Thailand so far!

Soz about the lack of updates.
SO.. from Pursat I went to Battambang and spent the night there. In the morning I began my epic journey up to northern Thailand to meet Steve! The trip was complicated by the fact I wanted to avoid going to Bangkok, which would be the normal route to Chiang Mai, because I was afraid of getting stuck in the flooding! Got to the Thai border around 11 without any dramas. The guidebook told me that after walking across the border I could catch a tuk-tuk to the bus station and book from there. Not a single tuk-tuk in sight. Just plenty of 'booking offices' full of people trying to rip me off. One particular character even told me that there were no tuk-tuks and no bus station. So because I'm so stubborn I just decided to pick a road and marched off down it in the hopes of finding a tuk-tuk or bus station. Luckily not far into my march some lovely Thai fellows in a local restaurant saw me and asked where I was going, loaded me on the back of their moto and drove me to the bus station, free of charge. Brilliant. Got there at 12:15 to be told that the bus to Khorat (which is the next major city, where I could book onwards tickets direct to Chiang Mai) was due at 12 but was running late (thank goodness or I would have missed it). Turns out though that the bus wasn't going to leave until 3pm. It arrived just after 1, but then they spent the next couple of hours leisurely packing it with freight. I was also told that the journey to Khorat, which I had read would take 3 hrs, would in fact take 6hrs due to traffic.
Finally set off just after 3pm, it did in fact take 6hrs and there was in fact lots of traffic.
I arrived at the Khorat bus station at about 9:10pm, went to the only window where you could book buses to Chiang Mai, only to find out that their last bus left at 8:30pm, and the next one wasn't until 3am.
Wasn't a high point of my day, I can tell you that. I was trying to weigh up whether to go to a hotel or just stay put and wait. I found a 24hr food area and decided to just wait it out there. It was incredibly annoying because my phone and Steve's phone decided not to communicate with each other the whole day, and so I couldn't let him know that I wouldn't be arriving sometime in the early hours of the morning like we'd originally imagined.
Eventually at 2:30am I went to buy my ticket for the bus (wasn't sure when the office would open again) only to find a huge lineup. The 3am bus was booked out. As was the 4:45am bus. I had to wait another few hours and catch the 6:30am bus! Also, not a high point of my day.
The bus was expensive but very nice. Double decker, LCD screens (although all the movies had been dubbed in Thai and had no English subtitles), and gave us snacks and meal vouchers for when we stopped. Took about 13.5hr to Chiang Mai. By the time I arrived after 8pm, I'd been traveling for over 36 hours!
Reunited with Steve at last! Steve + a serious beard. Wow. That had to be trimmed.


He led me around to a street market and got me dinner. Was really strange just being led around and having food provided for me, without having to think or do anything myself for a change!
The next day we caught a bus to the little touristy town of Pai. Very quiet and peaceful and nice. We celebrated our 3 year anniversary there and basically spent our days trying out each cafe in town. Was a great rest! The day before we left we went elephant riding! I'd never ridden and elephant before but have wanted to for ages! We got to ride just straight on its back rather than on a chair which was more fun but also a challenge to stay on at times!
We rode to the river, and the elephant repeatedly would drop on its side and buck us off! Other times it would just shake its back wildly until we fell off! It was pretty fun but my thigh suffered some serious rope burn and bruising from one time when I managed to hold on, only to be bucked off into the water in the end!


Spent about 8 days in Pai altogether, and now we're back in Chiang Mai. We're staying here for the Loy Krathong Festival in which thousands of candles and paper lanterns are launched into the river or up into the sky. That's on the 10th.. should be really spectacular!
xx

The last few days in Pursat

I've spent the last 4 nights in Pursat province staying with the Sustainable Cambodia foundation. Absolutely brilliant. Pursat is the capital of the Pursat province and very rural, and not at all touristy. Steve and I visited two years ago and I was surprised to see a handful of huge hotels have popped up, although I can't imagine who's staying in them? I think the Cambodian philosophy to tourism is 'build big, and they'll come'. There were two other long term volunteers staying as well who were brilliant and very entertaining company; Richard from the UK and Ben from the US. Ate the traditional Cambodian diet of 3 meals of rice and meat a day (when I say 'traditional' I mean for those that can afford it). For breakfast we'd walk to a food stall down the road that sold a dish of crispy pork (that you could pretend was bacon) and rice and you'd pour some sort of ginger sweet chilli lime sauce all over it. It was amazing.

Went and visited the main school in town and went to Lakana's class. They ended up pulling her out of class for my visit ("Umm... are you sure she doesn't need to stay in class??") so we could go and visit her family home. When we were walking down the hall at the school I suddenly realised that she was almost as tall as me! "How old are you now Lakana???" ... she's 17! In my mind she never grew older than when I started sponsoring her when she was about 12! Last time we visited was in the dry season.. being the wet season her stilted house was surrounded by water and we had to cross some very rickety planks of wood to go inside. We sat around and chatted for a while.. simple and lovely. Lakana still wants to be a doctor or nurse.. but they don't know if they'll be able to afford to send her to University (although she still has 3 years left at highschool). Sustainable Cambodia offers scholarship for either tuition or living expenses but the family has to pay the other. Their estimate was that to study medicine it would cost about $3000/year in tuition and that living expenses would be $100/month. Her older sister that I'd met last time had recently moved to Phnom Penh to find a job in a department store.. but unfortunately they weren't sure whether the salary would cover her living expenses away from home! Must be so scary.


The next day Richard and I and a bunch of the SC guys went on an all day expedition to the Bakan area. It was AMAZING! Rural rural Cambodia! The dirt roads were god awful! I was on the back of a moto with Mr Chenda who I'd met last visit. At times the 'pot holes' were the size of small swimming pools and we fell off twice in the slippery slippery muddy slosh! Brilliant fun. We visited a rural school funded by the Australian branch of SC, a rotary club in Western Australia. We had to wade through shin deep water to get inside and the room was partially under water. We had to collect data of the childrens' age, weight and height for the nutrition supplement program. SCA provides food supplements of porridge in the morning as well as vitamins for the children. I think almost all the children in Cambodia must be lacking nutrition or food because they all look years younger than they are. Most 9 year olds look no older than 6 etc etc. The kids were all very entertaining and we taught them the high-5.

Next we visited a newly formed community further out. Apparently they all had escaped financial problems with the bank by just moving out bush... sounds a bit dubious. They had pooled their money together to buy land for a school to be built ($1000 US for a hectare!!) and they were going to start construction in the next two weeks once it dries up a bit. The whole community congregated at one house to see us... we were the very first white people they'd seen. Quite a few women came up and touched my arm and face, seemingly very concerned I had mud on my white skin! A group of children just stared at us (at a safe distance).. I don't think they really knew what to make of us!The next village we visited, we had to drive through another terrible terrible road. At one point there was a flowing stream 1.5m wide that we had to try and carry/pull the motorbikes across. I'm really surprised the engines didn't flood. At this point I'd like to add that when I say 'motorbikes' they weren't dirt bikes or anything... they were scooters! Eventually the road was too bad and we had to slosh through knee deep water for a kilometre to get to the village to do more data collection. The children there were fascinated by us as well. At first they were a timid but after a while I had a group of girls sitting next to me and hesitantly touching my skin. A couple of them even put their hands around my calf and made faces that said 'WOAH' at the circumference of it! We taught them the high-5 as well and eventually had all of them joined in. By the end of it I had two girls hugging me around the hips like baby koalas, not wanting to let go! Sweet little things. They're all just so beautiful.

The countryside was absolutely amazing too. All so very flat bar one mountain range in the distance. Red dirt, bright green rice fields, clear blue sky... the colours just seemed too vibrant! It was just sooooo beautiful I can't even begin to do it justice!


I was taken to visit another school in the Kandieng district. I'd never really thought much of Pursat town.. not a very good looking place, but Kandieng is Beautiful! Last time I hadn't gone further than the main market.. but down the road further next to the river it gets so lush and tropical. Banana trees, sugar palms, and simple stilted timber houses. It was actually really gorgeous. The school was right next to a large open rice field and the view out the window was just so picturesque. I visited 3 classes of varying age. I taught the youngest class how to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star at their request (one of the other volunteers had taught them Baa Baa Black Sheep and they asked if I had a song to teach them too!), which was very entertaining. The other classes just practiced their English by introducing themselves and asking me questions.

