Day to Day

On Thursday we arrived in Goa on following a very pleasant down from Ahmedabad with Spice Jet - the Indian equivalent to Ryanaer (and far superior to boot! - we got free water twice and more free biscuits than you could shake a stick at while we were waiting to take off in Mumbai). It took us a while to convince a taxi to take us to Vasco De Gama (it's turned out that its really close and that all the taxi guys were holding off to see if they could convey tourists to the beach spots and thus make the big bucks) but eventually we managed to get a fair price.

We had beeen armed by Brother Finn with all we needed for our first day in Vasco - a hotel name and a map that he had drawn for us to another Christian Brothers school. We checked into the Rebelo Hotel in and decided that due to heat (it was about 31 degrees celcius - the hottest we had yet to experience in India) we deserved a bit of a sit down before attempting anything. Once refreshed (and by "refreshed" here I mean that there was a power failure and the tv stopped working) we set off, map in hand, to find the "Regina Mundi" school. We decided to do it on foot (why, I cannot recall). 45 mins later we were still walking and seemed no closer to finding Regina Mundi. We were beginning to lose faith in Brother Finn's cartography skills..

Eventually, after been given several conflicting sets of directions, the school was pointed out to us and we began the steep ascent. We expected to find a super fit bunch of Christian Brothers atop the hill (it was very steep!) but instead found merely the super friendly and welcoming variety. This was due to the VASTLY shorter and much less punishing approach to the school that existed. We met with Brother Pinto who gave us much needed refrehments and introduced around by to the brothers that lived at the school. We even met an Irish brother called Brother Bosco who was delighted to hear our "gaelic names". We eventually took our leave and grabbed a quick bite of Goan cuisine (Kingfisher Curry) before having an early night.

Next day we packed up again and hoped on a local bus to the state capital Panjim from where we hoped to continue onwards to Baga Beach. By all accounts its a bit of a Indian Benidorm but we thought we'd like something a bit livlier after Mt. Abu so we decided to try it out for a couple of days before exploring Goa further. Bus was a bit cramped but cost about 40 cent each and only took us 45 mins. In Panjim we hopped on the first trustworthy bus (surprisingly hard to find a bus of that variety..) we came upon. Another 50 cent payed for our way to Calagute (we asked for Baga and were dropped here but it seems to be the closest to Baga the local buses get). We decided to base ourselves in the slightly pricey, but conveniently located, "Angelina's Beach Resort". Ten minutes later we were strolling barefoot on the beach.

 

Yesterday the plan was to spend the day on one of the gazillion available free sunbeds that lined the beach, have a few drinks, and generally act like we are on a beach holiday. We stuck to this plan so diligently that come time for home we were decidedly pink (me especially).

Our evening plan was to soak up a bit of local culture and head to a small local bar called "The Sports Cafe" and watch the local favourites Man Utd take on the mighty Charlton. The match was advertised everywhere as being on @ 10:30 pm so we decided to bide our time and blend in with the crowd and ordered "bangers and mash" and a "chicken burger and chips". The plan all fell asunder @ 10:28 pm when the highlights of the entire match was shown (not the extended highlights either - just the goals... sigh..) prior to scheduled kickoff. The night wasn't a total loss as we did manage to procure some cider - a fairly dubious, explosive (a whopping 8% ABV) and expensive take on the genre. Rough stuff.

Today we awoke @ 9am with a mind to finding new (cheaper) lodgings. It was with some difficulty as we had only managed 4 and "a bit" hours sleep the previous night. We had felt it necessary the night before to stay up and watch "The Guardian" (eh.. quality movie.. kevin costner & ashton kutcher.. unmissable it ain't). I blame the Tempest Cider..
We found a new and far more economical place to stay just up the road and have spent the rest of today sun dodging (still a bit pink) and looking for an Irish bar that might be showing the rugby (gowan Ireland!). We have heard tell of a place called "Molly Malone's" (no joke) so we are off to investigate.

Wish us luck!

In the very early hours of Saturday morning we set off to the train station to begin our first Indian night train experience. We were good and prepared - we had the train no, carriage no, and our seat numbers written on our hands so as to avoid the scammers who try and get your ticket off you. When the train came in to the station we spotted our carriage no. and boarded the train. We weren't expecting the complete darkness and confusion that we were confronted with when we boarded the train. We blundered through in the darkness with our huge rucksacks bumping every unfortunate Indian head along the way. When we reached the light at the other end of the carriage we realised that we had learned nothing from the expedition through the carriage and that one of us would have to go back. I grabbed a torch... A few minutes later after waking pretty much everybody in the carriage with my torch (which is surprisingly bright - nice work finola ;) we discovered we were in the wrong carriage. Right carriage, wrong train journey is what we discovered on examination of our tickets - oops! Found our seats (bunks I should say) in the end and we were in Abu Road within a few hours. Getting off the train was a bit of an ordeal as well - they don't seem to announce stops (probably for fear of waking up everybody in the carriage) and there is none of this automatically opening doors malarky.. As usual though we muddled through.

