Udiapur & Mumbai

Greetings from a very warm and humid Mumbai...city of 16 million souls...some stats for those of you that are interested: No. of public washrooms per million people: 17! No. of people on a Mumbai train designed for 1,700 during rush hour: 8,800 (me thinks that this is low...after all anything is possible in India so why not 20,000 or so? No. of people per sq. km in Mumbai...27,700...you get the picture...lots of people and also the most beautiful buildings we have ever seen. We are in the Fort area called Colaba...made infamous by the book Shantaram and the well coordinated terrorist attack a few years back. Definitely high end tourist as the streets are clean, relatively few horns blaring etc...and for India very expensive (we are holed up in a nice Sally-Ann (salvation army) hostel. These old buildings date back to the 18th century and looking at old photographs, India (and Mumbai) was a paradise before a billion plus people put an end to paradise. The University buildings make anything we have seen in Canada (inc. Victoria/Quebec City, Parliament buildings etc. look like a "1"...they are truly spectacular and make us want for a wide angle lens. So as we are leaving Mumbai we were treated to a classic Indian scene...a ancient bus packed with Indians rolled by with an entire flock of crows perched on its roof...classic!  Our travel book says "don't expect much sleep on the bus trip from Mumbai to Goa as it is one of the worst roads in India...truer words have never been spoken as we seemed to have made the trip constantly rolling from one side of the sleeper to the other!
We are heading to various locations in Goa today...but before Mumbai we visited the city of Udiapur (formerly Mewar)

Udiapur...the most romantic city in India! Or so it is known...looks like another BDIC (Big Dirty Indian City) to us, although the lake and clustered busy streets do have a certain charm in the morning and evenings. We spent several days exploring including a fantastic visit to Kumbalgrath Fort...dating back to the 14th century this fort had 36 km of walls and contained over 180 temples...and only a part of the fort has been repaired. The Indians have done a great job here...the fort and its 1044 gun bastions are a sight to see...to think of 36 km of huge walls (over 50 feet tall and 40 feet wide!) all constructed by hand is insane! The drive to here (over 7 hrs total driving time) runs through some of the first untouched jungle land we have seen in India (incredibly rugged...thus no roads, or people) and through small villages where we got a glimpse of an old way of life...oxen driven water pumps made of wood wheels...etc. Our next stop was the Jain temple at Ranakpur often referred to as the most beautiful Jain temple in India. Made entirely of marble the temple has 1400 huge marble columns, all intricately hand carved and none the same, 11 halls (all hand carved) and simply put is the most amazing piece of art that we have ever seen! (The Jain are a sect of Hindu that reject the caste system and do not believe in killing any creature...to the point that many brush the ground in front of them when they walk to prevent killing ants etc.

To visit these temples we took a taxi and it took over 7 hrs of driving on some sketchy roads (that trashed brakes, clutches etc.) and we paid....1400 R or 24 dollars! (this was just the two of us with a driver!) We also checked out the city palace in Udiapur...impressive and best of all there is a World Wildlife Fund office within the palace grounds. We had a good discussion with the supervisor...less than 1500 tigers left in India (and India has 60% of the wild tigers left in the world) and although there was a slight increase in the Indian tiger population this year the general trend is app. 50 tigers dying per year through various causes...poaching being the main one (mandatory 5 year min. jail time for poaching a single tiger) However the biggest species threat in India right now is the vulture population...it has dropped over 90 percent in the last two years due to a drug(diclofenac for arthritis and joint swelling that is used on cattle, which if they die and are eaten by vultures kills them by damaging their kidneys. The government cannot ban the drug as it would mean a major drop in cattle production so it appears that all of the Himalayan vultures (which include the massive Himalayan Griffon and Lamegeyer (impressive birds!!) are pretty much doomed. So much for boring animals eh!  We also witnessed the incredible Muslim celebration where huge houses (up to 4 stories tall!) are packed around the narrow streets of Udiapur followed by thousands of Muslims dressed in traditinal head gear.  We were warned to keep clear of the streets but ventured down for a few moments and it was pure pandemonium!  We quickly retreated to our roof-top viewpoint...absolutely amazing and dangerous!  These huge houses are constructed on logs that are carried on the backs of up to 30 people and you can imagine they hang up on all the buildings surrounding the streets.  Ahead of each "house float" are people with big bamboo poles beating people out of the way and keeping the streets clear for the human house transport team!


On our trip back from the mountains we also captured a glimpse of true India...a large cow was sharing a dumpster with a pack of dogs..the entire front end of the cow was inside the dumpster where it was helping itself to a smorgasbord of plastic etc. with a pack of dogs!

So our trip to the South continues...Terisa says "look for the hidden India...it is incredible"....we are trying but she is hard to see beyond the piles of garbage, nosie and smoke filled sky!!!!

