Weird and Wonderful India

A few things we've noticed so far about India:

The Weather

The weather here is like a perfect summer's day in the UK. The days are warm and sunny, and the evenings are cool and crisp. It's hot, but not hot enough that you are sweating, and the nights are cool enough that you can still snuggle up in a warm cover and have a good sleep. The further south you go, the warmer it is, so hopefully by the time we reach Goa it will be sunny enough to get a good tan (I need one!).

The Cows

Well, we'd been told about them, but nothing prepares you for the site of a cow with 2foot horns protruding from his head, ambling down a busy motorway. The cow here is sacred, so basically they are free to do however they please. This means they are in the streets, in peoples back gardens, in the middle of the road (quite often just sitting there so the cars have to drive round them!), strolling through busy markets etc. This takes a bit of getting used to. I keep thinking the cows are looking dorectly at me, sure they're about to charge! I guess in the UK we would never walk so close to a herd of cattle, because they probably would bolt in fear or anger, out here they must be used to people and cars, as noone seems to be scared of them (and some of them do look pretty scary!).
I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing though, some of the cows are living on the side of roads, eating discarded rubbish, and they look mangy and ill. Is this a better way of life than a cow that's graxing in a field of green grass? They don't get eaten and sold to MacDonalds, that's one bonus I suppose!
Other animals quite commonly found wandering the streets are; elephants, camels, horses, donkeys, goats... and there are packs of wild dogs that seem to live on every street corner. Thankfully we haven't encountered any hostile ones (yet) but you're still quite wary about disturbing a pack of the mongrels!






The Roads

If you thought driving through Picadilly Circus was bad... think again. The roads out here are complete mayhem, there are no laws, no rules. Trying to fight your way through a mass of motorbikes, rickshaws, horse drawn carts and wandering cows is a nightmare! Quite often we've been travelling in a rickshaw and it's had to swerve and near miss another vehicle. Jon is sure we're going to either witness, or end up being involved in a car accident!
The Indian driver use their horn as a way of warning other drivers that they're there. So quite often you'll be stuck in a traffic jam and someone behind you will have his finger CONSTANTLY on his horn, it's almost deafening. It gets very annoying for us, surely there's no need for the horn ALL the time?! It makes trying to sleep at night quite difficult!

The Public Transport

So far we've travelled by cycle rickshaw, auto-rickshaw, and train. The cycle rickshaws are SLOW! You'd be better off getting out and walking half the time, because they cant pedal up hills, so the driver will get out and manually push the rickshaw himself, with you perched in it looking like a right plonker! Plus they're VERY uncomfortable when going over humps.
The auto-rickshaws are great fun to be in, they zoom in and out of the traffic (with some near misses!) and are very handy if you need to get somewhere within town.


The worst thing about these rickshaw drivers is their sheer desperation to get your business. You leave your hotel... within seconds you are pounced on by at least three drivers literally begging you to take their rickshaw. Even if you tell them "NO" five times, they will still badger you constantly. At times we've had to be more or less rude and tell them where to go because they just will not take no for an answer!

The trains are slow and quite often very late! The first train we caught from Delhi to Agra was brilliant, we had first class, so drinks and food included, and our own reclining seat! If only they were all like that. The more common trains (especially since we've been in Rajasthan) have only sleeper class, either with or without aircon. Basically the carriages have about six beds in each, you are given a pillow and a sheet and most people go off to sleep. Most of the trains we've been on have been at least an hour late, and they normally arrive at their destination at least a couple of hours late!! Still, you get to see some amazing countryside as you go along, so it's not all bad! We've got our first bus journey from Jodhpur to Udaipur in a few days (7 hours) so hopefully that's not too traumatic!

The Loos

So far... not too bad. A lot of the hotels and trains now have western toilets (although not that clean!). The ones on the trains are literally a toilet with a hole that goes straight onto the track, so you have to make sure you're not in a station!
The worst thing is the smell. Some of the towns have outside loos (I've never been in one!) and if you're unfortunate enough to walk past one unknowingly and at that instant take in a deep breath of air...!!! Well it's enough to make you gag put it that way. They should have signs warning people that you're about to walk past one!
We've been coping ok, a roll of toilet tissue comes everywhere with us and it's probably the thing you need most out here.

