Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hello all, I trust and hope everyone is well.
I'm in India at the moment, having arrived yesterday. It's a hectic place and we've (Andy and I) have already had some unsavoury moments; all will be explained, let me take you back to my time in Australia.
Whilst in cairns, we met a lad named Mark, who we'd end up spending our time with. He came with us on a bus tour (for Andy's birthday) which lasted a day. The tour (Uncle Brian's bus - named Gus), incorporated bush walks, platypus watching and going to several waterfalls. Gus the Bus is real, he has emotions, feelings and even a girlfriend (Vanessa the Ambulance). Towards the end of the tour, I was a little sad to be leaving Gus.
I'm sure this all sounds strange to the reader, however I've said it as it is. Gus took us to the waterfall where 'Mysterious girl' by Peter Andre was filmed, another with natural water slides, ad other interesting places. The day was capped off with us all singing our way home. This was a great day - which followed with us celebrating Andy's birthday.
It had been recommended that we travel North to visit Port Douglas and Cape Tribulation - so we did. By this time, Olivia had arrived in Cairns and so the five of us hired a car and off we went. We arrived a Port Douglas and it appeared to be quite a tropical kind of place - not too dissimilar from Rarotonga; there was a good vibe going on. The next day we all went further North to Cape Tribulation. This place is renown for having wild crocs roaming the area, with is home to a rather large rainforest. On it's coast, there are the most amazing views of the Great Barrier Reef. The place appeared empty, leaving the beach all to ourselves. We (inevitably) visited a croc farm en route back to Cairns.
Andy and I left Cairns the following day, we caught the bus to Townsville leaving Alex, Mark and Olivia behind. We caught a ferry over to Magnetic Island as there was a full moon party taking place on the beach. We met a group of people here, two of which we'd end up travelling with down the Coast for two week; I'll make a special mention of a lad named Adam.
The party wasn't what I hoped it'd be - I've certainly been to better. I'll probably remember the place best for the three of us (Andy, Adam and I) hiring a Moke (a small motorised car) for a couple of days, enabling us to drive around the Island as we pleased - great fun to drive. Whilst here, we met another two lads (Justin and Vinnie), the other two of the five of us who would stick together for a while.
Bypassing some smaller towns, we travelled to Airlie Beach next, a popular stopover due to the Whitsunday Islands being nearby. We booked our sailing boat (The SV Whitehaven) along with Adam; there wasn't enough space for Justin and Vinnie. The trip incorporated a three day, two night night sail, with 23 of us tourist on board.
The trip itself was great value for money. I met many different people from many different countries. We snorkelled, spotted sea life (including Sea turtles, Whales, Manta Rays etc...) and played silly drinking games (of course). The winning highlight of this trip (by a country mile) was visited Whitehaven beach. I never knew beaches like this existed, a lengthy pure white beach consisting of the finest sand anywhere in the world. Again, this beach was empty, so we had it all to ourselves for the day, playing rugby etc... We were taken to the tip of this particular Island (on a bush walk, where I was persuaded to like the bum of an ant - tasting of really strong lemon). at the peak of the Island, I could see the entire stretch of the beach. I won't bother attempting to describe it as I couldn't do it justice.
After docking, we spent a couple more days in Airlie Beach, then made our way South, staying in Cattle Station for a night. This is as it sounds, a Cattle Ranch. I was taught how to use a whip, and rode a mechanical bull (later bruising my........erm........you understand), I was better than I thought I'd be.
The following day I was forced to wake up early. I wasn't too happy with this as I wasn't taking part in the early morning extras (horseriding and clay-pideon shooting, two things I've done before). I think this was their way of trying to make us pay for the extras, as an alternative to sitting around for several hours in the morning - I sat patiently, not wanting to submit to their bullying tactics; I was really pissed off, I mean, checking out at 7am wasn't necessary, they were empty - I'll shut up now.
At the cattle station, we were asked to form groups of three, then each group were challenged to cacth a goat, put it in the relevant position, then brand it. I chose to goe with two girls, knowing that it was give me the task of catching the goat. The boys went first, setting the standard and the quickest time. The girls and I went last. At first I tried talking to the goat (asking it to tell me about it's problems - you never know), it wasn't interested. So I went for it, the girls done the rest = 21 secs, the fastest time - I just had to rub it in.
After another long drive, we arrived in Hervey Bay. This is home to one of the Ports that travel to Fraser Island. We'd paid for a three day, two night self safari trip, so we'd (eleven of us, the three lads and six girls we'd met) all pack ourselves into a big Jeep for three days, camping on the Island.
Our jeep was packed to the rafters, I couldn't wait to get into the swing of camping. I drove the jeep first (as I told the others I was a trained and professional driver - it worked). We arrived on the Island, which is the largest sand Island in the world. We found our own little camping spots next to the beach, so as not to disturb other campers. Between the eleven of us, the two nights were full of banter - great fun.
We saw a dingo (a crazy dog which are suppossedly aggresive!?!). On the respective days, we visted Lake's Waby and McKensie. These were unlike any others I've seen. One is surrounded by sand dunes, and the other by forests. I swam the length of Lake McKensie; a foolish move. Both were fantastic, to comment on these would prove fruitless.
Onto Noosa. I stayed here for four nights. The other lads stayed for two (expect for Justin). Justin and I liked the place, so decided o hang around for a couple more days. In that time, we won prizes in a quiz (who would've thought it?), played tennis and frisbee; the little things are the best.
