The beach...finally -

On our way down to the beaches of the South Coast we first witnessed the real effects and devastation of the Tsunami. Many thousands of people died in 2004 and as we drove down our driver pointed out the towns and villages that had literally been wiped out. Unfortunately, there are a lot of problems with aid money reaching these areas due to problems with the government and we saw many people living in small huts or shacks covered in plastic. A return to real 3rd world existence compared to the relative normality of their brick houses and electricity and TV of before. Our driver lost 3 members of his family and as we reached the beaches we were staying there was hardly anyone who hadn’t seemed to have been affected in one way or another. Indeed as we arrived in Mirissa, the hotel we hoped to stay at that we’d seen in the Lonely planet wasn’t even there anymore, it had been completely wiped out.

Mirissa was a nice quiet beach with some decent waves as well. I hired a body board and managed to catch about 2 waves...seem to remember it being much easier when I was 16 on the coast of Cornwall! Unfortunately, there was still a fair amount of rain and the guesthouse we stayed in saw the return of the bedbugs we’d experienced in a few places in India...so we moved on to Unawatuna, a slightly bigger beach where we stayed in a place called Thambopani. We had a lovely little tree house at the top of the hotel and had some great meals. We also used the swimming pool at their sister resort round the corner which was very relaxing and pleasant. It was in Unawatuna that Vanessa convinced me to have a go at Yoga. I know there are lots of people that swear by it..but I’m sorry, I just couldn’t get into it. It just seems like a lot of stretching and breathing and I didn’t really find any karma. In fact I just got bitten by a load of mosquitoes and sweated a lot! Vanessa enjoyed it though which was good and the location was very peaceful and idyllic in a little pagoda in a garden owned by a Dutchman.

Our time in Sri Lanka came to an end when we took the train back to Colombo to see Pam for the last time and to catch our flight to Bangkok. Sri Lanka had been an excellent part of our trip and very enjoyable. There was so much variety from beaches, to elephants, to tea plantations to ruins and temples we can definitely recommend it! And we’re so glad that we stayed an extra 10 days to see as much as we did. Food was also amazing...string hoppers and gravy for breakfast is a must!!!

The Hill Country -

Our time in Kandy was spoilt a little by the rain that appeared to be sweeping across the whole of Sri Lanka. But, it didn’t stop us seeing some more interesting sites.
First (as Vanessa had been dieing to see all trip) we went to see some traditional Kandyan dancing. The costumes were quite similar to the Kathakali performance we’d seen in Southern India which I guess wasn’t to be too surprising given it’s proximity and Indian influences. At the end of the performance they cleared the middle of the front rows and brought out the fire eaters who then walked on fire and hot coals. Vanessa and I were right at the front and it felt staggeringly hot from where we were let alone actually sticking sticks of fire down your throat or walking across the coals..it was pretty spectacular.


The next day we thought we’d give the old Ayurvedic massage another try at a reputable place that our host had told us about. I’m pleased to report that this treatment didn’t involve a dark back room and being felt up by two virtually naked guys! The massage was exquisite and Vanessa and I lay side by side as we were soothed with nice music, oils and excellent massage techniques…we’d have been happy to have gone back! That day was also the day that the newly elected President was sworn in at the main Buddhist temple in Kandy. Traffic came to a halt and (as we’d seen when we looked round Colombo one day) armed military presence increased drastically. Although the situation in Sri Lanka had improved in recent years there was still a lot of unease and caution around such a potentially unbalancing event as an election.