The People

Generally, everyone is very helpful in India (sometimes a bit too helpful!). If you are lost, or need directions, they will try and guide you as best they can, sometimes even if they dont know the way they will guess and give you directions, be they right or wrong!

Everyone here seems really smily and friendly, especially the kids. The amount of giggling girls we have had come up to us and ask to have a picture taken with one of us! Normally it's at a big tourist place (ie the Taj Mahal), I guess if you're from a remote village in India the chances of seeing a pair of pale Western people are slim, so they take a photo when they get the chance!

The Staring

I knew that being a young, blonde girl travelling Asia would attract some attention, but I never, ever realised the extent of it. Honestly... it's like some people have NEVER seen a white girl before. It can be that bad that I've walked out of places because the guys (always men!) seem to think it's ok just to stare continuously at me.
Jon says it's because I'm probably the palest person they've ever seen, but I like to think it's because I'm the prettiest (haha!).
Seriously though, I probably get less attention in the villages than I do in the towns. Some of the younger guys think it's actually ok to call things out or say things to me as I walk past (even with Jon!). It's shocking.



Ive just taken to wearing the loosest, baggiest clothes I have, and always tying my hair up. It can really make you paranoid, I now know why Muslim women wear Burkhas, I'm thinking of buying one myself, although it might be a bit too hot on the beach in Goa ;o)

Birthday Boy

Just a few words to say how Jon's birthday on 21st Nov went. We booked into the Murghal Sheraton 5* hotel... very swish, sooo nice to be in comfort after the holes we've stayed in! In fact the President of China was even visiting there today so we managed to get a late checkout of our room!

We visited Agra Fort, the Taj Mahal (amazing) then had a yummy meal in the hotel with a bottle of wine. The staff even brought out a birthday cake which went down a treat! All in all a fantastic day with some great pictures.

Us at the majestic Taj Mahal!



In the hotel restaurant having the birthday meal









Bec in the swish reception

A Kashmir Nightmare!

