This is just a quick note to say that our last blog contained 2 videos, and have heard that sometimes they don't show up in the email version if you are subscribed. SO...to see the videos, make sure you click on the link in the email to open our actual website, where the videos should appear - www.continental-drifters.blogspot.com
Hope you enjoy!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
In and Out of India
We thought we'd seen it all, but India is all of it mixed together, and baked at 110 degrees for a few hours.
Our entry into the country didn't exactly start out with a bang. Our flight arrived in the middle of the night and our pre-arranged pickup didn't show up, so we ended up waiting an extra hour and a half at the airport. Arriving in the Pahar Ganj area (the backpacker hub) of New Delhi at 2:30am isn’t exactly a welcoming site either, rather a bit scary. The next few days we took it easy and tried to get accustomed to the heat and madness of India, which never really happened.
We visited the Red Fort, which we thought wasn’t worth the required rupees, and perused some of the main markets. However, two and a half days in Delhi were all we needed, so we hopped on a 2nd class train north to Hardiwar. Luckily, we sat right next to a nice couple from France with whom we would hang out with for the next week. Unluckily, we arrived in Hardiwar in the evening, along with thousands of Indians on yatra, their annual pilgrimage to holy cities around the country. It took the four of us quite some time to find rooms at a reasonable rate. Our ultimate destination was Rishikesh, the "yoga capital of India," about an hour’s bus ride north, which would have to wait for the morning. On the search for a room, an old man with a gray beard stuck his hand out at Ryan, who wasn’t sure if he wanted to shake his hand or was asking for some spare rupees. Ryan took a chance and reached out his hand and came away with flower petals in his palm. A meaning or just a welcoming gesture? We’ll never know - but that’s India for you.
After a terrible night’s sleep, we woke up with some delicious chais at the restaurant next door. While walking out of the place, we had to yield to a giant elephant accompanied by his mahout making their way down the tiny side street! We looked at each other and knew that we were definitely now in India.
We hopped on the overcrowded bus to Rishikesh with our new friends from France. Ryan befriended a 15 year old Indian boy from Delhi on the bus ride. He decided to give Ryan a gift after conversing, a ring with a purple stone (albeit plastic). Was this another sign?
We made it to Rishikesh and found a great room at the Sheela Mohan Palace. We ended up staying in Rishikesh for 6 nights. Unfortunately, Anna got sick for a few days and it was still quite hot, so our plan of becoming yoga experts didn't quite happen. We did end up taking one yoga course, which was a unique experience in India (much more spiritual than most classes in the states). We also enjoyed the food in town, which was purely vegetarian with no alcohol (Anna went vegetarian the entire 18 days in India). Ryan has a huge paper masala dosa in this photo:
Like Hardiwar, Rishikesh lies on the holy Ganges (Ganga) river, and is another holy city that draws thousands (if not what seems to be millions) of spiritual Indians each year on their pilgrimage. This includes bathing in the Ganga and feeding the many cows wandering around.
In trying to escape the crowds and the heat, we decided to visit the tiny hill station of Kausani. It took us two days of winding, hairpin turns on local buses, but we finally made it to the little town, complete with views of the Himalayas. We had a room overlooking a huge valley, but unfortunately the clouds covered our view of the Himalayas for most of our stay. The monkeys in the nearby trees kept us entertained nonetheless:
The weather was finally pleasant so we were able to take a hike to a local Hindu temple:
and a tea plantation where we sampled some of the tea that grows right in the valley (these are the pickers returning with the days leaves):
On our last morning in town, the skies opened up and there were the Himalayas. They are huge mountains!
We knew we needed to get to Agra soon, so after two nights, we headed back down the hill. We shared a taxi with two very nice Indian men to Haldwani where we then caught an awful overnight bus to Agra. Never take overnight buses in India! We'd heard stories of them, but since it was our only option, we took the plunge. But it's not advised.