Whilst in Kandy we’d read and heard a lot about the stunning views across the hill country when taking the train over to Ella. So, we took it and it lived upto expectations. The views were amazing as we passed along the side of mountains, through misty forests and alongside the infamous Sri Lankan tea plantations. Ella itself was an extremely small and sleepy town. So we stayed for a couple of nights..walked up Little Adams Peak, (there’s actually a proper Adam’s Peak near Nuwara Eliya but would have probably been a bit too extreme for our trekking skills and stamina) and visited a tea factory. A lot of the tea (surprisingly) in Sri lanka isn’t that great as they import the good stuff. It was interesting to see how it was made though and the technical ability of some of the machines to pick out the different colours of the leaves. We left Ella amidst a shroud of guilt. We’d made an old man very happy the day before by agreeing to him taking us down to the south coast in his minivan, a 4 hour trip which was going to cost a bit more than we budgeted. He was delighted and was going to meet us the next day. However, when we got back to our guesthouse, turned out the son of the guesthouse owner was also going that way the next day and said we could just pay for his petrol. So, after much deliberation we agreed to go with him...feeling terrible about letting down the poor old man who’d got so excited the day before. In a vain attempt to make ourselves feel better we left a small envelope of money for him (as I don’t think he gets more than one fare a week)..with the guesthouse manager. Whether he got it or not, we’ll never know!

The Cultural Triangle of Sri Lanka -

We arrived in Kandy, and the next morning met up with a driver and two other couples for a 3 day tour of the Sri Lankan 'Cultural Triangle' ( i.e. shedloads of buddhist temples, ruins, and a large rock or 2 to climb)..

It was nice to have some company and the guys we were with were a good laugh. Suprisingly, we were all from different countries. Scott (US) and Xi (China), Peter (Spain) and Esther (Switzerland) and obviously Vanessa and I from OZ and England. We stopped at a place called Dambullah where we saw amazing golden Buddhas carved into caves. We also came across this monkey who looked more like a little old man asleep on a park bench..















The afternoon saw our first real bit of physical exertion…

We arrived at Sigiriya, a very large and famous rock where a king once lived. He built a magnificent palace at it’s peak amid paranoia that he would be attacked by his numerous enemies. Unfortunately, not much remains of the palace (cant imagine many plumbers or builders wanting to make the treck up there!).

Halfway up, we saw some 700 year-old Fresco’s (paintings that had been made on the sides of the rock in near perfect condition). The view from the top was really spectacular and well worth the 45 minute near-vertical climb. Here's Vanessa looking pretty proud of getting up there ;-)












That night we stayed in a new guesthouse off the beaten track in the middle of a forest of trees. The Sri Lankan curry was very tasty and we were even accompanied by fluorescent fireflies to make the day even more incredible.

Next morning we were up early and off to look around the ancient ruins at Polonnaruwa. Our guide was able to tell us a lot about the detail in the ruins such as the guard stones at the entrance to each temple and the moon stones that were on the floor at the bottom of the steps.

We also met up again with some monkeys! Here we played with them and fed them again. That afternoon was time for some more spectacular scenery. Sri Lanka is an amazing country and full of awesome views and man made buildings / temples / pagodas that are very difficult to imagine being built (and so perfectly) without today’s machinery and technology.


At Mihintale we found pristine white Buddha, so white that it doesn’t seem real. It seems to have the same qualities and unrealistic feel as when we visited the Taj Mahal. Our guide led us up to a meditation rock which was quite high (and a little bit of a hairy climb) but which gave us another fabulous view of the Buddha and the surrounding countryside. We stayed around here for a stunning sunset…




Next day was our final day of the trip which was now getting quite exhausting and we were looking forward to a change of scenery and a few days rest. We’d seen enough temples and pagodas to keep us going for a while. Anuradhapura didn’t seem to be quite as impressive as Polonnaruwa and we were quite ruin’d out by now.

Still, we were able to see some great sites. The twin pools that were used as baths for the families that lived around the ancient capital and worked in the palaces…the oldest recorded tree in the world, a pagoda surrounded by carved elephant heads on a circular wall and an amazing cave of bats next to another very old temple. We arrived back in Kandy in the evening and unfortunately had to say goodbye to everyone. We’d already rung ahead and booked in at beautiful guesthouse a little outside of Kandy up on a hill. Although it was a trek out there it was well worth it. We had the best room in the place with a stunning view from our veranda and stayed with a very welcoming and friendly family who cooked us delicious food each night.

