All Good Things Must Come To An End...

Hey A,
I can't believe its over! Our three month adventure ended where it began in Delhi but instead of sightseeing we were shopping and finally getting to see an English movie...Moneyball with Brad Pitt..love him!! India really wore us down and there we were in our prepaid taxi ten minutes from the hotel on the way to the airport and the tyre blows. The driver wouldn't refund our money or get us another taxi so we were stuck on the side of the road watching him change it, along with the usual male crowd. As a result of three months in India this followed by a lot of yelling and crazy driving, we are lucky to be alive.
I had never heard of Saudi Arabian Airlines until I saw their super cheap flight from Delhi to London on cleartrip.com. I was expecting a budget airline with the price of the flight but it was super nice. Lots of leg room and complimentary meals. They even have a prayer room and Muhammads prayer when taking off for those men walking around the plane in white towels and sheets! Besides all of that if you don't mind being stared at I would recommend them to fly with.
We had a seven hour stop over in Jeddah's most basic airport and a food voucher to survive on as the only food outlet wouldn't take credit card or Indian Rupees so I had to work a little magic to get some decent food! Haha. We managed a nap somehow and were again happy we had purchased sleeping bags and travel pillows before leaving Brisbane.
Each with a 20kg backpack and a suitcase we struggled through the London Underground to the Railway station for our two hour train ride to Liverpool.
So Liverpool is my new home. It's a smaller city than I expected but it has a lot of old English charm and some of my favorite stores as well as a Beatles Museum.
I can't wait til you visit so I can show you but first I'll being seeing you in my home away from home Rockford!!
Love E

Never Before Have I....

Hey there,
Since we are leaving India today Lish and I have been playing this game we created called "Never before have I..."
Turns out it's a little more difficult for me after our time in China, I'm sure you understand why!!
So here's a few of our favorites...enjoy!!

Never before have I...
- seen so many women wearing such brightly colored saris and men wearing skirts
- seen traffic jams full of pedestrians, rickshaws, tuk tuks and cars unable to move
- heard so many horns blaring unnecessarily I think my hearing has been permanently effected
- eaten so much dirt in my cornflakes
- seen people eating with their hands then ferociously licking them clean as if it was a delicious dessert
- seen camels overloaded as work vehicles
- been in a tuk tuk which is about to collide head on with a group of cows sitting in the middle of the road
- seen such beauty and such filth combined in the one landscape
- seen people jumping out of the way of cows running through the street
- seen such cruelty to animals
- seen a dead body wrapped in a blanket carried through busy streets
- had the pleasure of viewing a young boy standing on a fence taking a poo
- had so many people putting their hands out for money rather than getting a job or going to school
- seen so many people manipulating others for a free hand out
- been around so many stray dogs laying on roads and roofs
- seen an Indian woman urinate standing up and only holding her sari slightly off the ground then leave without wiping or shaking!!
- dropped the standards of food I am willing to eat to a ridiculous low
- shared a naan with a cow at the train station
- been surrounded by so many men who do nothing but stare and ogle at me
- been viewed frequently as a dollar sign
- seen people bath and wash their clothes and dishes in dirty river water where rubbish and body parts are dumped
- watched a body burn on the side of the Ganges River and feel like I've taken an ash shower
- enjoyed watching movies I couldn't understand a word of

Varanasi and the Ganges River

Hey hey,
I had been super keen to visit Varanasi ever since I saw a documentary about it starring famous Australian Andrew Dado back in his prime.

Varanasi was our last stop on our three month adventure. I think if we had of visited here first we may have been on the first planes out of India. It's a very confronting place to visit with death and the dying really in your face. Varanasi is situated on the Ganges River which is considered by the Indians to be Holy. To me there is nothing holy about a black river where rubbish is dumped and people bath and wash their clothes (hopefully not ours!!) but we all have our beliefs.

