That’s all folks

Hello, one final time friends!

After 11 months, 15 countries, 12 flights, 18 airports, 36 nights sleeping on public transport – yep, 5 whole weeks! – 4 robberies, 40kg of baggage and approximately 3,000 scarves from India, we ‘ve returned home.

It has been an exprience you can only understand if you’ve done it yourself, and I’ve had so many incredibly experiences that I’ll never forget it’s often quite difficult to keep count. It was easily the best £10,000 I’ve ever spent (That’s not a lot is it?)

Many thanks to everyone for reading about our adventres and those whose stayed in touch and made us feel as though we weren’t that far away after all.

“Life is a book, and those who don’t travel only read one page”.

All our love

Laura & Bendy xxxx

If you’d like us to give any tips or recommendations for anywhere we’ve travelled on this tour, drop us an email at md1545@hotmail.com or lauracv23@yahoo.com

Last minute wonders

Hello again readers!

The pressure of keeping our blog posts entertaining and interesting over the last 11 months or so has pushed us both dengerously close to veering into dangerous territories of story telling. Thankfully, the last week of our trip was amazing enough without having to elaborate in any shape or form - luckily for us – and a fitting send off for our long lived adventures.

The seven wonders of the world are all, well, apparently pretty wonderful. We have been fortunate to see 3 of the new world wonders on this trip so far – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Seven_Wonders_of_the_World, and so it was a fitting send off to see our forth, the Taj Mahal, in our final week. Although incredibly beautiful, there is a sad story behind this infamous landmark. It is the largest edifice dedicated to love in the world, which was built in 1631 by Maharaja Shah Jahan as a stunning memorial and maosoleum for his wife. It is said that he died on his balcony looking at the Taj.

Equally as powerful, we visited Varanasi, the epicentre of the Hindu world and home of the river Ganges. Here, many religious pilgrims bring dead relatives to perform a final bathe in the river before cremation on one of the burning Ghats, or cremation pires, on the river bank to break the re-birthing cycle. We visited one of these ghats – Marnikurnika – whose flames are never extinguished, to see this religeous and striking ceremony. The river itself has been described as a “brown soup of excrement and industrial effluents”, and I can only agree. Even though this put us off having a dip, the locals were more than happy to take a holy bath in the sacred river, and even drink it. No wonder they have to cremate so many people.

Thanks giving ceremony

I am glad that India had been our final stop, so that our travelling patience and tenacity are well practised. It is both and incredible and crazy country, quite stressful to travel in most of the time, which has a tendancy to trip you up every time that you think that you’ve cracked it. It easily over powers all of your senses at once – and especially your sense of smell – and leaves you feeling very appreciative of your life in comparison.

So now we only have a few days left in Rajhastan before our final flight back home to reality. It will feel weird to be back at home again, not having to pack my bag every day and find our bus or train at the station, but I am looking forward to it – and seeing all our dedicated readers - very much.

Bath time

Speak to you all very soon!

Ben x

Nepaling Behaviour

The heat in India has left us a shadow of our former selves and to recuperate we decided to leave the country altogether and head for the cooler city of Kathmandu in Nepal.

To most people, Kathmandu is a dirty, chaotic city, but after 36 hours of travelling and 2 weeks in the heat of India, it felt like the most relaxing place in the world. We spent a few days here relaxing, sampling the local Nepali and Tibetan cuisine and buying various ethnic clothes (which will definitely never be seen when I’m home!!). It’s also a starting point for trips to Mount Everest - we didn’t quite make it there but did at least try the Everest beer (almost the same thing!).

Our next step was Pokhara, home to the Annapurna mountain range and unbeatable views of the Himalayas. We took a walk at sunrise to make the most of the incredible scenery and were lucky to see some of the mountains, despite already being in the monsoon season. Pokhara is a very peaceful place and to become one with our surroundings, we tried some hatha yoga. It was pretty similar to yoga back home with the exception of some very funny prayers that we had try and sing in Sanskrit and a lot of heavy breathing exercises(!). Most of the moves were to help with your digestion system which is certainly very useful when travelling here…..!