Rishikesh, Pushkar and busses without windshields...

Rishikesh, what to say....yoga, meditation, ashrams, and tourists. This is one busy little place with everyone on their own special journey so to speak...it looks to me like a few of the tourists have gone more than a little overboard in their spiritual journey..but each to their own! We are surprised to see some pretty old tourists...but then again there are some really nice hotels and tour groups arranged through the big hotels in Delhi etc....but still India is not the place to visit if your stomach isn't strong. Talking of which the cows here are dammed tough and basically survive on eating plastic and paper bags. One lady we met says that they are outlawing plastic bags in some cities as they are killing the cows (which are obviously holy) and some cows have over 90 lbs of plastic stuck in their stomachs! (I was wondering about this plastic as the cow dung looks pretty much the same as our cattle just being a little looser (plastic laxative!).

even the cows like the shopping in Rishikesh

The pigs play a major role in garbage disposal eating cow, human crap and most anything else around here. So Ernie...the answer to your question is that "no" they don't eat moose meat..and no beef or pork (thank god!)...the goat (we had some okay goat in the Himalaya) and mutton (always tastes like crap to us!)...we are 100% veggie/fruits here in India.
We spent our five days in Rishikish exploring the streets, relaxing on the beaches along the Ganges (mother Ganga) river, watching the monkeys (lots and one of the "red ass" fellows attacked me and chomped on my pants), watching sunsets, reading and relaxing...very nice and we leave Rishikish with some great memories!

After "organizing" our getaway we took a tuk tuk to Hardiwar (about 25 km) and just about sucummed to fume poisoning (might as well have sucked on a diesel pipe for an hour) before we unloaded at the bus(?)station...bears a distinct resemblance to the Alexis Creek landfill...only dirtier. Some strange sights on the way to the bus station the least of which was a baba, awash in gray ash and standing buck naked in the middle of a bridge slowing down traffic...strange! Bought our ticket at a travel agent promising a tourist sleeper bus.. pay 650R each which to put in perspective is slightly more than what we had just paid for 5 nights lodging in Rishikesh, so even though it only costs us $12.00 each, is expensive......get to the tourist bus station which is little more than a very dirty dirt parking lot with some chai stands, people waiting around and a few buses in various stages of neglect. There is a bus on the outskirts that has seen better days....no windshield, hood doesn't shut, a few boarded up windows and what looks like a flat tire. Chris laughingly takes a picture of this derelict. Some of the other buses look okay. We sit in the shade sipping chai and wait until our appointed departure time when we are to leave on bus #3206. Time comes around and minor chaos is starting so Chris goes looking for our bus...returns laughing his head off - guess what - that broken down bus with no windshield is ours! But enough of our bitching...what about the driver..as it is frigging cold and I cannot even imagine what is thrown up by traffic (and speaking of traffic it flows non-stop...bumper to bumper all night with huge traffic jams in Delhi at the toll booths even at midnight. In fact this is our first sleeper bus and its pretty cool as we have our own private space above the seats (not good in a roll-over!) and one entire side is window...that opens wide open (like wide enough that someone small could easily fall out of the window onto the packed street!)...a great place to see India from! So the bus stops every once in a while to allow people to grab a chai etc. These stops rarely have a bathroom and are considered "open" areas...that is you whiz or take a dump where ever you want. Needless to say the smell would gag a hyena and one definitely wants to watch their step! (good for the guys..not so much for the gals!)

So after a bus switch (where our sleeper was already taken and the bus full...so we had to stand in the front for the final leg to Pushkar. The driver assured us he would make it in two hours (the book ways 4) and sure enough he definitely had some kamakazee blood in his system as he maneuvered this huge bus through the throngs of motos, Tata's laying on the mega-horn almost non-stop!



Pushkar...here we are...on the ghat lined Pushkar Lake...very nice and not even a village in India terms with only 17,000 souls. We have spent five days here, climbed both of the mountains at sunset, taken a camel ride into the desert (great Thar Desert) in Rajisthan and walked the ghats and virtually every street in this colorful, bustling and NOISEY village. First of all a short list of what is illegal in holy Pushkar: Eating/serving of meat. : Kissing : No drinking : No sex (hold it...can't be true given the expansive number of kids!) So what isn't illegal is Charas and Chillum...smoking of ganga and hashish which is definitely a national pasttime throughout all of India we have visited...people light up any and everywhere especially the locals...and just an observation...there are no rowdies, people acting stupid and mean like when folks use alcohol! Even the lassies (a fantastic drink made of curd(yogurt) and fruit (like a superthick better tasting milkshake), also come specially made as "special" or "bhang" lassies mixed with ganga...they taste good and work (as evidenced by Lori making me do a mega chocolate bar run after a special lassie)! Our local restaurant guy said "I want to go to Canada and open a restaurant selling chai and "special lassies"!...no doubt he would get RICH..but only until he ended up in jail!

