Linda and Mals Asian Adventure

Thailand: River Kwai & Tiger Temple

2010-05-12T06:39:00.001-07:00

River Kwai and the Tiger Temple. As we got our Myanmar Visas sorted out without too much delay we had a free day, so we decided to visit the Kwai Bridge and the Tiger Temple.

First stop was at the War memorial at Kanchanburi, see pic below, superbly kept and very moving.

From here it is a short distance to the famous River Kwai and the Bridge which was made with WWII Slave labour, the original construction has been replaced by a Steel bridge, as we walked across the bridge in 40 degree heat it became apparent just how hard it was for those poor souls who were forced to work on the original Bridge, without proper nourishment and sun protection it would have been almost impossible to bear. The Museum opposite gave more insights to the cruelty and mentality behind the regime that saw so many perish.

After the disturbing Kwai Bridge, we went to the Tiger temple, not sure what we expected but in truth it was little more than a circus parade of kept Tigers. Impressive beasts that they are they do not belong in a circus or need to be put on display. So we were a little disappointed with this.

A contrasting day in someways but a certain irony about " caged beings ". At least the Tigers we being fed and exercised.

WWII Memorial near the Kwai Bridge.

The mentality behind it all.

Bounty acquired by the Japanese forces.

How does this fit in ??

Kwai Bridge, distant figure is Linda.

River Kwai.

The new Bridge.

One of the adverts for the local Zoo.. I must get to see these in the wild someday.

Train Journey from Kwai to Tiger Temple.

Station platform trees.

Scenery from a moving train.

Scenery through a window from a moving train..

All aboard !!

More train side scenery.

waterfall ( not a lot of water !! )

Tigers at the Tiger Temple.

Wouldn't he be better off in the wild ??

"Where's the soap" ? " yes it does doesn't it"

End of Blog,

Due to the lack of space left on this blog, our journey continues on a new Blog.

Please go to our new blog at www.himandheragain@blogspot .com.

Thailand: Bangkok

2010-04-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

Thailand, Bangkok. Didn't we pick a good time to come to Bangkok ! The first day we were here the Skytrain was attacked with grenades, this effectively put the station involved out of action and the line from it suspended. We accidentally bumped into a Red Shirts blockade at Siam City but was able to backtrack quite quickly! Apart from a few other isolated bombings it's been reasonably quiet, just a few roads and rail links which are either not working or are blockaded by the Army.

One of the reasons for being in Bangkok was to get Visas for Myanmar, hopefully by 3pm today we will have our passports back from the Embassy, The first few days here were mostly "sorting stuff out days" flights to Yangon, Hong Kong etc, Air Asia has had a sale going on so we thought it was best to grab a few good deal while we could.

Because we have been to BKK a few times we didn't want to repeat too much of the sight seeing we have done previous, so we ahve carefully selected a few places which are new to us. A mention must be made to Mal's walking boots which gave up the ghost in Nepal..

Our first sightseeing venture in BKK was to the Golden Mount temple, not easy to get too when the trains are not running ! but hey we got there, eventually. The Temple is really quite small but the steep spiral path to the top gives some nice 360 views of the city. As usual we find ourselves somewhere where it's really hot ! May is about the best time to come here for scorching temperatures, the average daily temp has been about 37 degrees peaking at 41 a few days ago. So climbing any sort of hill is quite a sweaty affair ! After visiting the Golden mount we wandered off to look at some new temples not shown on our map !

The next day we did something quite nerdy, we visited the Bangkok Shell museum, it was really different and really interesting ( we think ) !! The shapes and sizes of some of the shell displays were quite amazing, these shell were different to those we had heard about on the news, the basic difference was they were not the exploding type.

We were staying in a hotel off the Sukumvit road which was really quite nice but a tad touristy, the road outside was one line of hotels and Western bars, so we decided to move to the Silom Road area ( this was a bit closer to the troubles ) but a lot more interesting, that night we went to the Silom Village Seafood restaurant, fab stuff ! With most of our forward planning complete it was back to sight seeing so we decided to pay a visit to Ayuddhaya ( one of the old capitals of Siam ) we had been here previously but as there are some 250 plus temples we were able to see all new stuff ! Our return back to Bangkok was via boat along the Chao Phraya river. Over the next couple of days we are off to see the Bridge over the River Kwai and the Tiger temple, as there will be a ton of pictures from these, they will go on a separate blog !

The Boots.

Bells at the Golden Mount Bangkok

Top Rank or Take Your Pick ! ( only the old gits will get that one ! )

Buddhas at the Golden Mount.

Temple wall designs

Lions Guarding the Golden Mount.

Temples across the road from the Golden Mount

Bangkok skyline a new block underwraps.

The Shell Museum.

The Shell Museum even the wall lights use shells !

Night out on Silom Road. Traditional dance and cracking seafood.

Pa Bang Temple Palace near Ayuddhaya.

Topiary Elephants at the Pa Bang Palace.

Temple wall carvings

Pa Bang Palace

A slightly scruffy but friendly topiary Elephant !

Pa Bang Palace

One of the many Temple ruins at Ayuddhaya.

Ayuddhaya

Ayuddhaya Buddha Statue

Ayuddhaya

Siamese style Stoupa at Ayuddhaya

Bridge and tree flowers.

They have one of these in Pisa don't they ??

Ayuddhaya

There is a story to this, apparently the head of a Buddha statue fell off and landed at the foot of this tree. Many years later the head has become encapsulated in the lower roots..

Ayuddhaya.

One of the new temples at ayuddhaya.

Cambodian and Siamese temple designs Ayuddhaya.

Golden Buddha Ayuddhaya.

Bronze Buddha Ayuddhaya

This looks almost Nubian to my thinking ?

Multifaced Buddhist icon.

Reclining Buddha Ayuddhaya

Fish in the Chao Phraya River.

Chao Phraya river front dwellings

Modern Bridge over the Chao Phraya river just as the storm arrives.

Grand Palace from the Chao Phraya River

Wat Arun from the Chao Phraya River

Boat landing on the Chao Phraya River

Chao Phraya River

Modern Buildings along the Chao Phraya River waterfront.

Another Moder construction..

End of Blog, next blog River Kwai & Tiger Temple.

Kathmandu &the Kathmandu Valley

2010-04-16T23:52:00.000-07:00

Kathmandu& the Kathmandu Valley. Arriving back in Kathmandu after a tortuous eleven hours we had no time to do anything other than look for a room.

Next morning we set about trying to arrange a 3 day Kathmandu Valley Rim Trek, listed in the Lonely Planet and other guide books as a must do ! ( hold that thought ! ).

We sorted out a porter ( who spoke excellent English and had done the trek many times ) starting to look good eh ? Next morning at 08:00 we got to meet our porter, who didn’t seem to have quite the command of English as we had expected but hey ho at least we were off on time. We started our trek at the Village of Panauti, where the first part of our trek would lead us to the Namo Buddha temple. After a steady walk along the dusty road we arrived at a footpath that lead uphill to the Namo Buddha. Excellent. We wandered for awhile before heading off toward Daulikel, our overnight stop. It was here we noticed that our porter seemed to be struggling with the small day sack he was carrying and he seemed not to know the way and as such we were walking almost entirely on main road tracks, dodging both lorries and buses, not quite the Valley rim walk were described.. Eventually after 5 more hours we arrived in Daulikel and after more confusion and a frantic call to our porter’s office we sorted out some accommodation.

