some forgotten stories and thoughts...

i realised that there were a few interesting stories which i forgot to relay in my blog that i'll capture here :-)

1.  as i'd indicated, we didn't have a return ticket from umaria to varanasi.  while waiting for our train from jhansi to umaria, i waited for the masses to die down and then decided to try my luck with the local ticket counter (normally there's a foreign ticket counter but it wasn't open).  i queued with the local women and waited patiently to get to the front of the queue.  queuing in india is an interesting affair at best as you have to be pressed against the person in front or someone jumps in front and since i was the tallest woman in the queue, i was a beacon for all to know their place in the queue.  i had loads of women pushing and shoving from behind me with multiple hands resting on different parts of my back, claiming their place behind me.  it was a hot and tiring 25mins before i finally got to the front and the ticket man gave me one of those 'i'm so sorry you had to go through with that' looks before i tried to get across what i was trying to do.  unfortunately, all he'd sell me was a ticket i already had so eventually, i gave up as all the local ladies behind me where starting to get impatient and had started pushing and shoving even further.  i resigned to not buying an onward ticket from jhansi and promptly told amg she owed me a beer for my efforts!!
2.  i attended a beauty trade show in cochin (ernakulam) designed for the locals.  it had an interesting mix of items for sale from pressure cookers and pots to massage and weight-loss machines, from gym memberships and sexual dysfunction booths to make up, facial packs and spa treatments.  i had my make up done (first time i've worn make up since i arrived in india) and watched the locals interact.  it was an interesting non-touristy thing to observe..
3.  i met an indian guy in varkala who told me a fantastic story :-)  he'd met up with a canadian guy who had flags, etc.. all over his bags.  they spent two days traveling around india together and were riding a motorcycle when they got pulled over by the police to check identification.  the canadian refused to hand over his passport for some time until it was obvious the police were not willing to accept "no".  he finally handed over an american passport!!  he was so embarrassed to have been caught in his lie and apologised profusely to this india guy i met.  made me laugh ;-)
4.  i'd heard previously that traveling in the north was much harder than traveling in the south from a number of people however i was still amazed at the difference between northern india and kerala.  everything seemed much more orderly and organised in kerala but i think the most notable change for me was the reduction in quantity of stares/leers and the level of their intensity.  curiosity i'm okay with but the leers were tiring after awhile so it was a welcome change...
i will definitely have to make the trip back to india as i definitely don't feel like i've seen or done all of the fantastic things that india has to offer.  it was a busy holiday (with a bit of needed relaxing at the end) however i'm confident there's no way i would have managed to fit much more in..

hugs to all and i hope you enjoyed reading about the trip! ;-)
s   

leave your modesty at the door!!