We visited Chitwan National Park, one of the only places left in the world where you can see wild one horned rhino. The rhinos are very shy and therefore can only be seen by riding an elephant through the park. It was fantastic and I felt like a maharajah wobbling through the jungle, until that is, our mahout started talking on his mobile phone - a very stark contrast between the old and the new! After all that hard work, an elephant needs a bath just like the rest of us and we were fortunate to be able to help wash it, an absolutely unforgettable experience. The mahout just shouted commands to the huge animal and it filled its trunk with water and squirted it all over herself and us.

It’s back to India now for us, hopefully it will be a bit cooler this time….

PS - more pics to follow when we find a better internet connection!

No worry, no hurry, no chicken curry

Hello readers!

There is definitely no chicken curry around here, or rather very rarely. This is because most of the Hindu inhabitants of this country are strict vegetarians. We can forgive this small indiscretion, as well as the fact that most of them from abstain from drinking (although Kingfisher can be procured expensively), because they have, without doubt, the best tasting food we’ve had this entire trip – sorry Argentinian steak. Although fastidiously trying to avoid the dreaded Delhi Belly, we have sampled pretty much the whole range of Indian curry delicacies in only our first 2 weeks, and it is mind blowing.

There is also certainly no hurrying going on either. Since, as Lau mentioned, we currently have to tackle 45°C heat on a daily basis. Add to the struggle the barrage of touts and their aggressive sales pitches, and after only 5 minutes every part of your body is sweating, including your eyebrows and your ear lobes. I checked my body’s User Manual just to be on the safe side, and it does confirm that I will not work at optimum sight-seeing capacity at a heat above 35°C degrees. Damn it! Death by melting is certainly not covered by our travel insurance either.

But with no worries we moved on from the romantic Udaipur, onto Jodhpur and it’s amazing fort. The fort is perched on a huge hill top, looming over the beautiful blue city of India. The excellent audio tour proved that India is a country as rich in heritage as it is cuisine.

The Blue City

Onto Delhi, the capital of India, where we did our best to patronage every air conditioned coffee house and restaurant in the city, even – horrifyingly – ending up in Maccy Ds one afternoon for a Chicken Maharajah Mac.

Lau getting arty

In true lazy fashion, we have booked an organised tour for the last 2 weeks of our trip to remove any decision making and organising responsibilities, so we can enjoy the finale of this grand adventure in style. It’s funny, but I think travelling in India is something you have to experience for yourself, and although amazing in many ways, can’t really be described by the experiences of one person. It has been very challenging sometimes, and we’ve made the executive decision that a bit of semi-relaxation is what we need. I have absolutely no idea how we’ll cope when we actually have to work again.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get on my 38 hour ride to Kathmandu. Lovely.

x

A Close Shave

We have finally arrived in our last and final country of the year, India. After 10 months of traveling, I have to admit that we had become slightly cocky about our traveling abilities; our capability to mime what we want when no one speaks English, our power to sniff out the best hostel and even our ability to eat anything (well in my case anyway!) but India has totally knocked us for six.  I don’t think anything can prepare you for this.

Our plane didn’t land until 10pm which meant our first impressions of Mumbai were at night and not the best. I knew the stats about the city; 55% of the city live in a slum, the average daily wage is Rs187 (about 2.50) and 3/4s of under fivess suffer from malnutrition but reading cannot prepare you for the poverty. Our hotel was on the third floor and in order to reach it, we had to walk over numerous bodies sleeping in the hallways, a very humbling start to our journey. We awoke the next day eager to explore and were immediately hit by the sheer number of people on the streets and also, randomly, the number of cows that are just left to roam freely!