Next day we had to catch a bus to the next walking trailhead, again our porter was struggling with the 5 kg pack and had no idea what bus we needed to catch. Eventually we hopped on a bus we were assured was the right one and soon after got off it, far too early and along way before the walking trail path. After one and a half hours of walking along the dusty busy tarmac road and seeing our porter repeatedly ask locals for directions we decided that another chat with “wayfarers” (that’s the highly recommended trekking office ) after an exchange of dialogue, we said that the we were not happy that the porter had even done a trek before and that we would terminate the walk after we reached Nanakot. After 5 hours ( and many breaks, due to our porter being too tired) at this point I would like to point out that his pack had been reduced to 4 kg and I was carrying the extra. We spoke to a few locals and sorted out a taxi back to Kathmandu. In short we had a good old go at Wayfarers and got all of our trek money refunded excepting the initial car fare to Panauti.

The moral of the story, don’t always rely on guide book recommendations and if possible have a good chat with any porter or guide before you set off...

Now backing Kathmandu a day earlier we tried to bring forward our flight to Bangkok but sadly the 2nd leg of our flight was fully booked so we have more days in the polluted environs of Kathmandu to endure.
Durbar Square: Kathmandu’s must see area, now 300 rupees for foreigners, another Visit Nepal initiative. We spent about an hour walking around what could have been something really special, but alas the square is used by taxi’s cars, motorbike, lorries as a short cut across city and so there is a lot of noise and pollution to encounter, had this area been paved and pedestrianised it would have been excellent, sadly dodging traffic took a lot off its appeal. We were thinking of visiting the nearby town of Bhaktapur but we hear that they are now charging 1000 rupees a head to foreigners ( was 750 ) to visit the main Durbar, so we wont be going there after all.

Looking back towards Panauti,day 1 of our not so successful 3 day trek.

Namo Buddha.

A short climb to the top of Namo Buddha.

Great views from the top.

The brand new Namo Buddha temple being built above the existing old temple.

As it was new years day 2067 there was alot of celebrating going on and a lot of prayer flags being put up. Namo Buddha. Day 1 of trek.

More views.

New Namo Buddha Temple.

Pretty isn't it ?
One of the many overcrowded buses we encountered on our Valley trek... not much in the way of walking tracks !! at least the locals seem happy ..

One of the reasons why the Kathmandu Valley is so polluted..yuk

Another human haystack, or to be more precise, pine needle stack ! Just think our porter was struggling with a 4kg day sack, whimp !

Temple Lions Kathmandu City.

Temple and Traffic. Kathmandu City.

Durbar Square, wouldn't it look so much better without all that traffic?

Durbar Square Kathmandu City.

Big Bell, Durbar Square Kathmandu City.

Lion Guarding the Kathmandu Museum Durbar Square.

Durbar Square

One of the better views of Durbar Square Kathmandu City.

Small temple inside Durbar square, looks somewhat Ankor Thom like to me.

Cow sharing centre stage with the pigeons

Paying homage, Durbar Square Kathmandu City.

Durbar Square Kathmandu City.

Nice Door .

Fresh Veg.

Next blog ??? not sure at the moment..

5 day Trek pt 2 Days 3 -5

2010-04-12T22:56:00.000-07:00

5 Day Trek Part II

Day3 Ghorepani - Tadapani After Breakfast we set about our second walk of the day ( its now only 8 a.m ) we started as usual in an uphill fashion to the summit of Gurang Hill, the same height as Poon Hill and a lot prettier as it was shrouded in the blooming Rhododendrons making for a great “mask” to the backdrop of the high peaks of Annapurna II and Fishtail Mountain. A short stop at the top to take in the exceptional views was made ( and to catch our breath ), at 9630 ft we are just on the edge of thin air and as this was our 2nd walk of the day we felt we deserved a short break. After taking far too many photos we continued on our journey to Tadapani, passing through some superb scenery on the way. The sting in the tail to this section is the very steep downhill path followed by an even steeper uphill path to reach the village that looked only a few hundred meters away, this last bit took over an hour to complete and we were mighty glad when we reached Tadapani. As we arrived a bit late, there were only a couple of rooms free at the lodges so we had to take what we could get, the price being 2 pounds for a double room and an extra pound if you wanted a hot shower, the room was nothing more than a bed in what looked like an old stable block but it served a purpose and we slept well.

Day 4 Tadapani – Ghandruk. This was our easiest day of the 5 a short downhill trek of about 4 hours to reach the pretty Village of Ghandruk, the purpose of this short section was to allow some time to explore the village, we also went mad with the accommodation, we splashed out on 4 Pounds a night room with attached Loo and shower !! Such luxury . The village was indeed worth the stop over, set high in the valley it has manged to mostly ignore the effect of the tourist and many dwelling were genuine Nepali constructions. In the evening we chatted with fellow trekkers in the nice dining hall of the lodge before settling down to another good nights kip !.

Day 5 Ghandruk – Naya Pal. Our last day of the trek. We were expecting an easy gentle downhill walk to finish off or trek but the hills had another agenda, a steep section for about 2 hours kept the pressure up on the knees. After that the going did indeed flatten out somewhat and we had our “easy cruise” back to Naya Pal albeit 3 hours on.. We reached Naya Pal around 1 pm and caught a cab back to Pokhara. That evening we celebrated with Odette ( the Canadian lady we met up with ) and downed a couple of bottles of half decent Australian Chardonnay over a superb Dinner at the Moondance Restaurant. A fitting end to our trek. We decided to stay in Pokhara one more night before heading back to Kathmandu for some more trekking ! Are we mad?

Ghorepani, after breakfast, not bad views.. Annapurna II with a carpet of Rhododendrons.

Annapurna II & Rhodo's
Sorry, more of the same.

The path to Garang Hill.

A Rhodo.

The view from Garang Hill.

Close up of Annapurna II

Him and Her with the Annapurna's as company.

Getting a bit boring isn't it ?

Also available in Red.

Linda on a downward slope.. some say that's been happening for years !

Yak.

The path now goes down, why is it never flat?

Linda with a rhodo and a bridge.

Mule train, this is how the stuff gets up the hills..

Best keep out of the way as you can easily get mowed down

Tadapani, when the last two rooms are these then you know you should have booked ahead !!

Still at 2 pounds a night its not that bad, ours was number 6 .. complete with doors, windows and roof.

More downhill, Linda with waterfall on the way to Ghandruk.

Corn Drying on a house in Ghandruk.

Ghandruk Village.

Prayer wheels on Village Temple.

Home made bee hive.

Ghandruk House

Ghandruk.

Day 5 the walk back to Naya Pal.

A short stop for a snack, Garang Bread, Yummie.

Views on the way back

How hard do we have it? not anything like this, A human haystack. we saw hundreds of Women carrying unbelievably heavy loads on our trek, life isn't that Rosy for these souls.

Shortly after we arrived back in Naya Pal.

Trekking info: when you set about doing a trek in Nepal you are required to make sure you get the correct permits, for Annapurna treks you need the ACAPS permit at $30 each plus you need a TIMS registration which until 1st of April was free but is now $20 per head per trek so the costs can rack up, all part of the Visit Nepal year in 2011 just another way of rooking the tourist me thinks.Apart from that the basic cost is pretty good as the Lodges are cheap and much much better than those we had in India on our Darjeeling / Nepal Trek. All in all really great, hoping to do Everest base camp in 2012, anyone interested in joining me ?

Next Blog Kathmandu Valley & Treks.

