India Adventure Bliss

Gold Coast, Australia @ Gold Coast, Australia

2007-11-20T16:04:00.000Z

Crazeyness t-1 until journey to India @ Gold Coast, Australia

2007-11-20T22:49:00.000Z

Well its all a bit crazy rushed in my world… I’m flying out tomorrow night and this morning I hadn’t even moved out of my place. So today I’ve don’t a bucket load of stuff including:

* packing all my things, moving them into storage
* cleaning the house
* voting (yes Mr poo-head-Howard my vote will count!)
* negotiating centerlink bureaucracy (Thanks Stacy!)
* dinner with family (yum! Thai)
* booking accommodation for Darwin (still have to find something for Chennai (eeek)
* backing up my computer (phewww)
* installing wifi @ dad’s place and giving him a crash course in using the iBook (arrghhhh)
* backing my bag! (arrr….)

With all this busyness Ellie and I have not spoken in a week or so! So *fingers crossed* things are working out for Ellie over there. (There are sporadic emails and lists of things we send each other though ;)

Well back to it… I’ve gota check out what the climate is like this time of year in India. It has been so long since I looked at the guide book I have no idea what to pack. Ha.

see ya soon

Darwin Crew @ Darwin, Australia

2007-11-22T20:11:00.000Z

On my way. Today you could find me down by the water having a few drinks with the some indig mob from Alice & Townsville. A really nice crew, as the morning turned into afternoon they decided to welcome me as adopted family. I found them when going to check out a nice cool spot Ellie & I found when we were up here the same time last year. I approached cautiously, stopping about 10m on the path before were they were sitting. I was quickly invited over and discovered that three of us were Queenslanders. As time progressed I got to hear a whole bunch of amazing stories that shock and amaze.

There were 2 guys and 4 women. The eldest guy, was a Lieutenant of the HMS Melbourne & formally a well decorated sniper. He is the last elder who can speak all the languages of the various mobs. (I'm think he meant within Northern Queensland & NT). Ezra was saying that he could tell which mobs a person was from just from looking at their face. He also knew the histories of each mob. His son in law is from Cairns and has had a rough life, having fathered 9 children, but was in good spirits, we currently works on Australian customs boats and was able to tell me about what happens when they meet a refugee boat. (They lock them up and bring them in to shore). They shared some interesting stories about how Steve Irwin could have survived a sting ray sting, including using sap from some type of seaweed found commonly on beaches all over Oz, pissing on it, and letting a dog lick the wound. Interesting hu.

The woman were a little more reserved, or rather were more cautious of a stranger, but the eldest lady, now my adopted nanna, quickly warmed to me. She sung quite a few songs, as the all did. They were kind enough to translate the words for me. Quite a special couple of hours.

Some of the songs that were sung were about: how you can look at the stars when you are far from home and the people you love are up there looking down on you; a guy who broke his vows and migrated from the NT around the point to North QLD to work and promised he would return but he never did; Blue mountain song about where Ezra was born. Interesting each person seems to have their own songs and stories, relating to parts of their lives, almost seemed like a form of therapy when they all sang together each other’s songs.

Asker about how I would go about learning an indigenous language and straight up he started to teach me words. While I would probably be more comfortable with a formal learning environment, learning an indigenous language might just be one of those things you have to get out in the real world and do. Now I’ll just have to find some time to fit it in.

I actually headed down to the spot with my new camera hoping to get a couple of nice photos. Once they spotted my camera there all quickly wanted to have their photos taken. I've got their addresses and plan on sending them copies when I get a chance. As I was leaving I got this eerie feeling that Aunty Kathy could see right into the core of who I am.

Otherwise, its very warm up here. I'm about to escape to the library that has a wicked air conditioning system. Had a good nights sleep in a very creaky bed, located in a 4bed mixed dorm, which made sneaking in at 2am (when my plane arrived) very difficult.

In the evening, while the stormes where rolling over, I met a couple of guys from the mines. They work maintaining 20km stretches of conveyer belts that carry rock from borqusite mines. One guy was telling me that he made 110k a year, then I asked how many hours he walked and he said 80-90 hours a week! While now he has taken an office job with more regular hours, he prefers the ‘real work’.

O the stories I’ve heard today, so colorful, topics include: strippers, guy falling in a vat of acid in a smelter, how to turn a sting ray spike into a fighting implement, 3100km in 34 hours with one roo splattered all over the bull bar and one ‘root’, etc.