This morning we rode out to Krakor and took a boat onto the Tonle Sap to see a floating village. It was really nice. All the houses were painted in various shades of blue and turquoise with other brightly coloured details. The Tonle Sap in the wet season is just such an amazing vast mass of water.. it's all you can see as far as the horizon! It was my first time on the Tonle Sap and I really enjoyed the visit.


Caught the bus to Battambang this afternoon and I'm heading to Thailand early tomorrow morning! I'm going to have to find an impromptu bus route the long way around Bangkok to get to Chiang Mai to avoid getting stuck in the flooding. If all goes according to plan I should meet Steve in Chiang Mai in the wee hours of the morning! So excited but also somewhat apprehensive that my 'wing it' bus plans might not work out... Nah it'll be fine!!
Wish me luck!! x

Bokor - Such a damn shame!!

Well I didn't head back to Phnom Penh as planned.. I actually stayed an extra two nights hehe.

Went on a full day excursion to Bokor Hill.. a National Park with a 1920s French Hill Station with a 'Palace' hotel, casino and Church. I was really looking forward to exploring the derelict buildings but unfortunately that was not to be!

Sokha, the guy who your Angkor admission fees goes to, apparently spent $100 million buying the site and is currently constructing a couple of hotels, casinos, cable car, golf course and even apparently a theme park on the site. National Park, Schmational park right Cambodia? He's hoping to turn it into a major tourist destination and there's even plans for a new Port to attract cruise ships!

Wasn't able to actually get inside the Bokor Palace because it was swarming with construction workers and scaffolding. Apparently doing conservation work. Original plans were to demolish it! ARGH! But they were convinced to keep it *sigh of relief*. God help me if they paint the freakin thing!! There's an 1868 French Colonial villa in town that looks brand new because they've painted it bright yellow. Old buildings should still have a bit of grime about them! Will post some photos soon.

Finished my leisurely stay in Kampot today :( In Phnom Penh for the night before heading to Pursat tomorrow to visit my sponsor child organisation. Not sure what the internet situation there is like so if you don't hear from me, don't panic!

x

KAMPOT

I love this place! I really just can't bring myself to leave! When I first got here I thought.. "well.. there's not much to this place..." but that's half the charm! There are plenty of Western expats here who've started guesthouses/bars/cafes and I can see why. So much yummy French Colonial architecture. Superb sunsets! And zero traffic. I could lie down in the middle of the road and have no problem. Most of the traffic is bicycles and the motos drive so slow they might as well be bicycles!

I went to a graduation ceremony/dance performance for Epic Arts which is a local NGO who works with locals with disabilities and teaches them arty stuff and also gives them vocational training etc. They have a cafe in town that partially funds the school. I also went out and did a day of volunteer 'building'/observing. We first had to pull down the family's old house.. which was easy work, believe me. It was tiny and 7 people slept on an elevated platform in the house, and the family pig slept underneath them. Unfortunately the mother has gotten very sick and now one of the children too so the charity (Teang Tnaut) were building them a new house.

I'm gradually trying every cafe around town. This morning I went to a cafe called Sisters II which funds the orphanage in town. The woman who ran it had an incredibly cute 1 1/2 year old adopted son who she called Moses because he'd been left at the hospital by himself. He was SUCH a cutie. I had pumpkin spice pancakes... mmmmmm.

Tomorrow I'm going on an excursion to the Bokor Hill Palace which was a 1920s French resort built on top of Bokor Mountain. It's long since been abandoned and was used as a fortress by the Khmer Rouge when they were still around. There are plans to 're-invent' Bokor and make it a major tourist destination - they're currently building a new resort on the hill so I thought it would be best to go now and before the hoards of tourists staying there kill the atmosphere. The day after I think I will finally leave and head back to Phnom Penh for the night before I'm off to Pursat!

xx

CAMBOOOOODIAAAAAAA!!

Man I love this country.
And man I LOVE airports! Even Delhi airport was awesome. People watching in airports is spectacular! And I may be a brainwashed consumer but God it was lovely to be in an airconditioned clean place with comfy chairs and sparkly shiny things to buy. Not that I bought anything! I just sat and drew and wrote in my notebook (my equivalent of talking to myself) and watched everyone walking by. My airport zen was broken, however, by this young Indian guy who was sitting near me. He stood up and put his bag next to me... I could tell he wanted to talk to me so I just kept ignoring him and drawing in my book.. and then he stood over me for like 5 min.. I kept ignoring him.. and then he was like.. "I see you're writing about marriage" (I had written a little snippet about a conversation I'd had with my jewellery guy that day in which he told me that he has had many girlfriends but he makes sure it doesn't affect his wife and family by not spending lots of money on them etc).. The guy had been standing there reading my notebook and took that as a cue to start up a conversation!! Bastard. The usual "where you from? where you going? where you been?" conversation ensued in which I did my best to give him monosyllabic answers and look busy. I even took out my novel and started reading but he didn't get the hint. Eventually I just had to get up and walk away!
Flight was at about 11pm.. was pretty crap due to being put in the middle of a big group travelling together who kept being loud and moving around and bumping my seat.
Got to Thailand 5am local time and found a nice uncomfortable place to nap for an hour. I had to wait until about noon before I could check in my baggage and move to the departure area so I just passed the time drawing in my notebook and people watching! The hours actually flew by surprisingly. I LOVE AIRPORTS! Checked in and found a nice couch to nap on for a while.. but first I went to Burger King and ate my first beef in over 2 months!! OM NOM NOM!!!
Quick flight to Phnom Penh. Man I love this place. Everything is so easy. There's no hassle. And I'm wearing shorts for the first time in 5 weeks! My legs don't know what to do with all the sunlight! Loving it! Gotta go organise a Thai visa now and then I'm heading to Kampot this afternoon! Should only take 3-4 hrs.. SO QUICK!! Brilliant!!
LOVE xx

Rishikesh.. last few days in India!

Rishikesh was nice. I stayed in an 'ashram' that didn't really seem too 'ashramy'... which I guess suited me since I couldn't be bothered with that whole scene right now. Did a yoga class at the ashram one morning which was horse S#&$, then attended a different yoga school 10m down the road after that. The new teacher was very good and knowledgeable and spoke about tensing our anus muscles whilst sitting in order to ensure we have a strong anus. Apparently yogis don't have loose anuses (ani?) or so he says. Fortunately I wasn't the only one stifling laughter under my breath. Hiding out in the courtyard of the ashram was a nice break from the exhausting cities.

Yesterday morning I electrocuted myself whilst trying to charge my mobile phone. Then I voluntarily went for a swim in the Ganges. And yes, I put my head under! TWICE! It was very refreshing and lovely, actually. The sun had just risen, the water was freezing cold and the scenery was beautiful.. closest I'm going to come to a Rishikesh spiritual experience lol.

My transformation into super assertive bitch Amiee is complete... I told off several rickshaw drivers for asking ridiculous prices, and I even told of a beggar who kept harassing me with his hand out in front of my face.

Caught the train to Delhi, which was Uh-MAZING. Like the Agra train, they served food. About 4 courses of food! Each course I thought would be the last, I had no idea how much food there'd be! When I first got on the train they gave me a samosa, some sweets, chai and a mango popper. Then they brought out a bread roll and a cup of soup. Then the main course of 2 vegetarian curries, some chapati and rice! And THEN just when you thought they were done.. ICECREAM! BAM! And GOOD icecream too. A cup of creamy vanilla icecream. Brilliant!

I arrived at Delhi, and even though I knew the way to the hotel and it was about 500m away I was going to get a rickshaw seeing as it was after 10pm. Well.. I told several more rickshaw drivers off who were trying to take advantage of me and charge up to 10x the price it SHOULD cost. Bugger them, I walked. In theory probably not the smartest choice but ran into no problems.

Probably a good thing I fly out tonight... God knows what I'll do next! I'm a donkey on the edge!!!!!!!!!!

Advice for future female travellers in India

I'm no expert but here's some things I've found during my travels here..

