fans, tans & belly aches

After a delightful few weeks in Leh we headed to Punjab, specifically Amritsar, home of the Golden Temple, which is basically THE temple (Gurdwara) in Sikhism. Now the Sikhs have always struck me as people who know how to have a good time, they drink alcohol and eat meat. Now I'm not saying this is the recipe for success but it does make you more fun at parties. It is literally a 24hour party at the Golden temple, there is even continuous chanting/singing that is amplified around the temple 24/7 but all without the assistance/hindurance of alcohol or meat which blew my previous stereotypes clean out of the water. Within the walls of the temple lies a beautiful Golden building where the Sikhs Holy Book is kept during the day and then ceremoniously carried to and from a nearby building where it is effectively put to bed. The temple is surrounded by water which you're encouraged to wash your sins away in but not to bathe. I remember someone saying to me once that you'll never see a Sikh beggar. Well now I understand why. The Langar, or food hall, provides hot meals to tens of thousands of people all day every day, completely free of charge, staffed mainly by volunteers and with awesomely efficient systems. For example, every dish, spoon, cup etc is washed 7 times by seven different teams. We were shown around by a local man who clearly spent a lot of his time at the temple. He showed us hidden passageways, part of the rebuilt Red Fort (Lal Quila) that was gifted from Delhi, the massive kitchens and all the behind the scenes areas. I like kitchens and these were immense; from the size of the pans (2 tonne each) to the chappati machine, yes a machine that makes chappatis! It was awesome. There'd be people making them by hand using a wood fire, some people using a gas fire then this huge Fordist machine that churned out chappati after chappati. Remember, 40,000+ meals a day, 365 days a year, it was inspiring. Not only was food provided (and unlimited chai but we only discovered this on the last day) and a sanctuary for contemplation & thought, free accomodation is available, they even had a seperate area for foreigners. This was unnecessary for us but I think they prefer it this way, in a twist of irony, Kats bed had bugs and she didn't sleep at all, just eaten alive, nice.

Another fun thing to do in Punjab is to head to the border ceremony with Pakistan. It is hilarious, entertaining, nationalist and a touch absurd- a sight to see! Pakistan's side of the gate is pretty monotone with a handful of green flags, whereas Indias is a sea of colour with singing, dancing and girls running with flags. The guards compete in a 'march off' where they march against each other, see who can kick the highest and who can hold a singular note shout the longest. Quite bizarre!

After Punjab we headed to Jaipur in Rajasthan where I'd booked a rather fancy heritage hotel as part of Kats Birthday present. Great thing is I have to share it with her! It was amazingly painted with lots of beautiful Rajastani style ornate archways, plus it had a swimming pool which is a massive relief after a hot day in the dusty Rajastani heat. We also had our first bottle of red wine in 3 months, it went down too easily and efficently for my liking!!

We had been planning to do some volunteer work whilst in India, specifically with street children and Rajasthan seemed like a good place to do it. So we signed up with an organisation called Vatsalya who ran a residential school for street children about 40km from Jaipur. This turned about to be a well established project which was undergoing new management at the time we were there which proved both entertaining and frustrating. There was also a group of 15 16/17year olds from England who were also rather entertaining and frustrating! my favourite episode was when they were painting a world map with flags on a newly built classrooms walls. The map was Euro centric and the UK was painted to be larger than India! But they were a lovely bunch! However, the kids who were living there were amazing. From ages 3 upto 19 there was such a feeling of family and smiles all around. Obviously there were issues at times but kids are kids! Considering their backgrounds it was inspiring to see these children learning, playing sports, meditating, even teaching me Hindi! Monday to Saturday the kids would have school til 1pm then after lunch would have rest tme then play time. In the mornings I would help make the food in the kitchen and Kat would do spend some one on one time with a girl called Prassana. Then in the afternoon we'd play football or cricket or read, one night we even had a big game of Kabadi, which is an awesome game. We shared stories, sang songs, played games, ate together. There was a brother & sister Hindi festival whilst we were there where everyone gave their siblings & friends home made braclets and (in theory) the boys made promises to their sisters that they will loomk after them. Kat, who became known as Didi (big sister) had to wear a sari too, very nice! I got to make lots of Indian sweets and sing old bollywood songs like "de cali cali acka" and do fun dances with the kids who thought it was hilarious.