The Hindus believe that if they are cremated here they will go to heaven regardless if they have been good or bad in this life. However there are some exceptions for example children under five, pregnant woman, victims of snake bites and those with diseases are not cremated they have weights tied to their body and are thrown in the Ganges.
Cremations are done around the clock in public at either two Ghats along the river. There is a podium which those of a high caste are burnt and those of a lower caste are burnt along the dirty banks of the river. We watched a body wrapped in white resting on a bamboo stretcher ducked in the river then after about half and hour placed on top of log fire. Only the men attend the cremation while the woman wait at home.
The smell of flesh burning, the intense smoke and the foot painted red poking out from flames are permanently pressed into my memory.
If this all wasn't confronting enough there were dogs poking through the rubbish and chewing on things I can only assume to be body parts from the fire.
We walked away nauseous, stunned by what we had witnessed and covered in ash very eager for a shower.

From a distance Varanasi and the Ganges River look beautiful especially at sunrise but when you look closely it's filthy. The water is disgusting housing hundreds of diseases, the ghats and nearby streets are full of rubbish and poo from cows, dogs and goats. To walk without your eyed glued to the ground would be disastrous! Like many other places we visited there are constantly people putting out their hands for money rather than getting a real job or being lazy in the job they had. We had to yell at a boy to row our boat at sunrise. It seemed more apparent here or perhaps India had finally just taken it's toll on our patience.

So now we are in Delhi eagerly awaiting our flight to the UK...I'm so happy I get to spend some time chilling out with you before I start a new job.

Love E xx

Sikkim

Hey A,
We recently visited the protected area of Sikkim in the north of India. We were required to obtain a permit to enter this particular area. Unfortunately we were visiting at the wrong time of year so we were unable to see the view we had heard was spectacular due to cloud and fog cover, as well as ride the rope way which we were excited to do as this was closed for maintenance.

We decided to visit Tsomgo Lake which was about a two hour drive from Gangtok where we were staying, along the side of a mountain and insanely bumping roads through extreme fog. It had recently snowed so the lake was frozen and covered in gorgeous white snow. I rode a Yak through the snow and Lish and I had a snowball fight with our guide. It was a really fun day and definitely a highlight of India for me.

We spent a couple of days in Gangtok the capital of Sikkim as well. We felt like we had left India as the people look Chinese, Napali and Tibetan but still spoke Hindi. Their city is surrounded around a mall, not the malls you know though but what we call a mall in Australia. It was a street closed to cars with shops on either side and benches, gardens and a fountain down the centre.

Our final stop before our flight in Delhi was Varanasi. To get here we had to catch a shared jeep for nearly six hours followed by an overnight train. Of course our train was delayed!!!

But more on Varanasi next time.

Not long now.....:) E xx

Life begins at 30....really??

Hey there,

Well my 30th birthday is one I will definitely never forget. The original plan was to spend it on the luscious beaches of the Andaman Islands snorkeling, tanning and having a few cocktails however flight cancellations and lack of available accommodation had made it impossible so we took on plan B..head to the mountains of Darjeerling.

 

Two hours out from Kolkata our train stopped and all the passengers from our carriage were told to move into the next carriage. There were quite a few police with torches the size of watermelons and others with large guns searching just our carriage however at this stage we were unsure of for what. We watched on concerned and confused for sometime until I overheard a conversation with two guys in Hindi the only word I recognized was "bomb". I took a few minutes to process this then asked him to clarify. He told me it was dangerous and we shouldn't be on the train at all as someone had phoned the police and told them there was a bomb in our carriage...WTF!!!

Turns out the guy was traveling with his band and two of the guys could speak English. We stood on the platform in the cold (I was only wearing a t-shirt and obviously couldn't go back for a sweater) with spots of rain for nearly 4 hours until 2am. During this time the police brought in dogs from the bomb squad and searched the entire train while we made friends with the band. The situation would have been a lot worse if we didn't have anyone to translate for us so we were lucky in that respect. Although the Indian police did their job as I am still alive to tell the tale, their work was seriously sloppy. They didn't evacuate the train or close down the station and other trains continued to pass and even stop. We were not told to keep a distance from the train (we did though as we actually have common sense!) and other passengers gathered around the train watching the dogs in action while others returned to sleep in the suspected carriage. No one was searched when the green light was given for the train to continue to it's destination although the dogs had been walked through the crowds of people (this provided me with some comfort) but if someone was carrying a bomb on them they could have easily avoided the police. Before I would reenter the train I made the police inspector promise the train was safe and I wouldn't be dying on this train...All the Indians were pretty amused by this!!