After Mumbai, we sought some relaxation and found our way to Udaipur, the so-called “Venice of the East”. Unfortunately for us, it’s so hot here (about 45 degrees) that the huge lake has totally dried up. Nevertheless, it is still a beautiful city with an amazing Palace, the biggest in Rajasthan, with views to die for.

Aside from hiding in our lovely air conditioned room, we found time to go horse-riding on the local Marwari horses and partake in an Indian cooking course (which we’ll definitely be trying out on you when we get home).

We also saw an Indian cultural show (I persuaded Ben by showing him the byline for the event – “moves your mother can’t make”). The show was excellent and we were absolutely flabbergasted to see a woman, who looked old enough to be a Grandma, dance, balancing 9 pots on her head, on broken glass! Before you ask, I definitely don’t think my Mum has moves like that!

Finally, we thought we deserved some pampering and Ben took himself off to sample the local barbers for a shave. I couldn’t resist watching whilst the man sharpened his razor and set to work whilst Ben sat very nervously in the chair. It only took about 5 minutes and soon Ben’s face was smoother than a baby’s bottom! And he even got some delicious Indian aftershave thrown in for free!

Don't move!

Not long left now, but we wont be slacking on the blog front so stay tuned! x

Hong Kong

Everything in Asia seems so much more beautiful at night. That isn’t to say it hasn’t got some amazing day time spectacles, (see any of our last 10 blogs…), but they do seem to be obsessed by lighting everything as brightly and colourfully as possible. After all, the Chinese did invent fireworks. However, nothing quite epitomises this as much as the Hong Kong skyline, which lights up as the world’s largest light and sound display every night for the ooooh-ing and ahhhhh-ing of tourists.

Oooooooh!

Hong Kong is a city where Chinese peculiarities meet western practicality, where you can buy $10 noodles and a Fendi bag on the same street (Laura’s observation – I don’t watch enough Sex and the City). This makes for an interesting ex-pat playground, where, ironically, you can still pick up a pint of Guinness cheaper than in Temple Bar.

Visiting cities often tends to get repetitive though, irrespective of their skylines. So, in a bid to liven up our stay, we spent the day at a theme park perched on the edge of the China Sea, probably the only place that has rollercoasters, pandas and a dolphin show. Here, I realised that I hadn’t gotten over my vertigo as comprehensively as I thought. That said, it was harder to conquer when the safety bars were held on with electrical tape.

Sea-view rollercoasters

It also has a fascinating history of British ownership, prompted by the clashes during the opium wars around two centuries ago. Anyone with a few extra minutes in work (aka, all of you) might find it more than a little interesting -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars

We also took part in the quintessential Honk Kong activities, including riding the Star Ferry across the bay, and sampling chicken’s feet at an authentic Dim Sum restaurant. Not as hardcore as Lau’s chicken head sampling, but pretty grim nonetheless.

Well, that’s it for now readers.

Take care

Bendy

Pretty boring

We also did many other interesting cultural things in Beijing, which include, but are not exclusive to: visiting the Olympic village at the Bird’s Nest, eating authentic Beijing (or Peking) duck, visiting the Chairman Mao mausoleum where his body is preserved, walking around Tiannamen Square, watching an awesome Chinese acrobatics show, exploring the Forbidden city and shopping in Silk Street.

Neither of us are going to write anything descriptive about any of these activities (in case you were waiting), except to say that they were all very good, and we would recommend them to anyone visiting Beijing. In fact, actually, I’ll just change the title of this blog to reflect that fact. I may treat you to some photos if I have the time as my internet cafe clock slowly ticks down…

Tiannamen Square

What?

Bird's Nest (not the hair!)

Mouthful of duck

In more interesting news, we found out that ‘Ben’ in Chiense (pronounced with a falling and rising tone – thanks Bevs) means ‘stupid’. Brilliant.

We hope to keep you updates from our final adventures in India & Nepal, whether the web connections permit.

Bye for now readers!!