A) Despite advice in Lonely Planet, don't bother getting a salwar kameez made or trying to dress Indian.. no-one really does it. Unless you're hardcore and 'living' in India for months - those people tend to do the whole Indian get-up. Most people just opt for the "I'm a backpacker" garb of colourful baggy pants and tshirt. I sometimes wore a shawl draped over my chest which basically just served to make me feel slightly less uncomfortable when guys stared at my chest (most of the day). Eventually it was just too hot and I couldn't be bothered wearing it anymore.

B) Don't bother trying to look married. There's a lot of advice out there that says to wear a wedding ring or toe rings etc etc so that guys will see you're married and leave you alone. Yeah, right.

Example 1.
Pretty sure the guy driving a rickshaw towards me whilst I was walking down the street didn't check for a wedding ring before telling me, in exact words: "You are a very nice pussy."

Example 2.
I was buying jewellery in a silver shop and asked the owner if he thought I should buy a fake wedding ring or toe rings so that I'd look married and get left alone. He told me not to bother. I trust his advice considering it'd be better for his business if I had bought the rings from him.

Example 3.
When being shown to my hotel room at night, the Indian luggage guy, during the conversation, asked if I was married. I told him that yes I was married and that my husband would be joining me in Delhi in a few days time. Still, when he was leaving he offered to stay the night in my room with me. They really don't care if you're married or not.

Varanasi + another long train ride

So Varanasi isn't really my favourite place. It is incredibly humid and it's is saaaaa dirty! The place has even more of a rubbish problem than what I've seen of the rest of India; in the old city where I stayed there seems to be zero cooperation in rubbish dumping, it's just dump on the street outside your home. There also seemed to be a lot of very sick or dead dogs, which wasn't very pleasant.
Found a travel buddy who is from Rocky of all places and ironically he's currently living in Melbourne. We took a dawn boat ride on the Ganges which I think is the highlight of my time in Varanasi. For a country that values privacy I sure saw a lot genitalia as people quickly changed after their 'wash' in the Ganges. Was kinda my fault for taking a boat ride in front of the bathing ghats. The burning ghats didn't really phase me after the cremation I saw in Bali. There's 6 types of bodies that can't be cremated and are instead thrown in the middle of the river tied to a rock: children, pregnant women, lepers, victims of cobra bite, sadhus (holy men), and animals. Sometimes, however, as I saw, the bodies become free of their rocks and float down the river. The body I saw was still wrapped up, but another couple of girls I spoke to saw a dead baby float by whilst they were taking their boat ride. Chaaaaarming.
Monday morning I went to the train station at 8am to catch my next train to Haridwar which was supposed to leave at 8:20am. I usually would have gotten to the station earlier but the hotel took about half an hour to bring out my breakfast. Looked at the big screen at the train station... my train number didn't appear to be on it so I had no idea what platform I was supposed to be on. Walked closer to the platforms to find another screen but there wasn't one. Went up to a guy at a booking counter to ask if he could tell me which platform I needed to wait at, and despite me saying "excuse me" about 5 times and explaining that I just needed to ask him a quick question and that I would miss my train otherwise, he just kept ignoring and ignoring me and typing into his computer. Prick. I started getting frantic then and asking random nice-ish looking people if they knew where I needed to go and eventually I was told Platform 9. I heard announcements saying that the train on Platform 9 was ready to depart and so I ran there, showed my ticket to a guy with some sort of seat list who told me I needed to be on the 'A1' coach, and jumped on. Got settled in and started talking to a fellow passenger, relieved that I was on my train finally! Ended up sitting at the station for another half an hour. Then a ticket inspector came to check off the tickets against his list and he told me that I was not on the right train. WHAT?!? That train went to Haridwar as well, but it was apparently not my train. Got frantic, explaining that I had been told this was my train and even the guy with the list outside told me this was my train, and that if this ISN'T my train then how the hell do I find MY train?!?! So I had to get off the train. I had no idea how I was going to find my train and fearing that I had missed it while I was sitting in my fake train. "Bugger this" I thought and went to the tourist ticket booking office.. I knew they spoke English and would know what the hell was happening. Turns out my train was delayed. I was told to sit down in their office (airconditioned, thank god) and listen for an announcement (which are almost impossible to understand). After a while they also got a Tourist Police guy to come in and look at my ticket and go and get information about my train for me. Apparently there were issues with the train tracks and the train was delayed 1 hour. In a few minutes he came back, delay now 1.5 hours. Then for some reason the same booking guy who had told me to wait in his office decided to get up and yell at me in front of everyone, telling me that this wasn't a waiting room and that I need to get up and be checking on my train. I tried to tell him that not 10min prior the tourist police guy had come in and told me it would be another half an hour, but he wouldn't let me speak and instead told me to listen to him. *sigh*
So then every few minutes I would go and re-ask the tourist police guy about the train.. and in turn he would get exasperated at me continuously coming and asking, telling me that he would come and tell me when there had been an announcement.
Next announcement, train had been delayed 2.5 hours. 3 hours passed and no further announcement. 3.5 hours.. no announcement. 4 hours and finally an announcement.. the train was at the station before Varanasi and would be here in 10, 15, 20min. After 30min the train FINALLY arrived. Thank. God.
I had shelled out extra for a 2AC ticket because there were no other tickets available, and I was really really glad about it when I got on the train to airconditioned comfort and an employee handed me a pile of fresh sheets, towel and blanket in a packet. Ahhh comfort.
Halfway through the journey my cabin buddies departed and were replaced by an Indian woman who worked in the army and kindly (and forcefully) shared her bought dinner with me, which was actually delicious. Slept really well and we arrived in Haridwar at 5am (scheduled time was 11:05pm). It was actually beneficial because it was so late that instead of checking into a hotel room and sleeping, I just jumped on a local bus to Rishikesh and kept on going. Saved me the cost of a hotel room!
On the bus I had a little Indian girl next to me who curled up and slept on the chair next to me. Her mother, who was sitting across the aisle, and I had to keep our hands on her so that she wouldn't bounce off the seat. Halfway through she changed positions and fell asleep on my lap instead. Very cute.
It is so lovely and temperate here compared to the sweltering humidity of Varanasi. The breeze at dawn on the bus was actually freezing cold but now it's just a nice bearable temperature.
I'm staying in an ashram to do some yoga for my last couple of days in India. So far I'm not really that into it. There's a lot of people here all hyped up on serious spirituality and I just really can't get to that 'place'. Just way too 'lighthearted' to be bothered getting into that all right now. I'm not on a "my marriage fell apart and now I'm going to Italy, India and Bali to find myself" tour.. I'm not sad.. I'm perfectly content just doing my own thing. So I'll do some yoga and go... obla di obla da... :)