5 Day Trek days 1-3

2010-04-12T22:23:00.000-07:00

5 Day trek to Poon Hill: Days 1-3 . After arriving in Pokhara we set about getting a trek sorted, by chance we met a lady in our guest house who was trying to do the same so we shared our resources and hired a porter between us. The trek was to be the 5 day Poon Hill trek.
Day 1 starting at Naya Pal we followed the river upstream, not the picturesque starting point but soon we were out of the melee of tacky shops and heading into the hills. Ahead was to be a 5 hour uphill trudge to the small village of Tikhedhunga, our porter had recommended a lodge to stay but we chose a better one with an additional outside shower ! At just 1 pound 43p for a double room we thought this was good value, hot shower and electricity !! wahooo ! A marked improvement on the lodges in India. On the way to Tikhedunga we passed a few pretty waterfalls.

Day 2 Tikhedhunga to Ghorepani. Now for the hard part of the trek, 6 hours of quite steep uphill walking. We passed several nice small villages on the route and soon encountered the famous rhododendron forest, we were about 10 days too late to get the full Wow of the flowers but as we climbed higher the blooms were still out in full ! As there was a lot of low cloud we didn’t get the good mountain views on the way up. At around 4pm we arrived in Ghorepani and another Lodge this time the double room rate had soared to 1 pound 90p a night ! At 9380 ft above sea level we were pleasantly surprised that we were not feeling any effects of the altitude.

Day 3 Ghorepani to Poon Hill starting at 04:45 . Why the early start ? To see the sunrise of course. A steep climb of about 45 minutes to the top of Poon Hill ( 9630ft ) we waited for the sun to do its stuff, with relatively clear skies we were treated to something a bit special. The views were stunning , the changing light making each minute different, After about an hour after sun up we descended back down to Ghorepani for break fast. The next stage of our trek continues on the next blog ( Too many pictures for a single blog ! )

The first of many Bridges, Naya Pal.

Following the river upstream.

More Bridges.

No More Bridges !!

Stepping stones to the rescue. Notice the confident gait as Linda virtually floats over them..

Waterfalls accompany us on the walk upwards.

More waterfalls.

Hillside scenery on the way to Tikhedhunga.

At last Tikhedhunga, two beers please ! The perfect cure for aching legs.

That's our room with the Pink towel outside ! pretty good for just one pound 42 pence a night ( that is for both of us of course ! )

Village life on the way to Ghorepani.

More streams and waterfalls and Linda of course ! Nice hat eh ?

Odd plant life.

The paths go into the Rhododendron forest.

Impressive eh?

Poon Hill at Dawn, Looking towards Fishtail Mountain.

The Annapurna Range.

The sun about to break on the Annapurna's.

Fishtail Mountain from Poon Hill.

Linda with an Annapurna backdrop.

Suns up ! Annapurna II in all its glory, great stuff !!

More of the same.

A little bit of "in camera" trickery here .

Annapurna II

Odette, our travel companion on this trek. ( with my fleece ! )

Big isn't it ?

Fishtail Mountain.

Annapurna II between prayer flags, Poon Hill Nepal.

A bit out of sequence this one..

Prayer flags and the Annapurna's.

On the way back to Ghorepani for breakfast..

Part two of this blogs continues the trek.

Tansen : Nepal

2010-04-11T21:36:00.001-07:00

Tansen: Another very slow bus journey. Lumbini to Tansen is about 65 miles but it still took 7 and a half hours to make this epic bus ride, that’s about a nine mile an hour average speed, impressive eh?.

The main reason for going to Tansen was to do some local walks and to break up the journey to Pokhara. The hills around Tansen are stunning but the persistent haze made clear views impossible. However we still managed two decent walks, the first was to the nearby hilltop and a local Buddhist shrine, the next and most difficult was the 18km walk to Ranighat. A steep descent to a ruined Palace and a very steep return trek back to Tansen, all in all this was a really hard going walk as the path was almost none existent at times and the gradient very steep. That said the views and the scenery were fantastic.

We got a little lost on the downward section as the path we were looking for was really narrow and we didn’t believe it could be the one we needed, eventually we picked up the correct path and continued down to Ranighat. Passing and crossing some dubious looking bridges we eventually arrive at Ranighat. The Palace was indeed in a state of ruin but it’s setting at the foot of the valley made it quite atmospheric.
The Walk back was made in the heat of the day ( about 35 degrees ) which made things even more uncomfortable and when we reached the narrow path we missed on the descent we really started to feel it. Very narrow and very steep, we see now why this is listed as a “tough” graded walk. Eventually we made it back to Tansen.
An exhausting, yet really enjoyable walk for the most part. Much to our amazement our legs felt ok the next day.Looking good for our next extended trek??

Another bus journey to Pokhara awaits..

Hills around Tansen.

Buddhist Shrine Tansen

The walk to Ranighat.

It's a steep descent to the Valley below.

Views.

Terraced fields near Aule ( small village about 4 km into the walk )

Aule village huts ( you can even get a cold drink here ! )

Further down the Valley.

Why is Linda crossing the stream over boulders when there are all those lovely bridges to use ??

One reason maybe?

Possibly a second reason !

More views.

More Huts.

More Terraces.

What is it? A leaf ? no it's a butterfly, honest look closely and you see its legs. Pretty good camouflage I would say.

Further down the Valley.

Terraces being ploughed.

Getting close to our destination.

The Valley.

The Village of Ranighat, yes that's all of it...

Ranighat Palace ruins.

Views from the Palace.

Would have looked quite impressive a few years back.

View from the Palace terrace.

Windows and graffiti.

The village and bridge.

Ranighat Palace ruin.

Another bridge.

And now the long walk back.........

Next blog Pokhara, if we get there that is !

Lumbini, Nepal

2010-04-09T22:26:00.000-07:00

Lumbini: Nepal. Lumbini is the supposed birthplace of Buddha. As such it attracts many followers of the lord Buddha, when we arrived a two day festival was about to start so the place was a little hectic. We found decent accommodation with no problem, the 7 hour bus journey from Chittwan was the usual local bus type, hot, bumpy, tedious and really slow.

With just a two night stop-over ( it was really hot !) we had to hit the sight early the next morning. The main attraction is the temple housing the birthplace of Buddha, not a lot to see but from a spiritual point probably really important. 2011 is the Nepal tourist year and to mark this the Nepal government will offer free visas to tourist in 2011, yes there is a catch, virtually all attractions and sight are having a huge hike in entrance fees, the Temples around Lumbini have just gone from 50 rupees for foreigners too 200 rupees, this seems to be reflected almost everywhere so the deal isn't as god as it seems. ( more on this later with the Trekking TIMS Permits ! )
Around the birthplace is an area known as the development zone. A huge area where Buddhist temples from all around the world are being constructed. Some still in the "going up stage" some very much complete. The whole area is quite large and it took several hours of foot slog to cover both West and East sections of the development area.

The highlight was the World Peace pagoda at the far Northern end and out of the main development area. Very Quiet and virtually no people around, we even saw a pair of Sarus Cranes in a nearby field. There were so many temples being built we simply lost count of which one was which, hopefully I have recorded the few we took pictures of correctly.
Apart from the temples Lumbini has no real appeal so two nights was easily enough time, next stop Tansen ( if we can sort out the tangle of buses to catch ! ).

Flowers Lumbini.

Bathing Tank where the Lord Buddha is said to frequented.

Birthplace of Buddha.

Prayer flags on tree Lumbini.

More flags.

Birthplace of the Lord Budha.

Burmese Buddhist temple.

Image of Buddha.

