Day 34 - Cool days in Simla

It's the afternoon of our third day in Simla (a little hill station, 'built by the Britishers' in the foot hills of the Himalayas). It really is the most amazing place and I think the only place out of all the places we have been to so far that I could live in. The climate is fabulous - cool, clear air with lots of sun; the views of the Himalayas are staggering and the people seem to like us...! We keep being asked by groups of kids if they can take a photo of us; apparently so that they can show their friends at home that they have some European friends... quite flattering really although it feels a little un-PC in a place like Simla where the Brits were turfed out some time ago.

We arrived here by train, first on the Himalayan Queen from Delhi to Kalka and then the 'Toy Train' up the mountain to Simla. The Toy Train winds its way up and down mountains and valleys for five hours through about 100 tunnels before arriving at Simla - the views were, not surprisingly, staggering but, as for the train itself, you never quite get over the feeling that you are on the Bluebell Line or on a little tourist steamer on the Isle of Wight.

Once we arrived at Simla we were beseiged by the usual band of porters and taxi drivers desperate for our custom. As it was late at night and we were sitting ducks, not really having a clue where we were supposed to be staying, we got ourselves royally ripped off by our taxi driver as we appeared not to speak any common languages (well we paid all of about $1 for a journey which should have cost a few cents...) - we are finding that not even having a smattering of hindi is a real problem here. People are 'supposed' to speak English but it seems that they don't (or they don't want to with us) but Jon's excellent mime skills are really coming in handy!

Apart from being the capital of Himachal Pradesh, Simla is also the capital of the Monkey Kingdom and in fact it would seem that the monkeys are the true rulers of the humans as well. They are everywhere in Simla and prey on anyone that has anything sparkling or edible. We went to a hindu temple today, dedicated to the hindu monkey god (a 45 minute hike marathon to the top of the hill); it was quite a frightening experience fending off the monkeys - I quickly realised why everyone else was carrying a stick with them.... we survived unscathed though but i won't be making the trip to pay my respects to the monkey god for some time to come...

We are off on a tour tomorrow of some of the neighbouring villages and then we wind our way back down to the plain on Monday....

Bye bye for now

Day 31 - On the chittagonggongbangbang express through Delhi

so we've been in india for one full day now and my comments thus far are as follows:

- a curry with 'no spice' = the equivalent of a vindaloo and I can only imagine how hot the hot ones are;
- we LOVE the autorickshaws (AKA chittagonggongbangbangs (bangbangs for short)). They are fun - like being at the fair especially when going round roundabouts. It's amazing and a bit like the buses in Kenya which say 'God first, safety second'...;

Honestly though, India is amazing. I know that we haven't ventured outside the capital yet but the place seems lively, welcoming, interesting, cheap (5 squids for curry, indian wine (v nice!), naans, beer and water and a smile (sometimes)), full of culture (we spent the afternoon in the National Museum) and, most exciting of all, the most incredible fabrics (yes this is Emma writing and not Jon!)

Yes, we know about the fabrics (Jon writing now) and we'll deal with those next week after we've returned from Shimla and the himalayan expedition - it's supposed to be snowing up there so we've come well prepared with shorts, t-shirts (new one bought in Dubai) and suncream. Delhi has surpassed our expectations and we haven't even started to look at the old architecture yet (the Red Fort can wait til next week). We've struggled with the train ticket office (not very friendly people but at least they were better than the touts who tried to send us completely the wrong way when we got to the station) - we've booked tickets on the train to Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Udaipur, Agra, Goa and Mumbai (though the 27 hr journey to Goa may be a bit much so the plane may replace the train for that leg).

People are friendly here - someone shouted out 'European with a beard!' as we walked through Connaught Place (to me, not Emma) - that was sweet I thought.

Back to Emma....

So tomorrow we head for Shimla. Hoping to catch up with Mr D Lama for tea in Dharamsala (if he can fit us in) then we'll be coming back to Delhi for some fabric shopping/ sightseeing...yippppeee!

Bye for now

E and J

Day 30 - another day, another subcontinent

Blog updates are coming thick and fast at the moment (I can hear the cheers from here). Waiting for the current inhabitant to be evicted from our hotel room in delhi so we can get some sleep (after our bone shattering trip from nairobi to delhi via dubai). Everything went smoothly but haven't slept for 30 hours now and brain starting melt to is.

Once we've recovered, it'll be off to the train station to book up our tickets for the indian odyssey (trip to Shimla on Thursday is booked so we just need to take care of the other three weeks after that).

Managed to get hold of an Observer at Dubai and caught up on news from back home - good to see nothing is going completely off the rails - was interested to read that the New Zealand government is looking to recruit 35,000 IT workers over the next 10 years....how timely - with the good rugby, plentiful supply of lamb and (rumoured) beautiful landscapes it could be a home away from home (wales that is, not england (sorry)).

Just had the all clear for the room so it's zzzz for now....

Day 29 - Kwaheri Kenya, Namaste India...

An eventful weekend for us... after making our way back from Mombasa on the train on Thursday night (after a 5 hour delay leaving, it took 17 hours to get to Nairobi but the scenery was wonderful and we had a luxury 1st class carriage to lounge in (ok, so they didn't have an lights at night but you can't expect everything)) - we checked into a nice place near the jevanjee gardens and crashed out.