Intense day. But feeling very relaxed today. Very relaxed. Enjoy the photos. Xoxo

Some snippets of articles from the local paper, The Darwin Sun:
-A 126.6 million gas turbine power station that could power 20,000 homes is almost complete.
-An urgent study into extending the Archer waste site has been launched after Catalina Drive was rejected for a new transfer station.
-Your relatives might love NT mangoes but you might not make any friends by taking some of the Top End's favorite fruit home his Christmas.

Singapore Airport: The epic wait @ Singapore (Singapur), Singapore

2007-11-23T20:13:00.000Z

keywords: crying babies, throwing up babies in confinded spaces, 2am flights, nosleep, 3 really big terminals, lost at 4am, bad sleep, sleep on cold tiles, locked out of departure lounge, no internet, tide, lots of bags, 16 hours stop over, reading, reading, sleeping, sleeping. Freedom!

UPDATED:
On the plane now (Darwin -> Singapore): as I was checking in the lady asked what sort of seat I wanted. I replied requesting a window seat away from any crying babies. Apparently there wasn’t any children on board the flight... apparently, but somehow out of all the 230 possible choices for seats I ended up sandwiched between a screaming baby (behind me) and a bouncing, won’t sit still kind of four year old, who keeps bouncing and shaking the table as I write this...arrr.... budget airlines what can you sat. Ok, now the kid behind me is pulling at my sleeves...

Singapore:

Arrived last night on time in Singapore at around 4am. Met up with a couple of Spaniards who were also planning on sleeping the night in the airport terminal. Only thing was we arrived in the ‘budget terminal’, while Singapore airport is a 1st class place the budget terminal is not ideal. Especially since you can only check in within 2 hours of your departure time. Earlier this year I had the fortune of stopping at ‘Terminal 2’.... this is the place you want to be if you hae a many hour wait for your connection. It’s complete with a cinemas, gym, lounge, beer garden, etc. There is also carpet which makes for a much warmer and more comfortable snooze. Determine to find the this transit stop over Mecca I dragged the Spaniards along… we found out that it’s not possible to get into the departure lounge of terminal 1 or 2 with a budget ticket. That pissed me off. So we ended up finding a nice secluded corner and constructed make shift beds from whatever we had in our bags to protect us from the icy air conditioned tiles. Turns out our quite corner wasn’t so quite after all. We had set up beside a service door with golf buggy sized cleaning vehicles that came and went all night. Despite all this I managed to sleep from 5:30am till 10:30am with cleaners scurrying around us. The staff were all very nice and no one gave us a hard time or a dirty look.

Now I have about 6 hours left to fill in at the check in lounge. Was thinking of doing a free city tour, but am feeling a little tide. Bought Ellie a funky stuffed toy, I think she will like it. It is a turtle with a head bigger than its body, like green in color, it will double as a good pillow.

The last couple of days traveling by myself have been nice. I wasn’t sure how it would feel but having met 3 groups of people in the last 24 hours I think it would be interesting as it seems you meet less people when you travel as a couple.

Chennai - Touchdown @ Chennai, India

2007-11-23T20:53:00.000Z

I really should have organised somewhere to stay before I arrived. If only people would answer their phones. Would have been nice to have some money too.

Got in at 11am, found no atm at the airport terminal, walked around with all my gear, found one, organised a pre-paid taxi, which now just thinking about it just sounds plain dodgey but after days of epic adventures through airports it didn't click. Eventually found the hotel, after having discovering the indian driving style, complete improvisation, the hotel was full, found another less accommodating one just down the road. Slept, and that brings me to now.

They say Chennai is one of the lest touristy regions. Seeing it last night in the dark gave be a bit of a cultral shock. Jumping in the back of a taxi with a couple of guys I didn't know from a bar of soap, and driving down seemingly random streets, in a very poor region, in the dark for 30 min, with no map or geographical idea about if we were heading in the correct direction also put me on the edge of my seat.

Just got an email from Ellie, she is keen to meet up and do this thing together asap. Me too, which is good because I'm flying up to Delhi today to meet her. Only 7 more hours! Whoop whoop!!

Promise more up beat reports soon, just reporting it as I find it. No sugar coating though. :)

Hope your all having fun out there, keep me attune to your adventures too!