The entrance to the unfinished Cambodian Budhist Temple..

do you think it loks like Ankor Wat or what ?

Thai Buddhist Temple.

This one didn't have a nameplate..

mmmm can't remember the name of this one.

How is this for the ugliest building.. It is set in amongst all these nice stylish Buddhist temples, it's the Lumbini Museum, what clown allowed this monstrosity to be put up.

Trees an the way to the Peace Pagoda.

Monarch Butterfly.

Sarus Cranes, just a hop away from the World Peace Pagoda.

World Peace Pagoda.

Water Lilly at the World Peace Pagoda.

World Peace Pagoda.

Buddha images.

World Peace Pagoda.

More Water Lillies.

Korean Buddhist Temple

Not sure about this one.

Temple ceiling.

Wheel of Life.

Images guarding the temple entrance.

Chinese Buddhist Temple.

Image of Buddha

Temple door handle.

Nepali Buddhist temple.

Another Buddhist temple...

Next blog Tansen.

Nepal: Chittwan National Park

2010-04-09T03:54:00.000-07:00

Nepal: Chittwan National Park. With the heat set to soar further into the red stuff we decided to visit Chittwan before it became too hot. A 6 hour bus ride from Kathmandu.

We stayed just outside the Park as the cost of accommodation inside is about 10 times. On day one we hired a jeep and went deep into the park hoping to see some Rhino’s well did we have such luck ! We saw 5 in total plus numerous Deer and birds. It got a little scary when a rhino gave us the eye when we got a little too close, it was touch and go whether it would charge or not, luckily for us his mind was more on Dinner than playing tourist chase..

Next day we did a Elephant back safari into the park and again we managed to get up close to the Rhino’s, somehow they didn’t take much notice of us even though we were just a couple of feet away. In the evening to add a bit of culture we went to a Tharu culture evening, at the end of the evening many from the crowd got up and danced with the performers, no prizes that I wasn’t one of them but Linda was !!

On our last full day in Chittwan we took a dug-out canoe up river. It was early morning and really atmospheric. We saw loads of birds including the Pied Hornbill and the Stork Billed Kingfisher. After the canoe trip we set about a 5 hour jungle walk, the danger here being that if we encountered more rhino it could get a little dangerous, luckily all we saw were more deer and birds. We really enjoyed our 3 days in Chittwan. Next stop Lumbini.

Chittwan Riverside.

Flower.

Water Buffalo Crossing the river.

Time to dust down your Elephants..

Linda crossing the River on the sturdy looking bridge !!

Sunset Bridge.

More Bovine crossing the river, this time at sunset.

Paddy Fields.

Big Orange Sun.

Into the park.

Oh no I think he saw us !!

Rhino taking a bath..

Grand beastie isn't he?

Golden Monitor Lizard.

Langur.

More Rhino having a relaxing time in the water.

Never smile at a crocodile..

They really are very gentle.

Crested Serpent Eagle.

More Rhino.

I think they just got bored with us..

Now its time for the big boys to have a bath..

How soft is that eh ??

Wahoo lets splash the tourists..

Submersible Elephant..

Linda getting into the groove at the Tharu culture evening..

Stork Billed Kingfisher.

Up River.

Vine .

Termite mounds.

Well that's all folks, next blog Nepal Lumbini.

Sikkim

2010-03-28T00:03:00.000-07:00

Sikkim: Until 1975, Sikkim was a separate Kingdom to India, a referendum where Indian nationals with tenuous links to Sikkim were allowed to vote on a mandate of whether Sikkim should Join India, the result was that Sikkim is now a state of India. The native Sikkamese are still not overly happy about the way in which the referendum was executed and feel that they were cheated. That said Sikkim is an awesome state. It has little of the familiar Indian filth and pollution we have seen over the last 6 months. The scenery is breathtaking and apart from Gangtok ( the Capital of Sikkim ) it remains mostly unspoilt.

An influx of middleclass Bengalis from Kolkota has promoted a lot of messy scruffy developments around Gangtok. Luckily the state of Sikkim’s roads have stalled much development. The road network is a total mess and a 4 wheel drive is essential to reach most parts of Sikkim, this saving grace has virtually stopped any development much further than Gangtok. Lets hope it stays that way, whom would think we would be applauding crap roads !

We had 5 days in Sikkim; the journey from Darjeeling to Sikkim was especially beautiful. We stayed overnight in a place called Pelling where we had a really spectacular storm to greet us and no electricity either! The next morning we woke up to some of the most spectacular scenery on the planet. Views of the Indian Himalaya.
The previous evening we had walked up to a local Monastery before making a hasty downward trek ahead of the incoming storm. From Pelling we went to Yuksom via more great scenery and monasteries. Yuksom is a small village set in a deep valley with the obligatory Buddhist Monastery overlooking it from a nearby hilltop, which of course we climbed.

The next morning we went to see yet more Monasteries and took in some local waterfalls, staying overnight in a small village called Ravangla. Not a lot to see here but a good geographical location for the next days traveling. We took to the road early the next day and visited the spectacular ( any guesses ?) Monasteries at Rumtok before ending up in the messy overcrowded capital of Gangtok. Strangely enough we managed to pick out some superb accommodation in the way of a tiny but pretty guest house whose garden of flowers would put many botanical gardens to shame.

Our last day we traveled from Gangtok to Kalimpong ( back in West Bengal ). Kalimpong is the regions centre for flower producing and had many pretty nurseries publishing the fact. A separate blog of flower pictures will follow. We left India a couple of days later as our Visa had run out. So that was India al, 6 months worth, did we enjoy it ? YES we certainly did. There are many facets to India and even in 6 months we hardly saw anything but what we did we enjoyed. There were moments where this wasn’t the case, the episode of the washed up Olive Riddley turtles would rate as one of them. The better moments were far too many to mention and we would certainly consider exploring more of this amazingly different and complex country.

Welcome to Sikkim.

Sikkim

Hindu temple complex Sikkim.

Sikkim.

Rabnats, the Sikkim captial about 1500 years ago.

Prayer Wheel in a Buddhist temple Pelling, Sikkim.

Buddhist temple Pelling.

Buddhist temple Pelling with lots of flags.

Buddhist temple Pelling.

Monk on his way to prayers.

Sanghak Choeling Monastery Pelling, just before the storm..

Pelling.

The Storm.

No electricity but some really strong beer to help us through the dark hours..

The next day.

Views of Kanchengdzonga from Pelling.

To Yuksom and more great scenery.

And some rather bright flowers.

Around Yuksom.

Linda near the holy lake Yuksom.

Leaves.

Waterfall.

Some more great scenery.

Yuksom hill top Monastery.

Yuksom and yet another Monastery.

Views over Yuksom.

Yuksom.

Morning views Yuksom.

Yuksom again and a few reflections.

Around Yuksom on the road to Ravangla.

More waterfalls.

Typical Sikkim scenery.

Symbols on a prayer wheel.

Hill top Monastery on the way to Ravangla.

Roadside Blooms.

Sikkim landscape.

Temple images Sikkim.

Old Monastery Rumtok.

New Monastery Rumtok.

Ornate ceiling at the new Rumtok Monastery.

Buddha face, part of a huge Budha image being created.

Monastery Kalimpong

Every picture tells a story..

Darjeeling

2010-03-25T00:43:00.000-07:00

Darjeeling: The road from Siligiri to Darjeeling has to be seen to be believed, it is a track full of the best quality potholes and bad reinstatements ever collected. It took 3 hours by mini bus in the fog to complete the 80km. The next day the fog had lifted slightly but it was still very misty. As we are here to get in some altitude walking practice we decided to head off on a number of day treks.