After 10 hours of constants bumps, thumps and no sleep, we arrived in Agra and found a room with AC for 700 rupees (~$18), a bargain in the Taj Ganj area. That night we had dinner on the rooftop at Stuff Makers restaurant, complete with excellent views of the Taj Mahal. The next morning we woke up at 4:45am to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise (and also beat the heat as it was around 110°F by 11:00am). Despite the hype, we still thought it a beautiful monument to love. And gorgeous at sunrise! We spent a few hours soaking in all the shadows, lights and angles:
Our original plan had been to take the train from Agra to Mumbai, where our flight left for South Africa, but as we were short on time and didn’t really feel like taking another 30 hour train ride, we booked a cheap flight from Delhi. However, our train back to Delhi from Agra was late and when it finally arrived it only stopped for a minute. We literally had to run and hop on to catch what turned out to be the wrong train (we weren’t the only tourists who made this mistake)! With much luck, this train was also headed to Delhi but we were forced to sit in the non AC 2nd class (when we had paid for AC).
By mid-afternoon the next day we were in Mumbai. We knew that accommodation in Mumbai was not cheap, and we ended up paying about $30 for a room that should have cost about $10 in India. Anywhere else in India or SE Asia, a $30 room is considered luxurious. In our opinion, Mumbai was much nicer than Delhi, at least the city center and backpacker areas. They also had a few good pub and grills, where we got our fix of western food. Besides doing some last minute shopping, we pretty much just hung out for the next 2 days waiting for our flight to South Africa.
Looking back, this was definitely the wrong time to go to India as a backpacker (traveling around in luxury would be a different story even with the heat) but hey, we had to stop and check the place out. We were also getting a little tired of Asia in general. We'd been on the continent since mid-January, so a change was going to be nice.
Now we are loving South Africa. And, since we broke down and bought a little mini-laptop, we will be getting our blogs out quicker than we have been!
Cows eat whatever they want, including posters right off a wall!
Our entry into the country didn't exactly start out with a bang. Our flight arrived in the middle of the night and our pre-arranged pickup didn't show up, so we ended up waiting an extra hour and a half at the airport. Arriving in the Pahar Ganj area (the backpacker hub) of New Delhi at 2:30am isn’t exactly a welcoming site either, rather a bit scary. The next few days we took it easy and tried to get accustomed to the heat and madness of India, which never really happened.
We visited the Red Fort, which we thought wasn’t worth the required rupees, and perused some of the main markets. However, two and a half days in Delhi were all we needed, so we hopped on a 2nd class train north to Hardiwar. Luckily, we sat right next to a nice couple from France with whom we would hang out with for the next week. Unluckily, we arrived in Hardiwar in the evening, along with thousands of Indians on yatra, their annual pilgrimage to holy cities around the country. It took the four of us quite some time to find rooms at a reasonable rate. Our ultimate destination was Rishikesh, the "yoga capital of India," about an hour’s bus ride north, which would have to wait for the morning. On the search for a room, an old man with a gray beard stuck his hand out at Ryan, who wasn’t sure if he wanted to shake his hand or was asking for some spare rupees. Ryan took a chance and reached out his hand and came away with flower petals in his palm. A meaning or just a welcoming gesture? We’ll never know - but that’s India for you.After a terrible night’s sleep, we woke up with some delicious chais at the restaurant next door. While walking out of the place, we had to yield to a giant elephant accompanied by his mahout making their way down the tiny side street! We looked at each other and knew that we were definitely now in India.
We hopped on the overcrowded bus to Rishikesh with our new friends from France. Ryan befriended a 15 year old Indian boy from Delhi on the bus ride. He decided to give Ryan a gift after conversing, a ring with a purple stone (albeit plastic). Was this another sign?We made it to Rishikesh and found a great room at the Sheela Mohan Palace. We ended up staying in Rishikesh for 6 nights. Unfortunately, Anna got sick for a few days and it was still quite hot, so our plan of becoming yoga experts didn't quite happen. We did end up taking one yoga course, which was a unique experience in India (much more spiritual than most classes in the states). We also enjoyed the food in town, which was purely vegetarian with no alcohol (Anna went vegetarian the entire 18 days in India). Ryan has a huge paper masala dosa in this photo:
Like Hardiwar, Rishikesh lies on the holy Ganges (Ganga) river, and is another holy city that draws thousands (if not what seems to be millions) of spiritual Indians each year on their pilgrimage. This includes bathing in the Ganga and feeding the many cows wandering around.