Emerging tired and bleary eyed from the train we were greeted by Shankar (it took us about 3 days to get his name properly as neither of us managed to catch it the 1st time - we reckon he still doesn't have a clue what our names are). I tried to wave hime away initially as has become necessary upon any disembarking from a train (we are usually besieged straight away by people trying to make friends with us and take us various places - and all for only 10 rupees!). Turned out he was the real deal - thankfully he wasn't too offended so my blushes were spared.. Shankar drove us up to Mount Abu via a winding, car sickness inducing road. The view was spectacular, the monkeys all over the place were cool, and Shankars driving was of an infinitely higher standard than we had come to expect.

We spent a chilled out few days in Mount Abu with the Christian Brothers of St. Mary's High School in Mount Abu. We got plenty of rest, did plenty of exploring in the local town, spent a day walking around and boating on Nakki Lake, and visited the Dilwara Temple (a Jain temple with some of the most impressively detailed and ornate marble carvings ever). All in all Mount Abu was a great success.

We arrived in Ahmedabad yesterday evening and are staying in the Balwas Hotel - thank you Lonely Planet! We went out for a bit of grub last night - actually our first proper restaurant with Indian food (v. tasty and was easily able to manage the "spicy" version of the food - although Aoife was able to manage too so that took the shine off it..).

Today we watched a repeat of Ireland V Wales rugby match at the weekend - was great stuff though wasn't nearly so tense because we knew the result (thanks Cian!). Went to "Subway" for lunch (because sometimes you just want a roll). They had no meatball subs. We haven't seen any beef because cows are sacred here - am longing for a steak sandwich! The cows "sacred status" here in India mean that they can freely roam through streets and on railway lines unhindered and the world is their toilet. A bit of a shock to the system coming from a country where almost every meal consists of some form of beef - spaghetti bolognese, burgers, steak and chips, roast beef.... Mmmmmm...

Anyway.. Off to Goa tomorrow for a bit of sun and sand (and hopefully some surf). We hope to try and sniff out an Irish bar so that we'll be able to watch the match on Sunday.

Thats all folks - be in touch again when we get to Goa.

P.s. - we have fixed the posting on comments on the site - they should now appear automatically without having to be moderated. Keep them coming - its great to hear from home (even though we've only been gone two weeks)!

We took a tour of Delhi last Saturday. Spent the whole day at it and we both really enjoyed it. Took in all the major sites/sights of Delhi (The Red Fort, Qutab Minar, Humayun's Tomb, etc.) with a couple of well meaning, but difficult to understand guides.

On Sunday we caught our first Auto-Rickshaw (we were running later for mass...). It was a bit like a ride at Disney Land but without the safety precautions - especially because traffic was light at that hour and he was able to get up to full speed. We screeched to a halt with a full four minutes to spare for mass.

After mass we walked over to the school and met up again with the ever hospitable Brother Finn. He fed us again, and we spent a pleasant afternoon watching the Mens Australian Open Tennis Final (Federer won again in case you missed it..).

We just had enough time for a quick photo opportunity with our gracious host before we hit the road

The following morning (Monday) we awoke @ 5am to begin our journey to the tourist Mecca that is Agra - home of the Taj Mahal. Our train journey was uneventful (although a few lessons could be learned by Irish Rail..), but for the few ominous tummy rumblings...

When we arrived in Agra we were pretty much accosted from the word go with people attempting to bundle us into their taxis. We had an entourage of about 7 angry looking men (as well as the two asian girls we managed to pick up who thought we looked like we knew what we were doing). After some hand waving, queuing, more hand waving, walking around the car park bemused looking for the right taxi, a quick amendment to our prepaid taxi slip.. we were off. We lost the two asian girls along the way unfortunately - taxi would only take two of us. They may still be at the train station...

We were pleasantly surprised with the hotel (almost too good to be true). After our early start we immediately headed for a nap before taking on Agra. We awoke to the sound of piped music in our room from a loudspeaker outside our window. We figured it was about time to get up anyway so didn't pay it too much heed. There were a few more ominous tummy rumblings but we soldiered on.

Really enjoyed the Taj Mahal - well worth the visit. Is definitely does not disappoint.

When we got back to the hotel (it was easy to find because there was really loud music in the streets outside it) we tentatively grabbed a bite to eat and we went to bed for an early night - tired after our days sightseeing. It wasn't to be. The fairly awful music (it seemed to be on a loop - songs lasted for up to an hour) went on all night and it was so loud that we had to shout to hear each other speak. Both our tummies were also doing somersaults to boot. Didn't get much sleep...

It turned out that the music was for some Muslim festival that we were not aware of. We had also fully developed sick stomachs (Delhi Bellies) but, as we were moving on to a more peaceful scene we didn't let it get us down. We decided to brave the bus system so we caught a rickshaw to the bus station and 15 minutes later we were on the way to Bharatpur (we hoped).