Our first trek was to the local Bhutia Busty Gompa, not far but very steep path, the Gompa appeared out of the mist to reveal the first of many Buddhist Monastery’s. Our next trek was a 18km ridge walk to Ghoom via the Aloobari Monastery and the small but impressive Yiga Choling Gompa in Ghoom. On the way back we followed the famous hill cart road to the Gorka war memorial and the huge Druk Sangak Choling Gompa, also know as the Dali Monastery.

Tiger Hill was our next walk a renowned viewing point to observe the distant Indian and Nepalese Himalayan ranges. On our walk it was only just visible due to the low cloud cover.

Observatory hill in Darjeeling was one of our frequent walks, thousands of brightly coloured prayer flags adorn the local temple on the hill. The only downside to this are the bands of marauding rhesus macaques that wait in ambush on the way to the temple.

A repeat of part or some of our walks was made when the weather beckoned for better views. On one of our other walks we got hopelessly lost but managed to find a short cut back to Darjeeling via a really steep path. From Darjeeling we arranged a side trip into Sikkim before our visa ran out and we had to exit India after a really fascinating and enjoyable 6 months.

Linda on Observatory Hill amongst the prayer flags.

More prayer flags.

And more

Entrance to Observatory Hill Mandir temple

Bhutia Busty Gompa Darjeeling.

Prayer wheels at Bhutia Busty Gompa Darjeeling.

Wall images at Bhutia Busty Gompa Darjeeling.

Lone flower in the mist.

Allobari Gompa Darjeeling.

Aloobari Gompa Darjeeling

Rhododendrons on the Darjeelling to Ghoom ridge walk.

The Yiga Choling Gompa at Ghoom

Inside the Yiga Gompa

Valley view of yet another Monastery.

Gorkha War Memorial.

The huge Druk Sangak Choling Gompa between Darjeeling and Ghoom.

Wall paintings at the Druk Sangak Choling Gompa.

Darjeeling.

Norgay Tensings house in Darjeeling

Small temple on Tiger Hill.

A tree full of Spring Colours.

Tiger Hill.

More Rhododendrons.

Allobari Gompa on the Darjeeling Ghoom ridge walk.

St Andrews Church Darjeeling.

Tea Pickers Darjeeling

Tea Plantation Darjeeling

More Tea anyone ??

This concludes the short Darjeeling blog, next up Sikkim.

India and Nepal Borders 6 day Trek

2010-03-13T21:23:00.000-08:00

India and Nepal border trek: Day 1 Mana Bhanjang - Tumling . Our journey starts with a 2 hour jeep drive to the starting point of our trek, from here we have a steady 12km uphill trek to our 1st night stop at tumling at 3070mts the overnight mountain hut has no heating but the main building has a roaring fire, we spent the night chatting and eating with Joe a Doctor from Seattle.

Day 2 Tumling - Kali Pokhari Up at 06:00 to catch the sunrise at tumling and our first good views of Kangchenjunga ( the 3rd highest mountain in the world) and the Indian Himalaya range, in the distance we can see the Nepal Himlaya ( obscured partly by the climb to come later climb ) Everest is hidden but we can see Chamlang at 7317 mts. The trek starts off uphill for a while then drops to 2621 mts at Graibas after 7 Km. After a quick cuppa when head off again in a very uphill direction, Kali Pokhari a mere 7 km further but ending at 3164 mts.
The overnight accommodation is again not heated but the kitchen has a superb fire where we sit and warm up while dinner is being cooked ( sitting under racks of Yak meat and Yak Cheese.

Day 3 Kali Pokhari - Sandakphu . Another 6:00 start to catch another sun-up, great views of the Kali Pokhari valley and our next destination Sandakphu at 3636 mts. A tough at very hard uphill trek to Sandakphu takes about 3 hours but we are rewarded with our first views of Everest and even closer views of Kangchenjunga. We are staying here for two nights as the next day we are walking the Ridge path to Phalut ( part way ). The afternoon we explore Sandakphu and take far too many photos of hills and mountains.. The evening meal is a another Dahl & rice concoction, soon to be re-named "dull and rice" Over night he temperatures drop considerably and boy are we glad we bought those expensive sleeping bags, still we need extra blankets to keep warm.

Day 4 Sandakphu ridge walk. Yes you've guessed it, up again at 06:00 for more sunrise views, this time we are seeing both the Indian and Nepal Himalaya, FANTASTIC.
After an hour of photo taking and numb hand and feet its time for breakfast and a steaming hot bowl of porridge and hot tea. The walk along the ridge takes in more views of Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and the Indian Himalaya. After about 8 km we stop for a snack and then re-trace our steps back to Sandakphu for another night of freezing cold and Dull food..

Day 5 Sandakphu - Gurdrum. Todays trek is a killer its virtually all downhill and a real test on the knees, we reach Gurdrum around 2pm and crash out to a superb lunch.The Valley of Gurdrum is much warmer and at only 1850 mts we are not having the same breathing problems, our overnight hut has a nice wood lined room but no lighting or heating and the loo is two flights of stairs away to an cold stone out building. Still not too bad.

Day 6 Gurdrum - Rimblik. This is supposed to be the easiest part of the trek but with 2km of steep downhill our knees are telling us different, we eventually reach the Siri Kholar River and the terrain levels out a lot, its just a short 6km to Rimblik our final destination

Chitray Monastery on the way to Tumling.
Chitray Monastery on the way to Tumling.

Chitray Monastery on the way to Tumling.

Flower and fauna on the way to Tumling.

Prayer flags and hill temple near Tumling.

Tumiling on the Nepal India border. 3070 mts

Prayer flags and Tumling village, our hut is one of those to the right of the picture.

Sunrise at Tumling and our first views of the Nepal Himalaya.

Sunrise at Tumling with Kangchenjunga ( the 3rd highest mountain in the world)

Sunrise at Tumling with Kangchenjunga

Sunrise at Tumling with the Nepal Himalaya in the background.

Sunrise at Tumling.

The cat in the fireplace...

Day 2 and away through more remote villages, this one is Chowrie Chowk.

Linda by the mountain hut fire.. with strips of Yak meat over head.. Nice !

Kali Pokhari on the India Nepal border. 3184 mt altitude.

Sunrise at Kali Pokhari.

Prayer flags at Kali Pokhari.

Sunrise at Kali Pokhari.

The path to Sandakphu, Robin and Linda forging ahead.

The path to Sandakphu, Linda and Robin almost out of sight !!

A Yak on the trek to Sandakphu.

Bimal and Robin on the trek to Sandakphu.

Our first views of Everest from Sandakphu, Everest is the 2nd mountain from the right, sandwiched between Makalu and Lhotse.

Sandakphu.

Sunrise at Sandakphu.

Sunrise at Sandakphu. .. yes Mal's been playing with the Camera settings again.

Sunrise at Sandakphu with Everset in the background ( 2nd from right )

Sunrise at Sandakphu.

Day 4 Mal on the Ridge walk Sandakphu.

A very cold mountain hut.

Sandakphu.

The walk down to Gurdrum. day 5

Gurdrum.

There were a few of these.

Gurdrum overnight stay, the upper room was ours.

Siri Kholar river.

Looking toward Sikkim.

Bimal, Linda and Robin at the end of a 6 day trek.. and still smiling ..

Next Blog Darjeeling.

