. We've spent the majority of the day sleeping and I have been recovering from the "delhi belly". A day of laying around was much needed. Tomorrow we head to the much more Tourist area.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Varanasi
We arrived in Varanasi yesterday and getting here was quite an experience that I was too tired to write about yesterday. We only spent the day in Agra and were numbers one and two on the wait-list for the overnight train to Varanasi. Every blog I read online made it sound as though we should have no problem getting our tickets confirmed since so many people cancel their tickets last minute and there are always extra seats left over from the 24 hr before departure section. Even people at the hotel we stayed at said we would have a problem and Ramesh told us he was 99% sure our tickets would get confirmed....
So here we are waiting at the train station, with no idea how to check whether our tickets had been confirmed or not yet. The employees at the train station were incredibly rude and unhelpful. When the train arrived we spotted a tourist couple (from Colorado) and asked them if they had any idea what we should do. They told us that they were number 13 and 14 on the wait list and that they were not confirmed according to the list (that the unhelpful man had!) but that they were just going to board the train anyway and that we should too! So we followed them onto the train hoping to find someone who could help us, when a man told us the conductor was outside and would tell us if our tickets were confirmed. So we left the couple and approached the conductor who was telling a british couple that there tickets would not be confirmed. They told us they were numbers 3 and 4 on the wait list, suddenly we begin to panic again (our flight was to leave from Varanasi to Mumbai in two days... kind of had to be there...) Our turn..
Not confirmed!
Crap..
So we chatted with the British couple for a few minutes trying to figure out what our next set of actions would be, talked about the four of us getting a taxi to Varanasi, trying for the next train in the morning etc.. We decide we will just try again tomorrow and wish each other luck. As we were leaving we noticed a man helping the couple and they were heading back towards the train. Hey! If they were getting on, we were too! So we followed them to see what was going on. After a lot of confusion and some translating by a bystander we were told that we could buy tickets from the general sleeper class and get onto the train still. "How many?" he asks. Dave, the British fellow looks at us, "four!" we reply. Quickly Dave runs off with the guy to purchase the tickets.
I look at the clock, 3 minutes until the train departs.
Somehow they made it back seconds before the train started moving, we were all running to the sleeper carriage on the train!
We get into the carriage, we are the only tourists, and the only ones who seemed to be able to speak any English. It was so crowded there was no room to lay down (remember, this is an over night train. The AC class comes with sleeping berths, pillows, sheets, a blanket, and curtains to draw). We squeeze into the chairs and find everyone is staring at us. The man sitting next to me was trying to ask what the hell we were doing in that class! Haha! (took me a couple of times to figure out what he was trying to say to me) It was filthy, the benches were hard as a rock, the windows would not stay closed and between the other passengers loud talking, smoking, farting and spitting (yes on the floor on the train) it was a pretty miserable 13 hours! As people started to get off at stops there became more room to lay down on the berths, however I did not get more that 30 minutes of sleep (opposed to the perfect night of sleep in the AC class.) Casey slept a little and the British couple seemed to sleep a bit too. When we finally got to Varanasi, we saw the couple we left from Colorado and asked them how they stayed on the train. They told us they just stayed in the AC class until a berth became available as people got off... !! No one even checked their ticket!
The four of us hated them..
Needless to say, we decided to spoil ourselves on our hotel accommodations in Varanasi after our long ordeal and spend $50 US a night as suppose to our typical backpackers accommodations for around $25. We've been staying at the Silver Ganges Guesthouse and it has been so nice!! The first bed with a spring mattress, reliable hot water for showers (and the spout actually shoots out hot water, not just trickles it!) a rooftop restaurant, and wifi. The hotel is buy the main burning ghat so all the funeral processions pass our hotel, and since many elderly people go to Varanasi to die (dying in the city ends the cycle of reincarnation) we have seen many. It is really interesting, but you can't take pictures of this.
We decided to use the tour the hotel has set up and it was really nice. The the man working at the counter set up two boat rides down the Ganges (took one last night and we will take one tomorrow morning), and then drove us to see various sites in Varanasi today. We saw the Beranas University, which is the largest university in Asia, the temple of Shiva (Varanasi is the holy city of Shiva), the monkey temple, another temple and then went to the part of town were all of the silk scarfs, blankets, etc are woven. The tour was very informative and he told us not only the history of the temples but explained various parts of the Hindu religion to us.