Their website is www.vatsalya.org/ if you want to find out more.

After a week at Vatsalya we headed back to Jaipur to meet our friend Tim Jenner who had been working in Dellhi to have some more fun times in Rajasthan, bring it on

We were very excited about the prospect of going to Ladakh. It is in the most northernly state of India, Kashmir, the culture there is completely different from anywhere else, including most of Muslim dominated Kashmir. It lies way up in the Himalayas at a heady 3500metres, near the India-Tibet border. The culture is very similar to that of the Tibetan people, in fact the majority of the population practises Tibetan Buddhism, and Ladakh is commonly known as 'Little Tibet.' Due to the extremely high altitude the temperature throughout most of the year is harsh, so much so that it is only accessible by road from June to September, and in the winter temperatures are commonly minus 20 and below. We knew that the journey from Manali to Leh (the capital of Ladakh) was going to be an experience; two days travel by bus over some of the worlds most precarious roads. In reality it took us 60 hours, 27 of that was doing the first 90km over some serious mudslides. That said we passed through some mind blowing and varied scenery on the journey; from lush green hills to arid canyons, to snow topped mountains. We went over some very high altitude passes; upto 5200metres, and at this point we could definitely feel that we were being starved of oxygen, breathing was hard and I started to go a bit doolaley! Needless to say a few days after arriving in Ladakh we purchased flights to leave, no way were we going do that bus ride again!

We immediately liked Leh and spent the first few days taking it easy, acclimatizing to the high altitude and hanging out with a group of English peeps who we met on the bus. After a few days we decided to go and explore some of the local villages. We loved getting out into the rural areas, wandering through little villages, with arid mountains as the backdrop, fields full of barley and rapeseed, and whitewashed houses with pray flags scattered throughout. There are also monasteries and age old palaces in nearly every village. We found the people to be so warm and welcoming, often being invited in for chai. At the large Thiksey monastery we got up very early to go and see the Pudja, or the monks prayer ceremony, it was fabulous thing to see; monks of all ages chanting , mediating , then having their breakfast of ground barley ('tsampa') which they mix with their fingers in bowls of butter tea (the most grossest salty weird thing I have ever tasted).

We also did a white water rafting trip in Ladakh, through the arid mountains on rivers of melted glacier. We opted for the higher grade route and at points it was pretty scary. There were really strong whirlpools that did their best to flip the boat, it was a fun ol' day. I lost my paddle at one point, fortunately Ian was at the front and supported the entire crew through the worst of it (IB!)

Our stay in Ladakh coincided with my birthday, for which we arranged to do a trip over to Tsomorri lake. The family we were staying with had recommended it as the best thing to see in Ladakh. It was very remote, surrounded by 6000metre plus mountains very near the Tibetan border. We needed permits to go there and were stopped by army guys with AK47's a number of times on the way there. We passed many nomadic tribes tending their goats and yaks, who all were very excited to see us waving enthusiastically. The 7 hours drive was definitely worth it, the lake was turquoise and crystal clear, it was framed by the snow-peaked mountains and the bluest sky you'll ever see – spectacular. We attempted a swim in the lake and lasted about 20seconds, it was frrrreeezing. The village around the lake was almost wild west-esque, the little kids were riding around bareback on donkeys and dust whipped around us. Unfortunately the trip back on my birthday was not much fun, I succumbed to the altitude and felt woozey and sick for most of the journey. We did pass a spectacular lake that was surrounded by sulphur deposits and looked liked snow, which was pretty shweet.