After a few hours sleep (somehow) we were confronted with another interesting situation. A transvestite boarded the train and was threatening men in our cabin to expose themselves (which is extremely embarrassing to the Indians) if they didn't give 'it' money. Of course the men obliged rather than facing the embarrassment but I was shocked at the lengths people in this country go to to scab money from others. This was then followed by another incident later while we were in a taxi when a crazy lady stood in the middle of the road holding a large piece of wood threatening to smash in the car unless the driver gave her 2 rupees. She made some signals with her hands indicating she was crazy but I was again disgusted at the lengths people go to for money rather than getting out there and finding a proper job.

So I turned 30 while standing on a train platform while my carriage was searched for a bomb!! Who would of ever thought...

So after all the excitement and drama of the day and massive delays we reached Darjeerling six hours late hungry and tired. No thanks to our driver who stopped three times during the three hour journey up the mountain. On the third stop I actually got out and yelled at him that I wasn't paying him to eat I was paying him to drive. Harsh I know but it had been a seriously long 24 hours. Yelling proved to help the situation and we didn't stop again. 

Lish shouted me pizza and fries for dinner (which was breakfast and lunch as well) and then we built a fire in our room (so grateful for a room with a fireplace in this weather) and I fell asleep soon after. We decided to celebrate my birthday properly the next day....TO BE CONTINUED!!!

From your happy to be alive however over the hill best friend xx

I Found Paradise in India

Hey,
I never thought I would find paradise in India, then I arrived in Goa. It's a lot bigger than I imagined with the north and south being two and a half hours apart by car.

We started in the north and had our first Indian beach experience here. You will remember what it was like in both Thailand and Cambodia where you are constantly hassled to purchase food, clothes and jewelry on the beach, well the north of Goa is exactly the same but you have the added nuisance of large groups of men just hanging around. They show way too much affection towards one another while starring at us which is a huge deterrent for us to go swimming. Plus there's only so many photos I want of me in a bikini floating around India and the Internet!! Haha (Indian men are known to take photos of foreign girls and pretending they are their "easy" western girlfriend.)

The south of Goa is a world apart, with less crowded beaches and no sellers allowed on the beach...woohoo!! Palolem Beach is lined with palm trees hanging over huts and with restaurants flowing out onto the sand. I had always wanted to stay in a beach hut so we rented one while we were here. It's so great walking out the door and being able to see the beach and hear the waves at night. I love never needing to wear shoes as everything you need here you can get with the sand between your toes...plus I finally got to swim!
Tomorrow we leave this paradise for the chaos of Colombo, Sri Lanka. It's a little sad leaving this place as it was leaving our 3 tiny now flea free kittens in the north.


Hopefully I will return soon...with my favorite American travel companion!! (Hint hint!!)
Miss you,
E xx

Just like America...in Mumbai

Hey Ann,
I have arrived in Mumbai and it is definitely on my list of favorite cities. The shopping malls here are packed with all my favorite stores and restaurants. I was lucky enough to have McDonalds, Dominos Pizza and TGI Fridays all in one day!! I am yet to find the Chilis but I'm working on it.
The other day my friend ordered a Mozzarella salad and to my surprise it came with mozzarella sticks. Of course this reminded me of you so I took a photo to show you and so I can make my own interpretation when I get to the UK.
Wish you were here.
Love Em xx

The Rat Temple

Hi there,


Nice snow hat...looks like a few I saw in Nepal!


I recently visited the Rat Temple while in Bikaner, which is in the north of Rajasthan. The rats here are treated as sacred and protected. If you step on one you have to put a coin down in its place. While this is really a unique experience, I don't think you would be able to experience anywhere else in the world, this place is definitely not for the squeamish.
Shoes are not allowed to be worn and covers are provided for your feet (thankfully!!) but this was still a little too close to those dirty not so little rodents for my liking. After seeing the Indian people let the rats crawl all over them and one mistaking me for an Indian and trying his luck up the leg of my pants, I was ready to get out of there quick smart!!
Being a once in a lifetime experience I'm glad I've been able to visit but positive I will not be returning!!