varkala beach is a cliff side resort town which i reckon exists only for foreign tourists.  it's actually set along a beautiful red cliff with a lovely sandy beach and a very rough undertow below.  i arrived and checked myself into a beautiful room and wandered along the cliff, looking for a place for lunch.  the quality of the restaurants, the shops, the beach and the number of indians who spoke perfect english made me wonder at times if i was even in india anymore!!  varkala was very clearly trying to rival goa as a home away from home resort town. 
i returned back to the hotel, put on my bathers and headed down to the beach for a dip and some sun.  truly, there wasn't much to do in varkala except eat, swim/sunbathe, have spa treatments/massages and shop so that's what i ended up doing ;-)
i booked myself an ayurvedic massage (popular in kerala) which centers around healing by pouring a load of oil onto the body; where they pour it depends upon what they're attempting to accomplish.  i booked a general massage and a facial for the equivalent of $20CDN.  the room was fairly sparse in nature with a vinyl covered massage bed and a plastic chair.  the masseuse had me fully disrobe in front of her and then she attached what can be best described as a loin cloth (i tried to do it myself however she wouldn't let me :-).  from there, i was told to sit on a stool for the head and upper body massage where i had three cupfuls of oil poured on me then onto the table for the full body (and i mean full body) where i was soaked further in oil!!  she then applied my facial mask and i lay there in a puddle of oil for nearly 30mins until i could stand it no longer and asked that we finish early.  i got washed (yes, again i was not allowed to do this myself) and then she assisted me in getting dressed.  a very different experience all up and i must confess that i wasn't overly impressed with the massage techniques applied; i'm not convinced i'd do it again however it definitely had to be tried!!  i had another swim, showered and finally felt that i'd removed most of the oil before i headed off for dinner where i was served a beer in a teapot as the local restaurateur didn't have a liquor license :-)     
i rose early and caught my 6:30am train into cochin where i randomly ran into amg at the ferry dock.  we agreed to meet at 5pm for a kathakali show on the cochin side of the bay.  i settled into a hotel, had a tour of cochin, got suckered into doing some unwanted shopping (the rickshaw driver told me he got free petrol if he took tourists into a couple of shops so i agreed to assist him) and then met up with her for the show. 
this version of the show was slightly easier to understand (there were two different characters so the story was easier to follow) however i still wasn't enamored with the form of theatre/dance that they use to depict the stories.  we had dinner together and agreed to meet in the morning to take some sunrise photos of the chinese fishing nets. 
we had a crap sunrise (again) however i did get a couple of shots and then we headed off to the airport in a taxi together.  our driver was horrible to say the least!!  in fact, he was the worst i've had since landing in india!!  he was slow, drove in the fast lane, drifted all of the place and couldn't keep a consistent speed for more than 5m...  i was happy as hell when we arrived at the airport in one piece!!
we landed in mumbai and caught a pre-paid taxi to colaba which is where we'd stayed previously.  the driver kept inquiring if we wanted to take the "ceiling" for 50 additional rupees however since we didn't have a clue what the "ceiling" was (my only guess was an express way), we declined.  i checked into a locker sized room (literally) and we went off to find ourselves some lunch. 
our afternoon/evening unfolded as follows:  lunch, walk to cinema to buy tickets, internet, walk back to leopold's for a bon voyage beer, to the hotel so amg could pack up the presents i'd purchased and then she was off to the airport. 
i was due to leave this morning however thai airways sent an email (which luckily i read) saying there were "technical issues" with my flight so they rescheduled me for this evening instead.  i was a bit worried about my connection from bangkok to melbourne as they'd not indicated that had been rescheduled however it's all been sorted and i simply arrive in melbourne 9 hours later than planned (no time for laundry or anything before bed).  i can't believe that 4wks have come and gone already!!  i must confess that i don't feel like i've finished india; another 4wks would probably be needed to finish everything!!

hugs,
s
 

it's all about timing... ;-)