Many tourists come to Ladakh to go trekking, having a plethora of 6000 to 7000 metre mountains, it's a great place for keeno mountaineers. We were eager to try our hand at some real trekking but weren't so keen to hire guides, porters, horses and camping equipment. We read about a trek which was walking through a string of remote villages, staying in homestays en route, it sounded perfect. We bused it to the start village and spent the night with a lovely family with two very boisterous kids who kept us very busy. It also happened to be a village festival that day. It was a real treat to see the whole village out in mass and the various tribal costumes and dances. We also got to try the local tipple, 'Chang', homemade barley beer. I thought it tasted like white wine vinegar and only drank a few sips, Ian persisted and insists that that it comes good after a few glasses. He enjoyed it so much he was up and can-canning with the local villagers towards the end of the night. The next morning we set off trekking in search of village number two, we got a bit (a lot actually) lost and ended up in a different village, but eventually made it to our destination. We loved this family and village so much we decided to stay an extra day. The following day the daughter of the family and a few other village children took us to see some famous juniper trees, the oldest of which is meant to be two thousand five hundred years old. The kids took us scrambling up stone walls, through meadows and barley fields. Later we took a trip to the local nunnery and were shown around by some tiny little shaven headed nuns. The next day after getting local advice from the family we changed our plans and trekked and hitched to a different monastery.

The other activity we did in Ladakh was a downhill bike ride from the highest motorable road in the the whole damn world, 5600metres above sea level. It was loads of fun. The views, as per standard were totally awesome.

While we were in Ladakh we based ourselves in Leh and stayed with a beautiful Ladakhi family for 3 weeks. After seeing much of the gender inequality throughout India it was a real surprise and pleasure to experience first hand the almost matriarchal system that was present in Ladakh. Women ruled the roost and participated heavily in all community life. Heads were uncovered and smiles were everywhere. Ian spent numerous mornings making bread with Lamo, the mother, and helping tend her vegetable garden, the fruits of which she sold in the market. We would often find ourselves sat either on their porch or in their kitchen sipping chai and chatting in (very) broken ladakhi and English. Fortunately the word “Juley” meant hello, goodbye, thankyou, yes, your welcome etc etc This always brought a smile to all and a chorus in return especially when walking through a village and you greet people with cheers of “Juley!!” One night we cooked for their family, and then a few nights later we all made momo's together, wholemeal dumplings with a delicious filling of cooked cabbage, carrot, cheese, herbs etc served with a fresh chilli tomato, coriander and onion dip. We ate a lot, the Ladakhi hospitality meant we literally turned into giant momo's in our sleep, fortunately when we awoke the effects had worn off.

We were sad to say goodbye to Ladakh but both feel we will go there again. It is a really special place and I could write about it all day, so apologies that this is a frickin essay!

Dharamasla in Himachal Pradesh, home of the exiled Tibetan government and a large number of tibetan refugees, was our next stop. After a rather painful overnight bus journey we arrived at the crack of dawn to once again a wholly different India then what we had previously experienced. Heavily & positively influenced by the Tibetan refugee community, who first started arriving in the 1960's after a often fatal three week trek over mountains, the Dalai Lama has also set up his permanent residency here, along with schools, museums & monastries. Very fortunately for us we discovered that the Dalai Lama was giving talks/teachings the day after our arrival at the main temple. So along with hundreds of other people we managed to register and attend, with the assistance of an FM radio that translated the talks from Tibetan to English. Very interesting stuff, the talks were about some of the fundamentals of Buddhism, ie emptiness & impermanence, but the actual people watching that was enabled was fantastic! The Tibetan Budhists were in a strange minority due to the number of tourist who were also there, but they seemed very happy; drinking tea, listening, watching their kids run around, however once the Dalai Lama was in sight some of them prostrated themselves on the floor, clearly an indication of respect and love for their spiritual leader. After visiting the Tibetan Museum and reading more about what has happened to the people of Tibet (ie. China's brutal occupation since the 1950's) it is clear that the strength and spirit of these people is amazing, and the support offered by the Indian government has been admirable and consistent.

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Cameras and phones were prohibited so no pics of the main man i'm afraid. Fortunately we more than made up for it with a shed load of photos of the amazing scenery on the walks we went on. We needed to get some high altitude experience under our walking belts so we went on a two day trek upto around 3800m, only days after my bout of dysentry, which was unpleasant to say the least. The views were, as you can see, outstanding, with mountains, glaciers, snow, trees- the works. Keeping the mountains litter free seemed to be an occupation of many which was very pleasing to see and differed from the majority of India's approach to litter. We met a new friend on the way called Akhil from Delhi. This was his first ever trek after being inspired by watching the film 'Into the Wild,' which is based on the true story of a young mans attempt to survive in the wilderness of Alaska. I really admired Akhils enthusiasm and we all had a good laugh as we ascended the mountain.