Welcome to Sri Lanka and Nellie the Elephant -

Well after 6 weeks in India, Sri Lanka seemed like a breeze - less pollution and poverty, better infrastructure (though much more expensive).

Sri Lanka's a pretty cool little country to do in a 2-3 week holiday, as its got culture, lush green mountains, safaris and beaches... and unlike India, nothing is too far by public transport. Sri Lankan's are also alot more laid back then Indians (not to mention better looking!)

Due to our lack of planning (as per usual) we got there in the middle of both the monsoon season as well as the general elections, so not only did it rain on our parade(atleast once a day!!!!); but there was the general fear of riots and curfews if the elections didnt go well - thankfully neither happened but it was a tense few days.

We got to Sri Lanka on the 20th Nov and stayed for almost 3 weeks. The first few days we stayed in the capital, Colombo with Pam (a relative of one of Vanessa's dad's work colleagues), which also helped to save some money. Pam made us feel at home right away...so much at home that I was soon put to work cooking dinner and reorganizing kitchen cupboards! But, it was so nice to be there and have the feeling of some kind of home after spending so long in guesthouses.


After Colombo, we then made our way to Kandy by train (thankfully alot more comfortable and nowhere near as long as it took getting from A to B in India).

We stopped midway to visit Pinewala Elephant Orphanage, which houses about 70 elephants. It was the most amazing sight to see them in the natural habitat bathing in the river, especially the baby's playing with each other while their parents watched carefully. It helped to make up a bit for the fact that we had gotten to Sri Lanka outside of the Safari season.

Delhi - Fascinating history, but also the final straw(s)

We had a couple of nights in Delhi before we flew out. We left Agra on the train having bought our ticket like good little travellers at Agra Cantonment station. Once on the train we managed to sit down and start to relax..the journey to Delhi was relatively short in comparison to some of our treks across this huge country. However, then a guy comes along to check our ticket...

1 - this is the first time it's happened..
2 - he's just in normal clothes and the only thing he has that looks anything like official is a biro
3 - he tells us we have the wrong ticket and that we have to pay a 580 rupee fine!

So, being pretty seasoned travellers now, we say no. He says we have to go and see the conductor. So we leave him and try and find the conductor but without success and come back to find another seat. He then turns up again demanding money. However, luckily the conductor turns up a few minutes later, no doubt hearing a bit of a commotion. We tell him (in his conductor's uniform) that this guys trying to charge us about 6 times the price of our ticket. He then smiles at the guy and says it's ok and we can sit down - no charge! We still had a go though (and I scowled my most menacing scowl at the guy - so yeah he must have been scared!) and thought about how unfair it would have been if we hadn't been savvy travellers. Next - we met some unsavvy travellers...they'd paid the supposed fine. Luckily we helped them to get their money back...

Now in Delhi, we finally decided to break our 6 week no-meat rule here at Pizza Hut of all places. The things you crave when youre away from home eh? Thankfully no Delhi-Belly either here or through the whole trip. Also decided to treat ourselves to staying somewhere nice and not in the backpacker haven of Paharanj where the bombs went off last week. So we booked into the YWCA where we had a big room, and a hot water..although we still felt it was a bit overpriced at 1500 rupees..but it appears that that's Delhi for you...

New Delhi was suprisingly similar to London (guess that had something to do with it being built by the British) with really wide roads and lots of Hyde-Park style gardens. Old Delhi was a crammed mess though and where most of the poverty is. Dont think we will ever get used to seeing little babies sitting between traffic lights with no clothes, or little 5 year old beggars caked in dirt coming up to your rickshaw between the traffic jams. The Hindu's tell us you shouldnt give money to the kids cos it just encourages them to keep begging all their lives, but somehow its hard to see what other choices they have available to them or that they're getting any of the money donated to bigger charities...