Bharatpur was great. We stayed in the highly recommended Spoonbill Hotel and Restaurant. It was run by a very helpful and friendly retired major. The food was excellent too.

Wednesday morning we ventured in to Keoladeo Ghana National Park (Bird Sanctuary). We were armed by the major with two sets of his binoculars, a book on birds, two mystery packed lunches, and plenty of water. We hired two rickety old bikes on the way in for 50 cent each and set off for the day. Aoife had a bit of difficulty starting hers but she soon got the hang of it - it wasn't as stylish as she would have like though. Fun day had by all. We spotted plenty of interested things - parakeets, hundreds of squirrel like things, cranes, and a family of monkeys having a brawl on the road up ahead of us.

We set off for Jaipur yesterday but unfortunately disaster struck - we left our lonely planet guide to India behind us :( As well as that we also managed to get herded on to a bus which was operated by a group of entrepreneurs. We thought we were getting on the real deal but we started to get suspicious when there were about thirty people hanging off the side of it an hour later. It wasn't the most comfortable either - the seats were definitely not built for the "western frame" - our two backsides didn't fit side by side on the double seat, much to the amusement of the people sitting around us on the bus. Four and a half cramped hours later we arrived in Jaipur (although where we were in Jaipur was anybodys guess). We also had no idea where to go because we had no Lonely planet book. I remembered the name of one hotel - "Hotel Pearl Palace" - so we got in an autorickshaw and tried to get him to take us there. He showed us a couple of palacial hotels (must of thought we were much wealthier), and asked a group of his mates where he should take us. After more hand waving we eventually settled on the "Evergreen Hotel" (from which we are writing to you).

All things considered we have lucked out. We managed to replace the guide book today and Aoife even got some shopping in so all is right with the world again as far as we're concerned. We are also fully healthy again (courtesy of Grennan's Pharmacy). On to Mt. Abu tonight.

Tadhg & Aoife

So arrived in Delhi at about 11 AM local time after a 9 and a half hour flight from hell (mostly just the temperature was hellish - movies and food were actually really good!). Couldn't find the guy who was meant to meet us in the Airport and bring us to our hotel (we had pre-arranged this). When we eventually gave up and decided to get a taxi there he was!

He took us to his car - really old banger of a taxi, we hopped in and off we went. By the time we realised there were no seatbelts we were already flying though the melee of traffic. Was a bit like being in the back seat of a rally car (except hi top speed was about 45mph). Traffic was totally mental - cars driving up the wrong side of the road, roundabouts were total free for alls, etc. We soon noticed that nearly all cars had no wing mirrors - the reason for this was so that they could drive up the inside, down the outside and basically squeeze into any available gap in traffic (all the while beeping away on their horns). Aoife started falling asleep during the middle of this - a testament to her "superpower" to sleep anywhere.

Saw this road sign soon after and thought it a bit on the ironic side...

When we arrive in Pahar Ganj (the area in which we are staying) we eventually got out of the car, and with bags in tow we walked for about 5 minutes up the most mental street in the world (dodging cows, dogs, bikes, autorickshaws, people spitting, and unknown pools of god knows what..). Made it to the "hotel" (The Hare Krishna Guest House for anybody who wants to pay it a visit) and were shown to our room. Wasn't so bad really - a bit grubby and cell like (no window and beds which felt like sleeping on concrete) but it had a working (if slightly disgusting) toilet and shower and a tv - woo hoo! We pretty much slept for most of the day - we only braved the streets for about 10 mins so as to get water and to feed Aoife's coke (diet) habit. We both ate Thai Green chicken curry on the hotels rooftop restaurant - was yummy!

Next day we moved hotel to the far superior "Hotel Vivek" (from which we are writing this) where we now get regular (and I mean REGULAR) offers of room service (laundry, tea, coffee, anything you want really..). Best of all though is that they bring cold Kingfisher beers to the room. There is a particular gent who has taken a shine to me (which Aoife finds hilarious..) - he definitely wants to be our primo go to guy for all room service.

Here is a dodgy photo of us availing of room service..

We are beginning to get the hang of this whole India thing (we think). We met Brother Finn (a friend of Aoife's grandparents) yesterday which was great! He fed us and gave us advice on what to do and has helped us plan the rest of our trip in India (including a stay in Mt. Abu - look it up!). We are doing a day tour tomorrow of Delhi and meeting Brother Finn again on Sunday (after mass) so no doubt we will have more to add then. We are getting kicked out of the internet cafe now so will have to add the photos later!

Talk soon,

Tadhg & Aoife

Link: http://web.mac.com/ptaig/iWeb/Site/Bangalore/9D677B67-B8FB-4646-988B-EEBEF737847E.html

A workmate of Cian travelled to India and this is what she came across..