Australia Day 14 - Cairns to Cape Tribulation

We rented a car and drove north to the Daintree, where we stopped for a croc watching cruise along the Daintree river. Unfortunately it started pouring rain and the only wildlife we saw was a single bird, but it was fun and the guide had a lot of interesting information to teach us. We continued our drive up the coast and got to Cape Tribulation before sunset. We got checked in to our hostel (the first time we shared a room with other travellers - Craig neglected to knock before opening the door to our room and we walked in on the other couple in the room making out. Nice.)

The Daintree / Cape Trib is the rainforest so there are plenty of large insects around the hostel cabins, including really huge gold backed spiders that make webs all across the walking path.

We enjoyed happy hour and dinner at the Cape Trib Beach house restaurant, and played a game of Monopoly before heading to bed.

Australia Day 13 - Cairns

We did a second day on Osprey V today. Unfortunately we went to the same two reefs as the previous day (when we booked online it seemed that they might switch it up from day to day) however I was feeling a lot more confident in the water so I was able to enjoy myself more.
Since we had been on the same boat the previous day we were able to change things around a bit to better suit us. This included trading in my pre-paid intro dive for stinger suit hire and Craig was able to get his intro dive in the afternoon instead of the morning - this meant he could dive at a different reef than yesterday and since the afternoon dives have had the morning experience they let you do a bit more on your own - you get to swim on your own (whereas in the morning you all have linked arms the entire time) and do a bit of exploring as long as you stay together. Craig really enjoyed this dive and was able to hold a sea cucumber and stick his hand in a giant clam (1 meter wide).
We bought a waterproof camera case on our way home from the boat last night so we were able to take photos while today, which was really fun.
After the day on the boat we showered and got all fancied up before going out for dinner at Ochre, a super fancy restaurant in downtown Cairns. I got the vegetarian platter which was quite good and had 5 different vegetarian dishes including green tea noodles - yum! Craig got a kangaroo with a sauce made from a local fruit. And we both finished our meal with a super tasty lemon myrtle pana cotta and a lemon myrtle tea - wow, was it ever good! We are now in the market for some lemon myrtle seasoning to bring back to Canada with us.

Australia Day 12 - Cairns

We had a really early morning today since we had to be at the pier for 7:30am. We had booked a day aboard the Osprey V which took us to two different stops on the Great Barrier Reef for snorkeling and scuba. I had never snorkeled or scuba dived before so I was a bit nervous about the whole thing - I get a bit claustrophobic sometimes and was not sure how comfortable I was breathing underwater. I also normally dislike the life I've encountered under the water, however that's been limited to seaweed and slime and ugly fish. These are pretty fish in clear waters so I was hoping I would enjoy that part of it at least.
Although I wasn't so keen, Craig really wanted to try diving and had wanted to take lessons to become certified prior to our trip. We didn't end up doing that and instead when we booked the tickets the introductory dive was on sale so we each got one intro dive for both of the days we are going out on the boat. We figured that buying the intro dive on the boat was quite expensive so if I didn't like it then it wasn't much money to waste if we pre-booked.
Once we got to Saxon Reef we got to go out snorkeling for a while before our intro dive. This was my first time snorkel so it took a bit of getting used to. The water was grossly salty when you got it on your lips or when a wave got into your mouth. We had on stinger suits (it's stinger season) and flippers and I got used to the feeling of using a snorkel. Once I was a bit more comfortable with the whole thing I enjoyed lazing around on a pool noodle while examining the colourful scenery. We even swam right up to a turtle, which was the one animal Craig most wanted to see on our reef trip.
When it was time to go for our dive they strapped us in to our oxygen tanks and weights (the whole package is very heavy!) and we got into the water (we had a bit of class time explaining of the how-to earlier in the day). The dives were done in groups of 4 with one instructor who drags you around (all linked arms), and we had to pass 2 tests under the boat before we were able to go on the dive - we had to empty the water out of our mask and we had to put our mouthpiece back in after taking it out. Although we were only down under the boat - not much more than a meter - I was starting to panic. I was still not comfortable breathing from the mouthpiece and I didn't like the feeling of being surrounded by water. The instructor started my test but I signalled I wanted to go back up. Up top one of the boat crew tried to pep me up and convinced me to try again. This time I got down and passed the first test. When I got to the second test I took my mouthpiece out, blew bubbles and then put my mouthpiece back in like I was supposed to, however when my mouthpiece went back in I got some water in my mouth which made me panic and realize I really didn't want to do this. And thus ended my scuba experience - I bailed and went back to the surface where I was fairly certain wasn't going to suffocate. Craig tells me the scuba wasn't so nice anyway - they went no more than 10 meters and were just swimming below where we had been snorkeling. They saw a turtle and some clown fish, but Craig kept sinking so he had a different vantage point than the others, hanging off the instructors arm. Meanwhile, on the surface, I got back into my snorkeling gear and had another poke around.
We had a nice buffed lunch and then went to the second reef - North Hastings. This reef was really nice and had a nice plateau of reef less than a meter under the water so it was easy to check out snorkeling. There was even a school of yellow tailed fish as well as a huge fish with big lips that swam right up to the boat.
After some snorkeling, we went in a submerged boat for a bit of a tour around the reef - we saw a clown fish and huge oysters - over a meter wide!
On the way back to Cairns the boat entertainer got out his guitar and played some Bob Marley and other classics and then played a bit on his "didgeridoo" (it was actually just PVC piping).

Photos!