2010-03-05T00:38:00.000-08:00

Sarnath: Just 10 Km from Varanasi sits the small town of Sarnath. Sarnath houses a major Buddhist site ( mostly in ruins ) and a number of tidy Buddhist & Jain temples. The main Buddhist site is set in a well cared for landscaped enclosure the main feature is the 46mt Stoupa which dominates the site. The remains of many temples can be seen most have been destroyed and the building materials used for private housing and building !!

Down the road from the Buddhist ruins is a small but very ornate Jain temple which we were allowed to take pictures of. Just a few meters down the same street there is a peaceful Japanese Buddhist Temple and a Tibetan Temple all of which are totally different to many we have seen so far in India. The Tibetan temple ( monastery ) with its many prayer wheels are a taste of what’s to come later in our travels, a nice day trip and being so close to Varanasi it would have been silly not to have explored this small town.

Buddhist site Sarnath.

Buddhist site and Stoupa.

Stoupa and gardens.

Jain Temple.

Ornate icons in the Jain temple.

Jain Temple Sarnath.

46mt Stoupa in the Buddhist temple complex from the Jain temple gardens.

Japanese Buddhist Temple.

Japanese Buddhist Temple showing the elegant wooden reclining Buddha.

Entrance Buddha to the Tibetan Monastery.

Ornate wall painting, Tibetan Temple Sarnath.

Spot the Dragon... I think I may regret putting this on the blog :-)

Prayer wheels in the Tibetan monastery.

A very large prayer wheel..

End of Sarnah blog, next up Darjeeling.

Varanasi

2010-03-01T00:23:00.000-08:00

Varanasi. Varanasi is the spiritual heart of India, with 25 major Ghats along the East bank of the sacred “Ganga” ( Ganges River ) WITH Nagwa Ghat to the South and Raj Ghat to the North of the city.

We decided to stay at the South end near to the Assi Ghat. There are two “burning Ghats “ along the Varanasi stretch of the Ganga. These being Harishchandra Ghat and Manikarika Ghat.

We witnessed a most moving burning ceremony at the poorer Harishchandra Ghat, where a young lad of about 10 years old was heading the ceremony in burning the body of his dead father. When a person dies their body is first cleansed in the ganga and anointed with Ghee ( purified butter) before being wrapped in cloth and flower garlands. The body is then lain out on two bamboo stretcher poles and lofted upon a pile of wood to which more is added on top. The elder son then ignites the pyre with the eternal holy flame collected from a nearby temple and the process of burning starts. The Burning is administered by a caste of people called Doms who rake and tender the burning until all remains have been consumed, this takes about two and a half hours. After the burning the ashes are scattered into the ganga. The whole experience was very moving and humbling, just watching this young lad perform his duty was amazing.

The remaining Ghats are mostly used as bathing or washing Ghats, where a boat ride at dawn see’s pilgrims bathing and cleansing themselves in the Ganga. The scene is really colorful and with hundreds of pilgrims going about their daily lives it was another aspect of India we hadn’t seen before. At dusk there is another chance to catch some more Varanasi action along the Ghats, again from a rowing boat we witnessed pilgrims floating lotus candles out on the ganga, the downside to the evening boat was the mosquito’s who lay in wait for the unprepared traveler who has forgotten to apply their mosquito repellent… just like we did, and hell did we get bitten !! At times it looked like it was snowing with the millions of mosquitos illuminated by the riverside lights..
We really enjoyed Varanasi and also took a morning out to visit Sarnath, which will be covered in the next blog.

Young lad cleaning his herd.

Boats in a row Varanasi Ghats.

Some Cows just love to pose...

Temple Mural Varanasi.

Along the Ghats. Manikarika Ghat the main burning Ghat along the Varanasi front.

Ancient Mosque.

Boats for hire.

Varanasi Ghats.

Life along the Ganga.

Sunset on the Ghats.

The Burning Ghats at dusk.

Evening time at Dasawamedh Ghat.

Assi Ghat at 6 a.m

Empty Steps at dawn.

Early morning boats start to gather on the Ganga.

Daily life on the Varanasi Ghats.

Kedar Ghat at Sunrise.

Ganga Sunrise Ganga Sunrise

Ganga Sunrise

The Ganga awakes.

Bathing in the Ganga.

Dasawamedh Ghat at sunrise.

The Pilgrims bathe in the Ganga.

Scindia Ghat Varanasi.

The busy Dasawamedh Ghat at dawn.

Bathers at the busy Dasawamedh Ghat.

Munshi Ghat

Ganga reflections.

Kedar Ghat.

Around Kedar Ghat..

Holy man having an early morning ciggie ..

Puri & Konark

2010-02-19T23:40:00.001-08:00

Puri & Konark : Just an hour South of Bhubaneswar and on the Coast the holy city of Puri. First Impressions are “what a shitty filthy place”, Second impressions are yes it really is a Toilet of a town. The big long Sandy beach is just full of local litter and crap. So much so we have now renamed it as “Poo Reek” . The Beach to the South is a mess of local fishing shanty’s and filth to the North there is an Oozing drain that deposits the cities waste directly into the Sea. This place is a bloody disgrace.
The endangered Olive Riddley Turtles use the beaches along the Orissa coast to lay their eggs, they are also on the endangered list and the local fishermen are required to use Turtle friendly fishing methods, no surprise here that the don’t even bother, the local Police are bribed off and nothing is said. We walked a short stretch off the Beach and spotted 9 yes Nine dead washed up Olive Riddley Turtle carcasses just lying on the beach right beside the fishing boats. In all our travels in India I don’t think we have seen such filth and blatant disregard for the environment, the local government should be strung up. OK Rant over.
“Poo Reek” is a genuine Holy City and its Jaganath Temple is a pilgrimage site to thousands who arrive daily, again this is a Hindus only place of worship and we are not allowed in even though just walking past evokes the usual “donations please” calls from the locals. There is a Library where Foreigners can climb to the roof to peer over the Temple walls and have a look at the splendid temples, however the library requires a voluntary enforced donation of 300 rupees for the privilege.. so we didn’t bother, we have seen hundreds of temples and one less isn’t going to cause us any loss of sleep.
Just 36 km up the Coast from POO-REEK is the Unesco listed Sun Temple at Konark. There is nothing else much at Konark other than the Sun Temple so virtually everyone heading that way is going there for one reason. The Temple is impressive and is set in some nice tendered gardens, as with many tourist attractions the locals gain access for virtually nothing while tourists are fleeced for as much as they can get away with, On this occasion the price is 500 Rupees. The good thing about the Sun Temple is that is set in a walled compound which has a rather handy path all along the top so visitors can view this magnificent construction for 360 degrees without having to fork out the extortionate fee. So that’s what we did. 500 Rupees is about a nights Accommodation!
Chilika Lake is another tourist draw with it’s Irrawaddy Dolphins and wildlife so we had planned and arranged a day to go there, only problem was that after one and a half hours on the bus and going only 1 km we decided that it was never going to happen so we got off the bus and got our money back. No Idea why the Bus wasn’t going anywhere, it wasn’t broken down just waiting !!
Accommodation, is the highlight of Poo-Reek, The Z Hotel, Cheap, big airy room, comfortable and spotlessly clean, possibly the best room so far in India. There are other surprising delights in the Town, the local restaurants are also rather good, especially place called the Honey Bee.. So all is not lost in Poo Reek. Off to Bhubaneswar again on Monday.

