For everyone following our blog, we thought it prudent to write one last blog and explain our abrupt departure from India.
In tandem with Matthew being very ill, we took a train to Delhi, which was five hours late, missed our connection to Mumbai, but obviously got a piddly refund for our 30 pound tickets! On top of this our hotel required us to pay in advance and took our money even though we never made it too Mumbai. Funnily enough when we rang and demanded a refund they suddenly had severe english speaking problems! And to top it off there was a bomb diffused at the station we were at on the morning of independance day.
Thus a quick trip to jet airways to enquire about flights lead to returning home the next day! We felt, as great an experience as india was, that perhaps in terms of relaxation returning to the UK and a week in the cotswolds would do more good!
Thanks you everyone who is reading for your continuous support and messages, it meant such a lot when we were so far from home xxxx
P.S. we will try and upload those toy train photos if we can!
Saturday, August 18
Monday, August 13
Kalimpong
Sorry everyone, we have some superb train pictures to show you (sadly none of the Himalayas yet - mist mist and more mist!) - the blogger website is being very tempremental lately. So we left Darjeeling yesterday, sadly we did not get to see the zoo because of the rain, but we did get to see some more temples, which were fairly spooky because of all the mist!
Met some travellers doing a teaching placement in Kalimpong so we got a taxi with them, it was.... wait for it.... CLEAN!!!! The one and the only clean taxi in india i believe. We're staying in a great hotel! First night wasn't so great but because we were put in a room next too the owner who a) likes his beer and b) snores, great combo! But we've moved to a nicer room now. Last night was matt's mini heaven. Not only was Man U vs Reading shown in the lounge but the owner and his friends plus beers were strumming Beatles tunes all night long! Sad to say they weren't familar with the lost prophets tune that matt was showing them!
Matt's ill again, so i've been making him eat soup all day, he's back on the antibiotics so hopefully it'll clear up soon. This afternoon we went to a 'paper factory' which wasn't so much a factory has a house, but we did get to see the whole process and the beautiful end results! And then on we went to town and have been doing more present shopping!!
The owner has been great because matt is ill and has arranged us transport to the station on wednesday! This is doubly helpful because un-beknown to us it's independance day, and Kalimpong pratically closes down for a three day street party. Shame though cause we would've stayed for it but we didn't know when we booked our tickets. The second shame is owner's sister works at Dow Hill School and would've arranged a visit for us had we been staying longer!
Needless to say we're emailing the lonely planet with a glowing report! xxxx
Met some travellers doing a teaching placement in Kalimpong so we got a taxi with them, it was.... wait for it.... CLEAN!!!! The one and the only clean taxi in india i believe. We're staying in a great hotel! First night wasn't so great but because we were put in a room next too the owner who a) likes his beer and b) snores, great combo! But we've moved to a nicer room now. Last night was matt's mini heaven. Not only was Man U vs Reading shown in the lounge but the owner and his friends plus beers were strumming Beatles tunes all night long! Sad to say they weren't familar with the lost prophets tune that matt was showing them!
Matt's ill again, so i've been making him eat soup all day, he's back on the antibiotics so hopefully it'll clear up soon. This afternoon we went to a 'paper factory' which wasn't so much a factory has a house, but we did get to see the whole process and the beautiful end results! And then on we went to town and have been doing more present shopping!!
The owner has been great because matt is ill and has arranged us transport to the station on wednesday! This is doubly helpful because un-beknown to us it's independance day, and Kalimpong pratically closes down for a three day street party. Shame though cause we would've stayed for it but we didn't know when we booked our tickets. The second shame is owner's sister works at Dow Hill School and would've arranged a visit for us had we been staying longer!
Needless to say we're emailing the lonely planet with a glowing report! xxxx
Sunday, August 12
Saturday, August 11
Darjeeling - Cuppa Anyone?