Craig has posted some photos from our travels in India. Some of the photos seem to have gone missing so we'll be adding more later, but here's the abridged version:
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/craig.wilkinson/India#

Australia Day 11 - Cairns

Rest day!
We slept in and filled our day with laundry and shopping. We found an internet place where we can get 3 hours for $8 so we've been catching up on our emails, bill payments and blog. Much better than Alice Springs where the internet was $8-12 an hour, and the connection was flaky!
While we were shopping we came across a didgeridoo shop where they offered free lessons so we spent 15 mins with the shopkeeper as he taught us to play. Craig has done it before (in scouts in California I believe) and was actually pretty good. I, on the other hand, really struggled to get it to make a sound. I'm used to playing french horn which requires a tight embouchure, whereas to play the didgeridoo your lips need to be really loose. The shopkeeper was great and was able to make it sound really nice, but I certainly need some practice. We're now considering buying a nice didgeridoo as a cool piece of artwork that we can play with every once in a while.
We found a travel agent and booked our trip for Fraser Island as well as our Greyhound tickets down the coast - not much fun, but a relief that the rest of our trip is mostly planned - we still need to sort out the last 4 days when we'll be surfing and meeting up with my cousins in Brisbane.
When we were at the travel agent I came across a voucher for a $10 dinner deal from The Woolshed. We had the same meal deal given to us by our hostel, except their vouchers were for $12! We headed there for dinner and enjoyed our big dinner - I got the veggies in filo, Craig got ribs, and it also included a beer and chocolate desert. Yum! I think we'll head back tomorrow :)

Australia Day 10 - Alice Springs to Cairns

Last night marked the last night of our camping experience. We slept in a bit (yay!) and did our final packing of the car so we could return it. Before leaving the campground we tried to use their internet but in addition to being way overpriced it kept loosing our connection so we didn't get much done. It did stay up long enough for me to read some great news from Kristie though!! Congrats guys!!!!!
We stopped downtown to do some browsing of the local art galleries before heading back to Britz to drop off the car. When we were in the last gallery it started pouring outside - it seems wet season has arrived!
After dropping off a car we took a cab to the airport. On the way we passed the road we had taken last night to get to our campsite. It was hard to spot the road because where it used to be a paved road with dirt on both sides, it was now under a thick layer of flowing water. The riverbed goes right through the road, however the river so seldomly has water in it that they didn't bother to build a bridge over it.
We had a lot of waiting to do at the airport and I finished my last book when we were in Goa. I spent an hour perusing the bookshop before buying The Group by Mary McCarthy, which had a glowing recommendation from Candace Bushnell. It's kind of like Sex and the City set in the 30s. So far, so good!
The flight was somewhere between 1-2 hours, and they served us a warm meal (Canadian airlines are going to feel pretty ghetto after all this traveling!) We got checked in to our hostel - Travellers Oasis - and went for a quick walk downtown to have a look at the sights and grab some dinner. We've been told it's been really wet and rainy the last few weeks but it's started to clear up and we can expect good weather during our stay. Score!

Australia Day 9 - King's Canyon to Alice Springs

We woke up at 5am to do a 6km hike around King's Canyon and watch the sunrise from the top. It was a beautiful hike with nice views of the completely flat sides of the canyon. Since the sun was just coming up it was nice and cool and there was a slight breeze. We got back to the car at 9am and headed out along Mereenie Loop Road to take the long scenic 4WD track to Alice Springs. After 30 mins, we'd splattered a huge insect all across my window (good thing the windows were up or it would have been all over my face!) and a bird on the top of the windscreen. The 4WD track was dirt and really bumpy so we were averaging 50 km/h. As Alice Springs was another 300km we decided to turn around and take the (mostly) sealed route instead.
After 100km of sealed road we had 100km of unsealed 4WD road. The unsealed road was mostly gravel and dirt and was quite wide (equivalent to 3-4 lanes in many spots). The speed limit was 110km/h (the main north-south highway is 130km/h - Australians can drive fast legally!). For the most part it wasn't too bad but some places were really bumpy - our cutlery and dishes were all making a huge racket.
We stopped for lunch at the Henbury Meteorite Reserve, where there are 12 meteorite craters, the largest being 180 metres wide. Apparently US astronauts visited the reserve in preparation for moon walks.
On the way to Alice Springs it started to pour and some of the floodways on the main highway were actually flooded. How exciting! It continued to rain as we set up camp and the roof of our camper was leaking a bit. Wet season! It finally let up so we could cook dinner.

Australia Day 8 - Uluru to Kings Canyon

We were originally planning to catch the sunrise at Uluru but decided to get some extra sleep since we have a long day. We got to Uluru for an 8am ranger-guided tour which was very interesting - he told us about some of the cultural stories and showed us some traditional tools and how they were made and used. At the end of the tour, I got to try walking with a "piti" (wooden gathering basket) on my head - Craig and I agree that I did quite well!
We spent some time at the Cultural Centre and tried to buy tickets for the afternoon Dot Painting Workshop, where a local aboriginal would teach us about dot painting and we would get to paint our own canvas. Unfortunately they needed 6 participants to run the workshop and we were the only two to express interest so we weren't actually able to do it. Shame.
We drove to Kata Tjuta (32 domes similar to Uluru) and did a hike down a gorge. On the way back it started raining. Rain! In the wet season! This shouldn't be exciting but it was - we hadn't seen any rain all trip other than a couple of pockets of pouring rain which lasted 10 mins. We drove all the way around Uluru hoping to see some of the waterfalls going but all we saw was one waterfall where the wall was wet.
On the drive to Kinds Canyon, we got stuck behind a car that kept drifting into the middle of the road and then quickly correcting. We couldn't tell if they were falling asleep, drunk, or just a really bad driver. The first time we tried to pass we tried the trick we learned in India - to drive with your hand on the horn. This didn't work as the car was still drifting into our passing lane so we had to bail. Finally, we were able to get past (again blaring the horn) and I caught a glimpse of the driver on the way past. It wasn't a good look but I swear it was an aboriginal child driving. Later in the drive we had to slow down when a wild camel ran across the road. That's new!
We got to Kings Canyon in time to watch the sunset and got to bed early so we can do a sunrise walk in the morning.

Australia Day 7 - Tennant Creek to Uluru

We woke up at 5:15am in order to get on the road by 5:45. We have a long day of driving ahead of us! We got to Devil's Marbles at 6:45 and stopped for a quick photo-op while the sun came up. Devil's Marbles are huge round boulders spread throughout a large flat valley.
An hour later we had a quick stop at Wycliff Well, UFO Centre of Australia. This is the place where they've had the most UFO sightings in the southern hemisphere. The town is basically a gas station with newspaper clippings about the various sightings. Unfortunately the only green men we saw were cardboard cutouts.
Just before Alice Springs, we passed the Tropic of Capricorn.
We got to Alice Springs around noon. This is a huge city with a whopping population of 26,000. "Wow, that's bigger than Dundas!" says Craig. We stopped for gas, lunch, and some super tasty hazelnut and chocolate Drumsticks.
We got to Uluru near 5pm and bought some highly recommended fly nets as we checked in to our campsite. We then drove to the sunset car park and watched the sunset at Uluru. There weren't any clouds in the sky so the sunset itself wasn't so great, but Uluru shone red for a while which was neat to watch. The flies were going mental so we were happy we had fly nets. Should have bought those a week ago!