The Evidence of Indiscriminate fishing practices ... 9 Olive Riddley Turtle corpses lust left on the beach.
Two More..

This one is a recent victim.

One of the Oozing fetid drains that poor into the Sea.

The local fishing village stretches about 2 km along the beach and all of it has piles of shit and rubbish like this.

Local Temple Puri.

A genuine washed up Jelly Fish, Linda's feet are for scale..

Fishing Boats and Villagers.

Fishing Boats.

A local wedding not far from our hotel had hired out a mobile Disco which arrived on a train of Bicycles..

Local Temple.

As far as we got to seeing the Jaganath Temple.

Jaganath temple entrance.

Jaganath.

Sun Temple Konark from the perimeter path..

Sun Temple Konark.

Sun Temple.

Chariot wheels carved into the side of the Sun Temple.

Sun Temple under repair..

Sun Temple

Sun Temple.

Main Entrance Sun Temple Konark.

End of Blog

Bhubaneswar Orissa

2010-02-16T00:48:00.001-08:00

Bhubaneswar Orissa. Leaving Kolkata from the huge Howrah station we set off to Bhubaneswar on a short 7 hour train journey. Bhubaneswar is the capital city of Orissa and a great jumping off point to get to Puri and Konark which we intend to do soon.
After a good nights kip we set off on foot to explore the ancient and holy sites of Bhubaneswar. First up and at the top end of the Bindu Sagar tank was the pretty Soshi Ghat with its ancient small temples and bright orange buildings. Walking around Bindu Sagar we next fell upon the temple of Siddeswar Mandir, a really old temple with many pilgrims worshiping and working to help restore the main temple building.
To the South of Bundu Sagar is the huge Hindu temple complex of Lingaraj Mandir, as only Hindu’s are allowed into the complex we had to view this impressive site from a purpose built viewing platform, All around the Lingaraj Mandir there are many smaller but equally impressive temples the best of which has been carefully maintained by the local horticultural society and as such is set in quiet peaceful gardens. All over Bhubaneswar there are Temples to be found, so many, that most are not even listed in any guide books \, making it a great place to wander about.
Bhubaneswar is also about location and with Limited eating places and few decent guest houses it is mostly off the tourist radar, well worth a stop over though. Oddly enough there are more ATM’s here than in almost anywhere we have been..

One of the non listed temples..

Detailed carvings on the " unknoen temple"
View from Bindu Sagar to Lingaraj Mandir

Soshi Ghat

Soshi Ghat
Soshi Ghat & the Bindu Sagar.

Some temple we never did find out what it was called.

Soshi Ghat

Siddeswar Mandir

Lingaraj Mandir from the viewing platform for non Hindu's.

Lingaraj Mandir from the viewing platform

Some bug thing.

The temples cared for by the local Horticultural Society..

Lingaraj Mandir.

And again.

Local Building Bhubaneswar.

More old temples around the Bindu Sagar.

Siddeswar Mandir from the Bindu Sagar Ghat .

That's all from Bhubaneswar .. next up Puri

Kolkatta

2010-02-14T00:33:00.000-08:00

Kolkata : Not sure what we expected from Kolkata but it exceeded our wildest hopes. Our accommodation was close to some great restaurants and not more than 10 min to the nearest metro station. Kolkata is quite easy to explore, lots of local buses local ferries and the metro only 10 min away . With such a huge area to explore we decided to spend 6 days. We were planning to go to the Sunderbans Tiger reserve but the boat was fully booked for the days we were hoping to go.

The most famous of Kolkata’s landmarks has to be the Victoria memorial just off Maiden Park. A huge building resembling in part St Paul’s and a few other London icons.

Inside ( no photos ) are some spectacular Stained glass windows and many interesting paintings from the times of the Raj. While we were in Kolkata the 2nd test between India and South Africa was taking place, as I type South Africa are 218 -1 on day one.. so they are looking good, SA also won the first test quite convincingly.

Kolkatta has one of Asia busiest main line train stations Howrah, the bridge over the River Hooghly is also known as Howrah Bridge. From the east side of the bridge the amazing Mullik Ghat flower market can be witnessed. Venturing down into the mêlée is a choice of the fool hardy or just plain stupid, so we did just that and got totally crushed hey ho..

Kolkata has many many old colonial buildings and many have not changed in the last 150 years, our guest house was on the 4th floor of the 1865 Solomon Building the original lift is still working but has new electrics… talking of electrics it is often better to turn a blind eye to the way some of these old buildings are wired I have included a sample of the main fuse board for pictorial explanation.

Other sites we visited were the Park Street Cemetery with many old colonial time graves, really interesting as most of these souls died really young. The Kali temple at Kaligat which was pure mayhem and bloody dangerous, the worshipers were almost frenzy like and the pushing and shoving became quite violent, luckily most of the people shoving were not that strong so a reciprocal shove soon stated our intentions, we left quite soon as Linda was getting worried about damaging her wrist again probably a wise move.

By far the best of the temples was the riverside Dakshineeswar Kali temples North of Kolkata, getting there was interesting as we needed metro, bus and local cross river ferry from the Belur Math Ghat ( and temple complex) . It was crowded with pilgrims waiting patiently and quietly to donate their flowers ( a total contrast to the Kaligat Kali temple ) . The late afternoon sun made it all the more spectacular.

It would be easy to ramble on at length about how we enjoyed Kolkata but I am sure by now you have got the gist.

Belur Math

Dakshineeswar Kali temples

Ferry across the Hooghly

Dakshineeswar Kali temples

People waiting and queueing....

Dakshineeswar Kali temples

Belur Math

Government Building.

Main Fuse boxes in our Guest house building... insulating tape anyone ??

Stairwells in the guest house. 1865 Solomon Building.

Kolkata street scene.

Victoria Memorial.

A fancy tractor..

Howrah Bridge and ferry.

Howrah Bridge.

Howrah Station.

Mullik Ghat flower market.

Bananas at Mullik Ghat flower market.

Mullik Ghat flower market.

Park St Cemetary

Black Kite Park St Cemetary.

Park St Cemetary

Plant life reclaiming ... Park St Cemetary.

Park St Cemetary.

End of Kolkata Blog.

2010-02-12T01:11:00.000-08:00

Kottayam & Varkala.
After a great time in Kumily we headed West to Varkala via the Town of Kottayam, the purpose of the stopover in Kottayam was to visit the “famous” and much publicized Bird Sanctuary at Kumarakom about 16km away. Arriving From the relatively warm temperatures of Kumily we found the day time temperatures in Kottayam to be really hot ! so much so that we had to go for an a/c option on our room, a really good choice.. The Bird sanctuary was total waste of time, it has been neglected and was overgrown and there was no wildlife apart from a couple of Coucals to see.. Glad we only went for a one night stop.

We caught the train from Kottayam to Varkala the next morning and found some half decent accommodation which wasn’t too noisy. We again met up with Colin and Sue who were making their way South in readiness to go to Sri Lanka. Varkala is a touristy destination with lots of good places to eat and some good walks along the cliffs and beach. Apart from a bit of walking we spent a lot of time sorting out the next leg of our travels and eating a lot… we also had a few beers with Colin and Sue in the evenings. Highlight was the fantastic seafood. Marlin Tikka, superb just done enough to give it a tikka flavour without overpowering the taste of the succulent Marlin..

We spent 4 days in Varkala before going to Trivandrum to catch a flight to Kolkatta. There wasn’t a lot to do in Trivandrum so we just stopped overnight, had the hottest Masala dosa’s yet, Linda couldn't eat hers. With a little over 5 weeks to go we are having to rush about a bit to fit some of the things in we most want to see.