24+ sucky hours on a train

As the title suggests, I just spent (over) 24hrs on a train.. and it sucked.
Was pretty much like being in jail, I imagine.
I traveled sleeper class, which was the lowest class on the train because the next class up, 3 tiered sleeper with aircon, was triple the price.
It was very basic. 3 tiers of the usual upholstered mattresses, everyone sits on the bottom tier during the day and the 2nd tier is folded down to be a back rest. I was lucky enough to get the Upper Berth which meant I could climb up and lie down whenever I want.
I think the worst thing about extended train travel is the lack of food. There are food hawkers that occasionally walk the aisles but you can't trust their food and since I'd only recently been in hospital with a bad stomach, I wasn't tempted to risk it.
I took some biscuits, a yellow fruit cake loaf 'thing', and some potato paranthas (like naan) for the trip. However when I went to eat the paranthas, I discovered that the ants had discovered my meal before me and they weren't salvageable.
For the most part, the tonnes of men around me were very nice. One guy gave me a chain so I could secure my bag under the seat so it wouldn't get pinched during the night. Another guy went and bought water and juice for me when we stopped briefly at a station. An older guy offered me some of his packed dinner. And one particularly lovely guy who I later found out was a national security guard bought some bananas and gave me 2, woke me up this morning with a cup of chai he'd bought me, and for breakfast went and bought me a packet of biscuits which he practically forced me to eat, obviously seeing that I hadn't been eating much.
I guess that's one upside of being a lone female traveller, the nice people are concerned for your wellbeing!
I did, however, get woken up by one douche at 3am because his elbow touched me. He was talking to his mate in the berth under me and he had his arm on my bed leaning down. It happened twice and when I pushed it off, he took that as grounds to start the usual "where you going? where you from? your name?" conversation. I told him that I'm sleeping, and so then he decided to tell me that I'm "the most beautiful and sexy girl on this train". I went mad at him and told him to GO AWAY. "Sorry if you have trouble" he replied as he slunk off. They just have no idea of appropriate conversation! Maturity level - 14yr old boy.
When I FINALLY got off the train about 25hrs later (apparently the train was running 3hrs late) I then had to go and wait in the booking office to book my ticket for a few days time before it sells out. Then I couldn't find my guesthouse pickup so I bought a prepaid rickshaw drop off.. and THEN my guesthouse pickup shows up. The 2 rickshaw drivers I had paid and the 2 guesthouse rickshaw guys were talking it out with the guy in the prepaid booth, deciding what I would do without telling me what the F was going on.. I kept saying EXCUSE ME but they either ignored me or told me that everything is ok. I was like... NO. NOT OKAY. TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON?! They'd taken my prepaid ticket and were talking money etc etc without including me at all with what was happening, there was talk of the guesthouse guys charging 200R which was more than twice what I had paid for the prepaid ticket (which had been confiscated) and I just lost it and yelled at all of them. Was effective. You just can't be god damn polite in this place!
After the rickshaw ride I had to walk 20min through the labyrinth of the Old City of Varanasi to the guesthouse. During the walk, liquid of some sort was thrown from an upper balcony and splashed partially on my head and pack.
I got to the guesthouse, closed the door, and had my first real Indian meltdown! It was just all too F-ing much! I was tired, starving and absolutely filthy.
I have since remedied the situation by showering, napping, and I found a restaurant and had my first pizza in 2+ months!
*Sigh*. Cambodia in a week. This place is exhausting me.

Udaipur

Just a quick and probably bland blog post tonight because I am so tired from the 8hr bus trip back to Jodhpur today and I have about 24hrs on a train to look forward to tomorrow!
Went and saw the usual tourist sights in Udaiper once I felt better. Had a couple of dresses tailored for dirt cheap. Met an Indian artist, painted a 6ftx3ft canvas in his studio which he's displaying in his gallery in Udaipur. Was great to paint again!


The kids at the guesthouse were so lovely, I think my heart broke a little saying goodbye to them. Whenever I saw them they'd ask how I was feeling. I'd spend my evenings with them drawing and colouring in and playing snakes and ladders and doing jigsaw puzzles. Nandini and Jinu were my little buddies. The look on Jinu's face last night when I told him I was leaving this morning was so sad, and when I woke up early this morning to catch my bus I found him in the common area outside my room playing lego. He'd woken up early especially to say goodbye to me. He showed me the lego truck he'd made with him and I sitting in the front. Cute kid :(

Took the very dull 8hr bus journey back to Jodhpur today. I had planned on staying half the time I did in Udaipur and seeing Bundi as well but due to my hospital trip I thought it'd be best to just stay put. I much prefer being able to stay longer in places anyway, it's only due to time constraints that I'm moving so quickly now. I just realised that I haven't spoken to a foreigner in 5 days! How odd! Anyway, there was a big Indian guy sitting next to me on the bus today who wanted to listen to my ipod with me (note to self, sterilise earphones). He bopped along and did 'dad moves' to the songs.. was a pretty hilarious cultural exchange.

Anyway *sigh* I have to go in the morning and try to find a shop that will sell me the means to nourish myself for my 24hr train trip. Plain biscuits will just not be enough! They sell food but it'll either be A) not hygienic enough or B) too spicy for my poor stomach which has been through a lot. My kingdom for some muesli bars and a ham and cheese sandwich on multigrain bread. Actually, my kingdom for a slice of meatlovers pizza. Damn I miss meat!
So yes, off to Varanasi tomorrow.. will post again in a couple of days if I don't lose my mind on the train.
MWAH! x

My visit to an Indian public hospital!

So I've had an upset stomach for about 4-5 days but yesterday evening it got really bad and accompanied by a high fever, chills, etc. I was shivering under a thick blanket (and it's not cold here) and having to get up once or twice an hour to use the bathroom. Each time I woke up it felt like I'd been in bed fighting it for an eternity and I kept thinking that it's morning, even though it'd only been half an hour to an hour since I last woke! Very demoralising! I went downstairs at about 1am to get some more water.. I felt so dehydrated and my head was pounding. Luckily I'm staying in a family guesthouse and not just a hotel, because the family took very good care of me. They thought it was best that they take me to hospital and I was so run down that I agreed.
First we went to the private hospital but when we walked into reception it was dark and there was no-one there except a random patient sleeping on bed. So then we went to the public hospital. The place was pretty filthy... if it was a hostel, I wouldn't have stayed there. There was even a few motorbikes parked inside. Spoke to a doctor for a while and then I had to get an injection. Was shown to a bed; wasn't your normal white hospital bed.. it was a dirty dark green fabric with used cotton balls and a used syringe just casually sitting there! I started to freak out a bit then.. I'd beaten my syringe phobia back home but this was just too much. Next I had to go and get a blood test. Obviously no-one has a phobia of syringes in India because when I walked into the room there were syringes and vials of blood EVERYWHERE! Managed to get through it all, the guesthouse guys were lovely and held my hand through the injection and blood test. Got back to the guesthouse about 2am and thankfully the injection and medicines were working wonders and I was able to sleep! Brilliant! Feeling a lot better today but still very weak.

Blue City Jodhpur

I love Jodhpur!!
I went and saw the massive Mehrenghar (probably spelt that wrong) Fort that towers over the city this morning. You have to climb up the winding path through several gates with huge ornate doors with spikes so that the elephants couldn't batter them down without seriously injuring themselves in the process. The final gate is at a 90 degree turn so that the elephants couldn't get a good run up! Best fort so far! It's really well preserved and the free audio guide is very interesting to wander around listening to! Interesting fact.. the title 'Maharaja' meaning 'Great King' was first given to a Rajput ruler by emperor Shah Jahan, the emperor who commissioned the Taj Mahal. The displays were very interesting too.. lots of great artefacts like 'Howdahs', the ornate seats used on the top of elephants. There was even one there made of wood and covered in silver that Shah Jahan had gifted to the maharaja of Jodhpur.

I spent the whole morning wandering around the fort and then decided to go and check out some antique shops! DROOL! So many amazing things! Particularly the giant wooden doors.. unfortunately torn from havelis. When a developer buys land with a haveli on it he often sells all the architectural fittings ie. the windows, doors, ornate carvings etc and then demolishes the haveli. Such a shame that the beautiful old buildings get knocked down but at least the fittings survive!

Then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the Old City, getting lost and finding my way back home! I randomly ran into my French friends while I was lost! I went to ask directions at a juice stand and they were there sipping coconuts! The reason it's called the blue city, BTW, is because a lot of the old havelis are painted Brahmin blue (or other bright colours) which, when you're looking down from the fort, make the Old City appear very blue! I'll post photos soon!

I'm staying in a 500+ year old haveli run by the most beautiful family. It's called Amar Niwas Guesthouse and it's the family home of Sunil and Neena, their adorable 6yr old son and a mischievous kitten! They are such lovely people! The son, Antriksh, so cute, he just finished adorning me with his Ben10 watch, and when I finished my water he quickly ran off to put it in the bin for me. So cute. Owen Wilson and the other stars of The Darjeeling Limited have even stayed here and were so delighted with the service, they gave them the walking stick prop used in the movie!

Wish I could spend more time here but unfortunately with less than 2wks left in India I have to keep on moving! Udaiper tomorrow! WOO!

