Minor Mishap #2

Our disembarkment from the bus in Jaipur was a slight fiasco. It occured on the hottest day we had in India, and during my sickness phase (see India blog).

We had been driving through the city for some time, and we came to a stop. Two men came on board and one asked briskly "Are you for Jaipur?"

To which we replied "Yes."

"This is your stop, get off here." He said.

To which we unloaded our luggage and asked "Are you with Geckos?"

They of course replied "Yes."

However, there were many tuk-tuks and we started to feel that the situation wasn't quite right. Mainly because their attitude was not what we had experienced by our other guides. This was confirmed by them asking us where we needed to go and pointed to get in the tuk-tuks. Of course, if they had been our guides, they should have known where we were going.

Fortunately, I had my mobile phone roaming and we could resolve the situation with little stress. Dheerendra -the true tour guide- came and picked us up in a car within 20 minutes.

l
R
x
and Judy

India.

The first thing we noticed about India is that it is very dirty. More so than China, which was a surprise. You can feel the miasma wherever you go. Cows, goats, dogs and elephants freely share the highways and busy roads with cars, buses, tuk-tuks (motorised and not), motorbikes, trucks etc. Also, our stay has been marked by unseasonably hot weather, which means we have been drinking LOTS of water (even Mum!)

Our entry point to India was Delhi, which took 3 hours to get through immigration/customs, all at 2 am. We didn't stay in Delhi for long initially.

We only have one other traveller from England with us on this tour. Our tour guides have been different in each city and they don't accompany us on transport to the next destination.

We took the train, where an Intrepid traveller had her bag stolen literally from under her nose. Our destination was Agra where we spent one day - enough time to see the Red Fort and Taj Mahal (actually not it's proper name, but an Anglaisised version).

The next morning we took a 6 hour bus trip to Jaipur. This was a challenge for me as the previous night's dinner decided to assault me. Mum worriedly held my hand.

Arriving in Jaipur (see Minor Mishap #2) we were given a lovely traditional welcome to the converted Palace where we were staying - with red bindis, marigold garland and a shower of rose petals. This lifted my spirits a little, but I still decided to collapse for the remainder of the day with my antibiotics for comfort, while Mum tuk-tuk-ed (kidney-shaked) to dinner.

The next day we woke up groggy with heat. The first tour for the day was of The Amber Fort - also misnamed, as it is actually a Palace, there was no military installation. It was absolutely stunning. The paint on the walls had held their colour due to being made of crushed gemstones. Then we went back to Jaipur city and visited the City Palace which held the remaining treasures of the Amber Palace (carpets, paintings, textiles). Finally, in the evening we visited a village festival re-enactment. We enjoyed puppet shows, magic shows, henna tattoos, massage, dance and music demonstrations, elephant rides. The banquet meal was also interesting (some did taste very good, but as my medical book suggested no spicy food, I could only 'taste'.)

The next day was back to Delhi, Delhi, Delhi (dilidilidili as the bus conductor kept yelling) on another bus ride. We are apparently in New Delhi, although it doesn't look a bit new. We have not seen much of the city as it has been Festival of Colours and we had been instructed by our tour guide not to go out unless we wanted to be covered in paint. We did have a brief look at the largest Mosque and Chandi Chowk - the oldest market streets in Delhi - where we were doused with buckets of water. We were also going to see a Bollywood movie but our tour guide didn't turn up (again).

All in all, not sorry to leave India tomorrow.

l

R

x

and Judy

We are on a Hong Kong High

Hong Kong is a little unusual. It is theoretically part of China, but you have to fill out China departure and Hong Kong arrival slips before you get here. China drives on the right, where as Hong Kong drives on the left, but when walking around you never know which side to walk on, because there are Hong Konganites and China nationals + foreigners walking around together - makes to be very confusing. Also, they use Hong Kong dollars instead of yuan.

However, people seem to be a lot happier and more friendly and helpful than the mainland. Mum and I have both thoroughly enjoyed our time in Asia's World City. For example: I'm sitting here writing this in a Pacific Coffee Company cafe - on a free computer, with super fast broadband... woohoo!

Our first few days were on Kowloon finishing our tour, before we moved to Hong Kong Island. We visited the famous Temple St markets and roamed through Kowloon Park. In fact, all the parks are wonderful. Two days were spent in Hong Kong Park and there was still more to see.

Mum in Hong Kong Park

We have been to Lantau Island to see the giant Buddha and Ngong Ping Village, caught the funicular tram up to Hong Kong Peak, been on ferries, the MTR subway system, buses, cable cars, taxis and trams. We enjoyed an authentic reflexology foot massage (one word: ahhhhhh) and had a seafood feast at the Quarterdeck on Victoria harbour (contrary to previous experience, I found out I do like lobster) while watching the famous harbour light show (which would have given Dad laser envy). Perhaps we are setting ourselves up for a rather large fall in India...

Harbour Light Show with a Junk

Our final day has been spent up at the flower show at Victoria Park... beautiful.

l
R
x
and Judy

Minor Mishap #1

If ever it was going to happen then it was bound to happen on the first day!