Well, as you know, me and Jon never do things by halves. We had just completed 2 days in Delhi, been shopping and done a tour of the city. Our next move was a 2 day tip to the Himalayas.Basically, we were totally mis-sold the trip, the tourist office told us we were going to the Hichmal Pradesh which is in North India, but is still covered by the normal laws as the rest of India. Anyway, these tourist guys were complete con-artists, they didnt give us our flight tickets until the mornign of the flight, even then it was only a flight going out, not a return. now alarm bells should have started ringing by that stage, even more so when we looked at the ticket and it was going to Srinagar, which is in bl00dy KASHMIR!! I had initial doubts about going, but we'd paid 200quid already for the trip, and we didnt want to lose our money. We asked several guides and workers at the airport, who told us "yeah that area is fine now, you dont have to worry", so we hopped on the plane up to the Himalayas.When we arrived, it was like we'd just landed in Baghdad. It was a dark, cold, rainy day (we were told it would be warm), the streets were dirty, crowded, everyone looked depressed and it was very intimidating. We had a car pick us up from the airport, and we were staying about 40mins away. As we drove through the towns, we could see army guards with guns on every corner, peering into cars to see who we were. Not a very pleasant experience for any trvaller let alone two newbies who only left Watford 2 days ago hahaha.Anyway we arrived, we were stayhing on a houseboat on Lake Nageen. The place looked intimidating from the start, dark, gloomy, totally out in the sticks with no other buildings around. We went in to be greeting by the manager "hello madam/sir!!! welcome! welcome!" Everything seemed ok at first, we had some breakfast, some Kashmir tea, we chatted and agreed to make the best of it and have a relaxing couple of days. Then the manager comes back in... "ok so lets talk about the tours you are going to do".. errr No we haven't booked any tours?! Plus we couldnt afford anything extra so we told him this straight away. This did not go down well. "STUPID F.CKING ENGLISH!!! You think 200 pound will get you a flight and a stay up here? You buy the tours!! Basically he was trying to force us to pay him more than a thousand pounds to book up a month tour of India after this trip. We were as polite as we could be, explaining we had only come up here for a relaxing couple of days and didnt want to pay anymore. He then threatened us with our flight home.. "Either you pay me now or you will not be leavign Kashmir. I know everyone here, the police, the army, you will have much trouble if you do not cooperate". OH SH1T!! We were thinking, it was like the film "Hostel" where the two backpackers slowly realise they are being held hostage and things are not workign out as they seem. I could see us being chopped up into little pieces and thrown into the lake that night.The manager became more and more irate as we pleaded with him that we just wanted our return flight and to leave there and then. He threw his credit and ID cards at us and said "Dont you know who I am?!! I am a big name round here, if you cross me I will call the police in here right now and there will be a lot of trouble". He then threatened Jon with "I will smash you in" and he was a big guy with lots of other men otuside. We were getting really scared at this point, I was almost in tears, we were shaking. There seemed to be no way out. We finally agreed to pay him another 16000 rupees (about another 200 quid) for two tours over the next couple of days in kashmir. This seemed to calm him and he gave us his word that he would give us our flight tickets when we paid him that night.Cue a very scared Bec and Jon, shivering in the freezing cold, sitting in a houseboat on a lake in Kashmir thinking to ourselves "what the hell have we got ourselves into". We knew this could turn serious, it's one thing getting into trouble in London, its another totally different thing when you are stuck in the middle of the Himalayas. (type in Kashmir and trouble in Google and you will see how bad the situation is out there).We spent the night wide awake scared out of our wits incase anything else happened. The next morning we met more tourists also staying there. We managed to whisper to them about our problems and it seemed they had all had the same thing. They had all been told they were going somewhere else, and somehow ended up here. They had all been forced to sign up to the India tour, paying another 1000-2000 pounds to the manager.Yesterday (19th Nov) we went on the tour that we had paid for. It was to see a mountain village called Sonomarg, high up in the Himalaya range. I can't deny that this was amazing, we saw some beautiful sights, met the local village people, rode on a horse up into the mountains, and had lunch in a gypsy house. BUT... this enjoyment was all marred by the fact that we had been forced to do these tours in such intimidating and expensive circumstances.We arrived back at the boats later that night, some of the other staff were trying to convince us to stay another night (NO WAY - not if you paid us). Luckily we had our plane tickets by this point so we told them our friend was picking us up(Darsh I told them it was your brother!). Thankfully the manager did not bother with us anymore (he must have realised we were sh1t scared and penniless so couldnt get anymore out of us. This morning we woke up, praying that everythign went smoothly. We crept around until 10am then asked for a lift to the airport. Once again they tried to deter us "oh just stay a while, your lift will be here soon". NO we told them, we want it now! Thankfully they gave in and a car took us to the airport, where we had to endue the most rigourous security checks I've ever seen. The place was filled with army, they were very intimidating and me and Jon finally gave sighs of relief when the plane took off.We met another couple on our flight who had stayed at the same place. They had not been given their return tickets until they had paid another thousand pounds for more tours. They literally were being told they couldnt leave until they had agreed to it. So, in the grand scale of things, me and Jon got off lightly, we lost a few hundred pounds and had a very scary experience, but money is nothing when you think about how bad it could have beenI cant really explain in words how scared we were, it was like being in a film. Several tourists in the past had been abducted and never found in Kashmir, and we were both having terrifying thoughts about us going the same way. It seems we were just the victims of a ring of corrupt tour agents who use intimidation to get money out of innocent touirists, but at the time it felt like our lives were in danger.Anyhow... everything is fine now. Thankfully the plane took off and landed in Delhi an hour later. We are now sitting in the main tourist part of Delhi, near the train station. Our hotel is a dump, it is dirty and with no aircon, but I was the happiest girl on earth when we finally checked into our own room. We have booked a train to Agra at 6am tomorrow morning, then we check into the 5* Murghal Sheraton resort (cant wait) for a day and a night for Jon's birthday. Then we have another day of sightseeing round Agra before getting another train to Jaipur in Rajasthan on the 23rd.Even though the last couple of days have been terrifying, we were scared sh1tless... everything is back on track now. We are with lots of other backpackers so we're more at ease. We smell though, haven't had a proper shower in a week almost. Looking forward to a day of luxury tomorrow.It would be easy for people to think "how on earth did they end up in such a mess"... but the Tourism company was listed in Lonely Planet, plus we asked loads of people about Kashmir now and they said it was safe. My advice is to always check your embassy online, we done this after we had arrived and it had warnings about travelling there. Still, you live and learn hey?! The only good thing to come out of the whole trip was that we got some amazing photos when we went up to Sonomarg in the Himalayan Mountains, some of which I've copied below:





Bec en route to the Himalayas!


