Chandigargh

On the (long) bus trip south to Delhi, we stopped (not intentionally) for a night in Chandigargh, a place we new nothing about and hadn't planned to visit, but we're glad we did!

We treated ourselves to a more expensive hotel than the 3pound we normally spent, showered and hit the town for some food and beer, both of which we enjoyed with some live music. We ended the very enjoyable evening by walking back in the freezing cold night eating ice cream!

In the morning we decided to see a bit of the city before catching our bus so we headed to the 'rock garden' and we loved it. Under the direction of one man, a 12 acre sight has been transformed into an interesting, enjoyable and stimulating place to wander around using just the waste from construction sights. There are waterfalls, mosaic walls, large castles and thousands of sculptures of all sorts of animals, people and who knows what, a real pleasure to spend some time. We were sad to leave but had a bus to catch, it was an unexpected stop worth making.

Tea with the Lama

Mcleod Ganj is the home (in exile) of the 14th Dalai Lama, and for 5 days it has also been the home of us!

Set on the top of a mountain, amongst many other mountains both smaller and larger, it is a relaxed place with lots of chai (super sweet tea) shops and Tibetan monks at every turn. We have spent the days soaking up the atmosphere and exploring the town and surrounding countryside. The scenery continues to be stunning at every turn, never more so than when we made the 4 hour hike up a mountain to the snowline at 2,900m where we relaxed in the sunshine looking down on the clouds below before descending via a waterfall to some well deserved momos and Thenthuck soup.

Ravi's House

From Shimla we took a local bus to a town called Bilaspur to meet Ravi (an old friend) with the plan of staying with him and his family for a few days. They picked us up from Bilaspur and took us to their house in the small village of Kerlya.

The house is on a ridge looking down the valley to the rest of the village which sits within the foothills of the Himalayas, it is a beautiful house in an amazing location and we were treated like kings by Ravi, Mampta, Chaitanya, Papa Jee and Mama Jee as they kept us very well fed. The view from the house is beautiful, and we awoke to the sight of what looked like a lake formed by cloud down the valley under the snow capped peaks.

After a couple of days at the house we went on a trip to Joginder Naga to see some more of the countryside. After a fun 7 hour journey involving buses, jeeps and probably the highest roads we have ever been on (many of which brought to mind the climax of the Italian Job - especially when we had to pass other buses!), we were met by Mampta's cousin and taken to his house where we were once again very well fed. Continuing our journeys strange fascination with rail travel we went for a quick trip on a trolley which goes up and down the hillside (at a gradient of up to 48 degrees - that's pretty steep) using a pulley system before taking a quick tour of the fascinating Hydroelectric powerstation that Mumpta's cousin worked in. It was built in 1932, and I thought renewable energy was a new thing.

On our return trip the bus took the opportunity of breaking down at the highest pass we made, rather than sit and wait we climbed higher (over 300 steps) to a small temple on the top of the hill, for some more breathtaking views of the mountains and the terraces that have been cut into the hillsides for farming. Just as we were at the top we got news that the bus was fixed and had to make a quick descent to cut the bus off on the road below us.

Our 5 days passed unbelievably quickly as we had a fun and relaxing time with our adopted family, and we left on another bus with the promise to meet up again in Delhi after our trip to Daramsala, further into the Himalayas - in case you wondered, it's also pretty cold ;o)

Toy train to Shimla

It sounds like it should be made of colourful plastic and last for 20 minutes but that was not the case at all. The 120k journey climbed from 700 to over 2000m and took 7 hours (3 more than it should have). It was great. Each carriage held 30 people, we were sat with 3 families who were good fun, we screamed our way through the 103 tunnels and round the bendy tracks enjoying the stunning mountain scenery all the way.

Shimla is a lovely place with old British style buildings with wooden beams in a tudor style, we could almost be in Shaftesbury (but the roads are even steeper!). Since arriving we have climbed a hill to Jakoo temple, taking 21 minutes (according to the sign at the bottom this means we are super fit). The temple is a shrine to the monkey god and appropriately there were monkeys on the path all the way up, people carry sticks to beat them away but they didn't give us any problems and it was nice to be walking amongst them. The views from the top were extremely impressive looking out over the Himalayas with their snow covered caps poking out through the clouds and eagles circling below us.

"one snap please" we hear wherever we go, with people wanting their photos taken with us, unfortunately it is never just 'one snap' and at one point we were stuck for 30 minutes with a queue waiting in line! On the train a baby was thrust into our arms for the proud parents to take a picture, we wonder how many family albums we may be appearing in.

For New Year we wrapped up warm (6/7 layers) for the below 0 temperatures and had a curry before joining the crowds on the streets with music and dancing inbetween the photocalls.