Australia Day 6 - Katherine to Tennant Creek

When Craig went to the washroom in the morning he saw that the beetle had gotten itself stuck on its back in the sink. Not a smart creature.
We went on a 2 hour morning cruise of the Katherine Gorge which took us down two of the gorges. There were hundreds of firefox bats hanging in the trees at the start of the cruise and they got spooked by the boat and started flying in circles. We were lucky enough to spot a crocodile on the trip as well, and the driver pulled us up beside it so we could get a good look.
We headed south towards Tennant Creek, hoping to get to a campsite by dark. We stopped an hour south of Katherine to check out the Mantaranka hot springs. Although the sign claimed that a lot of water rushes through the hot springs in the wet season and that we should be cautious of the current we decided not to swim because the water was still and covered with algae.
Another 2 hours down the road we stopped at the historic Daly Waters Pub, where tourists have left everything from underwear to driver's licenses to licence plats to a kitchen sink.
We got in to Tennant Creek just as the sun was setting and went for a quick walk around the Overland Telegraph Station, which was built in the 1870s as part of the chain of relay stations linking north and south Australia. When built, those manning the stations got supplies every 6 months by camel train, so they had their own cattle, blacksmith and doctor and grew their own produce. Since they had the only doctor for hundreds of kilometers, the natives tended to group around them. This is how most of the "major" cities between Darwin and Adelaide got started - as a telegraph station.
We watched the sunset (our most spectacular one yet) before setting up camp at The Outback Caravan Park, which had surprisingly few bugs and a nice cool breeze.

Australia Day 5 - Litchfield to Katherine

We were out of the campsite by 8:30am to do some sightseeing in Litchfield before heading to Katherine. Our first stop for the day was Tolmer Falls where we did the hike up to the top of the falls. Next was Wangi Falls, where we also did the hike up to the top of the falls. This was a huge waterfall and the hike took us through monsoon forest and past ginger flowers. When we finished the hike it was approaching midday and we were drenched with sweat because of the hikes and the general hot weather so we decided it was time to drive to Katherine in the comfort of our AC car. We got some gas (135L) and topped up on produce and checked in to the campsite at Katherine Gorge. The campsite had tons of wallabies which came right up to our site and there was a hole at the end of our site which was home to a family of toads.
When Craig was doing the dishes after dinner he felt something tickling his leg and looked down to see a beetle longer than his finger crawling up his leg. After knocking it off it was stuck on its back, where it remained for an hour until he helped it turn onto its feet.

Australia Day 4 - Litchfield National Park

We drove south out of Kakadu along a different road than the one we entered on, stopping at every "major" town's general store in search of a fan. We finally found one at Adelaide River - best $35 I've ever spent! We got in to Litchfield at 5pm and decided we had some time to go to some of the nearby attractions before setting up camp. First stop was Florence Falls - a beautiful waterfall with a rain forest and a plunge pool open for swimming. As a bonus, the horrible flies in Kakadu haven't found their way to Litchfield so we can enjoy out hike, and there's a lot less driving here. We went for a nice swim at the bottom of the falls but had to pull a few leeches off Craig when we got out. On the way back to the car we saw our first wallaby (kangaroo family)!
Next we stopped at Buley Rockhole to hike around another waterfall - also gorgeous. On the way back to the campsite we stopped at the Magnetic Termite Mounds to look at the huge cathedral and magnetic termite mounds. They are called magnetic because they build thin mounds along the north-south axis to allow them to keep a stable temperature throughout the day. You see hundreds of termite mounds in the fields and forests along the side of the highway, many over a meter tall. One of the mounds here was around 6 meters tall - wow!
We spent the night at the Banyan Tree Caravan Park. When we got there the site was pitch black - there were no site lights around or in the washroom or along the campsite road. We struggled to set up in the dark and were startled to find a long piece of grass with a family of sleeping wasps right by our door. The women's washroom was guarded by a large tree frog which seemed unphased by Craig's valiant attempt to nudge it with his foot, but we were finally able to clear a path. It didn't seem that the washroom had been cleaned in quite a while as there were hundreds of spiders with well established homes included all the door frames and toilet bowls. Since we were producing the only light we were attacked by swarms of moths while preparing dinner. Since we were using headlamps which lit our pots, we had many suicides, so we had to start wearing the headlamps to the side and not shine directly on the food.
We plugged in our new fan for the first time and thankfully it worked like a charm - the breeze makes a huge difference!

Australia Day 3 - Kakadu National Park

What a horrible night! I woke up around 3am and had a hard time getting back to sleep because it was so stuffy. I had to swap my water bottle for a cold one from the fridge and was finally able to doze off.
In the morning we returned to the visitor centre. The Ubirr crossing had gone down to 30cm and there wasn't much current so we could go later in the day. We also asked about cheap rooms with AC after last nights nightmare. There were some budget accommodations south in Yellow Water for $35pp - we'd have to try that if we couldn't buy a fan for the car. Next stop was the Jabiru town centre, where we bought some lemon cordial (in the tropics you're supposed to drink 4 litres of water a day so we're getting sick of plain water) and scoured the stores for a table fan (we have power outlets in the car that we can use when we're plugged in to a powered site at night so this won't drain our car battery). The two stores that carry fans were sold out - "just sold the last one yesterday!" and the 3rd store was closed for inventory. Rats.
We drove out to Nouralangie for a 1.5km hike around the 20,000 year old shelter with Aboriginal rock art. Afterwards we decided to try our hand at 4WD and head up to Ubirr for the 1.5km hike along rock art and up to the top of Ubirr rock to see the billabong. Craig got us through all the flooded roads without any problems, though we're a bit disappointed with the Australian Wet Season - access to a lot of the nice falls is closed due to flooding but all the roads that are open are paved (and in much better repair than Canadian roads) and although many of the roads have floodway signs with markers indicating depth up to at least a meter, all the water is well below the road and most of the gullies on the sides of the road are dry. We've been told it's a really dry wet season this year. We did the hike although there were too many flies attacking our faces to properly enjoy it. The billabong was nice and green and lush. On the way back, we hit our first bird - it flew right into the car.
Since we couldn't find a fan and couldn't bear another night like last, we checked into the Yellow Water budget accommodation which ended up being a bunk bed in a private room with wonderfully cold AC - not at all bad.
After dark, the washrooms here are teeming with wildlife - there are purple lizards, tree frogs and toads, spiders, moths and ginormous dragon flies. They all seem to clear out by morning though.