Delhi Crowds & Colors @ Delhi, India

2007-11-25T01:05:00.000Z

Made it! Hooked up with Ellieyesterday after the 4th anf final plane trip to Delhi. Needless to say that I was pretty wipped out after all my adventures on the way. So far I havn’t done much mentellay or physically. Curryently, I have the urge to avoid the crowds and busy streets…. Which I guess is nothing new, as I do the same in Brisbane. However I’ll have to get used to it here. Ellie is keen to get away to Mclough George which is in the north and where the Deli Lama hands out. Soundslike a nice quite place to adjust to the culture. I’m keen to just spend another day (i.e. One day) recovering frommy trip here but Ellie is trying to move me along… we will see how that plays out.

Has been really nice having Ellie around, although we are both too jet lagged to concerse properly at the moment. Her room here is so much nicer than mine last night in Chennai.

First impressions of Delhi: crowded, busy, colorful, loud, smoggy, interesting, in your face.

Rumbles in the night, Delhi @ Delhi, India

2007-11-26T16:14:00.000Z

Update: Train booked for Patankot leaving tonight at 9:20. Sleeping overnight on the train.

We were waken last night at about 4:45 to the building shaking. Turns out there was a 4.3 earthquake with an epicenter only 10km from our hotel. Having never experienced a earthquake, and having just moved rooms to the 4th floor of our hotel we were a little concerned that a larger one may be coming… but still we just went back to sleep. Apparently quakes of this size only occur every 6-7 months. So that's another first for us…. Ticking earthquake off. ;)

Last night we went out and saw a Bollywood film titled “Om Shanti Om”. Going to the cinemas here is quite different to back home. It's a mix between going to the airport and standing at the front of a night club beside the speaker system. At first we were put through 2 separate metal detectors, then frisked down and bags searched. They confiscated my shiny new camera. Once inside we had the joy of watching ads played several times in a row before the film. After the first dance scene, I am sure that if there is a legal limit on sound level it defiantly wasn’t being obeyed. It was louder than all night clubs of been to. Although the film was in Hindi it didn’t stop us from enjoying it one bit. It was surprisingly easy to follow. I could even feel the tears building up in parts. Amazing what can be conveyed through the language of the body.

at the foot of the himalayas @ mcleod ganj, India

2007-11-28T17:06:14.000Z

we'll we're slowly recovering from a cold that wiped us both out for almost a week but we couldn't have chosen a better location for it. stay tuned for updates and photos!
love ellie

Taking it easy in McLoed Ganj @ Dharamsala, India

2007-12-03T14:41:00.000Z

The last few days have been a bit of a blur. Not because we have been busy, rather because I’ve been sick and pretty much confined to bed. I’m down to just a runny nose and a slight headache from being totally incapacitated with a fever and massive killer headache. I managed to hold it at bay until we reached the Himalayan town of McLoed Ganj, home to the Tibetan Government in Exile. Its been the most breathtaking place to recover. With a window view akin to floating in the clouds(especially when you all drugged and sick). Although we have been here 5 days, yesterday was the first time I was well enough to take a look around. (Note: After this post, I went straight out and got food poisoning and was sick for a further 5 days!!!) There are amazing arts and crafts for sale. Much better quality than anywhere else I have seen so far. However the place does have a touristy feel that your expected to have money and spend it (or more likely give it away). I’ve been tracking with the mindset that you look after the poor, as they support the structure and lifestyle that you are leading. However, simply giving out money for food, or buying Nestlé Milk powder for babies (which was very often requested) doesn’t feel like making a permeant contribution. Especially since I know I could give away everything I have and it wouldn’t make a dent in the problem. While I have explored ideas for poverty reduction intellectually, its really setting in that poverty alleviation is a very complex, but necessary task.

Today we followed some advice from a Swiss resident here and walked over the ridge, through the monkey infested forest, to a small nearby village. I really got a good feeling there. It was quite and simple. Give the time again, I would choose to stay here rather than McLoed Ganj.

The Zen of wildlife watching and photography. @ Rāmnagar, India

2007-12-08T10:00:00.000Z

I’m sitting in my bunk at Dikala camp, Corbett Tiger Reserve. We’re surrounded by an electric fence designed to keep tigers and leopards from eating the tourists. On our first afternoon here we took at walk of the compound and it felt strangely like prison. That is, until you take a jeep or elephant and ride in safety out into the wild!

But I should start at the beginning… we arrived by bus at the closest town to the park, Ramnagar, after 24 hours travel from Mcleod Ganj, via Daramsala (bus), Pathankot (bus), Moradabad (overnight train).