Our camel ride was definitely fun as we headed out of town into the desert for an overnight trip. So riding a camel is like riding a bumpy horse that sits 2 stories tall...you're a long ways up! You turn the varmits like a horse...except with their long necks you can stretch the neck of a stubborn camel right to your leg...not good as they are biters. We were surprised to see many birds species and even some large antelope...but then again that is one of the good things about being a vegetarian society against killing...despite horrific environmental degradation there are wild animals living right on the outskirts of towns etc. We were also surprised to learn that the government actually grass seeded many of the sand dunes with pampas grass in the state of Rajisthan to stabilize the sand dunes and allow farmers to grow crops where they could get water.

our camel camp out in the desert

I think that we mentioned that the best way to describe India is "sensory overload".....well we can define it even more after 5 days in Pushkar...NOISE is India!!!! We are convinced that most Indians are scared (no kidding!) of silence! Even in the desert music was blaring at mega decibels wherever people lived and right now we are listening (because we have no choice!) to the babbling of some lunatic spewing religious Hindi at 50 words a minute over a massive loud-speaker...and they have been at it for over 20 hrs non-stop!!!!!! Myanna...you got it right as the most important luggage to take to India is ear plugs...but they are not even working with this lunatics dialog (and although the Indian weddings are incredible...color...life...dancing and music the noise is insane...they blast off these huge fire crackers (better than M50's) but they pale in comparison (in terms of sheer noise) to the music which is broadcast though a mass of 10 plus 3 foot speakers powered by their own generator towed behind a horse...I swear I can feel my balls giggling when they pass by!!! Leaving for Udiapur this evening...lots of bus time and a tuk tuk/bus transfer...will we make it? stay tuned!

Detour to Tehri and the Mountains

We are watching the sun set over the Ganges River (mother ganga) in the town of Rishikesh. It has taken us awhile to get here as we were diverted north to Tehri and the mountains by a new friend Niyaz whom we met on the bus coming from Delhi. He invited us to accompany him to his hometown of Tehri to stay with his family and visit the 'mounts'. It was an amazing experience. Niyaz and his extended family of aunt, uncle, brothers, sisters, cousins, nephew and niece all live in a beautiful home in New Tehri, up in the foothills of the Himalaya.


The original town of Tehri (50,000 people) was flooded to make a huge dam on the Bhagirathi River. The lake that was created is 43 kilometers long and 850 meters deep and the dam is one of the largest in the world. The people that were displaced were moved up the mountain to 'New Tehri' which overlooks the beautiful lake that covers the entire old town.

The road we drove on was immortalized in the Ice Road Truckers (IRT) movie filmed in India where they hauled cement into the Tehri Dam...we drove the road twice and all I can say is that US truckers are pussies compared to their Indian counterparts that drive this road pedal to the metal with ancient Tata trucks. (Actually the Indian made, Indian tough Tata trucks are my new road heros!) And if the IRTs thought that the road they drove on was bad they would have fainted if they saw the road beyond the dam!

So we were toured around for a day by Niyaz, Shiraz, and MD Sameem, fed incredible Indian food and treated like very special guests. The next day we travelled by bus and share taxi (6hrs) to Garam Bhati, a small village further up into the mountains where the road ends and trails take over. It was just like being in Nepal. We stayed with MD Sameen's mom and gramma in a very rudimentary home. No heat except a wood fuelled cooking area on the ground, two rooms up and the cows live below. When we hiked up into the Himalaya foothills (a misnomer as these "hills"are thousands of feet high and near vertical as one can get without being a sheer rock wall) we followed the village women who with their brightly colored dresses head into the mountains everyday to collect firewood. Let me tell you...these sub100lb women are TOUGH...I could hardly lift up the bundles of firewood they collect with their small scythes (bundle into a roll and pad with grass then wrap a nylon rope around the bundle and across their shoulder like backpack straps!....can you even imagine hauling a hundred pound load with nylon straps digging into your shoulder for 2 hrs!!!

So we go on this hike and our good friends are talking about beers (bears) and lions of which they are deadly afraid...and when we came to a spot where they thought that they spotted a lion track we decided to turn back. The men (of which there are very few as most of the men (with the exception of the old men (elders) work in the cities and only come home once in a while) were amazed that us fellows and Lori climbed up the mountain...it is dangerous and steep...but the women do this every day of the week!!!