Australia Day 2 - Kakadu National Park

We picked up our rental car in the morning - we pre-booked a decked out 4WD camper from Britz. It has a kitchenette (fridge, water, dishes, gas stove), two 90L gas tanks, a double bed in the raised roof and a single bed on the bottom. Since the one-way fee was quite expensive, we got a Bonus Pack that included the one-way fee, full insurance with no deductible, picnic table and chairs and some extra safety equipment including an emergency beacon. Let the road trip begin!
Our first stop was a grocery store on the way out of Darwin - pitas & wraps for lunches and pasta or stir fry for dinners. We got to the Bowali Visitor Centre near Jabiru, Kakadu at 5pm and ran in before it closed. The ranger advised us against going to Ubirr tonight since it closes at sunset and there was some flooding on the road - 40cm at the deepest and possibility of crocs. We decided to just find a campsite for the night and try again int he morning. We stayed at Kakadu Lodge in Jabiru (the largest town in Kakadu Park). When we got out of the car to set up we were attacked by swarms of flies that kept going for our eyes and mouth. It was really unpleasant. The flies finally cleared when it was dark and we made dinner and set up for the night.
We made up the top bunk but even with the windows open it was sweltering up there and there was no breeze outside so it was really stuff. We decided to try the bottom bunk, which would be a bit small because it's a single, but the air should be a bit cooler and less stuffy & claustrophobic. We were still sweating buckets - the daily high was 35 and the low was high 20s so I expect it was at least 30 in the car, with no circulation. We tried different strategies to cool down the car - we ran the car for a while with the AC but as soon as we turned it off it felt the same as before, we opened all the doors and braved the insects but with no breeze it didn't much help. Finally I took a cold water bottle out of the fridge and put it under my neck below my pillow and was eventually able to fall asleep.

Australia Day 1 - Darwin

It's boiling in Darwin! We got a cab to our hostel and arrived at 3am. Although it's the middle of the night, it's hot and humid. The room is nice and cool with the AC so we were able to fall asleep quickly.
We had a lazy "recovery" day - slept in, did laundry and cooked ourselves tofu stir fry for dinner. After dark we had a quick walk around downtown Darwin before bed.

Enroute to Australia!

The hotel dropped us off at the international airport after stopping at a bank machine (a Citibank! We needed cash to pay for the hotel stay and were worried because we've had issues with all our debit and credit cards - sometimes the machine couldn't use the HSBC network, sometimes our cards were frozen because we'd been using them in India and to book expensive things for Australia, and that all seemed a bit sketchy to HSBC.)
The first leg of our flight was Qantas (Mumbai to Singapore) which was quite nice and comfortable. I started a couple of movies but fell asleep halfway through each of them.
We had a two hour layover in Singapore and were quite hungry but couldn't find any vegetarian food without leaving security. We had to go through an additional security gate before boarding the plane, so we lost all our bottles of water. Poor setup.
The second flight was Jet Star to Darwin. TI was a budget airline but some of us got blankets and pillows (I think it was the people who booked through Qantas). The food took 2 hours to get to us, of a 4.5 hour flight - we were among the last to be served. When I asked for vegetarian she thought they were out, but luckily they found one more for me. The guy behind me wasn't so lucky.

India Day 15 - Goa

We met the group in the morning for our final goodbyes. Many of the others are continuing on to Thailand, Cambodia, Australia and Africa, one girl is travelling for a full year! We asked Bish what the locals did with all the cow patties we'd seen drying along the road all the way through India - he said fuel for fire and mud huts, but also for Ayurveda uses (mixtures of oils and spices used for body massages that are meant to be good for your skin). Craig and I headed into town for lunch at an Italian place where I had yummy penne arrabiatta and Craig had a good but strange vegetable lasagna. It seems he had wasted his time trying to decide between the lasagna and the macaroni & cheese since the "lasagna" was macaroni shells in a cheese sauce with one lasagna sheet in the middle.
We split a cab to the airport with Bish, who had the cab stop so he could run in to a shop to get a beer (the first shop didn't have any so he got a Bacardi Breezer and we stopped again a few minutes later. He got Craig to help him guzzle them as we drove to the airport - it seems he's a bit of a nervous flyer.
At the Goa airport they did care about liquids so we had to finish our water and they confiscated our mosquito repellent (it's on the no-fly list apparently). Since the flight to Goa didn't care about liquids we didn't think we needed to pack our liquids in our checked luggage. Darn. The Jet Lite plane was small and squishy and didn't have any food service. Double darn!
Our hotel was waiting for us at the Mumbai airport with a sign that said Wilkinson, which was good because we never would have found the hotel on our own, even if we made it to the building! The owner was making a thali dinner for 80 rupees so we didn't have to go out for dinner. One of the girls there told us about the tour of the slums they had gone on earlier in the day - turns out the hotel is right beside the largest slum in India, with over 1 million inhabitants. The tour sounded interesting, but we got in around 9pm and leave at 7am for the airport so we don't have time to do it.

India Day 14 - Goa

Man is it hot!! Even the cold shower was really warm!
We put bathing suits on under our clothes and walked towards the beach. On the way we were stopped by a woman who wanted to talk with us and then finally begged us to go to her store. We found a pair of flip flops for Craig (he didn't own any and they are good for the beach and communal showers) but she refused to tell us a price until we looked around some more. Finally she asked for 850 rupees (over $20) but we eventually got her down to 200 rupees so Craig is the proud owner of a pair of flip flops. At another shop we bought a pair of red sarong-style shorts for me (I have realized that I didn't bring light enough clothes for Australia) for 150 rupees. When we walked onto the beach we were immediately approached by a man trying to sell parasailing rides. We decide not to go though because it looked like you just floated in one spot for 20 mins.
We found our friends on the beach and left our stuff with them to go for a swim. The water was quite warm, very salty, and there were really strong waves, making swimming difficult. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on beach chairs with some water and a Bacardi Breezer Jamaican Punch - yum!
Craig and I decided to try a fully vegetarian restaurant for our potentially last Indian dinner, then went back to the beach bar to watch fireworks with the others. Most of the others went to a night club around midnight but Craig and I were tired and cover was rumoured to be 850 rupees each (it turned out to be free for ladies and 1200 for men) so we just went back to bed. Yes, we're old and boring.