i took the early train from cochin to alleppey with the intention of spending the afternoon relaxing in alleppey before taking my houseboat cruise into the backwaters of kerala however fate intervened in a good way :-)  i arrived at the guest house and the owner advised he had a french couple who were heading out in 30mins time who wanted company to share in the costs so i jumped in the rickshaw and we were off to meet them and climb aboard ;-)
our houseboat was massive in size and was clearly made for larger groups than ours.  i had a lovely room to myself with a massive squishy bed!!  we spread ourselves out, relaxed with fresh coconut milk on the top deck and watched the world go by in slow motion. 
the back waters are an intricate collection of small rivers, canals and streams.  many people from kerala live along these waterways, fishing, farming and etching out a life for themselves and their families.  it's a very lush, green and beautiful area of the state and no one seems to be in much of a rush.  we puttered around on the boat, had a lovely lunch, took some photos and simply kicked back which was a welcome change.  along the way, we stopped to check out a "snake boat" which is a cross between a really long rower and a canoe; it holds 110 rowers and 10 people who sing/chant out the rhythm to paddle.  every year, each village races their snake boat down the river.  the one we saw was the most recent champion and had been in use since 1972.
we docked for the evening, had dinner and listened to "western music" which was an odd collection of really old western songs with indian dance music beats mixed in...  quite an interesting sound for the ears :-)  and then we headed off to bed.
i arose early (as always) as one of the crew had advised that we'd get a good sunrise.  it was lacking in colour however it was nice to watch the world wake up along the canals and have a mug of warm chai tea.  we had breakfast and then paddled through some more narrow canals to get a better glimpse of life in the back waters.  it reminded me a lot of the mekong delta in vietnam.     
we returned back to alleppey and i settled into a guest house, had lunch, used the internet and promptly managed to get myself completely lost!!  there are two canals in alleppey and i got disoriented and couldn't figure out which way to go so i ended up paying a rickshaw driver twice the going rate to get me home :-)  (it turns out the internet cafe was less than 600m from the hotel!!)  i had a rest and then headed off for dinner in the rain. 
dinner was fantastic (and i didn't get lost :-) however it was slightly out of the way.  since it was raining i decided to take a rickshaw back to the hotel however they wanted to charge me 3x the going rate so i politely refused and stubbornly walked a third of the way home getting drenched on the way before finding a more reasonably priced rickshaw.  the difference was $1CDN however for me, it was entirely the principle ;-)  i can be so stubborn sometimes!!
i woke early and caught a local bus to kallambam (en route to varkala) which was either crammed full or moderately full (people always standing) depending upon where we were on the 2.5hrs journey.  unfortunately for me, when i was due to disembark, the darn bus was jam packed and i couldn't get my backpack through the throngs of people.  a local gentleman grabbed it and unceremoniously pushed and shoved people out of the way so the backpack could get through and i could get off.  i was dumped on the side of the road with a gesture of "that way" and the bus drove off. 
i walked up the road and found a turn off for varkala so i stood on the corner, hoping for another bus.  one arrived not 5mins later and i got on it.  there were two doors to the bus, a front door for the ladies and a back door for the gents.  unfortunately, because of the number of ladies, i got sent to the back door.  the gents on the bus then encouraged me, to the point where i was clearly told that "it'd be better for me in the front with the ladies", to move forward so i did.  it's such an interesting cultural habit; men and women are not allowed near one another!!  the ride was quick to varkala and then i took a rickshaw to the beach.  all up, the journey was about 3.5hrs in length!!
varkala was definitely a different place but that's for the next entry :-)

hugs,
s   
 

"water, water, everywhere, nor a drop to drink"...

...at least there's none according to my willingness to partake ;-) 

we woke early in varanasi for a boat trip along the ganges river at sunrise.  it was a rude awakening after the exhaustion from the last few days but these things must be done in the name of travel and experience :-)  we headed off with a couple of people from the hotel and we were aboard our little boat before 6am! 

our first stop was the cremation ghat which is where they burn the bodies of people who have passed away.  the eldest male in the family shaves his head, dresses in a white ensemble and lights the fire.  the entire family stays for the duration of the creation, crying, signing and praying.  it generally takes between 2 and 3 hours for a body to be completely burned and according to india custom, the hip of the woman or the chest bone of the man tends to be the last part to burn as they're the "strong" bones in each gender's body.  the rest of the men in the family are required to shave their heads after the cremation and all dress in black for 7 days.  priests and children are not cremated; they are simply put in the ganges river and can be seen floating downstream.  luckily, we didn't see any dead bodies on our "cruise". 

from there, we paddled down towards the main ghat where people prayed and then further along, where people washed/bathed and cleaned their teeth.  everything is done in the ganges river which is a bit disturbing considering there are dead bodies and loads of pollution in it!!  it was a beautiful sunrise on the river and appropriate photos were taken :-)  a gent from our hotel walked us back to the hotel as where we're staying is similar to a rabbit warren with all sorts of little alleys going here, there and everywhere.  he sweetly gave us the "how-to guide" to getting back to the hotel otherwise, i fear we would have spent the day looking for our hotel ;-)  from there, we headed off to breakfast at a nearby restaurant that had peanut butter (oh, the luxuries :-)  

amg and i went in search of an internet cafe at 8am however nothing was open until 9am so we wandered down by the ghats, watched the preparations for the speaking of a buddhist guru (we believe) and marvelled at the different sizes of plastic jugs you can purchase to take some of the ganges home with you (entirely for the locals!)  :-)  we found an internet cafe and i booked us both flights to bangalore and then onto kerala.  onward travel booked, we separated and wandered aimlessly for a bit and then decided to go to sarnath together.