A helpful local lead us to the national parks office where we met Mr Patwal and some government bureaucrats who helped us navigate the paper work and liberated us of copious Rupees but finally (after a night in a dodgy government hotel in Ramnagar) let us into the park. Mr Patwal is out driver. He has a green topless jeep and extensive knowledge of the park and has been our companion the past two days. We will always remember Mr Patwal for his saying “I wait for the animal. Animal doesn’t wait for me”. With this quote our education in the Zen (and patience) of watching wildlife began.

Such is life in a dormitory. It seems the majority are ready to sleep so it’s lights out time. There’s so much more to tell about our time here and hopefully when I write tomorrow I’ll be able to report a tiger sighting!!

Guten Nacht!

…

So here I sit back in civilisation. We tried so hard but didn’t glimpse the elusive tiger. A shame, but the time in the peace and quite of nature was worth it anyway.

On the first day we headed off early and saw heaps of deer, and monkeys. We arrived at Dikala camp at about lunchtime and spent the afternoon sussing out our surroundings. The “camp” is a collection of buildings run by the forestry department. Most of the accommodation is ridiculously expensive by Indian standards ($35 a night) so we stayed in the dorms ($6 each), which was fun because we met some cool delhi-ites the first night and some forestry department trainees the second night. We had this great view over the Ramganga River from the little restaurant. And while we were drinking hot chocolates on the first afternoon one of the drivers spotted some strange movement out in the water. Eventually we figured out it was five wild Elephants, three adults and two calves crossing the river, which at that point is at least a kilometre wide (!), Apparently a rare occurrence.

The next morning the elephant adventures continued. This time with domesticated elephants. We took an elephant safari through the jungle to see if we could spot a tiger. The area we went though ended up being more like a field of lantana with the occasional pot plant (in the marijuana sense of the word – see the photos) which was quite random but there were certainly tigers there. We were really close to one, which we heard roaring and the people on another elephant glimpsed for a second. We even saw the remains of its breakfast: the antlers of an unfortunate deer.
Determined to see the elusive animal we headed on a jeep safari that afternoon. We saw crocodiles, deer, many birds and monkeys but again no tiger. We decided our last chance to see the tiger was the next morning. If we woke up at the crack of dawn and were first to leave the camp we would surely spot one at it’s prime hunting time. But no luck. At one spot, a look out over a narrow part of the river, Mr Patwal was certain if we waited our patience would be rewarded. I was so bored. My meditation skills are so not up to scratch for wildlife watching. And my instinct was right, after what seemed like a lifetime even Mr Patwal gave up. We took the long way back to Ramnagar on a road that’s practically deserted. We had a scare in the jeep which suddenly decided to die. But Mr Pawal put on his Mechanic hat and got us out of the bind (but only after Nathan and I got out and pushed)

Another highlight of the time at Dikala was last afternoon when I got to help feed the working elephants. They usually eat grass but once a day they are fed some elephant sized chapatti (bread) no one could explain why but it was fun being so close to such amazing creatures. I want one!!

We took the night train from Ramnagar to Delhi arriving at 4:30, making that the 4th night in a row of waking up before 8 am. It’s getting ridiculous. We survived the 6 hour wait for a train to Agra (but only just… damn Delhi!) and I write to you now from smoggy Agra, home of the Taj Mahal… stay tuned!

Love Ellie

Corbett Tiger Reserve (t-9 days to b-day) @ Rāmnagar, India

2007-12-10T14:45:00.000Z

Met a professional photographer in the Corbett Tiger Reserve, John Issac. He was easy to spot with the most awesome camera and lens with about US15,000. His words of wisdom were to just “Stop, look, and listen”. It’s the thing that he feels he has learnt to do as a photographer. He also commented that this has strong connections to the philosophies of Buddhism. Interesting to thing that in this sense photography is also concerned with living in the moment, seeing things as they are, etc.

Our driver also shared a little zen wisdom, ‘You wait fir the animals, the animals don’t wait for you’ – Patwall, driver in Corbett Tiger Reserve –

Meeting the Locals in Ramnagar @ Rāmnagar, India

2007-12-11T14:48:00.000Z

Got up at 4:30am today to be the first ones out of the compound at 6:30. With high hopes of spotting Tigers. After 6 hours of intense searching we were forced to give up as we exited the Tiger Reserve. Despite not seeing any Tigers, we had an amazing time. Our driver Patwall was great and did everything her could to help us track down tigers. Going well beyond the call of duty and organising out paperwork, and driving where he wasn’t really supposed to. We searched a lot of tracks and even ones that no other drivers go down, I think it might even have been off limits. While about 2km down the track the car broke down. A problem with the fuel line, but for a while there we were pushing a car in a remote corner of a tiger and leopard occupied forest, where officially we were supposed to remain in the jeep at all times. Patwall eventually realised that the fuel line had got some air bubbles in it and needed priming, which he did by sucking the fuel through the line with his mouth!