In trying to escape the crowds and the heat, we decided to visit the tiny hill station of Kausani. It took us two days of winding, hairpin turns on local buses, but we finally made it to the little town, complete with views of the Himalayas. We had a room overlooking a huge valley, but unfortunately the clouds covered our view of the Himalayas for most of our stay. The monkeys in the nearby trees kept us entertained nonetheless:
The weather was finally pleasant so we were able to take a hike to a local Hindu temple:
and a tea plantation where we sampled some of the tea that grows right in the valley (these are the pickers returning with the days leaves):
On our last morning in town, the skies opened up and there were the Himalayas. They are huge mountains!
We knew we needed to get to Agra soon, so after two nights, we headed back down the hill. We shared a taxi with two very nice Indian men to Haldwani where we then caught an awful overnight bus to Agra. Never take overnight buses in India! We'd heard stories of them, but since it was our only option, we took the plunge. But it's not advised.After 10 hours of constants bumps, thumps and no sleep, we arrived in Agra and found a room with AC for 700 rupees (~$18), a bargain in the Taj Ganj area. That night we had dinner on the rooftop at Stuff Makers restaurant, complete with excellent views of the Taj Mahal. The next morning we woke up at 4:45am to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise (and also beat the heat as it was around 110°F by 11:00am). Despite the hype, we still thought it a beautiful monument to love. And gorgeous at sunrise! We spent a few hours soaking in all the shadows, lights and angles:
Our original plan had been to take the train from Agra to Mumbai, where our flight left for South Africa, but as we were short on time and didn’t really feel like taking another 30 hour train ride, we booked a cheap flight from Delhi. However, our train back to Delhi from Agra was late and when it finally arrived it only stopped for a minute. We literally had to run and hop on to catch what turned out to be the wrong train (we weren’t the only tourists who made this mistake)! With much luck, this train was also headed to Delhi but we were forced to sit in the non AC 2nd class (when we had paid for AC).By mid-afternoon the next day we were in Mumbai. We knew that accommodation in Mumbai was not cheap, and we ended up paying about $30 for a room that should have cost about $10 in India. Anywhere else in India or SE Asia, a $30 room is considered luxurious. In our opinion, Mumbai was much nicer than Delhi, at least the city center and backpacker areas. They also had a few good pub and grills, where we got our fix of western food. Besides doing some last minute shopping, we pretty much just hung out for the next 2 days waiting for our flight to South Africa.
Looking back, this was definitely the wrong time to go to India as a backpacker (traveling around in luxury would be a different story even with the heat) but hey, we had to stop and check the place out. We were also getting a little tired of Asia in general. We'd been on the continent since mid-January, so a change was going to be nice.
Now we are loving South Africa. And, since we broke down and bought a little mini-laptop, we will be getting our blogs out quicker than we have been!
Cows eat whatever they want, including posters right off a wall!Thursday, June 4, 2009
China By Train
Okay, so China blocks Blogger, and India had no computers that our hard drive worked on. So, finally, Cape Town is allowing us to finally get a blog done! So sorry for the wait!
We departed Hanoi, and took a bus to the border crossing town of Dong Deng, where the entire process of entering China was the easiest border crossing yet! We had heard that Chinese officials had confiscated Lonely Planet China books as they don't include Taiwan as part of the country, so we hid our counterfeit copy (shhh, don't tell LP!) beneath the cover of our Vietnam LP. Luckily, no one seemed to care so, we continued on to Nanning, the first big city from Vietnam. Being a completely non-touristy town, our first night in China was not the best.
Chinese Border Crossing Gate
Trains in China are the easiest way to get around, so the next day we boarded a Chengdu-bound train - but not without an interesting confrontation with a local: this curious fellow looked as if he wanted to rob us in broad daylight. He even tried to sit next to Anna and fidgeted with her combo lock. Luckily, he left after receiving many stares.
Once safe inside the train, we had 2 middle berths on a sleeper car, which was good and bad considering it was a 33-hour train ride. Bad because we had to climb up to get in them and couldn't sit up once up there - only laying down; good because no one else could use them as a place to sit and our bags were close. Instant noodles are a must on any Chinese train ride and luckily for us they sold them on the train.
We read a lot, slept a lot, and gazed at the landscape passing by during the day. Much of the countryside was beautiful - with karst mountains, rice paddies, and gardens everywhere. Unfortunately, their apartment buildings were not very pretty.
