Mugged in Mysore

We started our first day at one of ubiquitous 'Cafe Coffee Days' which seem to be India's answer to Starbucks. Chris had an 'Irish' coffee with a 'whiskey flavoured' alcohol free liquor in it and a curry sandwich. Lovely.

Off to the palace which Mysore is famous for. We looked round its insanely over the top interior with about a million school children who, again, were more interested in us than the building. It was built on the site of the old wooden palace in the 1800s after the last one burned down when a wedding got a bit out of hand. Oddly it was designed and built by a Brit and from the outside it really does look at lot like the Brighton Pavilion (or the Pavilion looks a lot like it). 

That done we wondered what to do next. Chris was in no doubt… to the railway museum!

Please see pictures. There is also a video of Chris pretending to be a train driver which he may not let me share ("choo! choo!").

Finally we rounded the day off my joining a rickshaw driver we'd met when we arrived the day before. He promised to take us round places and show us the best sights. 

Oh Mr Kumar you seemed so nice.

First stop was a flower market. I'd been to one of these in Mumbai when I was last there and it had been amazing with thousands and thousands of blooms all being traded to make garlands for temples and so on. As we walked down the dirty street towards where he'd pointed us I saw the first giant dead rat, then another couple as we neared. For those who don't know, I HATE rats. So I was on edge. 

The 'flower market' turned out to be a few tired looking people selling very vegetable shaped flowers. Ummm. We beat a hasty retreat. Back on the street Mr Kumar had gone but the man at the incense shop (where Mr Kumar had said we should go next) was waiting for us. Ok. 

Ten minutes later we were stuck in the back of small strong room with a giant man standing over us trying to get us to buy sandlewood oil for £10 and 'marijuana oil' for an undisclosed sum. The room seemed to close in on us. His voice got louder. Somehow we escaped after paying £5 for handful of gross smelling joss sticks (which have since been abandoned in a homestay in Kerala after their alleged mosquito repelling qualities were manifestly disproved). After this purchase and some further prodding on the merits of various oils he clearly decided he'd mugged us enough. A phone call was made and miraculously Mr Kumar reappeared. 

We felt pretty stupid at the time but on reflection if its the worse we get ripped off in two months that's not bad going. 

The next day we took the early evening bus out of Mysore towards Ooty. The bus was showing a Bollywood film in Hindi which seemed to be both a love story with sudden bouts of joyous dancing and a very serious film about the conflict in Kashmir culminating in the two lead characters blowing up as one of them detonates the suicide bomb strapped to her chest. Bamboozled we wove up the mountain to Ooty.       

Selling out in Bangalore

We had about 8 hours in Bangalore arriving on the morning train which got us in at 6am. We were tired, dirty and a bit bored of travelling. We had to back on a train in a matter of hours and neither of us had been well in the previous 24. Leaving our bags at the station we asked the taxi driver to take us to the most famous road in Bangalore; Mahatma Gandhi (MG) Road. This is a street lined with western businesses from banks to software companies, call centres and electronic manufactures. This is where we'd find what we needed. One of the best hotels in Bangalore and their buffet breakfast. 

After spending more on breakfast each than we had together on a nights accommodation in Hampi we guiltily headed back out on the streets. Rush hour was in full swing and the madness of Bangalore had come to life. It was great. Nosy, chaotic, big - everything that a city should be. We walked from MG Road through the wealthy westernised district with ever smarter looking office blocks, compounds and schools until we reached the botanical gardens. 

A few hours lazing under the Elephant Apple Tree (and posing for a few pictures) we were refreshed and headed for the station for the next leg of the journey. 

After the dizzying affluence of Bangalore it could be easy to forget the other darker side of a big city like this. Back at the station as we sat on the steps waiting for our train two men came and picked up a person lying under a blanket behind us. We watched as they carried the bodies dead weight down the steps putting it on to a stretcher and pulling the blanket back over their head. The body had thin legs and their flip flops had been left behind on the station floor. They seemed to have no other possessions. Neither of us quite knew what to say.  

Train from Ooty to Mettupalayam

I haven't had any meat or fish since Dec 01. Christmas day and I am going to eat me some fishes. Hazel has eaten chicken.

She wasn't well.

Belly update

For those of you who also requested the inside track on our intestinal tracts along side updates on Chris's fledgling beard efforts (there was a school child today with a better tash). I can report unsettled stomachs all round. If more explosive incidents occur I'm pretty sure Chris won't let me post about it so you'll just have to imagine... happy reading.

Hippy Island

We have found the hippies. They all live together on a little stretch of land the other side of a small river from a place called Hampi. They have all the things which hippies need to survive; tie-dyed t-shirts, restaurants with low tables and cushions to sit on the floor, endless bindis and joss sticks, a man who sells hash, distant temples and (the most important thing) other hippies.

It turns out hippies are not much interested in us, which must mean we're not hippies. Yet.

Anyway, curious folk chatting about yoga and spirituality aside, Hampi was brilliant. It's on the site of a ruined city which was raided by invaders in 15th century. Back then the city was over 100km in size now its more of an overgrown village. So what hasn't been ravaged by invaders, time or looters is just sort of lying around in among all these extraordinary rock formations. It is pretty cool. There are some pictures but there is no way we've done it justice.

We took a tour round the main sites and posed for the now obligatory pictures with groups of children and teenagers.

We also had time to hire some bikes (no gears) and take a bone jerking cycle out to a monkey temple with an epic walk up the side of a mountain. There are also pictures. Check out the ones with some excellent plumbing across the steps which go up the mountain. Other health and safety highs include transporting 10 people and a two motorbikes on a tiny little boat. There is a sort of magic genius in how no one gets hurt despite crazed infrastructure and seemingly lunatic driving.