A groom on his way to the wedding in Sonomarg

Kashmir gypsy children

Jon trekking!

Welcome to Delhi

Well we made it! After
many months of nervous waiting, we kicked off the first leg of our Asia trip.

We left on Wednesday morning at about 12pm, our flight was at quarter
past three. Had a final coffee and cake with my mum, then had some tearful goodbyes as we boarded the plane :o(
The flight was 8 hrs long - the furthest Ive ever flown is to Spain so I was NOT looking forward to this!! The first six hours were ok, we watched films and ate airline food which passed the time, then about 2 hrs to go, we hit some bad turbulence... my chicken hotpot was bouncing around in my stomach and I felt quite ill. Luckily we eventually made it into Delhi, tired and worn out.

Oh my god.... Delhi is MAD!!!! I mean its proper like you have stepped into another world. The airport seemed normal enough, but the instant you step out the smell hits you (you do get used to it after a while though!). There were beggars hanging around outside, they come up to you, arms outstretched, eyes pleading. Very weird. Because I am fair we were getting a lot of funny looks. Thankfully our hotel included pickup so the driver was there waiting to take us.
Driving to the hotel from the airport was an eye opening experience. The slums are shocking - families living in makeshift huts with tarpaulin over the top of them, small children sitting in dirt and wearing next to nothing. There were cows and horses aimlessly strolling along the road!!! It made for an interesting journey anyway.
We arrived at our hotel, which to our horror is in a slum of a Delhi suburb. The hotel itself is ok, pretty clean, western shower and toilet etc, but you step outside and its like something from a horror film, dirty streets, ramshackle buildings. Me and Jon both looked at eachother when we arrived and thought "what the hell are we doing!!"
After a bit of sleep we popped out again, thankfully the street looked slightly more normal, the shops had opened, cars were driving around etc. We jumped in a rickshaw and headed into Cannaught Place, which is the main shopping precinct. Well, dont expect no Selfridges if you come here put it that way. Everywhere just confused us, the sheer weight of traffic, people beeping their horns, street traders screaming, beggars following you.... it was just a totally scary experience. Luckily we werent the only tourists there, so although we did stick out, we werent THAT obvious.
Finally located an underground bazaar where they sold cheap clothes, bought an Indian style top and bottoms, and some slippers. We did haggle but as time went on we were getting them for cheaper and cheaper so Im sure we got skanked on our first purchases!!
Popped into Delhi Tourism office where we sorted out a tour of Delhi for the next day. Finally got back to our hotel and tried and tested our first true Indian curry.
Our first night in the hotel was very strange. We went to bed at about 10pm Delhi time, but of course it was only 5pm UK time. I couldnt sleep at first, kept thinking all kinds of scary thoughts, I guess the enormity of where you are finally hits you, you realised that you're thousands of miles away from home, and the people you love are a different world away. It still scares me now even as I type, cant believe I cant even ring anyone up for a chat!! arrghh! Finally dropped off to the noise of the street below (very loud).

Today we embarked on our tour of Delhi. From 9am - 5pm we visited sights such as Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Raj Ghat, Laskhmi temple, Lodi park and another Sikh temple, where we had to take our shoes off, cover our hair, and splashed ourselves with a bit of holy water (very dirty with massive catfish swimming in it!).
Our tour guide Rakesh was a very nice, if not a bit annoying!! He invited himself out to lunch with us, then came for a nice romantic stroll with us around Lodi park, plus he probably now knows every single detail about our lives as he asked about 1000 questions! We've got a lift off him tomorrow am to the airport then we are determined to ditch him otherwise I fear he'll be with us for our entire 6 month trip!!!
Well it's 8pm in Delhi at the moment, its a nice cool evening, although the days are really hot.

Tomorrow we fly up to the Himalaya range - something I have always wanted to do but doubted we'd have time. Anyway we've had enough of Delhi so want to get out, so we have 2 nights in a village somewhere up in the Himalayas - how amazing is that gonna be!! Slightly scared at the thought of flying over mountains but I'm sure I'll survive. Then the plan is to fly back to Delhi on the 20th, then head down to Agra for the 21st. So far so good re: India. It's mad, Delhi is everything I'd heard about, busy, smelly, rushed, a pure eye opener. But as time goes on you kind of get used to it, I think we're doing ok so far, hopefully the rest of India will be just as enjoyable.




To be continued!! .....