India Day 13 - Goa

We took cabs to the airport in the morning and our cab was pulled over by the police en-route. Not sure what that was all about but our driver disappeared for 5-10 mins. At the airport, you had to show your ticket and passport to get in - family and friends have to say their goodbyes outside. Once inside, we were scrambling to sort out our liquids before the security check but once we got there they told us to put it all in our bags to go through the x-ray. They even let people take 1.5L water bottles through! Men and women had separate queues for the metal detectors and everyone got a pat search. It seems not many Indian women travel - the men's line was long and winding and the women's line was a short passageway with a handful of people in line.
Our plane was really nice. We were flying with Air India and had lots of leg room and even had personal TVs, however TVs only had 3 channels, all of which were playing old / B&W non-English movies, and didn't pause / rewind / fast forward. Although the flight was under an hour we were all served a hot meal with a choice of beverage (including alcoholic). Verdict: Air India = awesome!
When we landed, we realized that Goa is a province, not a city. After an hour cab ride we got to our hotel - nice big rooms, our place even had a kitchenette and two balconies. We had an orientation walk (we are near Baga beach) and then wandered around the beach for the afternoon, stopping for some drinks at a beach patio bar. We went for dinner at Bish's favourite restaurant, where he ordered a crab and a lobster. All the people sitting around me ordered seafood dishes which you ordered by pointing at which one you wanted when they brought around the platters and buckets of all the options. I've always disliked fish and especially disliked watching people eat seafood that still looks like the animal. I just about had a heart attack when the waiter sneaked up behind me and I looked up to see a plate full of prawns with big long antennae sticking out at me right in front of my nose.
After dinner we walked back to he hotel and lay under the fans for a while trying to cool off - Goa is really hot! Getting a bit nervous about being able to handle the heat in Australia (after all - it's only winter in Goa!)

India Day 12 - Mumbai

I woke up around 7am after a good night's sleep and read in my bunk for a while with my headlamp (thanks Julia & Alicia!) before falling back to sleep. I woke up again around 10am when Bish was running around the cabin telling everyone to wake up.
After packing our bags, we started watching out the windows. As we were entering Mumbai, we started seeing loads of slums on the sides of the train tracks - houses made of blue tarpaulin or cement with makeshift tin roofs. We disembarked at the far end of Mumbai and took cabs to the hotel - these were pretty spacious cabs and we barely had to put any luggage on the roof!
After having nice cold showers (Mumbai is really hot!) we went for an orientation walk around the old city. We saw the gateway to India (a big archway) and were asked by an Indian tourist to hold his baby so he could get a picture of a white person holding his kid. Just plain weird. No thank you!
We did some shopping in the market (nice tshirt for 100 rupees! Didn't even have to barter!), stopped for a pint, and had dinner (some Chinese fried noodles for me - my tummy still isn't 100%) before retiring for the night.
Early morning flight to Goa tomorrow!

India Day 11 - Mount Abu

Bish got us some cabs for the day to take us around to 3 nearby tourist attractions that were open. First we went up the mountain and hiked up to the top to stand at the highest point in the province of Rajasthan. On the way back down there were a bunch of Indian tourists taking photos of us - we've started to get used to this. At the bottom, a local told a girl in our group with a darker complexion that her skin was dirty. He asked another girl if she was a student - "no" - "oh, a housewife then?" - (sarcastically) "yeah, sure" - "OK, good!"
Our second stop was a temple for Shiva. They were charging 10 rupees for each photo you took! We didn't stay long but did have the pleasure of seeing a guy urinating inside the temple (you can't wear shoes but you can pee on the ground?) The third stop was a "world-famous" Jain temple. This was a huge temple (actually 4 temples, each built in the 1400-1700 range) with intricately cut pillars and ceilings, mostly made of white marble. It was pretty neat to see and I would recommend having a look if you're in the area (though not sure why you would want to go to Mount Abu! :)
After touring around, we drove into Abu at the base of the mountain and attempted to go for dinner but had to bail when we got to a very low overpass that we couldn't fit through because our bags were piled on top of the car. We ended up driving to the train station and getting takeout from the least sketchy restaurant we could find nearby. We were going to catch the 8:30pm overnight train to Mumbai, but when we got to the station we found the train was delayed by 2 hours so we played card games and ate our takeout until the train arrived at 10:30.
The train begs were split into 6 per section of the train - one "room" with 2 bunks and a 3rd set of bunks running beside the hallway. I had a top bunk beside the hallway so I had a personal curtain (the other two bunks only have one curtain for the entire room so it's only ideal for families of 4). I was exhausted so climbed into my bed, pulled out my travel pillow and sheet (thanks again Alicia & Julia! The sheet is awesome! I didn't realize it was like a sleeping bag, and the built-in pillow case is really convenient!)
The train rocked a fair bit but I was able to fall asleep fairly quickly.