Saturday we planned to go to Nakuru but the journey was too long and we wouldn't have got there until 3pm so we decided to go half way and go to lake naivasha instead. It's funny but you get used to thrashing through the crowds at the bus station and we managed to get on a matatu heading for naivasha after about 45 mins. That was where the good news ended...firstly we were stopped by the traffic police after 10 minutes and there was lots of gnashing of teeth from the other passengers after we'd been there for 30 minutes and we found out the driver didn't have the requisite licence to drive along the naivasha route - I think they charged him and he'll be going to court pretty soon. Luckily, we were allowed to drive on..until we got stopped by another police check - no problems this time (I guess they didn't have the heart to charge him twice in the same hour). Off we rocked... until we got a flat tyre. Could not believe it...our 1 hour journey had already taken us 2 and the nakuru bus passed us at one point I think. Then we found the jack couldn't lift up the bus properly so there were 5 of us (all the men of course, the ladies were snoozing at the side of the road) trying to rock the bus from side to side as the driver tried to get the jack into place. It was quite funny but the traffic speeding past us abuot a foot away kept us on out toes. Long story short we got the wheel on, headed off and enjoyed some spectacular views of the rift valley as we descended into naivasha.

Emma remembered a campsite she had stayed at previously (Fisherman's) and we went there to look for a hut for the night. We ended up staying in a little palm banda with a corrugated tin roof - basic, but so were we. We'd only brought our silks to sleep in (it's always hot in Africa isn't it?) and were shivering from the cold at about 2am the following morning. Coupled with the hordes of resident moths, spiders and other beasties of dubious reputation we didn't get a good night's sleep but were rewarded with some fantastic early morning views over the lake and a slap-up breakfast (which, incidentally, we have nearly every day!).

After a trot along the highway and having said 'jambo' another 50,000 times (that must make over a million hellos since we arrived) - we visited the Elsamere conservation centre and learned all about Joy Adamson and Elsa the lion (as well as the less well known Pippa the cheetah). Had a relaxing cup of tea on the lawns (and scoffed a few biscuits), bought some nicknacks and got back to nairobi the same way in time for our dinner date at....Carnivore!

I was very much looking forward to sampling the ostrich meat balls and chicken gizzards (I still don't know what they are but they're not nice) but Em was less enthusiastic about the meat-centric nature of the restaurant. Thankfully, the vegetarian option was available (anything from the menu as long as it's meat) and Em was happy. The place was truly amazing and obviously a big tourist hangout given the number of wazungu there. Still, I ate till I felt ready to burst and the restaurant cat that had looked as though it would make a tasty pudding escaped unharmed in the end. A great way to end our time in Africa.

We fly out to Delhi via Dubai tonight and begin the second part of the adventure.

Emma will be taking over the blog handling from here on so I apologise in advance for that.

See you all in India.

Kwaheri na asante sana. :)

Day 26 - Goodbye Tanzania - Jambo Kenya

Blog has been out of action for a few days while we met up with an old Warwick friend, Penny, and set about leaving behind the dusty tanzanian safari circuit for the lush heights of Nairobi, Mombasa and everything in-between.

After catching a minibus from arusha to nairobi on sunday morning at 08:00, we crossed everything and hoped to jump on another bus going from nairobi to mombasa that afternoon - we were blessed with luck and actually had to wait for the second bus to arrive. 9 hours later and in the middle of a torrential pre-monsoon type downpour we arrived in mombasa not knowing where we were or where we were going to stay. The Excellent Hotel sounded promising according to Lonely Planet so we headed there - I don't know if the swahili dictionary has a slightly alternative definition of the word but the hotel was grossly misnamed. Then again, it being a choice between getting drenched and getting to sleep, we took the latter (after a sneaky Tusker - it is Kenya after all..) and got some zzzs.

Monday turned out be to pretty bloody awful on the weather front too and Em and I swam to the train station to book tickets back to Nairobi a few days hence. Our greatest success was to come when we found out the post office offered free internet (and pretty cheap stamps) - lots of emails were sent before we wandered off the buy Penny some wedding shoes, acquire some more shillingis and take a look around the single tourist attraction in mombasa that is Fort Jesus. Two hours later we'd learned lots about the Portugese invasion of Kenya, had dried off and found a lovely cafe selling delicious sambusas and ice cream.

Most bizarre event of the day award goes to Penny for managing to borrow an electronic keyboard on which to rehearse Schubert's Ave Maria for the wedding she is due to sing at on saturday. LP told us the 'Excellent' Hotel had a rooftop bar that often hosted live bands...when we got up there it had obviously gone downhill somewhat and now housed the offices of the Holy Ghost Evangelical Church. Things got better when we found out they had an organ we could borrow to rehearse on - not that it was a pretty sight (or sound) - Penny was great but I can only play the piano with one hand and would make Les Dawson sound like a concert pianist.