We had alot of fun and owe Niyaz, Shiraz and MD Sameen a big thank you for showing us a side of rural India that we would have never experienced on our own! The trip back was as much fun as the ride to the foothills as the roads are a disaster with avalanches everywhere! Every hillside is a mass of earthen scars caused by the monsoon season rains. The hand work stone road walls are a work of art and it is mind boggling to think that all the millions of walls/rocks were moved by hand!! After travelling through places like Indonesia and Nepal we are kind of used to the driving antics of India (that used to scare the crap out of us) and in fact they drive more sanely here than Indonesia. However every once in a while a driver thinks he is Mario Andretti and in these cases we have learned to just close your eyes and try to go to sleep as one fact of these mountain roads is that if you do leave the road it will be the last 'exit' of your life.

and these women are all carrying cell phones...true!

Anyways we made it to Rishikesh and this place is a sea of calm in the chaos of India!

Greetings from Delhi

Good morning everyone...from the top of the Lord Krishna hotel (?) main bazaar Old Delhi.  Its about 19 degrees with a beautiful wind and the sky is full of the usual smoke (looks like a forest fire!) which gives the scene below us a surreal look.  Ear plugs are our new best friend as the sounds of horns blaring (you don't need a motor over here..but always a horn!) dogs barking etc.  The street are crawling with people (that's what happens when 18 million people live in a 1700 sq. km city!) tuk tuks, rickshaws a few cows chewing on garbage!


the untouchable caste tries to deal with the garbage....




view from our humble abode in old
Delhi

 This place is amazing...the food absolutely amazing (the best we have ever tasted!) at about 2 dollars a meal...a ghetto room for 10 dollars a night and you have it made!  The people are super friendly and it is one of the safest places we have ever travelled!  Lots of scams to keep one on their toes and masses upon masses of people.  The transit systems are like cattle loading and unloading chutes and the security tight (you get checked like the airport just getting onto the transit etc.)
A day here is truly a mental and physical test...and although we have only been here four days it feels like we have experienced two weeks of life!  If you have ever wondered how one might die in India consider the following:  India has the worst traffic safety record in the world with 166,000 traffic DEATHS per year..yes there is alot of people but in fact very few vehicles!  I guess one might consider this just another form of population control.
Lots of amazing old forts and ruins strewn about the city.

  We are staying in the old (read poorer) parts of this huge city but the downtown area would challenge downtown Vancouver for money, massive infrastructure fancy cars etc. but none of that in Old Delhi (old Delhi is area constructed prior to the British leaving in 1947-48)
Just heading out to Rishikesh in the North...if we can figure out how to get to the bus station!!!

Last Day in Bangkok

Good evening everyone...yes it is 5:12 here in Bangkok as we relax in the 30 degree plus heat having a Chang "over" beer (justifiably named!)  Yes it is hot...almost hot enough to complain..but then again not quite! 
It was one long journey to get here...by our calculations 45 plus hours of Greyhound bus, taxis, subways, 2 plane flights of over 17 hours, more bus taxis and finally deposited in the middle of the night on Khao San Road in Bangkok.  We can definitely see this getting a little tough to handle as one gets older!
So we don't need gumboots and the good news for us tourists is that we have never seen so few fellow tourists in Bangkok (which is bad news for the very friendly locals).  There is some flooding and I guess the Chao Phraya River is getting higher by the hour but these people are tough...getting flooded out but life goes on as usual.
We have seen a few Pomeranians here...they are a pretty popular dog and have us missing the Spudster.  We have moved from our original nights accommodation into what Lori calls a "jail" at 200 Bhat a night (which is app. 7 dollars)...just getting ready for India I say!  Lots of sandbags everywhere around here...Dylan could pack in his job millwrighting and take up his previous profession as a sand bagger!
No snakes, crocodiles (as reported in various reports which you know must be BS as they would be chopped up and sold to tourists like us as chicken!) just some monitor lizards and lots of garbage.  We took a tuk tuk ride along with the required visits to the gem stores today and had a great time...tomorrow it is off to the floating market then to India where we are supposed to arrive in New Delhi at 11 pm.  Lots of good food here (and cheap!)...we have to move or we won't fit on the plane! Oh yeah...better fill everyone in on what are the latest sale craze in Thailand...this would be Billabongo  (rip off) shorts...a sale item that has moved north from Indonesia (in 2010 this was the big sale item in Indonesia).  We know from experience that although they do look nice you don't want to buy them as they have no liner so your balls hang out of the bottoms! That's all for now...porkchop signing off!  See you in India....


Chris partying on Khao San
750ml Archa 50baht ($1.60) and the usual Changover



Egg delivery Thai style....and we have trouble getting a dozen eggs home unbroken....



Garbage floating in the flooding back eddies...guess this could become a problem...



Flooding near the river



Some minor flooding near the Grand Palace



India here we come!

Soon on the way to India for 6 months or so....will keep you posted.....