India Day 10 - Mount Abu

We were scheduled to leave for Mount Abu in the morning but Bish greeted us with some bad news - the town of Mount Abu was on strike for 3 days and nothing would be open. Bish had made special arrangements for our hotel to open for us and to charter a bus to take us there. You can do anything in India if you have money. As you can imagine, no one was thrilled at the prospect of visiting a town that didn't want us, but Bish assured us at least that it wasn't dangerous. Our bus stopped at an ATM since there wouldn't be any open in Mount Abu, but it took us 4 machines until we found one that would give us money. I assume many Indian ATMs don't have proper network connections to interact with foreign banks.
The main highway to Mount Abu was pretty sketchy - it was a divided 4-lane highway, although we passed a number of cars that were driving the opposite direction on our side of the division. We also saw numerous buses with dozens of people riding on the roof rack above the bus (where you are meant to put luggage), and some jeeps with a couple of passengers standing on the back bumper and hanging on to the roof. We had to take a lot of detours because the road was sometimes built through a mountain and the rock was really brittle and not fastened with any pegs or mesh, and there had clearly been some landslides - there were parts of the road where 1-4 lanes were covered with so much rock that if you didn't see the road going into the rock, it just seemed to be part of the mountain.
We stopped at a rest sop which was definitely the worst washroom experience yet - it seemed to be a hotel, but with holes in the wall instead of doors or windows, and no electricity or running water. To get to a washroom you walked into one of the rooms, past the tenants bags of stuff, and through the opening where there should be a door. And there, in someones hotel room, in front of the doorway with no door, and window which was just a hole into the hallway, was a squatting hole with no water, except for the puddle of pee and smeared brown stuff around it. Living the life of luxury! On the bright side, all our hotels are way better than this one!
While at the rest stop, Bish also told us about how some of the local tribes are pirates by night - they have bows and arrows and stop and loot cars on the highway after dark.
We finally arrived in Mount Abu to find Bish hadn't been lying - everything was closed! No markets, restaurants, shops, internet, banks or attractions were open. Just our hotel, which he had bribed to open for us (after getting permission from the town). Craig and I walked to the "lake" that Bish had told us about, with the intention of sitting by it and reading, however it turned out to be more of a small pond filled with garbage. We ended up reading in our room most of the afternoon with a short break when the power went out.
The group went for dinner together at a restaurant Bish had bribed to open for us. Craig and I tried two local dishes - one was a mixture of local herbs and the other was chickpea flour balls in some sort of Indian sauce. Both were very tasty!
Since the town was closed, many in the group thought this would be a good time to play drinking games. By the end of the night, Bish was jovially drunk and telling us all about how amazing the blue girl from Avatar is.

India Day 9 - Udaipur

We had to switch hotels this morning to the hotel we were originally supposed to be in. Craig and I got up early to find a tailor to get my saree silk made into a saree and to get Craig a wedding-appropriate suit. We came across a shopkeeper who had a seamstress friend that could make my saree, so he took us up to her house - a tiny room with a table and a sewing machine, and a rack with some clothes, pots & pans, and a second room with the boy's stuff. It seems her and her 3-4 daughters all shared this room no bigger than my bedroom in my parents house, and her husband and son(s) the other room. How fortunate I am to have been raised in Canada in a comfortable house with no shortages of food or clothing! The woman said she would make my saree shirt, an underskirt and buy the material for the underskirt and lining - all for 400 rupees, and I could pick it up in 5 hours.
With me taken care of, we asked the shopkeeper if he knew of a local tailor for Craig's suit. We made it clear to him that we had to be back at our hotel (to move) in 30 mins and he said no problem and ushered us into a tuktuk the seamstresses husband was driving. Big mistake! This guy had the slowest tuktuk ever, and took us far out of the old city. We were getting nervous about the time but he reassured us we were almost there. The ride took 15 minutes. The shop was really nice and they showed us some lovely traditional suits, and were advising red since that's what everyone wears to weddings. Though they refused to give us any prices until we had chosen a fabric and taken all of Craig's measurements. Finally, we got a price - 12,000 rupees! That's nearly 200 quid, for a suit Craig is unlikely to ever have an occasion to wear it to again! Even a cotton pyjama suit was over 6000 rupees, so we left in a hurry. By the time we made it back to our hotel we were 30 mins late, down 150 rupees from paying the tuktuk driver, and still didn't have anything for Craig to wear. After moving hotels we went on the prowl for a suit for Craig, although were having no luck. Finally, we called up Ravi, the guy taking us to the wedding, to see if he knew of a good tailor. He took us to a nice shop where they recommended an Indian cut suit made with western suit fabric. We settled on a charcoal fabric with two directions of stitching so it looks like it has thick stripes when the light shines on it. Very posh. It ended up costing 5500 for the jacket and pants, with all the pockets, zippers and linings you would expect from a western suit, but with a Chinese neck and it was ready in 4 hours!
When we returned to the seamstress to pick up my saree, all her daughters were gathered around and excited that I was there. They helped wrap the saree, all the while giggling and holding my hands. Once I was dressed, they insisted that I put on all their jewelry - necklace and earrings - and fixed my hair. We got lots of photos with them before I was able to take off the saree and leave. One of them had taken a liking to my bangles and I wish I had given her some of them, but I was worried we were late so didn't think of it at the time.
At 5pm we met the group for a cooking class - we crammed all 14 of us into a room around a stove and the teacher taught us the basics of Indian cooking - the important spices, how to double recipes, and then we cooked ourselves dinner - chai masala, malai kofta, a red curry, briyani and chapatis. Yum! We left with the recipes, so we're excited to try them out again when we get back to Canada.
After dinner, we picked up Craig's suit (he looks adorable, and can definitely pull it off back in Canada!) and Ravi took us to his house so his sister and cousins could help me get into my saree - there is a lot of wrapping and safety pins involved! They also wanted to do my hair and there was a lot of fussing before I was deemed ready. Before leaving their house, Ravi's father insisted on taking dozens of photos of us with various permutations of their extended family. Finally we made it out the door and across the street to the fourth and final day of Ravi's friend's wedding. It was an arranged marriage and the bride and groom were sitting at the front of the room staring blankly ahead. No talking, no smiling. Odd. The guests were sitting and standing around, talking amongst themselves. Being white, we attracted some attention from the others and we were asked where we were from (a common conversation starter) and a woman walked up to me and started fussing with my saree - I had been helped by girls who don't wear sarees themselves and she didn't approve of some of their stylistic decisions. We even went up to the front and got a photo with the bride and groom. Love to see that one in the wedding album! Ravi then took us to another friend's wedding, this time the third day of the wedding. The actual ceremony was scheduled for 2am and we weren't up for staying that late, so we missed it. However we did stand around for a while - again the bride and groom were sitting at the front, not talking, although this couple did smile a bit.
One strange thing we've noticed about Indians - they don't like smiling in photos. All the photos we got with locals, they wipe any smile off their faces before you can snap a photo.
The wedding were an interesting experience, but not at all what we were expecting - we were expecting a lot of dancing, but found everyone seemed a bit bored. I'm not sure if this is standard for weddings in India, or it we just went to the wrong parts of the weddings for dancing.
Ravi drove us back to our hotel on his motorcycle. We were exhausted but couldn't sleep because there was a roaring party on the patio above our room - the music was louder in our room than we would ever play, and the ground was literally shaking. The party finally wrapped up at midnight.

