Jaipur

Well... Whose silly idea was it to follow summer all year 'round anyway? Whose silly idea was it to visit the desert during summer? Sorry folks, it's time for a rant. We know it's freezing back home but just to sniff the chill for a moment sounds like heaven right now. We are currently sweating away our kilos and our souls in Jaipur. Our days consist of a few hours wandering in the morning, before retreating to our guesthouse to pass out for a few hours under the fan. Then a tasty lunch, then it's pass out time again, before we venture out into the wonderful 40 degree evenings before going to bed...under the fan!



And as for Jaipur... Well that's another rant in itself. After our peaceful sojourn throughout desert Rajasthan, we have been hit with the whirlwind of Jaipur - Rajasthan's capital city. It's hot, noisy, flat out. It's a mecca for shopping, with streets and alleyways lined with tiny little shops crammed full of merchandise. That's tomorrow's mission. The old city itself has thousands of shops selling anything from sarees to sandalwood. You can buy anything here. It's amazing, but expensive as too many tourists with too much money have visited before us. Bastards!

Jaipur has been a bit of a disappointment after having visited such amazing towns and cities throughout India. It's been a bit of a reality check also, bringing us back to the filth and poverty that is India. What others' have said rings true in our ears... India is a country that you have a love-hate relationship with. Absolutely amazing.

Pushkar

Houston, we have a problem...

Technology is a wonderful thing - until it bytes you. The uploading of photos has been made impossible due to cracked and scratched CD Roms. D'oh! Anyone with a PhD in computers is encouraged to offer advice/assistance in this matter. Until then, our hearts remain in our throats...



Apart from that, all is well in India. We are currently exploring Pushkar, a sleepy little town built around a lake and surrounded by mountains. It's a bit of a contrast to what we've been exploring lately.





We left you in Jaisalmer, which had a cool little fort which is pushing 851 years of age, and still going strongishly. From afar, it seems as though the fort has risen out of the desert from under a mighty sand dune. Very organic! But the poor old thing is currently being renovated after an overloaded sewage system was causing it to collapse. It was fun to explore and get lost in the maze-like streets and shops perched hundreds of feet above the desert plain. Our exploring was limited to the early mornings and late afternoons. It is a similar environment to Broken hill, except maybe a little harsher, with regular readings of 50 degrees celcius appearing in the summer, ie, NOW. When the locals started saying that the real heat was only a few days off, we skedaddled... if it could be called that.







"Your mission, should you choose to accept it: BIKANER."
Next stop on the crazy bus was a dusty old town in the middle of nowhere called Bikaner. Our patience and civility levels were already being tested inside the rickety old bus (which we caught at 6am)as we travelled through the scorching sand dunes. Can you guess what happened next? Breakdown. An exploding radiator hose saw us sitting in the sun for two hours as we watched camel carts, jeeps and locals (not to mention other buses!!!) pass us by. Our replacement bus finally arrived. Can you guess what happened next? Breakdown. The rear tyre exploded right under our seat which led to another delay. In the sun. Are we having fun yet? Once the tyre (and our undies!) were replaced, a few more hours on the road saw us reach Bikaner. The worst part was the knowledge that we weren't even meant to be on this particular bus anyway - we were on board the 9.30pm overnight bus when we realised that we had left our passports at the hotel, so we missed our intended bus! In Bikaner, we were welcomed by the lovely people at Vinayak Guesthouse. They proved to be our oasis in the desert and looked after us like family. It was really nice. In short, the Vinayak Guesthouse was the highlight of our visit to Bikaner. Catch our drift?



Next stop was a little town called Nagaur where 'Noneya' was born. Noneya is our new friend, Andrea's new alias. India is renowned for its sleazy men. Andrea is renowned for being female. Complete the equation. Everywhere we go, men stare (constantly, openly, longingly) at the wonder of her beauty. Or is it the fact that she has a pulse? Either way, she is the centre of many a man's attention, all who would like to know her name (at least). That's where Noneya came in: short for 'None ya business'. Nagaur is famous (apart for its excessively horny men) for its lush, though ruined, Fort of the Hooded Cobra. Sounds cool. It was impressive, even in its state of disrepair. These fort-building Maharajas knew how to live it up and kill each other.

Now we're in Pushkar, which is where this little story started. Now you know what we've been up to, all in the time it took us to reach Bikaner! See you all at the next epic installment!

Happy Birthday to Felicity for today! Hope you have a great day.

Happy Birthay's to Kelli and Simon for the coming days. Party on Wayne!

Rajasthan, India

A 40 hour bus trip saw us travel north from Goa, back through Mumbai, and into the desert region of India - Rajasthan. This is the land of the Maharaja, home to the turban, outrageously bright saris, ancient forts and classically moustachioed men. It is truly a step back in time.

Our first stop was the town of Udaipur, where that great 007 film, 'Octopussy' was shot in the 80's. Every guesthouse in town screens the film nightly at 8. We, of course, did not manage to escape the tentacles of this legacy! Udaipur is situated on a marvelously picturesque lake, which has a spectacular palace and museum on its shore, and a 5 star hotel built in the middle of the lake itself (This was Octopussy's lair). It was a really pretty, laid back town which we enjoyed visiting.