After our tour we took a drive to Saranath, where Buddha gave his first lesson. It is a pilgrimage destination for many Buddhists and has the ruins of a buddhist city. We thought we were going to die on the way over there, by far the scariest drive yet! The driving here is a constant game of chicken. Both cars drive head on towards each other until someone finally swerves out of the way! People were yelling at him to slow down and he even hit two other rickshaws! Hah.
Needing some time to recover from our near death experience ;) we have been relaxing in the room before finding a place for dinner (hence the long blog post).
So here we are waiting at the train station, with no idea how to check whether our tickets had been confirmed or not yet. The employees at the train station were incredibly rude and unhelpful. When the train arrived we spotted a tourist couple (from Colorado) and asked them if they had any idea what we should do. They told us that they were number 13 and 14 on the wait list and that they were not confirmed according to the list (that the unhelpful man had!) but that they were just going to board the train anyway and that we should too! So we followed them onto the train hoping to find someone who could help us, when a man told us the conductor was outside and would tell us if our tickets were confirmed. So we left the couple and approached the conductor who was telling a british couple that there tickets would not be confirmed. They told us they were numbers 3 and 4 on the wait list, suddenly we begin to panic again (our flight was to leave from Varanasi to Mumbai in two days... kind of had to be there...) Our turn..
Not confirmed!
Crap..
So we chatted with the British couple for a few minutes trying to figure out what our next set of actions would be, talked about the four of us getting a taxi to Varanasi, trying for the next train in the morning etc.. We decide we will just try again tomorrow and wish each other luck. As we were leaving we noticed a man helping the couple and they were heading back towards the train. Hey! If they were getting on, we were too! So we followed them to see what was going on. After a lot of confusion and some translating by a bystander we were told that we could buy tickets from the general sleeper class and get onto the train still. "How many?" he asks. Dave, the British fellow looks at us, "four!" we reply. Quickly Dave runs off with the guy to purchase the tickets.
I look at the clock, 3 minutes until the train departs.
Somehow they made it back seconds before the train started moving, we were all running to the sleeper carriage on the train!
We get into the carriage, we are the only tourists, and the only ones who seemed to be able to speak any English. It was so crowded there was no room to lay down (remember, this is an over night train. The AC class comes with sleeping berths, pillows, sheets, a blanket, and curtains to draw). We squeeze into the chairs and find everyone is staring at us. The man sitting next to me was trying to ask what the hell we were doing in that class! Haha! (took me a couple of times to figure out what he was trying to say to me) It was filthy, the benches were hard as a rock, the windows would not stay closed and between the other passengers loud talking, smoking, farting and spitting (yes on the floor on the train) it was a pretty miserable 13 hours! As people started to get off at stops there became more room to lay down on the berths, however I did not get more that 30 minutes of sleep (opposed to the perfect night of sleep in the AC class.) Casey slept a little and the British couple seemed to sleep a bit too. When we finally got to Varanasi, we saw the couple we left from Colorado and asked them how they stayed on the train. They told us they just stayed in the AC class until a berth became available as people got off... !! No one even checked their ticket!
The four of us hated them..
Needless to say, we decided to spoil ourselves on our hotel accommodations in Varanasi after our long ordeal and spend $50 US a night as suppose to our typical backpackers accommodations for around $25. We've been staying at the Silver Ganges Guesthouse and it has been so nice!! The first bed with a spring mattress, reliable hot water for showers (and the spout actually shoots out hot water, not just trickles it!) a rooftop restaurant, and wifi. The hotel is buy the main burning ghat so all the funeral processions pass our hotel, and since many elderly people go to Varanasi to die (dying in the city ends the cycle of reincarnation) we have seen many. It is really interesting, but you can't take pictures of this.
We decided to use the tour the hotel has set up and it was really nice. The the man working at the counter set up two boat rides down the Ganges (took one last night and we will take one tomorrow morning), and then drove us to see various sites in Varanasi today. We saw the Beranas University, which is the largest university in Asia, the temple of Shiva (Varanasi is the holy city of Shiva), the monkey temple, another temple and then went to the part of town were all of the silk scarfs, blankets, etc are woven. The tour was very informative and he told us not only the history of the temples but explained various parts of the Hindu religion to us.