It was the first day in China (Beijing) and we went up to the Summer Palace with the bus and then back with the taxi. We hadn't realised at the time, but when the taxi driver handed back our 100 yuan note and said he "didn't like new notes" - he had actually switched the note we gave him with a counterfeit. We found this out later when Mum tried to pay for dinner at the hotel and it was returned as a counterfeit.

We deduced it must have come from the taxi driver because Travelex would check their money and the only other place we got money exchanged was at the hotel - and they checked it all through a special machine before they gave it to us. Rocky, our tour leader, later confirmed that this scam sometimes happens in taxis.

Now we have another souvenir!

l

R
x
and Judy

Last Days on the Mainland

After we wrote the last entry we were told the next day by the fellow Australians that there was a tour bus hijack near the bell tower... because their family and friends sent them messages asking if they were ok. In China there was no coverage of the incident, and we were in the area two hours after it happened and nothing was up.

We saw the amazing Terracotta Warriors just outside of Xi'an. We got to see one of the farmer's who discovered them while digging a well. He is about 86 now. We were surprised that the warriors were originally painted. There are 3 pits currently being excavated and the whole area around where the emperor's tomb is located has archaeological relics - about a 10 km square.

The Warriors in Pit 1

We discovered Maky Bakery in Xi'an. China knows how to do custard stuff.

We experienced a traditional dumpling banquet in Xi'an, with dumplings often in the shape of their filling. e.g. duck, pig, cabbage, walnut, fish ...

The fish dumplings

We went for a bike ride around the top of the city wall in Xi'an - the only complete ancient city wall in China. The distance was about 16 km and we decided to take a bike for two. After a minor mishap of a blow out after 5 minutes, the attendants changed our bike at the next guard house/entry point. There was pain... lots of pain.

On the City Wall in Xi'an

The night flight to Guilin was suprisingly in a Boeing 767... much better than the anticipated light aircraft. This was followed by a 2 hour night minibus ride (all of the China-driving fun but none of the daylight) to Yangshuo.

Yangshuo is beautiful. Much less pollution, only 30, 000 population. There was greenery and incredible mountain formations. Mum decided to stay in while I went for a bike ride around town. The clouds decided to rain on the group on the way back - icy.

We also went to the Li River - as seen on the 20 Yuan note.

The train to Guanzhou didn't even have a space where the door should have been. But there seemed to be less smokers which meant a bit more sleep was had. 12 hours later, we got a bus and then a ferry to Hong Kong. Total time: 16 hours. Priceless.

l
R
x
(and Judy)

P.S. I think I might run out of adjectives soon...

China Expansion Pack

The Tranquility Gardens at the Summer Palace

The Great Wall Climb at Simatai

View from the 5th Watchhouse

The Forbidden City

A corner in The Forbidden City

Tian'an Men Square

Nihao from China

It has only been 5 days, but it has felt like a whole lot more.

We were the first Qantas flight to fly into the new Beijing airport. Yay! It was absolutely huge, and our flight was the only one there. We got in at 10.30 pm... took a monorail to collect our baggage and transferred straight to our hotel.

We spent 3 days around Beijing
1: We took public transport (2 yuan=20c) to the Summer Palace - breathtaking - and got ripped off in a taxi on the way back (50AUD) Ha! Foreigners. Met our tour group (6 Aussies and 1 American) in the afternoon and tour leader Rocky. After dinner we went to a local grocery store with Rocky for supplies.

2: At 6.30am we took a 4 hour bus trip to the Simatai section of the Great Wall. This is not the usual tourist section of the Wall. On the way the driver (who reassuringly had a noticeable head tic) had to stop for some goats to be herded across the road. This was perhaps the calmest moment with local drivers turning 2 lanes into 5. After disengaging our fingernails from the seat, we started our trek up the wall. It had snowed the night before, so the wind was freezing. Quite honestly, I was not expecting the trek to be that hard, having only seen pictures of the easy tourist area. We each had a local farmer follow us, with the intent to sell us something at the top. After 2 hours we had made it to watchtower 8 - the chinese auspicious number - before deciding to turn back. Mum stayed at the hotel while I went to the Shaolin Monk's Kung Fu show. Overall it was a very enjoyable day.

3: Mum's birthday and half our day was spent at the Forbidden City. It was just phenomenal. We caught a taxi to the bird's nest stadium... and got a taxi straight back. The only picture we could get was from the taxi. We therefore decided to collect our wits with a traditional tea at Laoshe Teahouse. We then caught an overnight train to Xi'an. Six to a room with no door, but a TV. Luxury. Don't ask about the amenities. Mum was given a cake on the train and everybody sang. The train ride would have been fine, except for the cigarette smoke (even in an non smoking cabin) which set off my asthma.

4: Xi'an arrival at 8.40 am. Needless to say, today was spent relaxing with a quick visit to the Muslim quarter markets.

As a final note, it has been quite unusual to have everyone staring, and asking to take photos with us (what? do we have a third head?)

l
R
and Judy
x

P.S. Pictures to come when we can have more than one window open.