Ben & Lau xxx

Great expectations

“This is a Great Wall and only a great people with a great past could have such a great wall and such a great people with such a great wall will surely have a great future”

Richard M. Nixon (A quote as eloquent as this could only betray a President of the United States)

For our visit, we travelled to a lesser known part of the wall, and trekked along an un-reconstructed section to avoid the throngs of Chinese tourists that had descended on the capital for May bank holiday. The wall originally bisected Mongolia and China, with construction beginning around 2000 years ago, and it stretches a fantastic 4,000 miles – roughly 4 times the length of Britain.  So, the fabled Great Wall of China did in fact exceeded any and all of the expectations that we had – it’s long meandering path through the beautiful rolling hills of North China was a truly spectacular sight.

In fact, our next cultural stop – the Terracotta Warriors – were built by the same decadent (and obviously highly demanding), emperor over 2000 years ago. Although they aren’t as visually stunning as most people anticipate them to be, they still would have managed to ignite even the most unimaginative of people, providing a window back to one of the earliest dynasties in China.

Then, in a change of dynamic, Laura and I became the attraction as we saved my old friend Davies Bevan class preparation time by featuring as his guest speakers in a class of English students. It was quite unbelievable how fascinated they were by us, all of them having never left the country and studying over 12 hours a day practically every day of the week. At the end there was a long photo session that left us both feeling like celebrities with cheeks hurting from smiling so much.

We also visited the birthplace of Chinese kung-fu in Shaolin Se Temple of Saanxi province. There, we were treated to the strange contrast of peaceful wilderness and an awesome display of kung-fu, terrifyingly performed by the students of the adjoining kung-fu school.

And so our time in China is coming to end, and so is our trip – we now have less than 6 weeks left, and are both looking forward to some clean clothes, eating cheese, and of course, reuniting with our blog fans!

Until next time readers

Ben

Tiger Leaping & Pandas Eating

After a nervous wait for our passports, our Chinese adventure began in a Southern city called Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province. We soon realised that any attempt to learn Mandarin was futile and we would have to rely on our wits and our ability to point at things! With this in mind, we began an exciting few days of eating whatever we could find and doing a lot of pointing!

 

The south of China is very different from the North; the food is spicier (and better in my opinion), the mountainous scenery is very Tibetan and the local dialect unfathomable. We made the most of our amazing surroundings by doing a 2 day hike through Tiger Leaping Gorge where the Yangtze river starts.

Ben had to help me with my bag!

We also visited Shang-Ri-La (needlessly recently renamed by the Chinese to attract more tourists) which is the last major town before Tibet. This is probably the closest we’ll ever get to Tibet and was definitely worth the 8 hour local bus trip.  We visited the local Tibetan monastery which is one of the most peaceful and beautiful places I have ever been. I can definitely understand why the monks spend so much time meditating if they live here!

 

 

Next we started our long trek North to Beijing, first stopping in Chengdu. Chengdu itself is pretty much a faceless metropolis, containing an abnormal number of shopping malls and Western delicacies such as McDonald’s and KFC. However, the reason for our stop over was not to satisfy our need for consumerism but to visit the Panda Reserve on the outskirts of town. This the most successful panda breeding centre in the world and in true Chinese style, they have so many that they are actually selling their bears abroad. Despite this, the centre was incredible; huge enclosures for the bears who couldn’t have looked happier munching their way through piles of bamboo. Come to think of it, we were there all day and all they did was eat bamboo!

 

 

There’s lots more to catch up on so we’ll write again very soon!

 

Love, Lau x

 

The Great Firewall of China

Hello everyone! Apologies to all you hardened blog fans for the lack of posts recently.

It turns out in fact that our blog has been completely blocked by a nationwide firewall since we’ve been in China. I’d like to think it’s because of our highly charged political and provocative content, but it’s actually because things in China are normally a bit, well, just mental really.

Please stay tuned as we post up  all of our recent notes and scribbles!

Bendy