Next on the list was Mount Abu, a hill station in the south west of Rajasthan. At an altitude of 1200 metres, it provided us with a nice escape from the heat, and is a popular holiday spot for Indians. Mt Abu is famous for its 'Dilwarra' Jain Temples. These temples have been hand carved out of marble and were one of the most exquisitely hand crafted sights we'd ever laid eyes on. Unfortunately, photography was banned, so check out this website if you're interested. Hopefully it will give you some sense of the grandeur and intricacy:

http://www.indiantemples.com/abu.html

The wildlife around Mt Abu was plentiful. Apparently there are bears, leopards, deer, but we were constantly amused with the antics of the local monkeys doing naughty monkey things. Dennis finally found like-minded souls! We also watched the first polo match played in Mt Abu in 75 years. The historic occasion was overseen by the Maharaja of Jodhpur - Smashing!!! The highlight of the game was the pitch invasion by a family of wild pigs!





Next stop, Jodhpur, saw us exploring the amazing 500 year old fortress "Meharangah" the Citadel of the Sun. It was an awe inspiring feat of construction that has never been taken by an enemy. The Jodhpur market bazaar was like a scene straight from 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves', and the (would-be) thieves were plentiful and miniature in size: street kids. They pulled, proked and prodded use from every direction wherever we went. We expected to see a turban-clad scimitar weilding strong-man coming out of the crowd at any minute. It was an extraordinary experience that we thoroughly enjoyed and hated at the same time.

We have just arrived in the sleepy town of Jaisalmer, Western Rajasthan in the Thar Desert. We will be exploring the town and the 850 year old fort tomorrow. Sorry for the long post, but electricty cut-outs, travel and tiredness have impeded our updates.


Happy Birthday Martin!!!

Goan Off

Goa - famous for its hippies, beaches and party scene - became known to westerners in the 60's. 45 years later, the beaches and the parties still draw people to experience this part of India. Unfortunately for the hippies, science discovered that excessive drug usage can cause serious harm. Although they have not aged well, remnants of the hippie population are still living in Goa, along with the younger tourists and families which come along to enjoy the peaceful beachside each summer. It would have to be one of the most relaxed places we have visited so far on our journey.
After 10 days exploring the grey matter, we decided that Goa sounded like it needed our company. So, we caught a bus there and relaxed for five days by sitting on a beach, exploring the countryside on a motorbike. We slept a lot and managed to regain our powers of speech along the way.
Goan food is renowned for its creamy (mainly seafood) curries. Needless to say, we gave it a good lash. Yum. Delicious. Scrummy. The restaurants were definitely a lot of fun.
We hope that everyone has a good Easter. Travel safely to your holiday destinations and don't overdo the chocolate thing. Easter doesn't really exist in most parts of India, so we won't be having any Easter eggs this year. Very disappointed with the religious customs in this part of the world at present!

Completely Mental

We are sorely disappointed by the lack of response regarding membership to our new cult. Not even one credit card detail left for us! Have you no faith? What's wrong with you people? Not interested in finding out the answer to the BIG questions? Afraid of a bit of ultimate truth? Scared that your brains might not understand the universe in its entirity? Well, you're probably right. The old brain isn't exactly what we thought it would be. It's a strange place inside the head... very strange indeed...

Our Vippassana (pronounced 'Vipashna')course is over: Most would think that 10 days away from the hustle and bustle in a remote sub-continental location, surrounded by chirping birds and wild peacocks would be bliss. Think again! It was not as easy as either of us thought it would be. Mentally, emotionally and physically, it was a challenging experience. Andrea liked to call it "Meditation Bootcamp." The 10 days went something like this:

4am wake up, 2 hours of meditation, breakfast and rest.
3 hours of meditation, lunch and rest.
4 hours of meditation, a light snack and rest.
1 hour of meditation, followed by a teaching on meditation, then a quick meditation before bed (just in case you hadn't had enough by now!) at 9pm before going back to do it all again the next day.

For those a bit slow in the maths department, that equates to 12 hours of meditation out of a 17 hour daily program. Just us and our minds. And all around us, complete silence!!! No talking, no eye-contact, no nothing. Pretty scary stuff!

Dennis highly recommends the experience, whilst Andrea was less than impressed with the early starts, and strict regime! We did however both agree that the food was good. In all, it was a very interesting experience that led us both to question our thoughts and feelings and the reality of them both. That's if they even exist...

We are currently in the beach state of Goa, West India. We are in a little town called Arambol which is relaxed and chilled. Just what we needed after our 'experience'. So when we have had enough of beach bumming, swimming, surfing, motorbike riding and eating we might decide to move on. Chill out dudes.....

Slow internet connections are not allowing us to download photos so we apologise for the inconvenience. We'll do it when possible.

Happy Birthday to Jimmi and Leila. Hope you both have wonderful days.