sarnath is 10km outside of varanasi and is an important location to buddhist as it's the site where buddha first spoke after his enlightenment in 524BC.  we took a rickshaw to the site and had a tour by a buddhist volunteer (who later expropriated a fee for his "free" tour :-)  he took us around and showed us the stuppa built to honour the site with some of buddha's ashes inside as well as many buddhist temples.  we discussed a bit about the history of buddhism and then bid one another goodbye.  

we headed back to the hotel (only getting lost in the rabbit warren twice) and then i went for a wander along the ganges river as i wanted to observe it further.  i was approached at every 50m for a boat ride and once for some marijuana :-)  i had a seat along the sidelines and watched people passing by.  it was a peaceful evening and i found a gathering of people obviously waiting for something to commence shortly.  i sat with some local women and waited patiently for just over a half hour before the show commenced.  in fact, it was a religious ceremony which they perform every night with costumes and chanting and music playing.  it was an amazing site to see as so many people were so obviously involved (read entranced) in their worship.  i would have loved to understood the songs....  i snapped a few photos and then headed off to dinner just before the ceremony ended and then headed home to bed.

i woke early with the intention of doing a yoga class for an hour, grabbing breakfast with amg and then heading off to the airport to catch our flight to bangalore.  the yoga class was quite good (i was a bit surprised), breakfast was even better and our rickshaw driver was fantastic - it was looking to be a great day!! 

the airport at varanasi was the tiniest airport i have ever been in before!!  it was clearly well used however they'd not upgraded their facilities in years (likely ever ;-)  we caught our plane to bangalore, settled into a hotel for the night and were up and out the door the next morning at 4am for our 6am flights!  our taxi attempted to increase the price and in the interest of time, i agreed to pay him an extra dollar for the ride!!  either way, bangalore was nothing more than a stopover!!  i caught my flight to cochin and amg headed to thivandum (both in kerala).  

exhausted from not sleeping well and rising early, i had a bit of a nap, secured train tickets for my onward journey and then went into cochin proper by ferry.  (i'm staying across the river in ernakulam which is less touristy).  i wandered their boardwalk, checked out the chinese fishing nets and selected my fish from those on offer at the port for dinner.  i had an early dinner and then took the ferry back to my side of the river in a rush as i was heading out to watch a kathakali performance at 6pm that evening. 

kathakali is a keralian performance of dance and theatre thrown together where the artist depicts a story from the vast repertoire known to the locals.  it's a spriritual ceremony and people often leave feeling light and peaceful.  the venue allows tourists to come and watch as the make up is applied to the artist before the show commences.  it was an intimate affair with only 5 of us in the small theatre while we watched the artist paint his face and listened to a previous dancer explain the symbolism of the colours and formation of the paint on the face.  effectively, the make up is added to enhance the artist so that they become bigger than life both in spirit and body and the colours relate back to hindu gods.  after the painting is completely, the artist is dressed and then he returns to act out the story to music, gesticulating with his face and body.  the gentleman who talked throughout was mesmerising to listen to and had many wise lessons to impart. 

i wandered back with some american girls who were staying near me and fell into bed (what else is new ;-) 

 

hugs to all!

s

 

n.b.  subject line is a quote from a poem called "the rime of the ancient mariner" by samuel taylor coleridge, written in 1797-1798.  we studied/read the poem in year 5 or 6 and for some reason, those lines stuck in my head!  i'm sure ms. phillips would be happy to know about the permanency of her teaching and i'm also sure that some psychologist could provide an interesting assessment as to why it's stuck with me for so many years :-) 

temples, tiges and trains, oh my!!