After discovering our second rooftop bar venue had been closed down for renovations (in 1998), we snuck into a local restaurant, were hounded for food by a cat with half its tail missing, played whist over a few more tuskers and went to bed happy - accompanied by the sound of yet more bloody rain.

Bliss.

Day 15 - In Moshi, getting in provisions for safari...

Now into our third day in Moshi - hoping that our safari really will take place as planned tomorrow.

We stayed our first two nights in a lovely hotel with a rooftop bar superb for viewing Kilimanjaro then moved into the YMCA last night. As usual food and drink is cheap here and a half litre of beer costs around 50p...getting to know the safari, kilimanjaro, tusker and pilsner brands very well now...

The YMCA had a special saturday night dinner for 5000 TSh (around $4.00) - 4 courses (not all of which were exactly enticing) but it ended with vanilla ice cream which was v nice!

The mountain kept itself hidden until Friday night and we got some great shots from the rooftop bar (sadly still can't upload them) - have just burned a load to CD so they're safe and we can bore you all with them when we get home (in 11 weeks!!).

Woke up this morning to find the peak completely clear of clouds (well it was 6am) and enjoyed watching it get lit up by the sun as it rose.

We have arranged a safari with a company in Moshi - visiting the ngorongoro crater, lake manyara and tarangire. Just the two of us and staying in some (hopefully) v nice lodges - well, it's not as though we'll be back again next month to do it again...

Made a trip to Marangu yesterday and despite the usual horde of touts and wannabe guides we had a great time trekking (well, along a well worn and signposted path and in flip-flops) to a waterfall where legend has it a girl once fell to her death after deciding to commit suicide, changing her mind then getting cornered by a leopard...not a good day for her. It was beautiful and really refreshing to be up in the hills where it's much cooler...usual dala-dala ride both ways - lost feeling in our feet after half way there as the bus was so cramped with people.

Off back to the YMCA for another dip in the pool now then catching the lovely scandinavia bus to Arusha.

adios

Jon and Em

Day 12 - Tanga to Moshi on the hitch-o-bus.

We've just arrived in Moshi after hitching from tanga on the back of a pickup and in a very nice, air-conditioned car with some nice tanzanians - Kilimanjaro is in the background and everything is pretty cool.

Tanga was a nice place - visited Emma's old school and we were treated unbelievably well by everyone there - we also visited another school where Emma's old headmaster now works - again, great fun and everyone was so kind.

Had some fun in the Kola Prieto hotel in tanga - we didn't realise they instigated electricity rationing in tanzania last month but now we're used to it and can cope with not having any during daylight hours. however, this particular hotel just had too many things wrong...no nets and even wwith aircon, you need mozzie nets. We went to the restaurant for food in the evening and were given a menu. After choosing, we were told the only thing on offer was chicken - so we chose some (different chicken dishes). Fifteen minutes later we were presented with fried chicken and chips - twice....it was funny but we were hungry so the next day decided to move to a much nicer hotel near the coast - paradise in comparison and the food was good too.

Short update today and still no photos to upload am afraid...I'm a bit worried that trying to upload a 3MB photo would bring down the tanzanian internet connnection anyway...

Trying to arrange our safari today so fingers crossed for that.

Sampling the Moshi nightlife tonight, starting with a drink in the hotel rooftop bar, looking out over at the mountain...

:)

Day 9 - YWCA - Dar es Salaam

It's proving difficult to update this regularly (no internet cafes open on sunday when we arrived in Dar - actually make that nothing open in Dar when we arrived).

We had an eventful trip from zanzibar to Dar - came on the ferry (got up at 5am to get to the port and buy a ticket) - Jon spent most of the trip in the toilet thanks to some very unwelcome sea sickness. Still, the welcoming ladies at the Dar YWCA took care of us and set us up in a nice flat. We stayed there fora night before heading to Bagamoyo up the coast - I will never diss the underground again, it is like being carried by angels compared to the hell that is the Dar es Salaam public transport network - lots of matatus going here there and everywhere (I;'m sure I saw one going to Holborn). The one we got back from Bagamoyo got 26 people in a toyota hi-ace.....amazing..but so cheap too. Em nearly got run down by a cyclist and we nearly got ripped off by the bus touts at the station (just don't trust anyone) - apart from that (oh, and the constant loss of water and electricity in the YWCA) it's just like anywhere else.

Bagamoyo was a very interesting place, where lots of the explorers set off from on their journeys into the interior (Livingstone, Speke, Burton) - lots of german architecture (dilapidated) and a huge catholic mission with a brilliant museum (we managed to visit it as a funeral was taking place - as if that didn't make us stand out ven more!)

We were the only guests in the beach hotel we stayed at but that was nice - lovely food and a view of the indian ocean (this isn't all fun and frolicks, I just want to say...)

anyway, not much more time so just enough to say we're catching the luxury bus to Tanga tomorrow - planning our safari next week - onto moshi on friday and arusha on saturday - lookng forward to meeting up with Penny on the 14th (Nyerere day!).

Sunburn update - jon now peeling; emma now brown - hooray!

Off our for some icecream at the sno-cream then probably back to the YWCA for tea and to write our diaries/pack for tomorrow/get a shower while the water is on and we can see where we're going...TTFN