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There were two areas of close proximity to Mcloed Ganj, both which seemed to be preferred hangouts for young weed smoking Israeli travellers, all of whom had just completed military service of sorts and now were on a break from Israel. This a theme that repeats itself throughout northern India and is accompanied by signs, menus & shouting in Hebrew. Other than the Brits and Southern Spain, I've never seen such saturation of tourist areas by another country, the main reason seemed to be that they felt they could do what they wanted in India whereas in Israel they couldn't due to its Orthodoxy.

After another long overnight bus journey we arrived at Manali which promised to be the adventure capital of India. We were excited and determined not to get ill again. We signed up for paraglaiding and zorbing (standing in a large inflatable ball and rolling down a hill) but unfortunately it was raining heavily and our pilot was a tool who dissapeared for half an hour so we left. After a few hours of additional hassle trying to sort out our sim card, the final response was that we must fly to kerala to resubmit documents (!) we ended up having a blow out and eating some of the best pizza we're ever had (made by Italian family of course) and gettng quite merry and playing Jenga! The steam was well and truely let off!

We did manage to go canonyonning which involved absailing down waterfalls; it was absolutely amazing, we hiked up a mountain, got wet suited up and jumped in and out of waterfalls! It was brilliant, I cant describe the exhilliration and adrenaline rush. Try it out if you getthe chance. Unfortunately no pics again as water and G12's dont mix! On the descent, kat suddenly dissappeared to the sound of a scream, luckily she only fell a few metres down a hole and easily was pulled out but it was a shock for all, but also quite entertaining afterwards.

It seemed that throughout Manali there was weed/cannabis growing along the roadsides and in fields, literally a weed it seems! We saw one sadhu/baba, a Hindi religious man, trying to rub together lots of leaves by a road side in an attempt to get high, quite surreal.

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We planned to head to Leh next which was a two day bus journey (we do love our long bus journeys) on some very precarious roads which are only open 4 months of the year. Wish us luck!

We flew from Kochi to Dehli, mainly to avoid the monsoon. Everyone had warned us about Dehli as being a total nightmare for scams, and overall given us negative reports. So our main aim was to get in and out without being too scathed and if possible see a few of the sights. Ian, to his credit, had booked a super hotel for us and we were very please to find that as none of the 'basic rooms' were left so we had been upgraded to a 'deluxe suite' gratis – shweeet.

On our first night we headed to the mad busy Old Dehli, which is the Muslim area. Smoke from the tandoor ovens filled the street, and the sheer number of people was ridiculous, we later realized that we we had arrived as the everyone was leaving evening pray. We had some super scrumptious food, wandered round the old bazaar, admired Jama Masjid - the biggest mosque in India, and soaked up the vibe.

We had failed to arrange transport to our next planned destination Rishikesh, as the online train tickets were all booked up, so second day priority was to sort that and we also had a few tourist spots we wanted to check out. We got a rickshaw to a tourist info place to try and book train or bus and the barrage of scams and annoyances began. I won't bore you all with the details (too long and arduous!) but basically we were led up the garden path, on a wild goose chase all over new dehli, we were way too trusting/friendly/polite. After a number of very painful hours we managed to secure a first class tickets (the only ones left and paying a stupid amount in commission to all sorts of errand boys) to Haridwar, which is a major pilgrimage town on the banks of ganges. We left the next morning good riddance to scamville Delhi. Before we left we had time to visit a few sight including a Gandhi museum/memorial in the place were he was assasinated. It was interesting and informative until we got to the “interactive floor' on the top level. It was the most flashy, pointless and stewarded exhibition ever. We actually found it pretty hilarious, for example one of the rooms we had hold hands with our guide and each other and each end of the line had to touch this bar which was covered in led lights, when we formed a ring the lights lit up. Our guide said “You see - this shows what can happen when we all work together., like Gandhi taught us”. There were another 20 rooms of similar shite. Pretty sure Gandhi is turning in his grave.