So we're being very lazy in Darjeeling at the moment, it has loads of quaint cafes and nice restaurants and whilst we write this we're munching currant buns and something called - heavy cake, it's very chocolately and very rich! Beyond the food, which is scrumptious! The shopping here is very very good, less conning and better quality, and we've manged to get quite a few pressies we hope you'll like!
Yesterday we went on the toy train to Ghoom, it was very funny and there was a lot of reditions of 'thomas the tank' in honour of my name sake! ;) We stopped at a war monument and the history museum of the toy train, but perhaps the funniest moment, as i'm sure matt will agree but i wont! Is when i tried to lean out the window for a nice cheesy photo and discovered, to my horror, that it was covered in pee!!! (Which if you haven't got the jist yet, is just sooooooo india!) So i spent the rest of the trip trying not to bend my knese and avoid trouser contact!
We went to the Darjeeling tea planters club, but... it was fairly empty and a bit expensive to join, then we got chased off the premisis for taking photo's! To be fair i did pretend i couldn't understand english until the lady has practically grabbed the camera from me! Well if they are going to be that un-charitable to poor travellers!
And lastly the fiasco of the travellers cheques, getting money anywhere in india seems to become an absolute nightmare for us, but when you have to bully the bank into accepting your passport as indentifiation you do begin to wonder!
So we're off to the zoo this afternoon and observatory hill. Perhaps the biggest shame is that we still haven't caught sight of the himalayas because of all the mist! The alarm has been set for 6am everyday in the hope of catching a photo!
We'll try and upload some photos now, xxx
Beth: What's your address, yes i should know, but remind me so i get i 100% right!
Yesterday we went on the toy train to Ghoom, it was very funny and there was a lot of reditions of 'thomas the tank' in honour of my name sake! ;) We stopped at a war monument and the history museum of the toy train, but perhaps the funniest moment, as i'm sure matt will agree but i wont! Is when i tried to lean out the window for a nice cheesy photo and discovered, to my horror, that it was covered in pee!!! (Which if you haven't got the jist yet, is just sooooooo india!) So i spent the rest of the trip trying not to bend my knese and avoid trouser contact!
We went to the Darjeeling tea planters club, but... it was fairly empty and a bit expensive to join, then we got chased off the premisis for taking photo's! To be fair i did pretend i couldn't understand english until the lady has practically grabbed the camera from me! Well if they are going to be that un-charitable to poor travellers!
And lastly the fiasco of the travellers cheques, getting money anywhere in india seems to become an absolute nightmare for us, but when you have to bully the bank into accepting your passport as indentifiation you do begin to wonder!
So we're off to the zoo this afternoon and observatory hill. Perhaps the biggest shame is that we still haven't caught sight of the himalayas because of all the mist! The alarm has been set for 6am everyday in the hope of catching a photo!
We'll try and upload some photos now, xxx
Beth: What's your address, yes i should know, but remind me so i get i 100% right!
Monday, August 6
Dow Hill School
Unfortunately the porter wouldn't let me speak to the headmistress - whose permission i needed to visit the school. Neither would he let me anywhere beyond the gates to take photos. Our only option is to try and email or ring the headmistress and arrange a visit - otherwise this is the best i can do. So frustrating to come all the way to india and to be hindered by a porter on a power trip! Tried to ask some of the school girls, who spoke amazing english,
but they couldn't help.
Sunday, August 5
Kurseong
So here we are, Lauren's heritage hotspot number one!!
Ridiculous train journey where this mean old lady would not let us change beds, even though she had a section with two free beds in it! Saying i had a cold and she was old and wouldn't be able to sleep. So we slept on a very very small uncomfortable bed while this woman snorted, coughed and splurted all night long! We now know why the british are known for our manners, cause we actually have some!!