we took the train from agra to jhansi in the morning and from there, we'd planned on taking a bus from jhansi to neighbouring orchha.  the rickshaw driver drove us to the bus station and took me to the bus ticket sales guy for orchha however the gentleman refused to sell me a ticket for the bus.  i scoured the station for an actual ticket office however i had to give up the effort and we caved and took the rickshaw to orchha.  (my personal believe is that the rickshaw driver pays the bus ticket sales guy to refuse to sell tickets to foreigners so that he can make some additional cash.) 

we arrived around 3pm, had a late lunch and checked into a hotel before wandering around the small little town of approx 15,000.  there are many temples and cenotaphs within walking distance which i wanted to see and i'd hoped that it would be a peaceful place to escape the chaos that is india for a few days!  i was not mistaken on either point :-)  we spent a number of hours on the internet trying to research and book the next and most complicated leg of our journey before having a snack and then heading off to bed.  it was a rather uneventful day!

we were at the chatryeaju temple for sunrise and were let in by a boy around 14 years of age.  he had keys to the door and gave us access to the main area.  from there, we started up a set of dark, steep stairs to the next level and then the next level.  the views were superb and he had a love for photography as every time we passed a viewpoint, he'd suggest a photo ;-)  amg is scared of heights (specifically the edges) so he ended up taking a couple of photos on her behalf!!  from there, we headed down for breakfast and then off to the cenotaphs which were right on the bank of the river betwa.  we wandered through the cenotaphs; climbing their steeps steps to take more photos before we finally sat down in the cenotaph main square to watch a number of eagles/birds of prey flying about, trying desperately to capture them on film.  i don't think either of us were overly successful ;-) 

we took a bit of a nap and then headed over to the fort and palace to get some afternoon light.  we were told by a local guide that it'd be better to come back the next day as it would be free for everyone so we agreed :-)  we went to the sheesh mahal (a fancy restaurant in the palace) for dinner as amg wanted to listen to the "local music and watch the ethnic dancing"; it was a mismatched affair that left much to be desired!!  that said, we had a good dinner (i had a fresh salad) and a beer and then headed back to the hotel for bed.  

i dropped off "londry" at a local laundress and then we headed over to the fort/palace after a bit of breakfast.  (it's so cute how they often have to run out to buy what we've ordered so that toast can take over 30mins to make :-)  we toured the fort/palace, took a few photos and spent the rest of the afternoon chilling, eating and then preparing for the next change of city...  we took a rickshaw back into jhansi and we were both amazed at the cacaphony that we'd not been exposed to whilst in orchha - it was a nice break ;-) 

we boarded for our night train from jhansi to umaria in 2nd class sleeper at 8:30pm.  i promptly lowered my bunk (much to the annoyance of the indian below) and tried to sleep.  it was a long, noisy and cold journey which ended abruptly at 5:20am when we disembarked.  we'd arranged for a pick up from the train station to tala which effectively is one entrance to the bandhavarg tiger reserve :-)  we arrived at the resort just after 7am, checked in and then fell into bed for a few hours.  we had breakfast, then headed off on a tiger safari!  we piled into a jeep with a german couple and headed off for two and a half hours, combining a 110 square kilometer section of the park which houses approximately 25 tigers along with about 30 other jeeps.  we saw no tigers on our first safari however we did see black-faced monkeys and spotted deer a plenty along with a few sambar deer and some wild peacocks.  it was a beautiful park with loads of animal noises and plant/tree smells that only the wilderness can offer!  we returned to the resort for a bbq 'snack' which we mistook for dinner and felt obligated to eat dinner as well.  i rolled myself into bed having done nothing but sit on my butt all day and eat, exhausted and happy! 

we woke early for the dawn safari with the same driver and fellow passengers as the day before; we all knew that our main focus for the morning was to see a tiger!!  we drove around with no luck for much of the time and then, just as we were due to finish up, we found many fresh tiger tracks including some baby cubs.  the driver took us onto a circuit that wasn't ours (he could have been suspended for 15 days if caught) and we drove along slowly, listening carefully.  there was some rustling in the bushes and then the head of a tiger popped out!!  he crossed the road in the front of us and continued on his merry way.  i got a couple of shots however this was the one time when i desperately regretted not bringing the slr; point and shoots just don't recover from a shot quickly enough!!  we were all smiley happy as we returned to the resort with our sighting for breakfast!!