On our last day we visited the still working temple in the heart of Hampi. It was Sunday and many other people had come to look or worship. There was a wedding taking place with a full band and an elephant called Lakshmi who blessed you for a few rupees or a banana. Despite these significantly more exciting and interesting things we still found ourselves at the centre of attention. The brother of the bride had his family pose with us and then thrust a baby into my arms for another shot. He invited us to the bridal feast but unfortunately we left Hampi that evening on route to Bangalore.

It's big news in India at the moment that when Tom Cruise came to Mumbai they hired a crowd to cheer for him at the airport. We're thinking of dropping him a line and letting him know we're available for a small fee to draw a crowd whenever he wants.

At the station yet more school children gathered round us. They were lovely but it was a little intimidating to look around at the 40 odd faces of smiling children all asking questions and think 'shit the train doesn't get here for another hour...' I ended up signing the hands of most of the girls (I'm not sure why) and letting them write messages on mine after answering detailed questions about what clothes I wear, why I don't have any jewellery, whether Chris was my husband or my brother [cough] and so on. By the time we left the platform from the train we had invitations to their village and the homes of two other women who happened to be passing. Just to balance things out I'm pretty sure an old woman cursed me for refusing to give her money.

Incidentally when Indian school children ask you what you eat Chris discovered that the funniest thing you can answer is 'Chicken Tikka Masala'. For reasons unknown it had them rolling in the aisles.

More pictures on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/71649987@N05/

After Mumbai we got on a train and spent 17 hours travelling to Hyderabad. 17 long uncomfortable hours. We arrived into Hyderabad at 06:30 in the morning and were immediately set upon by a swarm of auto-rickshaw drivers. We had already decided to walk the 20 minutes to the hotel but we were accompanied the entire way by the drivers seeing if we had changed our minds in the 5 seconds since they last asked. We checked in to the 'hotel' (more borstal than Bellagio) and after 3 hours of shut eye we headed back out hoping our initial view had been jaded by sleep. Again we were followed by an entourage of auto-rickshaw drivers, crossed paths with an angry policeman and ducked round people trying to force purchases of pearls, gold and what looked like wedding outfits. After we successfully negotiated lunch we went to have a look at a massive Buddha statue which is in the middle of a lake. 

On the ferry over to the Buddha we realised that a the passengers were more interested in us than the 60-foot statue. We were ordered to stand in the middle of the boat the only seeming reason being so that everyone could get a good look at us. When we arrived on the tiny platform the Buddha stood on, there was no escaping... A group of kids were the first to brave actual conversation. They followed us around asking us questions about England. They were friendly and nice but I wanted to point at the massive statue and tell them to take pictures of that rather than us.  We however dutifully posed for about 7 different family photos including two with the official 'Buddha platform photographer'.


Here are some of our new friends.

After walking around Hyderabad for some hours and finding everything shut because of a festival we decided to cut our losses and get on another train to Hospet...

Photos!

Our photos can be found on Flickr at the following address... http://www.flickr.com/photos/71649987@N05/

Things a car horn is used for in India…
I'm here.
I'm going to be there.
I have a horn.
I'm turning left.
I'm turning right.
I have some passengers.
I would like some passengers.
I have seen you but I am going to ignore your presence.
I am eating a cheese sandwich.

We are safe and sound in Mumbai. Though not without small trials. Turned out that Friday was the day Bombay Taxis were on strike. Getting from the airport therefore involved a convoluted trip via coach and (non striking) taxi followed by a dazed stumble around the streets until finally we found the hostel. Much thanks should go to the BA crew member, Canadian, two americans, numerous Indians and the guidebook who helped us to get there.

After a shower and a gallon of water each we went for a little wander and found the Indian Navy having a parade at the Gateway to India complete with comando leaps from helicopters and a full marching band with flags (its like they knew we were coming).

Pictures and videos will follow...

Let's fly, let's fly away...

So, should I be worried that we haven't (quite) left the UK but Chris already seems to be confused about where we are going? Although the itinerary posted has elements of truth its not strictly accurate. Some will know that while Chris had his head down trying to finish all his coursework to pass his degree with such flying colours much of the organisation for the next few months was left with me. Shit.

After Ed booked our flights for us I got on with the job of scouting out destinations, accommodation, timetables and trains. I regularly emailed Chris with long lists of potential itineraries, questions about this, that and the other etc etc. It had started to dawn on me that he was probably ignoring me and, given that the posted itinerary was, by my reckoning, abandoned back in July, I assume that was the case.

So where are we really going? Looks like it will be a surprise not only to you but also to Chris. That'll teach him to ignore my emails.

Thank you to everyone who has sent us lovely messages and seen us off. We'll miss you all but see you shortly. Stay in touch and we welcome all commentary on this blog...

Come fly with me

Itinerary
01 December 21:05: Heathrow
02 December 11:25: Mumbai
Trains 
    05 Dec: Mumbai
    06 Dec: Hyderabad
    08 Dec: Kacheguda (Hyderabad)
    09 Dec: Hospet
    13 Dec: Bangalore
    13 Dec: Katpadi
    14 Dec: Mettupalauyam
    16 Dec: Ootacamund
    16 Dec: Mettupalayam
    17 Dec: Coimbatore
    27 Dec: Cochin
    28 Dec: Villupuram (for Pondicherry)
    30 Dec: Villupura
    31 Dec: Chennai
31 December: Chennai
31 December: Singapore
01 January: Bali
01 February: Melbourne
?