We decided to do a half day tour around Delhi to get to see some of the main sites. We looked for the govt tourist department and were (helped) by some kid who said he'd take us there. In we get to a small office with a printed sign saying government on it. Looked a little dodgy but then, doesn't everything in India. The manager then rings up (well turns out he pretended) to check availability on the bus tour. After much animation and a very convincing act he says that there are no seats for tomorrow but...luckily we can take a private government car around Delhi for 3 and a half times the price we were going to pay originally! This being our last resort, we agreed and paid him 600 rupees to meet him tomorrow. We walked out..and then i got a dodgy feeling, the receipt didn't say government on it and the little kid had hung around outside to make sure we'd bought the ticket (for his commission). So, we go off in hunt of the governemnt office, find it and see that they do have seats available...it was an act! I'm fuming! We go back to the place where I demand our money back and call the guy a liar! (At one point he even had the audacity to say we should be careful to not get caught out by unofficial people and touts like other travellers - the cheek!). Anyway, he agrees to pay us back but not after his boy (who he's left in charge to give us the money) tries to take another cut. This was the final straw and I got up out of my seat and planted my fists down on the desk and said 'no - just give me the money' - a little shocked, (that we weren't pushovers like some others) he begrudgingly gave us the cash! We went back to the goverenment office booked ourself on the tour and had a great time!

Delhi really does have some amazing sites - The Red Fort, Humayan's Tomb and Gandhi's memorial were just the one's we saw. Whilst we've been in India we've both read a book called City of Djinn's by William Dalrymple. It was a fascinating read about one guy's year of living in Delhi. It helped to give us a bit more background and history into how this great city had formed and reformed over 8 times in the past and helped us understand and relate to a lot of what we were told on the trip. If you're coming to india, you should definitely read this book...

So here we are at the airport and its goodbye to Mother India and hello to Sri Lanka. Hopefully anyway. All airports in India have been on a state of highest alert for the last 3 days due to 'non-disclosed terrorist threats' so we'll see how we go.

Its been an amazing 6 weeks of curry, palaces, forts, chai, scammers and heat but think we're ready for the next country now. Namaska India!!!

Agra - Home of the Taj Mahal

We made a quick overnight stop to Agra to visit the most famous building in India, the Taj Mahal. On the way we also visited an interesting deserted city called Fatehpur Sikri. It was created when one of the ancient Mughals tried to relocate everyone in Delhi! It didn't really work however and after a few years and issues with drainage...the inhabitants and the Emperor moved back to Delhi. However, he had built an extremely impressive site. A small palace building for each of his wives, a court for the public and a large mosque - all which remains as a shell but in pretty good condition.



The town Agra itself was a a bit of a dive. One of the places to stay listed in Lonely Planet was the Kamal Hotel so thought it must be a sign eh Dad Toutounji? (mind you the fact that they charge 2 pounds a night also helped). The Lonely Planet also helped out agin with dinner at Joney's restaurant...a small shack with 4 tables that cooked us some amazing food...so good we went back for breakfast! (Thanks Joney!)

That night's sleep was virtually non-existent. At 2am what seemed like a live band playing outside our window carried on till 5.30 in the morning!!! Not good preparation for our earliest start yet to try and avoid the busloads of tourists visiting the Taj. We got there for 7am (still think its amazing that we used to actually have to get up and work in the mornings and that some days I'd be in the gym earlier than this!).

After we paid the entrance fee (thats 750 rupees for foreigners and 50 rupees for Indians) it was of course breathtaking, there was a white mist around it that (together with calls to prayer from the nearby mosque) lent a really mystical kind of quality to the building. To really understand how great this place is you have to see it for yourself...words and photographs still don't seem to do it justice!

The Pink City of Jaipur...(but with a lot of blue buildings like Jodhpur)

Jaipur itself is nice enough with a modern feel. What we mean by that is that there are proper shops with prices shown & everything (God it's going to be tough going into Boots & not questioning the price of goods & not having to haggle & ask for the best price & then haggle some more & maybe offer to buy several items in order to bargain for a discount). In fact Jaipur is so modern that in some parts of the city there are pavements! Some of them you can actually walk on! There's even a pelican crossing with a little green man & everything. Drivers don't necessarily stop for the little green man & they still drive up the wrong side of the street & the fumes are still pretty bad but overall we liked Jaipur. It also had Maccy D's and a Baskin & Robbins!