we hadn't managed to book an onward ticket from umaria due to technical issues (read there was only one train per day and it was sold out) so we'd kind of considered taking general seating for the 12 hour journey to varanasi but that sounded painful!!  we were counselled to take the train to katni which was more of a hub than umaria and try our luck there.  as such, we rose at 2am and took the 4:30am train from umaria to katni (tickets booked at 4:15am) and then we managed two sleepers from katni to varanasi.  it was an air conditioned car which meant that it was near sound-proof and we got blankets, pillows, etc...  amg and i were in train heaven and we fell asleep quite promptly!!  that said, at about hour 6 (dinner time), we realised that we'd be on the train for almost 12 hours with no food!!  a minor oops on our part :-)  we got collected from the station and taken to our hotel by an indian gentleman who works for the hotel.  i will likely always be grateful to as i was near delirious/stupid with exhaustion and he guided us effortlessly to the hotel and procured us some food.  i ate at 10:30pm and then fell into bed, unfortunately waking early the next morning but that, i'm afraid, is another story :-)

 

hugs,

s

a truly romantic story...

amg and i left jaipur by government bus and headed to agra, home of the taj mahal.  the bus ride was long, tedious and hot but we arrived in the end.  the rough guide (guidebook) had advised to be warying of people suggeting that we get off the bus prior to its arrival in the station as they were looking to charge increased rickshaw fares for a further distance and just as warned, a gent got on the bus and told us it was the spot to get off which was a lie.  we stuck our ground and we continued onwards to the bus station and saved ourselves some rupees :-)
we were met by a lovely gentleman who gave us a map of agra and gave us a bit of advice on eating and traveling around the city.  we've been warned by a number of indians along the way to be "very careful" in agra as there are many bad indians who take advantage of tourists.  personally, i'd suggest that there are bad and not-so-bad indians but they all love to take advantage of tourists :-)  we caught a rickshaw over to taj ganj which is just south of the taj mahal and found ourselves rooms in the shah jahan guest house. 
once settled, we headed off for dinner at a recommended "safe" restaurant.  it might very well have been safe but the food was less than inspiring and cold ;-(  we had a beer (which came wrapped in newspaper so no one would know what we were drinking :-)  and then headed home to bed as we were rising early. 
we had breakfast at a cute restaurant and befriended an english guy who tagged along on our tour of the taj mahal.  for 750 rupees (about $20cdn), we were supposed to get entrance to the taj, a pair of booties to wear inside and a bottle of water but they'd run out of water so adam and i went to get some while amg went inside on her own.  there were many guides offering their service inside and we decided that if there was anywhere that was appropriate for a tour, it was the taj so we paid a local guy for his services.  it started out as a photographic tour but eventually he got into the finer points regarding the monument. 
factually, the taj mahal was constructed over a 22 yr period during which 20,000 people worked on its construction.  it was built by shah jahan after the death of one of his four wives (his favourite) who fathered him 14 children in 18 years.  none of his other wives or concubines gave him any children.  the masoleum cost 16 million rupees to construct between 1632 and 1653 and is made of white marble with precious stones in laid.  it used to have gold spires over the domes however the english took them and they've since been replaced with bronze replicas.  more impressionistically (if that is a word :-), the monument is beautiful yet very difficult to describe.  most people see the taj in the morning or evening as the play of light on the marble makes it shimmer and is an important decorative device.  it is absolutely breathtaking to witness and i was most impressed with the sheer size and the amount of detail in the marble.  there's a certain serene/peaceful feeling when you look at the building despite the multitude of people on the grounds visiting at the same time.  the people seem ant-size when compared with the actual masoleum.  shah jahan had planned on building himself a black marble taj for himself however his son soon put a stop to the extravagant ways of his father and he was locked up in the agra fort until his death when he was buried in the taj with the love of his life. 
after the taj, we had a quick rest and then headed off to the agra fort.  we took a rickshaw (which we haggled for) and then we stopped for lunch (which we haggled for) before we finally got to the fort where there was a massive queue.  after much pushing and shoving, amg managed to secure us all tickets and we went inside.  the fort is surrounded by a moat (as all good forts should be :-) and was red-sandstone in colour.  we took some photos and ambled about before going to find our rickshaw driver.  unfortunately, he left despite agreeing to stay (obviously we'd haggled well :-) and so we had to start the process all over again!! 
we headed off to the train station to buy tickets, then the sadar (main) bazaar for a look-see but there wasn't much happening.  finally, the rickshaw driver took us to a couple of little shops and we bought a few items.  he confided in us that they make 2% of whatever is purchased.  effectively, he has to go back to collect his cash after he drops us where we're headed.  that said, i'm sure that the shop keepers lie about the amount paid so that they don't have to pay as much commission; it's a real dog-eat-dog world here.. 
we headed off for dinner to a restaurant that served beers for 65 rupees and ate to our hearts content (unfortunately the food was average at best).  whilst on the rooftop, we witnessed a wedding parade.  the groom sat on the top of a horse and a band and friends paraded around the city, collecting more and more people.  we heading back to the hotel with a few extra beers so we could sit on the rooftop and listen to adam play guitar and sing.  it was a lovely way to end the evening! 
we woke early and sat on the rooftop having breakfast.  it was a peaceful morning and i watched some nearby kabootars (pigeon fanciers) training their flocks of pigeons.  effectively, they're trained to fly in formations around the rooftops to the whistling and gesturing of their owners.  a thoroughbred pigeon can cost as much as 5000 rupees which amounts to about 6mths wages in agra!  we headed off to the station and boarded the train without further ado ;-)