Had a great time standing up in the geep, riding along looking in the forest for animal. Had an interesting thought; that hunters turned conservationists, then preceded to hunt the poachers, interesting …

At the moment we are sitting on our bags waiting at the train station for our train back to Delhi where we will get a connection to Agra. Agra is apparently the worst city in India, with lots of hustling and con artists, but it is home to the magnificent Tajh Mahal, a structure made from entirely from white marble. Looking forward to some sun set/rise photography. Also took some 350 photos in the Tiger reserve… looking forward to sorting them out and getting them online for your viewing pleasure.

Tonight we met a nice guy named Iqbal. Very charismatic guy running the “high speed internet café” that has no power for most of the day (shops start up generators if that have/need them). The hight speed link was actually a GPRS mobile phone link that was v.v.slow. But despite that we talked for ages about the arts & crafts import/export business he is thinking of starting. Unfortunately he didn’t seem to understand that as an import/export agent the most valuable thing he has is his contacts and ensuring he position in the supply chain. He had actually given his contacts onto some Australian entrepreneurs. Seems that uneducated people can be very easily, even unknowingly be hood winked out of what could be theirs.

Think we will start doing vodcasts of our travel adventures soon too, just have to work out a good way to share them.

I’m off to stare into the bright fluro lights and let my thoughts drift,

Love Nathan

Agra, India @ Agra, India

2007-12-12T06:03:00.000Z

Rajasthan! @ Jaipur, India

2007-12-15T09:00:00.000Z

we last wrote to you from delhi, since then we've made our way through agra, home of the Taj Mahal to Jaipur, capital of rajasthan and shopping capital of india. appart from just shopping there are many other attractions here. beautiful architecture, a palace, and a network of forts situated on the small mountains that practically circle the city. today we had a rest day and edited together some video footage and photos from the past couple of days. you can watch it on nathan's blog at www.madteckhead.com. it's 14MB so might take a little while to download depending on your internet connection but I reckon it's well worth it!!

our next moves are deeper into rajasthan so stay tuned!

much love
ELlie

Pushkar, India @ Pushkar, India

2007-12-23T15:29:00.000Z

holy lake on the border of the desert. lot's of touts and tourists but that's just because it's beautiful! check out the vlog www.madteckhead.com or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n9W_NITRwY

Jaisalmer, India @ Jaisalmer, India

2007-12-25T15:36:00.000Z

a sand castle town. starting point for desert adventures and where we celebrated both Christmas and new years and I spent a good few days in bed with food poisoning.
the vodcast is in the works so why don't you subscribe using iTunes or another podcasting program so you can keep up with the latest :)

Udaipur, India @ Udaipur, India

2008-01-03T16:06:00.000Z

didn't live up to expectations but the James Bond theme was entertaining (no need to come here, just watch Octopussy). plus we did a great day trip to a Jain Temple (biggest in the world!) and an awesome fort

"arse of india" excuse my french @ Ahmedabad, India

2008-01-07T16:19:00.000Z

well we discovered a fellow traveler's advice about Ahmendabad (see title) was pretty accurate. lucky this was just a stop over for the day before another night train to Jalgaon gateway to the world heritage Ajanta Caves

Caves caves and more caves @ Ellora Caves, India

2008-01-09T16:32:00.000Z

we spent a day in Jalgaon recovering from two straight nights on trains. the next day we headed to the Ajanta caves which nath got some awesome photo's of, despite a ban on tripods and flash photography. if you're lucky he'll upload them otherwise you'll have to wait for the vodcast which is still in the making.

from Ajanta we headed to Aurangabad on the fullest bus we've experienced (standing up at least) since we've been here. we even put our luggage on the roof and spent the whole trip checking out the back window that it hadn't fallen onto the road.

one very well earnt sleep later and we were off to the ellora caves. much more spectaularly carved than their Ajanta counterparts but we were exhausted so I don't think we made the most of them.

Hyderabad, India @ Hyderabad, India

2008-01-12T14:39:00.000Z

a lot has happened since we last wrote. actually we've become a little preoccupied with our vodcasts (to be found on Nath's blog www.madteckhead.com) to bother updating this site. but for those still tuning in I'll add our last few destinations.
lot's of love
Ellie