After one and a half days, we got off the train at 9:00pm in Chengdu (the Sichuan Province) and took a taxi (luckily we had a map to point at as the taxi drivers don't speak any English) to Sims Cozy Garden Guesthouse- by far the nicest hostel we've stayed in. It is run by 2 former backpackers and they've got everything right. The first night, exhausted, we stayed in a dorm where all the beds had their own privacy curtains, which you don't usually see, along with a private bathroom. However, as we weren't quite used to sharing a room (this may has to change for future places) and Anna almost fell out of the top bunk, we changed the next day to a private room with bathroom that even had a DVD player! The facilities themselves were great - restaurant, bar, internet, books, laundry and a travel desk.
After settling in we took a bus to explore the downtown area. We visited the People's Park of Chengdu where everyone was getting their exercise through organized dancing and there was a ton of dancing going on. In fact, we saw this throughout China. Any little park usually had a group getting their dance on!
That night we decided to go out and try the famed Sichuan hotpot where you cook your choice of meats and veggies in a cauldron of broth and red hot peppers. We had heard that this was even too hot for many locals to handle, so we wimped out and used the non-spicy broth that came along with it. We did try a touch of the red broth, which was all we needed as it was by far the spiciest thing we've ever tried (Chengdu is referred to as the Spice City).
The next morning, we went to see one of the most obvious things you would see in China - Pandas! The Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Center is about an hours drive away, a perfect opportunity, and is one of the largest breeding centers in China with 83 giant pandas in the reserve. We got our moneys worth when it came to watching the youngsters play with one another:
Anna also gave a little donation and was able to hold one of the smaller red pandas. Panda cubs are just too darn expensive!
That night we hooked up with Peng, who took us out to a wonderful hot pot dinner downtown (Thanks Peng, we owe you one!), and walked around a restored traditional neighborhood.
We boarded another train the next morning, now bound for Xi'an. Luckily, this train ride was only 18 hours, and we knew what to expect. This time, we really enjoyed our noodles. Here's proof:
The train arrived at 5:30am and we hopped on a taxi and found our hostel near the south gate of the city. Ancient Xi'an was a walled city and is one of the few cities where the entire wall remains.
Although the wall was impressive, Xi'an is more famous because it is close to the Army of Terracotta Warriors, which we visited on our third day in the city. The sight was impressive with hundreds of warriors that have been unearthed so far, and hundreds more still underground. The grounds were also very beautiful and we couldn't have picked a better summer day to visit:
We also got in a bit of exercise at the park near our hostel:
The following evening, we boarded our last train bound for Beijing and it was a short 11 hour overnight trip. After two nights in a not-so-great hostel we stumbled upon No. 161 Hostel, a just-opened place with friendly staff, where we would spend our remaining 5 nights. We didn't have any trouble filling our week in Beijing. We spent another perfect day at the Summer Palace (where royalty would spend their summers) and another exploring the endless halls of the Forbidden City:
Our main highlight, however, was taking a day trip to hike 10 km of the Great Wall, from Jinshanling to Simitai. It ended up being another excellent day weather-wise and the Great Wall was more impressive than we imagined. Although there were many people also hiking beside us, it was easy to stop, take in the views, and start off again without feeling like we were in a crowd. We highly recommend hiking this part of the wall!
We ended up really liking Beijing with its cheap and easy transportation (with signs in English!), endless food options (the scorpions are tasty!) and multitude of sights and activities.
We departed Hanoi, and took a bus to the border crossing town of Dong Deng, where the entire process of entering China was the easiest border crossing yet! We had heard that Chinese officials had confiscated Lonely Planet China books as they don't include Taiwan as part of the country, so we hid our counterfeit copy (shhh, don't tell LP!) beneath the cover of our Vietnam LP. Luckily, no one seemed to care so, we continued on to Nanning, the first big city from Vietnam. Being a completely non-touristy town, our first night in China was not the best.
Chinese Border Crossing GateWe met YuPeng Xeng walking from the bus station to the rail station like we were, and he kindly pointed us in the direction of some hotels. Turns out he is from Chengdu, which was our next destination, so we planned on meeting up again. Our first impression of China was: big but organized, and they like to stare as if they've never seen a Westerner. Nanning wasn't a great city to start with, which we realized when we got to Chengdu.