a full day affair in jaipur, the pink city!

we headed off this morning for breakfast at a little restaurant that made grilled tomato and cheese sandwiches to die for (or so it seemed :-)  from there, we wandered around jaipur city centre doing some errands before we headed off on our half day tour.  we were rushing back to the tourist bureau when i was shat on, not once but twice, by pigeons!!  luckily they only got me on the shoulder and my front, not my hair, as i would not have been happy!!  cleaned as best as possible, we embarked on our tour with mostly other indians.
we started the tour at the observatory (Jantar Mantar) which boasts 18 huge astronomical measuring devices created in the early 1700s to measure time and the astrological affects of time passing on the earth.  the devices were all interesting to look at however our guide was so impossible to understand due to his thick accent that i have no idea what the majority of the items were used for!!  from there, we went to the city palace and museum which was pretty as much of it was a pinky/terracotta colour.  they boasted a massive collection of guns, swords and different period costumes which were fabulous!
we boarded our double decker bus and headed off to amber fort which is about 11km north of jaipur.  the fort sits on the site of a hillside (obviously) and is imposing in size and stature.  it was absolutely beautiful to look at from a distance.  we wandered through the fort, took some photos and then rejoined the tour bus.  by now, it was nearing the end of the tour however the guide hadn't managed to fit in all of the attractions so we rushed to the jaigarh forth just south of the city however neither amg nor i could be asked to climb up and take photos!!  it was all too hard :-) 
i had a quick chat with the tour guide as we'd booked ourselves movie tickets for 6:30pm (tour was due to finish at 4:30pm) however it was close to 6pm when he dropped us off near the cinema.  since we were pressed for time, we ended up in mcdonalds for dinner (i know, i'm not proud to admit it) where i had a mcveggie burger and amg had a chicken maharaja mac before heading next door.
the cinema holds 1,500 people and is decorated in an art deco look and feel.  the main entrance hall was dusty rose with peacocks painted on the walls and interesting carpet throughout.  we bought ourselves a snack and headed for the cinema.  it was assigned seating and we had great seats to watch "blue" a bollywood film.  it was predominately in hindi with a couple of english words and generally, based on the expressions and postures, you could ascertain what was happening in the film.  it was a cheesy but fun movie to see ;-)
i headed off home alone after the movie (amg had to leave early as she needed to buy another suitcase to hold all of her new purchases :-), collected my clean laundry and headed off to bed after an action-packed day. 
we're heading off to the taj mahal tomorrow and we've been warned by a number of locals to take care in agra...