For our friends who don't know, one of the reasons for coming to India was to see where my (Lauren's) family lived. Shimla was where my great grandmother went to school (St Bede's) and worked as a Pianist at the Gaitey Theatre playing for the old Black and White movies, she was the 3rd best Piano played in India! Calcutta was the home to some of my great aunts, and my mother was born nearby in town called Dhanbad. My grandmother and great Aunt Brenda made the trip from Calcutta to Kurseong, where we are now, on the famous Himalayan Toy Train to go to boarding school. Finally our next stop is Darjeeling, where according to my mother my grandad 'cruised' the local bars!
Ridiculous train journey where this mean old lady would not let us change beds, even though she had a section with two free beds in it! Saying i had a cold and she was old and wouldn't be able to sleep. So we slept on a very very small uncomfortable bed while this woman snorted, coughed and splurted all night long! We now know why the british are known for our manners, cause we actually have some!!
For our friends who don't know, one of the reasons for coming to India was to see where my (Lauren's) family lived. Shimla was where my great grandmother went to school (St Bede's) and worked as a Pianist at the Gaitey Theatre playing for the old Black and White movies, she was the 3rd best Piano played in India! Calcutta was the home to some of my great aunts, and my mother was born nearby in town called Dhanbad. My grandmother and great Aunt Brenda made the trip from Calcutta to Kurseong, where we are now, on the famous Himalayan Toy Train to go to boarding school. Finally our next stop is Darjeeling, where according to my mother my grandad 'cruised' the local bars!
Saturday, August 4
Oh Calcutta!
Contrary to the lonely planet and the general consensus that Calcutta is a less than desirable place, we love it!!! It is SO much nicer than Delhi, yes there is traffic, beggars and pollution but... it's just not as oppressive as Delhi, and thus we've been able to see some of the amazing architecture it has to offer. Our hotel was a complete rip off! We paid far too much for some Raj-era style service which actually just struck us as eccentric!! and somewhat terse!
The weather is also very very varied, obviously there is the mid-day heat but it's quite reasonable away from the lunch time hours. And the road system is backwards, quite literally at mid-day all the roads reverse their direction, it's really really weird and the only way we can actually cross them is by tailing the locals!
Anyway beyond the pictures there's not much to say cause it's only a flying visit. Off to Darjeeling tomorrow - more english weather! Yay!!!
The weather is also very very varied, obviously there is the mid-day heat but it's quite reasonable away from the lunch time hours. And the road system is backwards, quite literally at mid-day all the roads reverse their direction, it's really really weird and the only way we can actually cross them is by tailing the locals!
Anyway beyond the pictures there's not much to say cause it's only a flying visit. Off to Darjeeling tomorrow - more english weather! Yay!!!
St Paul's Cathedral
We got special permission from the priest to take photograph's inside the church. It's so beautiful. Hope you like them mum and grandy xxx
Wednesday, August 1
From Buddism to Sikhism - Amaritsar
So we arrived in Amaritsar after an eventful six hours on a bus that burst a tyre followed by someone's camera being stolen in the aftermath. So glad we asked to driver to put our bags up front cause everyone else's were on the roof and we could see random locals just jumping onto the roof ladders of other buses! So anyway after we managed to get off the bus after waiting 10 minutes for some locals and the conductor to stop fighting we checked into our hotel, which was clean and quiet!! However it is plain to see that Amaritsar is not a peaceful city, we've been here a day and witnessed 3 fights on the street! We've been stared at beyond comprehension and even followed, matthew had to face up to this guy who trailed us for about an hour - then he ran away!