Jaisalmer

I'm having the most amazing time in Jaisalmer and I've only been here since yesterday evening!
I checked into my hotel, Hotel Haveli and soon made friends with Illy from Hungary who is living here with her Indian bf who works in the hotel and Ishaak who is the manager. They invited me to their 'party' last night where we sat in the best hotel 'suite' and shared dinner and conversation in a circle on the floor. There was also an Australian woman and her Indian husband, and another girl from Austria.
Today I explored inside Jaisalmer Fort with Illy. It's amazing because unlike the other forts I've visited in Rajasthan, Jaisalmer Fort is still very much (over) occupied and the winding labyrinth of streets are full of shops, restaurants and hotels. I love it here!
I've been made to feel very much a part of the hotel crowd - this afternoon we're going to go to the lake, tonight I'm getting taught how to make dahl (a chickpea curry), chapati (like naan) and traditional Indian masala chai! Then tomorrow night we're all going out to the desert for dinner and to watch traditional Rajasthani dancing!
I'm staying 3 nights (at this stage) and then hopefully will be able to catch a lift to Jodhpur with my two French friends!
Amiee x

Nawalgarh

Took a local bus to the rural town of Nawalgarh in the Shekhawati region, known for its intricately painted havelis. The bus was surprisingly hassle free; the guy next to me kept his hands to himself so I didn't have to slap anyone (I haven't had to slap anyone yet! My death glare is working wonders!) I didn't see another foreigner the entire journey!

Got to Nawalgarh and the rickshaw driver decided to try and take me to a closer hotel rather than the hotel I'd requested, luckily I went inside to find out which hotel it was BEFORE I paid the driver. Turns out he'd taken me to an eco-resort owned by Ramesh, the father of Rajesh who ran the hotel I wanted to go to. The eco-resort looked lovely but out of my price range, and Ramesh was lovely too, suggesting that if I had been looking for Rajesh's hotel, I should insist on going there.

Was greeted at the front door by Rajesh, who owns/runs Rajesh Jangid Tourist Pension. His whole family is just so friendly and welcoming. The rooms are very beautiful and there's a big common room, as well as an incredibly peaceful shady courtyard where I spent most of my time reading. They grow their own organic vegetables and Rajesh's wife cooks delicious meals with them. They even make their own yoghurt, which I had for breakfast one morning. It was such an oasis of peace and it was great to not be hassled for a couple of days! Rajesh is incredibly helpful and kind, and I would highly recommend his place to everyone.
I spent the days wandering around the town and exploring the havelis - a town without touts!!. It was haveli heaven! There's over 200 in the town and several are open to the public to wander around. It was fantastic. I would have just stayed a week and chilled out if I had the time but I had to keep on going. There were two French cousins who were the only others staying at Rajesh's home. They had hired a private car and driver for their time in Rajasthan and I was able to catch a free lift for the 9hr drive to Jaisalmer! Luck!


Speaking of luck, every single day someone tells me I'm lucky, and each time for a different reason. The mention of 'luck' first started when a 'guide' at Fatehpur Sikri tried to sell me string to tie onto the lattice in the temple so that I could make a wish. They were asking something like $4 for a piece of string and some flowers to offer, and I told them that I didn't need it. He insisted that it was very important I tied that string on for luck. "I make my own luck," I retorted as a I walked away. The next day it started. The first day it was the Jaipur hotel owner; the gap in my front teeth means I'm lucky. Then the next day I'm told I'm lucky because the lines on my forehead are straight and go all the way from one side to the other. The next day I stepped in cow shit, and was told that I'm lucky. And then yesterday a glass broke next to me, and apparently that means I'm lucky too. Every day, and a different person each day, tells me that I'm lucky!

TAJ baby! + now in Jaipur

The morning train to Agra was AMAZING. Seriously. My seat was in the middle of the carriage which meant that my row of 3 seats had a full table in front of us, with another row of 3 people sitting facing us on the other side.. it was like sitting at a dining table! The Indian people that sat around me were very well to do and were asking me how I was enjoying their country and were very helpful in telling me which stop to get off the train at (there aren't really any signs nor announcements as to which station we're arriving at!). There was a 'busboy' in a railway cap and a vest who handed out free newspapers, free tea and biscuits, and free 'breakfast' (bread and jam, along with some indian veg cutlets). I felt like I was travelling first class!

I got off the train and was heading out to the rickshaw drivers when a voice started asking me a question, I turned around looked at person the voice belonged and recognised them... there was a moment of "hey... don't I know you..." when we both realised that we'd shared a table in a restaurant in Mcleod Ganj a few nights earlier, neither of us realising we'd be heading to see the Taj on the same day! So Linda and I became Taj buddies!

I'd booked a hotel because I'd heard bad stories about places being full and having to pay ridiculous amounts for a room, and there was a rickshaw driver waiting out the front of the train station with sign that read "AMIEER". Lol. Checked into my room, looked out the window and BOOM! there's the Taj!!! I was so excited I actually jumped up and down and did a little dance, much to the amusement of the hotel worker. We went and had a cool drink on the rooftop to admire the Taj some more.. it's SO BIG!! And it was RIGHT THERE!

Linda only had the day to spend so we decided we'd first catch a bus out to Fatehpur Sikri to see the Fort/Palace complex there and then explore the Taj in the cooler afternoon. Well, it was alright. The main gate was really awe-inspiring and impressive but the rest was alright. One of those things where you enjoyed some aspects, but wonder whether it was worth coming to see. In one of the complexes, Akbar had built three palaces for his three favourite wives, a Hindu, a Muslim from Turkey, and a Christian from Goa. Well, they might have been his three favourites but you could tell who his number one favourite was; the Hindu wife's palace was about 5 times the size of the other two! If I were the Muslim or Christian wife, I'd be pissed. There was a building which once housed the treasury... not quite as splendid as I'd imagined (I'm thinking huge marble room with piles of gold like in Aladdin). We also saw where Akbar carried out public executions by elephant stampede. Charming.

Headed back to Agra, had lunch, got food poisoning.. then went to the TAJ!

I loved it. It is so beautiful. Yes, you see a thousand photographs but the actual sheer size and scale of it is really the impressive part... and did I mention it's really beautiful??

I adopted a strict 'no photo' policy for the Taj as I've gotten to a point where it isn't really funny and a novelty anymore.. it's just time consuming and often very, very annoying. It probably means I'm evil but I kinda got a kick out of the reactions of men when I refused to get photographs with them.. some conversations went a little like this:

"Excuse me madam one photo"
"No sorry"
"No charge!"
"Um what?? NO"
I found that line the funniest.. "no charge".. as if I was saying no because I thought they'd charge ME for a photo with them?? Are you kidding?

The majority of conversations went like this:

"Excuse me madam one photo"
"No"
"... no?!?!" *incredulous stare, mouth practically hanging open* <-- my favourite part
"No"
*pause*
"Just one photo"

"I said. NO."

It's harder saying no to the women that ask, they're a lot nicer. The men I just know will use the photo to show all their mates and make up stories about their easy Westerner girlfriend. I had one guy at the Golden Temple even have the audacity to put his arm around me when I agreed to a photo (this may sound like nothing but that kind of touching is just not done here!). I protested with an "UH!" and he ignored me and kept his arm firmly around my shoulders, wanting his friend to take the photo despite my protests! I removed his arm, gave him my new improved death glare, told him to go away, and sat facing the other direction. Hehe.

Anyway back to the Taj. It was beautiful. And it was so good having Taj buddy to share the experience with! Linda left about 8pm and I spent a beautiful evening with my head in the toilet bowl.

The next day I was feeling a lot better and headed out to see Agra Fort. Not bad, I could live there (back in its glory)! Indians really know how to do palaces. Went and saw where Shah Jahan was imprisoned. For those of you who don't know the story, Shah Jahan was the emperor who built the Taj Mahal in memory of his favourite wife who died given birth to their 14th child (man, that woman would have spent most of her life pregnant!). After the Taj was completed, one of his sons, Aurangzeb, took over as Emperor by imprisoning his father in Agra Fort where he stared forlornly out the window to the Taj until he died there something like 8 years later. When I've heard this story, it's always told as "Poor Shah Jahan, isn't this such a sad story" but on further exploration.. it's really not that bad. For starters, everyone glorifies Shah Jahan and makes his son out to be a real dick for imprisoning his own father... but earlier in history, Shah Jahan had killed something like all of his brothers in order to be Emperor. Not so innocent! At least Aurangzeb didn't kill his father! Also, I went to where Shah Jahan was "imprisoned"... the place is a beautiful palace built out of marble, amazing views out over the river to the Taj, and he had his own mosque in which to worship... I can really think of worse places to be locked up. Really, it's not the dramatically poignant story it's made out to be! I think one of the most interesting parts of the Agra Fort was the building that once housed Akbar's (I think it was Akbar..) 500 strong harem! And they each had their own room! 500 women. Wow. Really?