Trains in China are the easiest way to get around, so the next day we boarded a Chengdu-bound train - but not without an interesting confrontation with a local: this curious fellow looked as if he wanted to rob us in broad daylight. He even tried to sit next to Anna and fidgeted with her combo lock. Luckily, he left after receiving many stares.
Once safe inside the train, we had 2 middle berths on a sleeper car, which was good and bad considering it was a 33-hour train ride. Bad because we had to climb up to get in them and couldn't sit up once up there - only laying down; good because no one else could use them as a place to sit and our bags were close. Instant noodles are a must on any Chinese train ride and luckily for us they sold them on the train.
We read a lot, slept a lot, and gazed at the landscape passing by during the day. Much of the countryside was beautiful - with karst mountains, rice paddies, and gardens everywhere. Unfortunately, their apartment buildings were not very pretty.After one and a half days, we got off the train at 9:00pm in Chengdu (the Sichuan Province) and took a taxi (luckily we had a map to point at as the taxi drivers don't speak any English) to Sims Cozy Garden Guesthouse- by far the nicest hostel we've stayed in. It is run by 2 former backpackers and they've got everything right. The first night, exhausted, we stayed in a dorm where all the beds had their own privacy curtains, which you don't usually see, along with a private bathroom. However, as we weren't quite used to sharing a room (this may has to change for future places) and Anna almost fell out of the top bunk, we changed the next day to a private room with bathroom that even had a DVD player! The facilities themselves were great - restaurant, bar, internet, books, laundry and a travel desk.
After settling in we took a bus to explore the downtown area. We visited the People's Park of Chengdu where everyone was getting their exercise through organized dancing and there was a ton of dancing going on. In fact, we saw this throughout China. Any little park usually had a group getting their dance on!
That night we decided to go out and try the famed Sichuan hotpot where you cook your choice of meats and veggies in a cauldron of broth and red hot peppers. We had heard that this was even too hot for many locals to handle, so we wimped out and used the non-spicy broth that came along with it. We did try a touch of the red broth, which was all we needed as it was by far the spiciest thing we've ever tried (Chengdu is referred to as the Spice City).
The next morning, we went to see one of the most obvious things you would see in China - Pandas! The Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Center is about an hours drive away, a perfect opportunity, and is one of the largest breeding centers in China with 83 giant pandas in the reserve. We got our moneys worth when it came to watching the youngsters play with one another:
Anna also gave a little donation and was able to hold one of the smaller red pandas. Panda cubs are just too darn expensive!That night we hooked up with Peng, who took us out to a wonderful hot pot dinner downtown (Thanks Peng, we owe you one!), and walked around a restored traditional neighborhood.
We boarded another train the next morning, now bound for Xi'an. Luckily, this train ride was only 18 hours, and we knew what to expect. This time, we really enjoyed our noodles. Here's proof:
The train arrived at 5:30am and we hopped on a taxi and found our hostel near the south gate of the city. Ancient Xi'an was a walled city and is one of the few cities where the entire wall remains.Although the wall was impressive, Xi'an is more famous because it is close to the Army of Terracotta Warriors, which we visited on our third day in the city. The sight was impressive with hundreds of warriors that have been unearthed so far, and hundreds more still underground. The grounds were also very beautiful and we couldn't have picked a better summer day to visit:
We also got in a bit of exercise at the park near our hostel:
The following evening, we boarded our last train bound for Beijing and it was a short 11 hour overnight trip. After two nights in a not-so-great hostel we stumbled upon No. 161 Hostel, a just-opened place with friendly staff, where we would spend our remaining 5 nights. We didn't have any trouble filling our week in Beijing. We spent another perfect day at the Summer Palace (where royalty would spend their summers) and another exploring the endless halls of the Forbidden City:
Our main highlight, however, was taking a day trip to hike 10 km of the Great Wall, from Jinshanling to Simitai. It ended up being another excellent day weather-wise and the Great Wall was more impressive than we imagined. Although there were many people also hiking beside us, it was easy to stop, take in the views, and start off again without feeling like we were in a crowd. We highly recommend hiking this part of the wall!
We ended up really liking Beijing with its cheap and easy transportation (with signs in English!), endless food options (the scorpions are tasty!) and multitude of sights and activities.
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