So the golden temple is not quite what we expected, yes it's very religious but we got a fair amount of hassle and it made us quite uncomfortable along with the heat!! As you can see from the pictures though it is very very beautiful. In light of the temperment of the locals to westerners... we have been spat at as well! We decided to skip the border ceremony with Pakistan and are booked onto a 37 hour train to Kalkutta! Why KalKuttu you may think, well it's the only other connection to darjeeliing apart from Delhi and we though we might as well see a different hot horrible city! To ease the pain we've booked into an expensive hotel, which is all inclusive and has a bath! yeah! That'll leave us with one afternoon to see a couple of sights and saturday night we're heading to darjeeling. Sadly we were forced to book a nicer AC class cabin cause the cheaper one was booked out, what a shame... ;)
Hope you like the photos, we're beginning to think anywhere beyond ther hill stations = delhi belly since we're onto round three! xxx
So the golden temple is not quite what we expected, yes it's very religious but we got a fair amount of hassle and it made us quite uncomfortable along with the heat!! As you can see from the pictures though it is very very beautiful. In light of the temperment of the locals to westerners... we have been spat at as well! We decided to skip the border ceremony with Pakistan and are booked onto a 37 hour train to Kalkutta! Why KalKuttu you may think, well it's the only other connection to darjeeliing apart from Delhi and we though we might as well see a different hot horrible city! To ease the pain we've booked into an expensive hotel, which is all inclusive and has a bath! yeah! That'll leave us with one afternoon to see a couple of sights and saturday night we're heading to darjeeling. Sadly we were forced to book a nicer AC class cabin cause the cheaper one was booked out, what a shame... ;)
Hope you like the photos, we're beginning to think anywhere beyond ther hill stations = delhi belly since we're onto round three! xxx
Golden Temple
This is the golden temple, couldn't get any close ups cause the zoom is broken but we sneaked a few from the roof when the priests weren't looking!
Henna Tatoo and the Dalai Lama
Here's some photo's of my funky tatoo! And the following three are at the residence of the Dalai Lama. The picture with the bells shaped objects are the 'Kora' they are places around the outside of the residence and as you walk along and turn them the resulting phrase is a goodluck blessing or something... The gold statue of a man is Padmasambhave an indian scholar who introduced buddism in Tibet. And the many headed female is the Avalokitesvara
the Tibetan Diety of compassion.
Sunday, July 29
A Taste of Tibet - Mcleod Ganj
Hello Everyone!
We are in Mcleod Ganj now, which is about 3 km from the more widely known Dharamasala - and is home to the Dalai Lama, about whom we have had a swift one hour cramming session about his life in the local Tibet Museum. We went to see 'the residence' but it was just two temples really/ We have funky photos to put up but we can't get the USB connection to work today. Rather shocked at the Tibet-China situation when you hear the details! There are so many people here missing fingers and toes due to frostbite when they escaped from Tibet.
I've got a very cool tattoo..... henna obviously! On my foot, it's a quarter sun with lots of flames, emanating from my ankle! Thinking of getting another on my arm but this may lead to some strange tan lines! We're staying in a Tibetan hotel which is very clean (HOORAY!) and makes really good Tibetan food! There's loads of rooftop cafes here so we're making the most of leisurely meals and games of chess!
The trip here was really quite awful, no sleep all night and then stranded at 5am! And it seems like the trip to Amaritsar will be similarly annoying since the bus leaves at 5am, but it's 3km away and the local bus road is closed!! We're chilling out here for another day, there are some local walks we'd like to do and very unusual jewelery which needs further investigation!!
Love to you all xxx
We are in Mcleod Ganj now, which is about 3 km from the more widely known Dharamasala - and is home to the Dalai Lama, about whom we have had a swift one hour cramming session about his life in the local Tibet Museum. We went to see 'the residence' but it was just two temples really/ We have funky photos to put up but we can't get the USB connection to work today. Rather shocked at the Tibet-China situation when you hear the details! There are so many people here missing fingers and toes due to frostbite when they escaped from Tibet.
I've got a very cool tattoo..... henna obviously! On my foot, it's a quarter sun with lots of flames, emanating from my ankle! Thinking of getting another on my arm but this may lead to some strange tan lines! We're staying in a Tibetan hotel which is very clean (HOORAY!) and makes really good Tibetan food! There's loads of rooftop cafes here so we're making the most of leisurely meals and games of chess!