We met up with the others in Brisbane for a night out and a farewell, as Andy and I were off to India the following day. Brisbane (jokingly called Brisvegas by some) is Australia's second largest City. It's suprisingly clean, s I can see the attraction's, and why many foreigners choose to move there; it's very well kept and certainly appealed to me.
Andy and I caught our flight, initially stopping over in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) for twelve hours. This gave us time to visit the City Centre. We arrived in the morning, and were able to obtain two free tickets to the Petronas Twin Towers (now the secound largest building in the world). For those of you who've seen the film 'Entrapment', then you see that it's and impressive structure, which has a two-story bridge between each tower (about 200 metres high). I may well be passing through Malaysia again in January.
We arrived in India late at night. Delhi Airport was hectic. We jumped into a (not so legitimate looking) taxi, being hassled by almost everyone. We were driven around for ages, to be told that the hotel we had booked into no longer existed - we knew this was rubbish, and that the two fella's (who we knew we couldn't trust) were having us on. They took us to a 'tourist office', who in turn said that most hotels were busy. In the end we were taken to a more expensive hotel paying way over the odds. It was clear that we were being scammed, however that late at night, we felt we had no choice but to go along with it.
It would be fair to say that our first day was a bit of a nightmare, morale was low and patience thin. We left the 'scam' hotel, situated in a dodgy part of Delhi, and were followed (literaly) for two hours by others (like a surveilence team) who had earmarked us as an easy target. If e'd approach a local for directions, one of them would come along and tell the local what to tell us. We were directed to umpteen 'official tourist' offices, to be told that Delhi was more expensive than we thought - codswallop. It seemed like we couldn't shake 'em off; partucularly when carrying our backpacks round in the sweltering heat; it was easy to believe that no-one culd be trusted.
We finally found a a place we liked, at the right price. We meet a girl (Juliette), who had been travelling in India for two months. Juliette was able to answer many of our questions and restired our hope of enjoying the country. Whilst in Delhi, we visited a few of the local attractions, including The Red Fort and Jama Mashid (the countries largest Mosque). Riding on a rickshaw for the first time was an experience itself. Cows roam freely in the streets, undisturbed due to their sacred status. Young children, those with leprosy and victims of lost limbs and diformity beg you for money. Delhi was a culture shock of the highest order, the poverty unrivalled to anywhere else I've travelled. I know I won't be having fun in India, although I'll surely appreciate my visit (more so when I've left).
Onto Varanasi (following a fifthteen hour train journey; and experience in itself). A work colleague (Corky) suggested that I visit Varanasi, which is the Hindu's most holy place. 85% of India's population in Hindu. The elderly come here to die, many others to worship and wash away a lifetime of sins. A colourful and charasmatic place which is the beating heart of the Hindu universe, a crossing place between the physical and spiritual worlds. The Hindu's call The Ganges river, 'The Great Mother'; surely the dirtiest river in the world.
The Ganges is so heavily poluted at Varanasi that the water is septic - no dissolved oxygen exists. Per 100mL of water, there are 1.5 million faecal coliform bacteria; in water that is safe for bathing, this figure should be less than 500. All sewage systems run through the river. The remains of cremated bodies (and even corpses themselves) are thrown into 'The Great Mother. As Hindu's consider the river to be sacred, many wash here daily at sunrise. If I was to do this, I'd be certain to catch a deadly virus of some kind.
I visited Manikarnika Ghat (the main burning ghat where bodies are cremated). There are many different social casts and situations which permit a body to be cremated; to a Hindu, a cremation is the best form of passage to the spiritual world. The process of cremation was explained to me and I was able to see open cremations take place; the stench of the place is unforgettable. I took two boat rides along the Ganges, one at sunrise, the other at sunset. during one of the rides, a cow floated past, then a dead women's body, just left there with nobody thinking twice about it!
Each evening the locals have a festival by The Ganges to honour 'The Great Mother'. Thousands attend this ceremony. I also attended Sarnath, the place where Buddha chanted his first sermon after achieving enlightenment. These were peaceful sorroundings, a welcome relief from the hussle and bussle of Varanasi.
India won the Cricket World Cup whilst I was there. Being the number one sport here, celebrations were inevitable. Whilst standing on the rooftop restaurant of our hotel, I could see fireworks going off everywhere; heavy rain spoiled street celebrations. On one eveing, I returned to our room alone, heard noises coming from outside the window and so opened the sliding door. Luckily, there was a cage in front of me, as all of a sudden a red-faced monkey jumped up at my face; my life flashed before me.
Following another lengthy train journey, I arrived in Lucknow (with Andy and Charlie, an American we'd met in Varanasi). We only stayed here for a matter of hours, awaiting our train later that day back to Delhi. There's nothing to see in Lucknow. It took us some three hours to find accomadation, as we wanted to wash before our onward journey. Our patience was tested on numerous occasions after the hassle we recieved. At one point, there must have been a dozon or so people offering services to us, each trying to shout over the other, pushing one-another. Each hotel were went to were 'full'. They certainly were not full, but for some resean they didn't want our business - I couldn't fathom it. Carrying our backpacks around in the heat, going from hotel to hotel, being bothered each and every minute - I was just about ready to punch someone.
So now, as I write, I've returned to Delhi. We've met up with Nikki and Abbi, two girls we met in Cairns. We went for dinner last night, and have booked a train to go to a National Park in the hope of spotting Tigers, leopards etcetera. From here, I plan to visit some Northern parts of India, and then Agra (home to the Taj Mahal) and Rajasthan. My friend Leon is coming to India to see us soon, so I look forward to that.
I have three weeks left here before returning to Australia; I intend to make this a positive experience.
Take care for now.
xPx
- comments