I'd love to add some photos right now but unfortunately my SD card is full of viruses (thankyou internet cafes) and the files are simply not showing up! Trying to remedy the problem with some downloaded file recovery programs and will hopefully have my photos back soon!

Took the train to Jaipur last night and arrived after 10pm. It's so much more expensive travelling by yourself as a female because not only do you not have anyone to share the cost of rickshaws/hotel rooms etc, but you have to pay extra for things for the sake of safety. The hotel I'd booked was in walking distance of the train station, but I took a rickshaw because there was no way I was walking by myself in the dark! The hotel room last night was brilliant. It was the cleanest most spotless room I've seen in India, and the bathroom was so clean it almost sparkled! It made me so happy! It was like I was staying at someone's house in Australia! No dirt/scum/mould on the walls! The toilet bowl was WHITE!!!! Someone in India HAS heard of bleach! I did a little dance about the room too.

Spent the day today seeing the "sights" of Jaipur. In a word.. exhausting. I have a love/hate relationship with "sights". The entry charges are so expensive and most of the time I'm left feeling like.. yeeeah was that really worth the money? Most of the sights have their good parts, but sometimes you just feel like you're forever wandering around looking at things, taking photos, and leaving. I was amused in the City Palace by the Indian tourist group that all wore red caps in order to find each other. Women wore beautiful traditional saris.. and red caps. It was a hilarious juxtaposition (ooh big word!). I particularly enjoyed the ornate painted frescoes on some of the doorways, and the traditionally painted portraits of some of Jaipur's maharajas.

My favourite sight of the day was the Amber Fort. Even better than the Agra Fort! I really enjoy it when you can explore around inside the fort rather than having to stick to a roped off tourist path, although I realise this is probably more detrimental to the preservation of the fort. I spent a couple of hours weaving between rooms and passages and climbing up winding staircases. Some of it was really like a maze and I actually got lost and couldn't work out where to get out for a while! I particularly liked exploring the Ladies Apartments where all the wives/harem and their attendants lived, with a direct walkway from the Maharaja's chambers, for discreet night time visits. I really can't imagine that kind of relationship, living with all these women whom you're sharing the one man with! Although looking at some of the portraits of the Maharajas, the women probably didn't mind sharing certain duties around! I saw in the City Palace gallery, the robes of one of the Maharaja's and man he was FAT! Apparently almost 7 foot tall and almost 4 foot wide across the chest. Blimey. Yep, I'd be happy to have a group of other women to satisfy that guy's needs!

Anywho, I'm off to the more rural Shekhawati province in Rajasthan tomorrow to go and stare at some painted haveli frescoes!

Toodles! x

Amritsar and back to Delhi!

Helloooooooo!
So the bus to Amritsar was interesting. The taxi I had to take at 4am to get to the local bus station in the next town actually cost me more than the bus. The bus left at 5am and got to Amritsar about lunchtime. The road wasn't too bad considering once we came down from the mountains it was all flat and smooth(ish). I had a Polish girl sitting next to me who kept falling asleep on my shoulder (lol).

Arrived in Amritsar, I've got to be honest, it's pretty average. The Golden Temple though, is the exception. It was very beautiful and calm (for India) inside the walls, even with the occasional spear wielding Sikh guard making sure everyone had their head covered (or else, apparently!). I spent a few hours there people watching sitting by the big 'lake' of holy water. I'll add photos soon.

Took my first Indian train today and it was sooo much better than a bus. I was in a 3rd Class AC compartment and I loved the leg room, the little table for me to put my food/book/water on and the minimal jostling! Definitely travelling by train as much as I can. I'm back in Delhi now and it was really nice going back to somewhere familiar - knowing exactly where you are when you hop off the train and where you need to go! It's amazing how much ring roll you have to go through just to use the internet in some places! I had to give this guy my passport, he took a 'profile' shot of me with his webcam, and then I had to sign up for an 'account' here even though I'll rarely be here!

Heading to Agra very early tomorrow morning to finally see the TAJ MAHAL!! WOO!!! :D
x

Leaving tomorrow

Decided to move on tomorrow after nearly a week here I think. Still sleeping ridiculous amounts but am recovering. I could easily stay here longer. In fact, most people you meet here are here longterm doing yoga training or meditation retreats or teaching English to monks. I've done a couple of yoga drop in classes with Yogi Sivadas who completely looks the part and is also a very good teacher. After over a month of only walking a lot.. the muscles in the rest of my body are really feeling the yoga! Looking forward to not huffing and puffing so much when climbing staircases.. the first day I got here I thought, Wow I must be really sick if I can't even climb a few flights of stairs without being so out of breath! But then it was pointed out to me that we're at an altitude of something like 2800m so hence the breathlessness!
Descending down to Amritsar near the Pakistan border tomorrow morning via local bus. Should be an interesting trip. Also experienced my first 'video' photo shoot today. Was sitting eating breakfast watching a rotund Sikh man videoing the scenery, then the curtains, then the table.. then he just stood there less than a metre away with his video camera trained on me.
"Uh. Hello."
He then proceeded to sit with us, along with his brother in law, and tell me about his son in Melbourne, show me photos of house, family, and of course pose for the obligatory chummy photos. Gotta love India.

One of the things I really love about McLeod Ganj...

..No plastic bags!!
Everything is given to you in recycled newspaper bags. I pick my laundry up in brown paper bags. I even went to send some excess items home the other day, but first I had to get it 'post packed' which involved an old Tibetan guy with a foot peddled sewing machine making a calico 'pillow case' putting the cardboard box of my stuff inside, and then sewing it up and sealing the seams with wax! If only people everywhere had the level of patience and time to go the extra effort to not use plastic!

Cost of Travel - Bali

BALI - 25 nights

Total Spend $536 - roughly $21.45/day (AUD)

Accommodation - $229.65
Food + Bev - $165.60
Transport (bus, taxi, moto rental, bike rental) - $46.75
Purchases (sarongs, sunglasses, massages, medical etc) - $60.70
Internet - $22.65
Laundry - $5 approx
Entry fees etc - $5 approx

Kullu Valley and Mcleod Ganj

So we finally managed to get out of Delhi on an overnight bus to Bhuntar in the Kullu valley. Well it was an 16hr overnight bus ride so naturally it was pretty crap. I didn't want to have to get out to go to the toilet so I didn't really eat or drink and as a result was not feeling the best the next day. Bit of a stupid idea in hindsight. The scenery was amazing though. I remember waking up at one point at around 2am and looking out to see the valley below me, with low whispy clouds and studded with house lights, then looking up to half clouded starlit sky above me... it was like there was sky above and below! Such a beautiful sight!

We arrived in Bhuntar in the early morning and organised a jeep to take us to Manikaran where we planned on visiting the Sikh temple and bathing in some hot springs, as suggested to us by our Sikh travel agent. We shared the jeep with another traveller we picked up along the way, the French and dreadlocked (and very amusing) Rashid, as well as a couple of young Indian guys. Well, the jeep ride was interesting. I was at times not very impressed with the driver's apparent lack of focus and concern whilst speeding around corners on the edge of a cliff, but we ended up getting to our destination in one piece. There was a lot of smoking of a particular substance coming from the front seat and as a result, things accidentally got very hysterically funny for a good portion of the drive. Enough said.

Manikaran was beautiful. Situated in the Kullu valley, surrounded by soaring mountains, with the raging Parvati river running through it. Very quiet little village and lovely people. Unfortunately I started feeling very unwell with a burning stomach and fever whenever I ate. I slept A LOT. I went to the only 'doctor' in town, an ayurvedic healer who diagnosed me with a stomach infection and gave me a mountain of herbal medicine to take.
"You crazy girl!" Rashid tells me, in a very strong French accent. He doesn't trust the herbal medicine. "For me, it is not possible!"
I'm starting to feel better today but it's been suggested that it's perhaps a stomach ulcer rather than an infection.

We left Manikaran and Rashid and took another overnight bus to Mcleod Ganj. The bus was even worse than the first one, I was unable to sleep as the driver sped around constant corners. I had to hold tight onto my arm rest in order to remain in my seat! Luckily it was only 8 hours.