The trip here was really quite awful, no sleep all night and then stranded at 5am! And it seems like the trip to Amaritsar will be similarly annoying since the bus leaves at 5am, but it's 3km away and the local bus road is closed!! We're chilling out here for another day, there are some local walks we'd like to do and very unusual jewelery which needs further investigation!!
Love to you all xxx
Friday, July 27
Kinnaur Valley Blog
So off we went, intrepid explorers into the great unknown with only our day packs and water.... and what did we discover. That we defintately need some mountain walking practise!!! After an attemp at our tour guide's (Nazier) optimistic suggestion of a three hour hike up a vertical mountain, we found a compromise of 'some up and some flat'! Even though in reality it was much more up than flat! We went with two spanish girls called Noelia and Helena, who were great fun, we spent most evenings playing cards and drinking beers!
We started in Tattapini with a three hour hike from a random drop off point to the hotel, very hot! And let me tell you walking downhill hurts your calves more than uphill! Especially after 6 months on your bum studying for finals! Our hotel overlooked the Surjat river, and had some local sulphur baths. We did not indulge in these because the eggy smell wasn't too appealing! However we did trek to the Shiva caves, which apparently will be underwater in the next two years when the 10,000 MW dam project in northern India is completed!
The following day we went to Sarahan, long jeep trip, but fabulous home cooked indian food. we can now venture from our staple diet of rice and dal!! We went for a nice flat walk in the forest, and trip to see the Sarahan palace, the twin of which lies in Rampur which we saw on the last day. Sangla was our last stop, and offered snake charmers and a great trek along the river and through the forest, didn't quite make it to the top! And this wasn't due to lack determination (in india, we english are known for being fulll of the stuff!) but heart attack risk!!!
A fifteen hour jeep journey took us to Manali, where today we are time wasting waiting for our over night bus to MCleod Ganj, home of the Dali Lama. We been shopping at a Tibetan market and visted several temples and monastries. Now we're off to 'Johnson's cafe' which is the only place we've eaten in Manali cause it does damn good museli and porridge! and i've spied cheese board on the menu which shall be sampled shortly!
That’s all for now, our love to everyone!!
Lauren and Matt xxx
We started in Tattapini with a three hour hike from a random drop off point to the hotel, very hot! And let me tell you walking downhill hurts your calves more than uphill! Especially after 6 months on your bum studying for finals! Our hotel overlooked the Surjat river, and had some local sulphur baths. We did not indulge in these because the eggy smell wasn't too appealing! However we did trek to the Shiva caves, which apparently will be underwater in the next two years when the 10,000 MW dam project in northern India is completed!
The following day we went to Sarahan, long jeep trip, but fabulous home cooked indian food. we can now venture from our staple diet of rice and dal!! We went for a nice flat walk in the forest, and trip to see the Sarahan palace, the twin of which lies in Rampur which we saw on the last day. Sangla was our last stop, and offered snake charmers and a great trek along the river and through the forest, didn't quite make it to the top! And this wasn't due to lack determination (in india, we english are known for being fulll of the stuff!) but heart attack risk!!!
A fifteen hour jeep journey took us to Manali, where today we are time wasting waiting for our over night bus to MCleod Ganj, home of the Dali Lama. We been shopping at a Tibetan market and visted several temples and monastries. Now we're off to 'Johnson's cafe' which is the only place we've eaten in Manali cause it does damn good museli and porridge! and i've spied cheese board on the menu which shall be sampled shortly!
That’s all for now, our love to everyone!!
Lauren and Matt xxx
Kinnaur Valley 2
So whilst we have fast internet connection here are some more! Top to bottom, Lauren dumping Matthew for Harry! Us before the epic trek in Tattapini, the Sutlej river in Tattapini, our hotel over looking the river and the snake charmer in Sangla!!!
Kinnaur Valley
A sample of piccies from our trekking adventure!
In order of appearance: Sangla with Noelia and Nazier (our tour guide), Sarahan Temple with Helena and Noelia, on the way to Sangla, the Shiva Caves, and the waterfall on the way to Sangla!