Arriving in Delhi, India

The air is black with pollution and the noise is incredible, horns go all though the day and night continuously. The smells are mixed, sometimes the air is delicious with spices and cooking, other times the burning incense makes me light headed and frequently it just smells of shit. The lack of public hygiene is apparent as soon you step out of the door. The colours are vibrant with bright materials and spices and gold and silver sparkles everywhere. Instantly we love the people, everyone wants to sell us something or give us advise about getting ripped off by scamers. We have spent hours talking and laughing with them. One guy gave us tea and another lunch which we ate standing in a dusty market with the roof falling in. It was incredibly tasty but Glen was slightly put off when he found a finger nail in it. We have wondered through the bazaars where men chased us to buy there goods and cows wander freely amount the traffic of motos, cycle rickshaws, cars and people. The evening brought a realisation of the poverty here as we watched men, women and children burn cardboard to warm there bare feet and other crawl under buses to stay warm to sleep. It's heartbreaking. The view of the city from the tower of the mosque was incredible. We saw tin roofs spread as far as the pollution would allow and the crazy streets seemed no less manic. There is no clear order to the buildings and the people and transport merge around them, eagles circle the skies above watching.

Already we love incredible! India

A Second crack at Perfection?

After we got back to Sihanoukville we decided to find a quiet beach on the mainland for Christmas and headed to the not too distant Otres Beach, arriving in the dark we found a bungalow, not only was it directly on the beach but it was also made ontop of an old boat, we slept the night and awoke in the morning opening the door to a view over the calm blue ocean, paradise had been refound....unfortunately the boat was only the size of a double bed, and contained a double bed. So we walked down the beach looking for something a bit more roomy, who says beggars can't be choosers.

A straw bungalow with a wooden interior 20 feet from the water on a quiet stretch of beach, our own table, chairs and sunloungers on the sand where the restaurant would bring our food, and the door an large window opening onto the sea. We made the most of the loungers and the fly free sand, dipped in and out of the water as we pleased, and ate the delicious food from the restaurant, and fruit we had bought from the market while watching the sandcrabs run up and down the beach. We had a nice couple from Germany with a baby in the next bungalow and a couple from Horfield (!) that we could share some Christmas drinks with. We had found our paradise and it was still a day until Christmas.

After a night in our bungalow we awoke on Christmas Eve to the view of the early morning sun catching the flat sea and ate a fresh mango on our porch, unfortunately (again) there had been a mix up with the bookings and we had to move again. It was tough but we had to move to a not quite such luxurious bungalow a bit further down the beach, it was not the end of the world and we were back on the beach and had a fre lunch as compensation.

A quiet Christmas Eve included my foot being 'pinched' by a crab while in the sea, a few drinks in the evening and returning to out new bungalow to find a bat flying round the room, a cockroach on Vicky's toothbrush and being jumped on by large beetles. We jumped under our mosquito net, so much for 'nothing was stirring not even a mouse'. We kept laughing.

Christmas was a beautiful day, we woke up early and swam under the rising sun, ate a breakfast of fresh dragon fruit and watermelon and opened a few presents on the beach (Thanks Ann, Pete, Sarah & Ben). We maintained soem traditions by hanging a silver snowflake from our beach umbrella (unfortunately no cracker hats), spent time with new found friends and ate and drank lots - the coconut shakes topped up with rum were particularly good as the sun was going down. We ended the day as it had begun with a quick swim. A brilliant day - we hope you all had a great Christmas too.

A Secluded Paradise

We arranged with a local dive shop to be dropped off by their dive boat at an island 2 hours off the coast of Sihanoukville called Koh Rung.  The island has 4 small villages (each with about 20/30 homes) on the coast, a hilly jungle covered centre and numerous white and yellow sand beaches.  As we approached in the boat all we could see was white sand and a few wooden huts and were prpared for a quiet christmas on the beach.

 

The room that we took was in a wooden beach house built on the pier, so we slept with the sound of the waves washing underneath us.  The island was a true paradise, we explored the beaches that we had to ourselves, swam in the warm sea and basically relaxed.  The pier was in one of the small villages and everywhere we went we were greeted by hellos and smiling faces, from every single person we met.  Vicky was even escorted down the pier by a small child to make sure she was ok.

 

As a break from the beaches we went exploring the centre of the island and headed to the opposite coast.  We were climbing through jungle again, although this time inapprpriately dressed in shorts and vest.  We pushed our way through bushes, climbed along logs and opver boulders till we came to the top of the island and looked down at the perfect beach!  It was a bay about 2 miles long with a turquoise sea lapping onto it and there was not a soul to be seen.  We quickly made our way down the rocks and to the beach and into the ocean before doing some more of what we do best, relaxing on the beach.  After a few hours on the beach we made our way back and had dinner in a beach hut over looking pcean under a clear starlit sky - we truly had found 'bounty island' .

 

Did you sense a 'but' coming?  Despite the sheer beauty of the island and the people on it, we made the decision to leave after only 2 days and before Christmas.  Sandflies!  such a shame.