We arrived in Mcleod Ganj before sunrise. Here is the home of the Tibet Government in Exile and also a majority of Tibetan refugees. It was lovely sitting outside watching the sunrise and the Tibetan people walking passed with their prayer beads and their smiling faces. They are such a lovely people. Mcleod Ganj itself is beautiful too, up in the mountains. It rains a lot but it is a beautiful cool temperature. As I write this I'm watching a misty rain cloud descend over the mountain in front of me. There are also big hairy monkeys that climb through the town on electrical wires and clamber over the guesthouse which are very amusing to watch. There is yoga, massage, great food, and a small 'cinema'. I'm already in love with the Tibetan steamed Aloo Momos which are like dumplings filled with mashed potato. Oh how I'd been craving mashed potato! I can buy a plate of about 5-6 momos for about 20c. I looooove this town. I'm going to stay here for a bit to fully recover before continuing on my travels!

Amiee x

The Jaisalmer Bus Fiasco - otherwise known as "This day is JOKING"

Otherwise known as - How we wound up in a car, in Delhi, at 2am, with a Sikh man and his 16yr old assistant that we had met earlier that day, driving down the wrong side of the highway towards oncoming traffic.

Wow. What a day. I woke up this morning thinking - did that really just happen?

Yesterday we decided we wanted to go to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan as it's Tal's last week in India and she hasn't been yet.. and it's beautiful there. We first tried to book the overnight sleeper train, but it was booked out for 2 days. So instead I walked into a travel agent come internet cafe and enquired about an overnight sleeper bus. Success! We booked a luxury Volvo sleeper bus with air-con overnight direct to Jaisalmer. Later that evening we returned to the travel agent with our bags to go to the bus station, to be told that the bus company had called and our luxury air-con Volvo bus was not available due to the rain (yeah, right) and that instead we would still have a luxury sleeper bus but just with fan. The travel agent, a lovely and sincere Sikh man, was very apologetic us and refunded us the difference is price. We then had to wait for the correct driver, who I think was from the bus company, to take us to the bus station. We waited for nearly an hour but he finally showed up, only to just find us the nearest rickshaw and tell us to pile on. The rickshaw driver wanted 150R to take us there but we refused, because our Sikh travel agent had told us 50R. Meanwhile, the 'driver' from the bus company took our travel agent ticket and wrote us out a bus ticket, except he wrote 'Jodhpur' rather than 'Jaisalmer'...
"No no no! We go to JAISALMER. Not Jodhpur!"
"Ok Ok"
"No, not ok. Change the ticket."
So he crossed it out and wrote Jaisalmer. Warning bells started ringing.
Meanwhile, we told the 'driver' to call our Sikh travel agent about the cost of the rickshaw so he came down and started yelling at the rickshaw driver on our behalf. They were unable to reach a resolution so our Sikh travel agent ended up telling us to wait there while he got his car - he was going to drive us instead! We dodged and weaved through the traffic and were dropped off at the bus terminal. We thanked our travel agent and said goodbye. We waited for about half an hour at the bus terminal with the other passengers (all locals, no tourists - warning bells) until our bus finally arrived. We were told to follow as we walked down the street to where our bus was parked. As no-one checked our tickets before being told to follow, we were asking other people in our mob where they were going but we kept hearing 'Jodhpur'. This was unsettling. We thought maybe it stops at Jodhpur and lets people out and then continues on to Jaisalmer. So we decided that we were definitely going to not get on the bus until we spoke to the driver. We arrived our bus. It was definitely not luxury. I'm not even going to describe it any further other than it was.. shit. We asked to talk to the driver, we're not sure exactly who the driver was but we ended up talking to a DH who told us that no the bus was only going to Jodhpur but it was same same, we'd just buy another onward ticket to Jaisalmer!! Well that was not going to be happening! We had paid for a direct trip the WHOLE way to Jaisalmer on a LUXURY bus (I'd like to add at this point that this bus trip would take at least 15hr so it is worth being fussy) and it was NOT same same for us to be taking this shit bus and then buying another ticket in Jodhpur. We demanded they ring our travel agent, who told us they he would refund us for the Jodhpur - Jaisalmer leg of the ticket if we still wanted to go, but we decided instead that we wanted this all sorted out and would go back to his office. First we had to go back to the bus station to get our other ticket back (it had been swapped AGAIN) at which point Tal demanded to talk to the person in charge. She was given a phone and proceeded to give the scamming bastard a piece of her mind. Awesome.

We took a rickshaw back to our Sikh travel agent. He was very upset and apologised profusely. He paid our rickshaw driver and handed us back all our money. He explained that the man he had booked us the bus ticket through had scammed him/us and he had ripped up his business card saying he'd never deal with him again! We think we might even go to the tourist police with his details.

We then spent a couple of hours with the Sikh travel agent (and his 16yr old assistant who is the son of his friend who had passed away) trying to work out a plan B and what transportation we could possibly get that night. By this time it was after 10:30pm but as Tal has very limited time left in India, time is at a premium! So we really wanted to get a late bus or train that night. It got to 11:30 and the train website closed, so we then had to wait until 12:30am until it opened again and we could check the timetables. We toyed with heaps of different itineraries and options.. none of which really seemed to work. Our Sikh travel agent offered us some of his food and even went and bought us icecream. Such a kind man. We eventually decided that we would try and get on a local bus to Jaisalmer that night. The Sikh said we could get one by going to the local bus terminal and that he would drive us. We left about 1am.

We drove through the transport suburb of Delhi. All the rickshaw drivers were parked on the side of the road and were curled and cramped up attempting to sleep on the back seat of their rickshaws. The median strips were filled with people sleeping everywhere we drove. Hundreds of people sleeping on the pavement. Eventually after a very bumpy ride we arrived at the bus terminal, only to find out that none of the buses there left for Rajasthan, we had to go to the OTHER terminal. We drove for probably another 45 minutes, weaving between trucks, drifting and screeching around corners, slamming into pot holes. At one point the road was wet as we went around the corner, we slid a bit and then ploughed into practically a lake of water across the road. I'd also like to mention at this point that Tal's battery had run out and she slept practically comatose through this entire thing. We had to keep stopping and asking for directions. At one point we stopped and asked a guy on the side of the road for directions. He had a cast on his arm, and was also sporting fresh cuts all up his arm dripping with blood. We then stopped and asked a couple of policemen with automatic weapons. Then a few rickshaw drivers. Eventually we found the bus terminal but it was on the other side of the highway, and we had to do about a 10km loop before we could do a U-turn. We arrived at the terminal, only to find out that we had gone slightly too far and were in some sort of carpark rather than the actual bus terminal. We did the 10km U-turn loop again. We pulled into another driveway, only to be told that we had gone one driveway too far. Rather than do the 10km loop again, we then proceeded to drive the wrong way up the highway to get to the right entrance.

We pulled into the Rajasthan terminal. A guard whistled at us told us to park over to the side. Our Sikh driver asked him (in Hindi) when the bus to Jaisalmer would leave. The guard said he didn't know, he just knew he was not allowed to drive in through the terminal (very knowledgeable). Our Sikh travel agent sent his 16yr old assistant out to the terminal office to get information. He returned a couple of minutes later to give us the news that they did not know when there would be a bus to Jaisalmer.
"THIS IS FUCKING HELL," exclaimed our Sikh travel agent.
I agreed.
We turned and heading back to the hotel.

A few minutes later we were all laughing with exhaustion and frustration (apart from Tal, who was still comatose).
"This day is JOKING!" laughed our Sikh travel agent.
I agreed.

He drove us back to the hotel where Tal had been staying. Luckily the reception is always open. Zombie Tal and I thanked him, gave him some fuel money and told him we'd come back in the morning. The hotel gave us room 211, the room directly below where Tal had been staying.
"Weird," we thought.
We settled in but then realised the air-conditioning wasn't working, so we had to go and ask for another room.
We were taken to room 311. The room that we had left that morning! Cue ex-files theme music.
Apparently we were just not supposed to leave yesterday.
India.