We also made it to Humayan's Tomb, hailed in the lonely Planet as Delhi's answer to the Taj Mahal. After persuading Ian to pay the 250 rupuees each to go in - he was mightily unhappy that Indians only had to pay 10 rupees. We enjoyed a lovely couple of hours in beautiful park that surrounded it, watching the sun set over Delhi and listening to the Sufi's singing for Thursday pray – magical. Worth the 250 rupees I say!

On to Haridwar. We didn't really know what to expect from Haridwar. Its slightly off the foreign tourist trail, but a major pilgrimage place. I was really keen to go as we weren't planning to go to Varanasi, and this seemed like a good alternative. After our rather plush train ride - breakfast, newspapers and refreshments all very welcome, thank Q, we arrived at Haridwar. The train station was insane; hundreds of people were camping all over it, sleeping, washing colourful saris, you name it. There was hardly a bit of floor space. A lot of the people looked as if they had been there for weeks- covered in dirt and flies. Pilgrims come to Haridwar to wash the in Ganges which they believe washes away their sins, it is regarded as one of the seven holiest places to Hindus, it is where drops of Amrit, the elixir of immortality, accidentally spilled over from the pitcher while being carried by the celestial bird Garuda. Throughout the whole day people come to bathe, which they believe washes away their sins, they also collect big bottles of water to take home with them. Some of the younger men treat it slightly as a water park jumping off the bridges and being swept downstream by the strong rapids. Every evening there is a ceremony where thousands of people gather, singing, candles and flowers are put in the river and blessings are made. It was brilliant to behold and we were shocked by the number of pilgrims, it was truly insane to think that many people where there every day.

Ian after being attacked by a child with a Henna tattoo stamp (it didn't come off for weeks!) and a baba with bindi paint

We caught a train to Rishikesh the following day. Rishikesh is hailed as the yoga capital of the world and is also set along the holy Ganges river, which is truly beautiful esp at sunset. The Beatles made it world famous when they set up camp for a number of months in their super hippy phase, and write the White Album. Apparently, Ringo left early because he missed meat too much! Rishkesh is quintessentially India – Holy Cows and Baba's dressed in orange smoking pipes line the street. We found a fab hotel run by a group of jack the lad local boys, who loved whiskey, motorbikes, and girls. Their catch phrase was “Full power, 24hr, no toilet, no shower”, they were completely hilarious. We enjoyed a few nights of getting accustomed to the local brew – it was totally RANK! We also signed up for yoga in a beautiful room right by the Ganges. Unf, I only managed one session before being struck down with Amoebic Dysentery - I'll spare you the details, but I was out of action for the rest of Rishikesh, or Sicky-sesh , as we renamed it. We moved to an Ashram up the street with a stunning view and a more accommodating toilet (ah hem!), so I enjoyed those for the rest of the time! Ian continued doing daily yoga, went White Water rafting, which he loved and hung out with our pals the Full Power lads!

Next stop Dharamasala....

P.s. Sorry about the small number of photos, I am literally on the slowest internet connection of all time,.

The journey to Kumily involved, to date, the most bumpy, nerve racking, uncomfortable, irrational, cold sweat inducing bus trip ever. The driver, I believe, was a dare devil mentalist, he had a penchant for overtaking other buses on blind corners with shear drops, motorcyclists, rickshaws, pedestrians & cows everywhere. “Why is he doing this?!” I cried to Kat, who nonchalantly replied “TIA!” (That's India ay?!) We arrived safely and to be fair the views were amazing.

We checked in, and went straight to see the Kathakali dancers who my friend Mary from Oz said were a must. This is a Keralan storytelling dance tradition that involves an elaborate array of facial and hand gestures to convey emotion and to tell a tale. They use copious amounts of colourful makeup and some very labour intensive dressing up techniques, which we were able to watch. I think the one we saw was about a cheating queen who gets killed by the king, typical.