India Day 8 - Udaipur

What a day! We had an early morning orientation walk around Udaipur before being left on our own. Between trying to not get hit by a car in the narrow streets and trying to remember how to get back to the hotel, I had the unfortunate experience of stepping in a nice big fresh pile of cow diarrhea. It got all over the inside of my jeans, which then spread all over my shoe with each step. Really lovely. Craig was a doll and stopped to help me clean off (he used a few alcohol wipes to clean up my pant leg and shoe). We fell behind the group when we stopped so we missed most of the orientation walk and had to run to catch up. We got to an intersection and didn't see the group anywhere, but a local was able to tell us which way a group of white people had gone, so we finally caught up. After the walk, the group decided to go for a tour of the temple. You have to take off your shoes to go in any temples and since my pant leg was wet with cow shit I wasn't keen on taking off my shoes (and suspect they wouldn't appreciate me dragging my mess all around the temple). Craig and I decided to leave the group to get changed. We had a fantastic lunch at a restaurant Bish had recommended and spent the afternoon wandering Udaipur - we found a tailor to sew my silver suit, and went into City Palace and took the "60 minute boat cruise" which was actually 20 mins before dropping us off at the island in the middle of the lake. This island turned out to be the biggest rip-off ever - it cost 300 rupees each to get there, and the whole island is just an overpriced hotel (up to 60,000 rupees a night - almost 10,000 quid!!) Since we had paid to get there we figured we should stop for a chai and sit by the water. What a disappointment when we paid 200 rupees for a glass of chai! Normally a cup is 5-15 rupees and a pot 40-50. Oh well.
We got a boat back to the mainland and came across our fist wedding - there wax a parade of people going through the street, headed by a portable sound machine blaring music, along with some men in marching band suits playing brass instruments and drums, followed by a bunch of dancing mend surrounded by boys carrying a string of chandeliers, and finally a bored man riding a decked out horse - the groom. One of the dancing men grabbed us and some nearby Israeli tourists and pulled us into the dancing, which we tried for a while before a man (the father?) told us to go away.
We headed back to the tailor to pick up my silver suit and talked with the shopkeeper for an hour while the tailor finished up. The shopkeeper had a Swedish wife he had met when she was touring India, and they now split their time between the two countries - what a change to be moving back and forth between such different countries! I ended up wearing my fancy new suit out of the shop.
Everyone in India wants to talk to the white people. Many of them want to sell you something, but a lot of them are just interested in these strange people (Alpa's son on the train had thought I was an alien) and some like to practice their English. On the walk home, a guy made a comment about how nice I looked in my traditional Indian outfit and started talking with us. We ended up going for a chai with him and he told us loads about Indian culture (did you know that you aren't supposed to wear a saree or extravagant jewelry - bangles, earrings, etc - until you're married?), religion, weddings, and life in India. He also mentioned his good friend was getting married the next day and invited us as his guests. A real Indian wedding - awesome! He even gave us a ride back to our hotel on his motorcycle - three of us on the bike, a true Indian experience!

India Day 7 - Pushkar

I've been getting a lot of sleep the last few days while in recovery, so I woke up before 5am. Craig heard me and woke up as well, but was much groggier than me! Some of the others had hiked up a nearby mountain to watch the sunset the previous morning so since we were up we decided to get out of bed and go for a hike. It was quite chilly outside and still pitch black when we left at 5:15. We wore our headlamps so we could navigate the dark streets (thanks Alicia & Julia!) Unfortunately we had missed the orientation walk so we weren't fully sure how to get to the base of the mountain, but could see the lit path up the mountain when the buildings weren't in the way. We took a few wrong turns and it was a hard walk up some steep sandy paths. We nearly turned back when a barking dog was standing in the middle of a small road in our path, but a local came by and threw rocks at it which moved it out of our way. We finally found the base and started up the 580 steps to the peak. Wow, was that ever hard! Some of the steps were really steep - higher than my knee - and they were all uneven rock and a bit slippery. We were passed by a local carrying a huge back of supplies (there was a cafe at the top!) but we finally made it as the sky was starting to get light. We took a seat on some rocks at the top to rest and watch the sunrise over Pushkar. We then stopped for a chai masala before heading back down.
In town we saw a group of women in mostly pink sarees walking through town, following a band of musicians. Bish later explained that they did this because one of the women was getting married. This time of year is really popular for Indian weddings so he thought we might be able to see a wedding in the next few days.
After lunch we left for the train station, where we caught a 6 hour train to Udaipur. This train was not nearly as comfortable as the last. On the way to Agra we had AC seats, where the seats were like a coach bus and we got water and a warm meal. For Udaipur we had benches, kind of like a school bus, where there were 3 per bench and the benches faced each other, so 6 in each section, and two sections filling the width of the train. This was very squishy and particularly uncomfortable for those sharing a section with an Indian family didn't purchase a seat for their child. The worst part was when the train went through a sandstorm and the carriage filled with a huge sand cloud. There were fans all over the ceiling but only one was working and the rest appeared broken, so it took a long time for the air to clear up again.
In the last part of the trip Craig decided to wander a bit and make friends with the locals. He was speaking with and Indian woman, Alpa, who was going to Udaipur with her husband and baby for a family wedding with 5000 guests! She was shocked to hear we only had 80 at ours and when she heard Craig was married she wanted to meet me. Craig came to fetch me and introduced us. Alpa told me she'd been looking at all the people in our group and had decided I was the prettiest (awkward, but flattering I suppose). She told us how she likes to wear western clothes around the house but has to wear sarees outside because western clothes aren't appropriate. She was also the first person to ask us if we had a love marriage (as opposed to an arranged marriage). Bish had previously been boasting about the low divorce rate of arranged marriages and stated that 100% of love marriages fail. Guess we're screwed!
Alpa also asked me where Jen, the blond Canadian, was from. When I told her the same country as me she asked why she had a different hair colour. I found this a strange question until I realized that everyone from India has brown skin, dark hair and brown eyes.
We got to Udaipur at 10pm. Our hotel was overbooked so they moved us to another hotel for the first two nights. The replacement hotel was lovely, with large clean rooms and a nice courtyard with a pool. They kept the restaurant open so we could get dinner before going to bed, which was nice because we were famished. Our Indian dinner was amazing and fantastically cheap (70 rupees for a curry - 1 quid!!)