After our tour we took a drive to Saranath, where Buddha gave his first lesson. It is a pilgrimage destination for many Buddhists and has the ruins of a buddhist city. We thought we were going to die on the way over there, by far the scariest drive yet! The driving here is a constant game of chicken. Both cars drive head on towards each other until someone finally swerves out of the way! People were yelling at him to slow down and he even hit two other rickshaws! Hah.
Needing some time to recover from our near death experience ;) we have been relaxing in the room before finding a place for dinner (hence the long blog post).
Monday, January 2, 2012
Agra
After leaving Jim Corbett Park, we took a train to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort, both a beautiful glimpse of the extravagance of the Mughal empire. The Taj Mahal absolutely stunning. As we were walking out of the main mausoleum where the emperor Shan Jahan and his wife's remains are located, there was a sudden rain storm and we took refuge under the overhang of the Taj. And just like that the rain was gone and there was a beautiful rainbow behind the Taj.
Happy New Year
We had a great four days at Corbett National Park. The jungle is beautiful and it was so nice to have a break from the chaotic atmosphere of the cities in India. The wildlife is very diverse in Corbett and we saw a good amount of animals. We even became celebrities for the others visiting the park after we encountered a tiger! The word must have gotten around quickly that the two white people had seen a tiger because we only told one person and before we had everyone there asking us about it and wanting to see our pictures. Unfortunately neither of us got very good pictures because the tiger crossed the road right in front of us and then went into the bush on the other side. We also saw a herd of elephants, tons of deer, lots of monkeys, wild boar, kingfishers, peacocks, and a couple of sloth bears! Ramesh was a great guide and was kind enough to invite us in his home for dinner two nights. Casey even gave his children a quick drawing lesson.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Day three in Delhi
It is morning here in Delhi. Last night was the first good sleep I've had since Thursday night between the plane ride and experiencing jet lag. Waking up at 2:30 AM yesterday, leaving the room by 5 am, wandering the empty bazaars until something opened to have some breakfast, visiting the Delhi Zoo, and spending hours walking through shopping centers and bazaars... looking back yesterday seems like a multiple days in Delhi!
"Hello my friend, where are you from, England??"
"How many days in Delhi, my friend?"
"Hello Sir, Madam, yes??"
The same couple of phrases heard over and over while walking through Delhi by the touts trying to get you to one of the many "official tourist agency". They start walking next to you acting as though they are curious about where you are actually from, at first Casey was responding to their questions, by the end of the day we acted like we did not speak English.
Casey has become quite the barterer for getting a decent price on a rickshaw. There have been many instances where we are sure our driver has no idea where he is taking us, and somehow we have always ended up at our right location! Casey loves the rickshaw rides, he says he feels like he's on the Indiana Jones ride at Disney land. I could tell you little about the rides,as I am sure my psychological response of dealing with the stress of the ride is to repress it!
Today we will be finishing up our sight seeing in Delhi, seeing the Red Fort, etc... Then an overnight train to Corbett.
No pictures todays as we could not get the wifi to work. Not sure we will be getting internet in Corbett, so it might be awhile until the next post.
Namaste!
"Hello my friend, where are you from, England??"
"How many days in Delhi, my friend?"
"Hello Sir, Madam, yes??"
The same couple of phrases heard over and over while walking through Delhi by the touts trying to get you to one of the many "official tourist agency". They start walking next to you acting as though they are curious about where you are actually from, at first Casey was responding to their questions, by the end of the day we acted like we did not speak English.
Casey has become quite the barterer for getting a decent price on a rickshaw. There have been many instances where we are sure our driver has no idea where he is taking us, and somehow we have always ended up at our right location! Casey loves the rickshaw rides, he says he feels like he's on the Indiana Jones ride at Disney land. I could tell you little about the rides,as I am sure my psychological response of dealing with the stress of the ride is to repress it!
Today we will be finishing up our sight seeing in Delhi, seeing the Red Fort, etc... Then an overnight train to Corbett.
No pictures todays as we could not get the wifi to work. Not sure we will be getting internet in Corbett, so it might be awhile until the next post.
Namaste!
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