kathakali eyes

punishment

The next day we headed to the Periyar National Park which we were both excited about as our good friends and travel guides DJ & Durbs had told us of their time there. We went in a jeep and had an awesome guide called Pradeep, a humble local lad. The plan was to trek through some jungles and hills in search of wildlife, namely elephants & tigers. We saw some amazing natural beauty, the pictures do it no justice as usual, with sweeping hills coated in mist and lashings of rain. Pradeep was extremely informative and a really sound guy. He kept trying to track the elephants movements which made everything feel really exciting and perilous; what if we saw them, what if there's a baby, what if they charge us? The wildlife we saw the most of was the blood sucking nos ferato stlying leeches. Shoes, hands, even one on my neck. We had protective socks that reached our knees but that didn't stop them as the photos show. Pradeep, cool as a cucumber, wore plastic sandals, I think he secretly liked it when they got him! The photo of kat taking her shoes off is just before we waded across a river and then got to stand on branches that hung out over a waterfall, pretty spectacular, see video. We also met one of the indigenous nomadic tribes who live in the park with very little influence from outside. They were very shy but Pradeep was able to translate questions & answers so we were able to find out about they way of life and culture which apparently incudes incest! One of the highlights was when we got back to camp, no elephants seen, unwinding over a chai, when Pradeep comes running over, all excited saying theres been elephants spotted nearby and we should go see immediately. A quick hike up a hill and we see three elephants and a baby walking exactly where we had been this morning! Now the mist had cleared and the views were even more breathtaking.

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removal of leeches b4 crossing river

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Pradeep, our guide

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monkey crew

Nomads in park

nice monkey

largest eva lemon, we reckon

The rest of our time in Kumily was taken up with all the usual things: cooking classes, reading, chilling and eating out. Ever in the trail of our British comrades we accidently yet fortuitously found ourselves on the same cooking course they were on, we even found their scribble in the guest feedback book. Very interesting to learn more about the southern Indian style of cooking; coconut oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves and some of the best locally grown spices we've tasted, fragrant green cardommon and the array of spicy and sweet cinnamon still linger in my mind. We both miss cooking a lot so this was lots of fun, so much so that I decided to go again the next day (Kat preferred to chill) to help cook a chicken biriyani for a local event. What fascinated me the most was that the first thing we did in the morning was visit the chicken shop where live chickens are kept, and humanely 'prepared to order' in front of you. This is very different from the refridgerated isles full of plastic wrapped meat that are so displaced from what they actually are and the reality of where they come from.

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kat making parotta

biriyani beginnings

biriyani middlings

biriyani endings

Next stop was the nearby (5hour drive) tea plantation area of Munnar; high up in the hills with hypnotically stunning views of tea plants. We enjoyed lots of spectacular views as we went for walks in the hills, however the area was overun with very loud, rude Indian tourists (the locals agreed). A highlight had to be the tea museum which was possibly the worst museum ever, with a heavily propaganda driven video showing how 'lucky' the locals were when they were enslaved by colonial British tea merchants. We did get a free cup of tea however which, unfortunately, came at the press of a button, heavily sweetened. Note to self, remember to book into dentist asap on return to UK.

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more tea vicar

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Onto Fort Cochin now, i'll keep it short as I know you readers don't like reading. An old colonial fishing port, part of the larger city of Kochi. There were the infamous Chinese fishing nets which worked using a cantilever which saddled up to the fish market where freshly caught fish were sold. Many we found were actually from local fish & prawn farms. There was a distinctly European (Portugeese we discovered) influence to the architecture and some pretty fancy restaurants. So we went to them. Overpriced wine was drunk, tasty morsels were eaten, budget was blown. C'est la vie. We hired some crazy but cool Indian bikes to cycle round the area, on the hunt for the Jain temple, which we never found, but we did have a memorable adventure cycling in heavy rain through flooded backstreets with not a clue where we were going.

right hand eating of dosa

In one of the places we ate, Cafe Linda, we got chatting to the chef and he agreed to show how to cook some of the dishes if we provided the fish. Next day, fresh from the markets, laden with tiger prawns and butterfish we cook cooking. Favourite was the lightly spiced prawns with coconut chunks, delicious. The lemon rice and the coconut rice dishes were really interesting ways of preparing rice. Our mans had a similar style of cooking as the previous chef but more refined.

After being repeatedly rained upon in Kerala (monsoon time) we decided to head North quicker than planned to avoid further saturation. We jumped on a plane from Kochi to Delhi and braced ourselves for the capital city.