We visited quite an impressive building called the Hawa Mahal in the Old City which was great. Built in the 16th C it included little windows that were used by the Maharaja's daughters and wives to look at the plebs & watch daily life without the hassle of leaving the fort & having to come into contact with beggars & cow dung. There were a lot of temples and forts in and around Jaipur... We visited the Amber Fort and Nahargarh Fort too. This is when we got a real introduction to the monkey's as well as seeing some amazing views from the fort's positions on the hills around the city.

The ultimate monkey experience though was the monkey temple. Here we tried to ply the monkeys with peanuts in exchange for action photos. This was my favourite part of the trip...we got some really cool photos and I could have stayed up there all day feeding them peanuts...if I'd had about 20 thousand bags of them!



















We also visited a kind of orphanage (they prefer to call it a children's village) that is run by the SOS children's foundation. Children are brought to them mainly by the police, because they've been abandoned in rubbish bins and other awful places. They range in age between 0 and 18 and every group of ten kids lives in an apartment with a 'mother' (a full time artificial mother for them who has also suffered trauma at some stage of her life). When we got there we didn't actually get to meet the kids that lived there as they were in school, but we did meet a group of other slum kids who come in as part of an outreach project that the village also runs so that the poor kids can use the facility during the day and also get a good feed everyday.
So we played some footy with the boys (Andy) and sat and giggled and chatted with the girls (Vanessa) and we had a really good time. The work they're doing there is really inspiring...but they also seem to be managing pretty well too with European funding as they had good equipment and apartments etc. Seeing the smiles and giggles on the kid's faces though was a real treat...!












Should also mention our favourite rickshaw driver here as well. The first guy we've met that hasn't tried to get one over on us or take us to his friends, uncles, second cousins shop for a great discount. Surjeet was a great guy and also managed to get us a good deal on a taxi to Agra as we moved on to the penultimate stop on our trip round India.

Pushy pushers in Pushkar

Pushkar was a little bit of a letdown. We'd hoped to see some of the infamous Camel Festival - or at least the build upto it. Instead, we only caught the very first day of setting it up before leaving. You could tell that this was a big event though and that we were going to miss out. The set-up looked a bit like Glastonbury or V Festival the Thursday before it starts (except with not a drop of rain in site and a load of camels instead of festival goers!).















As soon as we arrived we looked for a nice place to stay. We came across a place in the Lonely Planet that claimed to have great views. It did, but the rest of the room didn't live upto much. So V parked herself and had a drink whilst I trekked around Pushkar looking for something better. Instead I found a cheap place 150Rs a night which was clean and seemed friendly enough. However, before going back to it following picking up our bags - the guy at the nice view guest house was offering me drugs instead of the room that he had...a definite no-no and a sign that we were right to find somewhere else. This (as it turned out) seemed to be the extent of what Pushkar had to offer! Groups of stoned / high locals and travellers all over! This was really surprising considering Pushkar's reputation as a major holy city...

It did have it's good and funny points though. We found a lovely cafe overlooking the lake which we spent a couple of afternoon's in...

We also learnt how to play the Tabla. We thought it was just a bit of banging on bongo's but turned out you have to be quite skilled at banging it very cack-handedly and using just a couple of your fingers...The notes were strange as well, this was our song...

"Dah - Din - Din - Nah, Dah - Din - Din - Nah, Nah - Nin - Nin - Nah, Dah - Nin - Nin - Nah" I think the guy saw us coming!!! Or just thought he'd never been able to get any decent rhythm out of any westerners before..so why try with us!


We had a very funny night in a rooftop Israeli cafe sampling great food and the infamous "Special Lassi" which included a little something extra other than yoghurt milk and bananas. To say we got the giggles and had to leave would have been an understatement...to say things were a little bit odd when we got back to our room would have been another understatement and to say the next day was like waking up with a huge hangover would be the final and worst understatement! A great day to try and get our arses to Jaipur!