Friday, July 20
Shimla Sights
The first picture is of the Chirst Church, nice and haunting in the dark!
The second is of Scandel Point, Shimla is a tourist destination for Indian people as well, so it's full of ice cream stalls and people sitting around taking in the views and shooting off noisey balloons in the day and these flourescant helicopters at night!
The final three are of us at the Viceregal Lodge.
St Bede's School and College
Grandy: We managed to get a lift from someone in the hotel to St Bede's, took bit of recon to get matt into an all girls college but we found the back entrance and by-passed security! There is a school and also a college, the college wasn't very picturesque it's looks quite like a british college except it's built on a very steep hill!
The second and third pictures are of the school, we only saw very young children there and couldn't find the reception to ask any question. But the school is attached to the college, all girls as previously mentioned, it's very treey and green, looks like it's fairly wealthy, the girls we asked for directions from were fluent in english. The fourth and fifth pictures show the college, we couldn't get to see anymore because we weren't really supposed to be there in the first place!
I hope you like the pictures xxx
Shimla
After finally going to see the doctor yesterday and getting some gut busting medication (i kid you not 10 pills a day) we were able to venture to our second tourist site in two weeks!!!
A 2km walk out of shilma (felt more like 5 with the hills!) and cheeky navigation of the monkey traffic! we found the the Viceregal Lodge, where the British Viceroy lived during the summer (Ambasador equivalent when India was part of the British empire, we think!) Pretty impressive building, although we weren't able to see much inside because it is now a 'higher learning' academy - for scholars.
The weather is very very misty here, we're not quite sure if it is actually mist or low clouds to be honest! It rained yesterday and on the walk home from the Viceregal lodge you could literally see it wisping along the road!
We've booked a trek at the weekend (after harry potter is released!!) around the Kinnaur Valley, it was slightly expensive but we get jeeped to three separate destinations to trek (one which includes hot springs!) which is probably more practical than the other option, ascending the local 4000m peak! We are going with two girls who's name's and nationalities we don't know but they seemed pretty good at haggling, they managed to half the price of the trek!
Beth: can you send my congratulations to Gemma, what a beautiful name, have you met her yet?
A 2km walk out of shilma (felt more like 5 with the hills!) and cheeky navigation of the monkey traffic! we found the the Viceregal Lodge, where the British Viceroy lived during the summer (Ambasador equivalent when India was part of the British empire, we think!) Pretty impressive building, although we weren't able to see much inside because it is now a 'higher learning' academy - for scholars.
The weather is very very misty here, we're not quite sure if it is actually mist or low clouds to be honest! It rained yesterday and on the walk home from the Viceregal lodge you could literally see it wisping along the road!
We've booked a trek at the weekend (after harry potter is released!!) around the Kinnaur Valley, it was slightly expensive but we get jeeped to three separate destinations to trek (one which includes hot springs!) which is probably more practical than the other option, ascending the local 4000m peak! We are going with two girls who's name's and nationalities we don't know but they seemed pretty good at haggling, they managed to half the price of the trek!
Beth: can you send my congratulations to Gemma, what a beautiful name, have you met her yet?
Wednesday, July 18
A Room with a View
So here are a few pictures of Shimla, the first two were during the epic train journey up here. The third and fourth are the views from our room! Sadly the mist is due to the monsoon season, we also took some video's to capture the views better. The last picture is of Shilma, as you can see it's very very steep here. There will be more to come!!
Fantasy Rock Garden
Here's a little sneaky peak at what we've been doing when we haven't been ill! Nek Chand's fanatsy rock garden in Chandigarh - is created surprisingly out of rock's but also things such as recycled pottery, bangles and pebbles were used to create human and animal figures as well as waterfalls and archways.
And there's also the fittest cakes ever in india! Blueberry cake with chocolate almond ice cream as i seem to remember ;)
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