Kottayam Bird Sanctuary ...

St Marys Church Kottayam.

I've got a luverly bunch...

Varkala.

flowers..

Varkala.

Fishermens Rope Varkala.

Varkala.

Fishing boats Varkala.

More colourful fishing boats..

Varkala.

How the locals go Fishing...

Trivandrum Mermaid

Trivandrum Sculpture.

End of Blog, next blog Kolkatta.

Kumily and the Periyar National Park

2010-02-02T23:10:00.000-08:00

Kumily and the Periyar National Park. Heading North from the Kerala coast we decided to pay a visit to the cooler interior of the Periyar National Park, staying in a neat little town called Kumily.

Our first day out was to the local hills and a steep climb to some fantastic view points, missing the correct path we meandered further upwards till we came to a small track which lead to a hill top, more fab views, as there was no real path other than the one we came up on we cut across some rough ground to another path we could see in the distance. This lead us down via an Ashram and a purpose built watch tower and eventually back on our intended route and yet more great scenery.

Next day we went with Colin and Sue on a day long jeep safari which although good wasn’t what we expected, no decent sightings of animals though the 6km trek through the park outskirts was great. Our Guide really didn’t have much of an idea about “guiding” thinking that as he knew the way that was good enough. So Sue and I hatched a plan.. Sue had a small plastic Tiger figure which I took a half believable picture of through some small plants, we then showed this to our guide who instantly revealed it as a genuine Tiger spot and his tracking skills were to be credited for this sighting…. After he had shown other groups of trekkers our sighting we confessed that we had lead him up the proverbial Tiger track and Sue showed him the plastic animal.. On the way back through the reserve we did spot a Giant Malabar Squirrel which was really quite cute.

Next day we decided to take it easy and chill a bit and sort out some future travel plans and had a farewell meal with Colin and Sue as they were heading off to Munnar.

Deciding that we had not had much luck with spotting any Elephants or Tigers we went on an all day 15km trek through the National Park, the small group consisted of Linda and me, three people from Estonia ( considerably younger may I add ! ) two guides and an armed guide just in case of any problems with attacking wildlife. The walk was listed as medium to hard which is about what it was. The best wildlife we saw were some distant Bison, Samba Deer, wild pigs and an assortment of Birds, no Tigers or Elephants, the walk was really great though and we had a decent break at midday to chat with the group from Estonia..

Our last day in Kumily and we decided to try our luck with a lake cruise where Elephants are often spotted on the shore, again no luck but plenty of deer and wild boor and two really large snakes, and a few new birds we had not seen before. The cruise was again really good and although we didn’t see any Elephants we really enjoyed it. Kumily, we can recommend to anyone. Great.

Coffee Beans drying out, local walk, Kumily.

More Beans.

Hills around Kumily.

Some large flowers on the walk around Kumily.

A bit of artistic licence.. image made through camera and not with any photo app.

Quite simple, set light source to tungsten and under expos the picture by 1.5 stops ..

Sepia.

More arty stuff, Hills around Kumily.

Jungle under growth fungi type stuff.

Large Pond skaters on a mountain pond. Periyar national park, Kerala.

The Hoax tiger picture...

Sue, Linda & Colin and our guide...... now where is he ????

Mountain side water trickle... not really a waterfall is it?.

Views.

Giant Malabar Squirrel.

Nilgiri Black Langur.

Indian Monitor Lizzard.

Sambar Deer keeping a watch on those trekkers.

Linda and our armed guide. I think his intention would be to hit any Tiger with the gun by the way he is holding it !!

Flower.

Park Trekking.

Ridge views, Periyar National Park.

Hills.

Forest.

Forest from the lake.

New tree plantation.

Flying ant nest.

Periyar Lake.

Periyar lake and Sambar Deer.

Two rather large snakes.

Periyar Lake.

Cormorants. Periyar lake.

Big Flowers.

Big Spider... ok I know Craig has bigger ones in his garden !!

Kumily Hillsides.

More big flowers.

Kumily Hillsides.

End of Blog, next Blog Varkala, Kerala.

Alappuzha ( Allepey) Rice Barge Kerala.

2010-01-30T23:55:00.000-08:00

Allepey: Just an hour and a half South of Fort Cochin is the Town of Allepey. This is one of the main centres for hiring out house boats or Kettuvallam's so we did. To make it more enjoyable we went with Colin and Sue who we met up with again in Fort Cochin. Allepey itself isn't that special but a good place to get a hair cut early in the morning !! We set off around 11 a.m to start a cruise on a relaxing rice barge. Indeed it is very relaxing and the company made it even more enjoyable. we even learned a new card game called Wigan Rummy.. which Mal won ( just ).
We moored up for the night near a small village and went for a walk just before sunset. While we were out we saw an amazing day to day sight, a man in a canoe shepherding a whole " Badling" of Ducks along a small back water.. ( This is the correct collective Noun for a bunch of ducks !! as they were a mixed bunch an not just Mallard ducks we couldn't call them a "Sute or Sord" !! ) how anorak is that eh? .

After a superb evening meal and a few beers we slept over on the barge ( which was really hot as there was no air conditioning ). Next morning we sailed back to Allepey to pick up on the next leg of of our travels to Kumily, a hill side town next to the the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary.

A great day on the Backwaters !

Captain Col and his crew.

The small port at Allepey.

Kerala Back waters

4 men in a boat.

Another Kettuvallam

Floating Blue Hyacinth..

Another Kettuvallam.

And another.

And one more, they come in all manner of shapes and sizes.

Kerala waterside.

Village stop.

One man in a boat.

The Duck Shepherd..

A small amount of the Ducks

Ducks on the way home for the night.

Linda hard at work doing her crew duties.

Next Blog Kumily and the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary.

Fort Cochin Kerala

2010-01-25T20:24:00.001-08:00

Fort Cochin, Kerala. We arrived in Fort Cochin late in the afternoon from Ooty. The temperature when we left Ooty was minus 1 and Fort Cochin was about 35 degrees so some temperature gradient ! The waterfront has some remaining Old Chinese Fishing nets which are still used today. The town is quite small and has some excellent eating places, we also met up again with Colin and Sue and we have planned to do a rice boat trip with them, the cost is quite high but sharing it makes it a doable option. Yesterday we went on backwaters trip on a non motorised boat, very peaceful but not a lot of wildlife to be seen which was a bit of a surprise. We also saw a local parade with colourful costumes and Elephants.. all in all a really nice break.

Chinese fishing nets Fort Cochin

Chinese fishing nets Fort Cochin
Chinese fishing nets Fort Cochin

Chinese fishing nets Fort Cochin

Parade time in Fort Cochin.

Kerala backwaters..

Reflections Kerala backwaters..

Kerala backwaters..

End of Fort Cochin Blog.

Ooty

2010-01-25T04:21:00.000-08:00

Ooty: Expecting great things from this historic hill station we couldn't have been more disappointed. Ooty is set in some of the most stunning scenery you could imagine but the Town itself is nothing short of a dump. The once surrounding Tea Plantations have given way to urban development in typical Indian fashion. If you can get 5 miles away from Ooty you can really see what this area was once like.

Ooty Hillside.

Thread Garden Ooty.

Reflection Lake flower sellers.

Reflection Lake Ooty.

This is what Ooty has become !

Ooty Lookout about 7000ft

That's it for Ooty we soon moved on, the picture shown are the very best of Ooty.