I much prefer squirrels, which remind me of being in America.


Happy snow shoveling!
Love E xx

"Hello...there is a line"

Hey Ann,
I'm forming a love/hate relationship with India and it can change in an instant. I am a lover of the chaos which I grew to love living in Beijing. I love the feel of a big city like New York or Chicago but here it's the quieter places I'm liking the most. I'm currently writing to you from the very relaxing roof top of my hotel which looks out towards the Jaisalmer Fort and soaking up some desert sun. I have already seen a number of forts in India (each city seems to have one along with a palace) but this has a particular grandness about it. Jaisalmer is a smaller city near the desert that has been build in and around this fort complete with guesthouses, restaurants, shops with a few cows and stray dogs just like everywhere else in India. The view from the top looks out into the desert which is a real treat at sunset.
Today I went to the post office to mail you another postcard. These places tend to frustrate me a lot as people here do not know how to form a queue. I tend to get mad and yell at people, today being no exception. What was different was this time people did listen and a line of five people formed behind me...miracle!!! The people here tend to have the same mentality as the Chinese and that pushing and shoving is vital for survival. I much prefer the more orderly way of the western world and being here does make me appreciate those small things we take for granted like the ability to form an orderly line.
So next time you are in a queue spare a thought for me and the madness I can't escape even in these smaller less chaotic cities.
Love Em xx

Fashion Faux Pas of the Average Backpacker

Namaste A,
As you know I have always been interested in fashion and taken pride in my appearance. Now that I am a backpacker once again I am less rigid about what I wear and how my hair looks and more focused on warmth and comfort (within reason). But seeing other backpackers around I'm ashamed for them!!! When was wearing a blanket around your shoulders a replacement for a jacket? (I have seen this countless times...are people really that lazy to buy a jacket?) Or wearing black 3/4 leggings with white fancy lace around the bottom with black socks pulled up and flip flops ok? I admit I have subjected myself to wearing socks with flip flops but only on wash day or when my hiking boots had to be tossed away and a replacement found.
I remember how we took pride in our appearance when we travelled around south east Asia and always looked cute even for long bus rides.
Maybe times have changed or perhaps because the climate is different here in India or the age of the hippie is making a strong comeback or perhaps some people have just been traveling WAY toooo long but the things I'm seeing really do astound me!
E xx

The Taj Mahal

Hey A,
It was everything I had ever imagined and such a surreal experience. I was completely in awe when seeing the Taj Mahal from the very first moment.
It took 22 years to build out of white marble, and it really does express the love one emperor had for one of his wives. Inside is delicate mosaic works with the tombs of the emperor Shah Jahan and his favorite wife who was able to give him 14 children.
It's the most beautiful building I have ever seen even giving me chills (just like the Great Wall of China and the Terracota Warriors in Xian did.)
Definitely the highlight of the trip so far just one person was missing :(
Love Em xx

Hello India!

Dear A,
The flight to Delhi was like a circus it was total chaos with the other passengers walking around the plane and yelling across it to speak to one another. I have never seen such behavior on a plane before and I have been on quite a few!! After six hours of the two men sitting beside me arguing extremely loudly about some business deal we arrived and I really wasn't sure what I was getting myself into!!
Delhi is crazy, there are sooo many people and I was "lucky" enough to experience one of their traffic jams on my first day while trying to get from the Red Fort to the airport. Absolute madness...rickshaws, motorbikes, cars, bicycles, pedestrians and motos all trying to fight for that tiny bit of road to get ahead. I thought China was bad for the constant honking but India definitely wins hands down...there's a constant loud unnecessary honking which you just can't escape.
Alisha and I had a little time to fill in before our flight to Kathmandu so we headed off to the Red Fort. It was constructed back in the 17th century by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for the royal family. We wandered around the massive fort which is in ruins now and were of real interest to the Indian locals who were also visiting and taking a lot of photos of us.
Wish you were here you would love getting amongst this chaos!!!
Talk to you soon from Nepal... So excited for the thing we have planned there.
Love E xx