India Day 6 - Pushkar

Craig and I woke up early to take a 7am taxi Craig had arranged to meet our group in Pushkar. I was feeling much better but my stomach was still off so I didn't have any appetite. Good thing too because the hotel lights were all off when we left, so we couldn't get breakfast.
The cab took 3 hours and cost us 2000 rupees (30 quid) which included all the toll roads and the driver for both ways (he had to drive back to Jaipur). It was a nice ride except the last 30 mins when it got really hot and really bumpy. We arrived at the hotel and ran into some of the people from our group who were leaving for lunch. I got settled in for a nap (I was feeling a bit queasy again after the bumpy ride) and Craig went with the others for lunch. After napping all day I was feeling better and went for a camel ride with the others. It was my first time on an animal by myself (I think I rode a pony once at a fair) so I was a bit nervous at first. You feel quite high up when you're riding a camel, so I was a bit worried about falling until I got used to being all the way up there (I'm normally used to being close to the ground :) The camels took us out of the town, past a dump (lovely smell!), and around some sandy dunes. We each had a boy walking out camels, but mine preferred talking to his friends and let me drive most of the way. Scary, especially when my camel was speeding up towards a busy intersection!
Afterwards we went for dinner, where I ordered a spinach mushroom burger the others had raved about from the previous day. It was pretty gross and my appetite was still recovering so I only had half. Craig got a pizza with paneer and Indian spices but found a shard of metal in it so that was the end of his meal. The server apologized for the metal and guessed it had chipped from the cheese grater, and promised that next time they would take good care of him. Yeah right, why not this time? Craig got charged full price for the pizza. During dinner, Bish mentioned how he loved the movie Avatar - seems he has a thing for the blue chick - "big beautiful eyes, blue skin, and a tail!"
By the time we got back to the hotel, we were exhausted so crashed for the night.

India Day 5 - Jaipur

Wow, what a day! I woke up at midnight feeling horribly ill, and thus began my day of food poisoning. Craig woke to the sound of me throwing up and came to help me. It must have been a horrible job for him, but he was fantastic and his help was much appreciated. Once I was done being sick he sent me to lie down so I didn't get more nauseous, and he cleaned up. What a sweetheart :) I was feeling really dehydrated all night, but as soon as I had a few sips of water it all came back up, which meant I was unable to keep down any of the drugs I was trying to take to calm my stomach.
We were supposed to leave the hotel at 8am on a bus, but I was still feeling really bad and couldn't handle 6 hours on a bumpy bus. Craig sorted things out with Bish and the hotel so we stayed another night and would take a cab to Pushkar in the morning. I slept most of the day and was feeling much better, but still pretty rough, by 11pm. We had dinner (my first meal - I had a few spoonfuls of white rice) and went to bed for a good nights sleep.
I am so thankful to have such a loving husband who is happy to take such good care of me!

India Day 4 - Jaipur

This if the first day that we don't have to travel anywhere! How nice to relax a bit! We got tuktuks to take us around for the day - Amber Fort, Hawa Mahal, the water palace, the monkey palace, lunch with a live traditional dance, and finally dropping us off at the market for some shopping. Our driver warned us that since we had white skin, people would "think we were ATMs".

Craig and I separated from the group and were looking to buy a saree for myself. We quickly discovered that you actually buy the fabric and then get a dressmaker to make the shirt. We finally settled on a royal blue saree fabric with some bead work. We also bought some red and tan fabric for a silver suit (the dress-like shirts with pants underneath) although making it was going to be a little pricey since we needed it delivered to the hotel that night, so we decided to get it made in the next town. Craig and I finished our day with a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant with nasty washrooms. All the haggling in the market was exhausting so we crashed as soon as we got back to the hotel.

India Day 3 - Jaipur

We woke up early this morning to catch a city bus to Jaipur. We were warned the bathrooms on the bus would be "very basic". There wasn't a toilet on the bus but after an hour we found out what Bish had meant - he talked to the driver, who stopped at the side of the highway and those who needed went on the side of the road.

We had also been warned that the hotel in Jaipur was "horrible", often followed by a comment about how the service was terrible. Bish had complained many times that GAP shouldn't use it, so we were nervous getting there. However we were thrilled with the hotel - nice big clean rooms, the first with no bugs - fantastic! And, as he said, they didn't have much service, which we preferred since we didn't have to fight off hoards of Indians to be able to carry our own bags. Agra was bad for this - while waiting for the tuktuks to the bus, the hotel boys moved all our bags together and surrounded them. When the tuktuks arrived they pounced and grabbed all our bags and wouldn't let us carry them. They then took them out to the tuktuks and stood around waiting for us to tip them. I don't like how pushy people here are to help, forcing you to pay them for services you don't want.

Bish took us on an hour-long orientation walk which was mostly a crazy confusing route to get to the interesting part of town. As soon as we got to the good part he pointed in a few directions and rattled off all the things we could do, then left us there - "I'm not your babysitter!" We went for a brief walk in the old city (Jaipur is known as the "pink city" because the old city is painted with pink stucco) but quickly got frustrated walking down narrow roads jam-packed with lots of motorcycles and tuktuks, honking and making lots of dirty fumes. We went as a group to a thali restaurant Bish had recommended - they were closed another hour so we were leaving when the manager came running after us. He had gotten in a panic when he saw 14 would-be customers traipsing away. Each place setting had a thali plate with 8 bowls on it. The servers came around and filled the bowls and plate with curries, breads, rice, chutneys, etc, and continued to refill until you told them to stop. So thali in India is like and all you can eat buffet but the food comes to you, and it is much cheaper - 175 rupees / person (3 quid). When leaving the restaurant, they invited us for a tour of the kitchen and then we each had to hit a gong on the way out. Weird!

We got tuktuks back to the hotel - 4 per car, which meant the last one in was kind of hanging out the door. Kirsty nearly lost her arm when we passed a bus but we made it back all limbs intact.One of the other tuktuk drivers took a fancy to one of the girls and there had been a proposal - "six months from now, I will not forget you!". We all had a drinks on the rooftop patio before going to bed.