Delhi Sight Seeing

We (Tal, myself, and our other Aussie Chris) decided that we should probably see some of Delhi's sights. So we went to the Red Fort. I thought it was very beautiful. We spent quite a large chunk of our time there posing for tonnes of photographs with Indian men, Indian women, Indian children, Indian families. One guy wanted to pose with my sunglasses on. Fair enough. One woman in a beautiful sari wanted to pose shaking my hand, I call it 'diplomat style'. Fair enough. A whole family swarmed around me wanting me in their family portrait. Fair enough. I had to sit and pose with each of their children and then each of the men. Fair enough. Some people wanted both me and Tal in the photo. Others wanted just Chris because he is a giant. Fair enough.
I will be adorning the mantelpieces of hundreds of Indian households.

After what seemed like several hours of Red Fort, we had just jumped into a rickshaw home when Chris spotted what to me looked like a Nightmare Horror Freakshow Fair, but to him looked like Disneyland... so we went in. There was a handful of people there at most, none of the rides were going, the merry-go rounds were pushed by hand and weren't mechanical... I was happy to get the hell out of there but Chris wanted to try some of the games. Fair deal, I had just dragged him around looking at buildings in the Red Fort. The photography sessions started again but at this point it was just men and I was hungry and had enough. I posed for one photo but then a girl with down-syndrome came and grabbed onto me like a spider monkey. Usually that would be borderline OK but I had just a minute earlier watched in horror as she demonstrated picking her nose and eating it to the crowd of people around me. I waited for her to let go. She didn't. The man that was trying to pose with me for a photo told her to get off me. She then proceeded to blow spit bubbles at him. I pushed her off me and ran for Tal and Chris, who were completely oblivious to the down syndrome mucus spider monkey incident.

By this time, our presence had drawn quite a large crowd of people into the Fair and all the rides had started up again. Tal and Chris decided they wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel that was spinning around like the Zipper. I told them there was no way in hell I was going on that thing. I'd also like to mention at this point that there had been thunder and lightning only 10min prior and they wanted to jump onto a giant metal wheel. They bought their tickets..
"Come on Amiee!!",
"You want to go on that thing... look how freakin fast it is going! You will die for sure!"
"It won't go that fast when people are on it!" reasoned Tal.
I still refused.. until they started to board the ride, at which point I realised I'd be left alone with the hoard of men and the mucus spider monkey. Not wanting to be a bad sport (and for the aforementioned reason) I quickly bought a ticket and hurried up the steps of the Ferris Wheel. Chris and Tal had just hopped into a carriage.
"Wait, wait, our friend!" exclaimed Tal and Chris.
"Yes, yes," said the Ferris Wheel operator as the ride started and Tal and Chris disappeared.
He stopped the ride at a different carriage and I hopped on, along with what seemed to be my Indian date.
The ride started. In all fairness, my date was very well behaved and didn't say anything or try to grope me. Brilliant.
"This isn't so bad" I thought. The Ferris Wheel was moving at the speed a Ferris Wheel should move at, Tal was right afterall, and there was a great view of the beautiful Jamah Masjid (a mosque built by Shah Jahan.. same guy who built the Taj Mahal.. not personally.. I mean he got people to make it for him......).
The speed picked up. The carriage was swinging around violently. When we'd go over the top, we almost got air. My stomach turned. I actually thought I may die. At this point I would also like to add that the bottom of my carriage was so rusted that it had broken off in the corner. I was imagining what the structural parts of the Ferris Wheel must look like and pictured the rusty carriage breaking off and plummeting to the ground.
"Great. I just survived a bombing and an earthquake to die on a Ferris Wheel. What a freaking joke," I thought.
I was imagining the newspaper headlines in my head. It seemed a disappointing way to die.
"Not. Good," I said to my date. He stared at me.
"Tell. Him. To. SLOW DOWN," I appealed to my date. He stared at me.
"Tell. Him. STOP. STOP," I tried. I had decided that this was not how I wanted to die. He stared at me. I don't think he spoke any English.
Eventually the ride stopped, I didn't die, and I stood silently waiting (fuming) for Tal and Chris. I think they could tell I was not a happy camper. I may have mentioned it.

Later, I had calmed down, and we went to a Muslim mausoleum to watch the Sufi people sing qawwali. It was somewhat nicer than the Ferris Wheel of Death. I eventually got fed dinner and the world seemed nice again.

Bomb blasts and earthquakes

So during my first 24 hrs in Delhi there has been a bombing and an earthquake... I think that's good luck? Right?
I didn't mention the earthquake in my post this morning because I didn't actually know that there was one for sure.
Last night at 11:35 I was lying in bed reading when I felt the building shake. My initial thoughts were, ok this is either another bombing or an earthquake. I went downstairs to the reception expecting everyone to be moving outside or something but when I went down the men were all just sitting around watching TV.
"Earthquake?"
"What?"
"Earthquake?"
"I no understand..."
"Earthquake. Like, shake. Building move.."

With another puzzled look I then began to enact an earthquake by grabbing onto a wall and shaking.
Still nothing.
I went upstairs and wrote in my diary: "11:35. Just felt the building shake. No one else seemed to notice. I think I'm going nuts."
It wasn't until I met up with my friends today that they told me it was actually on the news and they felt it too. Originally reported to be a 6.6 but downgraded to a 4.2. My first earthquake!

Delhi = awesome.

I had prepared myself for the absolute worse when I arrived in India and so far it's been nothing but awesome (I'm using the word awesome a lot today.. you'll just have to deal). I had prebooked a hotel (Surya Plaza) with airport pickup so when I arrived at 10pm Delhi time after travelling since 9am Bali time it was a big relief to not have to think. I arrived at the hotel to be treated to the most expensive and yet absolute worst room I have ever stayed in whilst backpacking. Services included complementary heap of shit on the toilet seat, air con that was set to 'ice age' with no remote control so there is no escape from frostbite, and promised but non-existant 24hr hot water. None of these things (bar the shitty toilet seat) usually matter to me, I haven't had aircon or hot water the entire trip, but when I pay for them I want them to be good damnit! Lol.

The saving grace of Surya Plaza was 'Bill' who seemingly worked there and was very friendly and helpful, and even though he knew I was checking out and staying elsewhere, he walked me through the maze of the main bazaar to the hotel where my friend Tal is staying!

I met up with Tal and the group of backpackers she's picked up along her way through India and we grabbed a couple of rickshaws out to the Swaminarayan Akshardham, a 'temple' complex set on 100 acres dedicated to the child-yogi, Neelkanth Varni. It was a bit odd. We went into an 'exhibition' that used animatronics to take us through the life of Neelkanth, then a 45min film that was pretty much the exact same thing again, and then a 'boat ride' (like one of those Dreamworld log rides inside a building with knee deep water) through "10,000 years of Indian history" in which they boast about various things like inventing democracy, the game chess, etc etc.
We caught the Metro home afterwards, and posed for some photos with locals at the train station. I decided to be a bit interesting and go for the 'cross-eyed fish pose' rather than a boring smile, which won many cheers and laughter from the kids hehe.
I think the one advantage of being a woman in India is the women only train cars that are MUCH less crowded and smelly! We had to change trains at one point and hopped into a normal carriage which was absolutely crammed full. You hear all these stories about being groped in crowds, that didn't happen to me, but I actually inadvertently forced someone to 'grope' me! I had my backside resting on what I thought was the pole of the train.. until it shifted under me and I realised I'd been resting my bum on someone's hand that was holding onto the pole.... and he was moving it away! lol.

I'm staying pretty much in the Main Bazaar of Pahar Ganj and the streets here are really fascinating. Whilst walking around I've seen a room full of horses and a couple of rooms full of garbage (seems to be the local garbage dump). All of the buildings along the main bazaar have had parts of their front facade (awnings, balconies) ripped off to widen the street for the Olympics. The shops here are amazing. I could really buy a LOT here but I remained disciplined and only bought some silver earrings and a shawl. The jewellery shop was a lot of fun, one of the girls I was with was buying up big because it was her last night, and so we got to sit in the air-conditioning perusing the jewellery and having chai bought for us!


The local Indian people I've interacted with have all been very friendly and accommodating. When I arrived at a potential hotel last night they told me that if I needed anything, just to ask. So I made them show me all the available rooms and picked the one with the cleanest bathroom. Then I asked them to change the stained bedsheet, and to my surprise, they actually did! Brilliant! There is nothing like a fresh bedsheet to help you sleep at night (although I haven't been sleeping very much because I keep waking up in the middle of the night and in the early morning and just wanting to go and see something!).

Off to the Red Fort today!
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