taking the train....

as i alluded to previously, we had an bit of a mishap involving our train tickets for a night train from jaisalmer to jaipur; we'd arranged for someone to buy us the "last two tickets" for 25 october however when we arrived at the train, there was someone else in amg's seat!!  after much discussion, we realised that our tickets were actually for 24 october, not 25 october as we'd requested.  unfortunately, we really wanted to take this train so amg rushed to the ticket counter as i waited with the luggage.  we had to forego our 2nd class sleeper tickets (a hard collapsible bunk with a vinyl cover) in exchange for general seating (a free-for-all with no assigned seating, no bunks and hard vinyl chairs!!
the trip itself was an interesting affair with a multitude of people "walking by", curious to see the foreigners in general seating, some openly staring for much longer than polite!  in addition, there were the chai tea sellers, chanting "chai, chai, chai" to anyone and everyone and the occasional "rushes" as people at popular stations rushed to get onto the train and secure themselves a seat.  it was definitely a cultural experience!! 
we had an early breakfast in jaipur (5:30am) and then headed off in search of a hotel that might be nice enough to let us check in so early in the am.  we walked to a nearby hotel, much to chagrin of the rickshaw drivers as they desperately wanted the fare and advised it was "impossible" to walk :-)  we both checked into two different hotels as there wasn't enough space in either and had a bit of a nap. 
i had a quick shower and then headed off to the tourism department to inquire about their half day tours, then onto the post office where i was jostled and pushed while i tried to buy stamps.  i had a quick look at their stamp collection and then ran into amg.  we had lunch together and then spent the afternoon separately.  i wandered the city centre until i'd had enough of the noise and the people and then found a nearby park.  i relaxed and wrote in my journal and was left almost completely alone for a change :-)
en route back to the hotel, i got stopped every 500m or so by an indian man who wanted to know about canada or wanted to show me his artwork or wanted to read my horoscope, etc...  i'd get rid of one of them and then 100m, another one would start chatting with me.  it was ever so annoying as in the end, despite all of their protestations that they don't want to sell you anything, they all eventually would start their sales pitch, about 2-5mins into the conversation.  there was only one exception to this rule and i ended up having tea with him later that evening ;-)
i had a quick but fantastic dinner, some tea with this gentleman and then headed off to the hotel for bed.  the gent invited me to his place to make sweets with some other foreigners however i just wasn't certain enough about him to embark on the adventure.  possibly i missed out, possibly i didn't. 
 

into the desert...

our first day in jaiselmer was spent doing those important things we haven't had the time to do as yet; email, laundry, journal, etc...  it was a pretty low-key day which resulted in amg spending a fortune in a leather goods shop and me talking on skype to some lucky folks back home :-)  in addition, we booked ourselves onto a 2-day/1night camel safari leaving the next morning!!

i woke after a fantastic night's sleep and went to rouse amg to see the sunrise on the jaiselmer fort however she'd come down with delhi belly and declined so i wandered the quiet streets at 6:30am with the cows, dogs and the occasional shopkeeper.  i arrived at the fort however had time to kill as the sun wasn't rising as yet so i bought some chai tea and a small loaf of bread and watched the world wake up.  it was a peaceful affair!  chai finished, i headed into the fort for the morning light on the yellow bricks and i was definitely not disappointed ;-)  i wandered the fort until i ran out of time and had to head back to meet our camel safari tour group.

it was an intimate tour with only me, amg and the two camel herders on the tour!  we mounted our seated beasts and then slowly leaned forward then backwards as the camels raised themselves off the ground.  it's quite amazing to actually watch a camel raise itself from the lying position ;-)  once settled, we started on our journey.   our first stop was the kings' cenatophs about 6km outside of jaisalmer where we stopped to take pictures. from there, we headed to a couple of lesser sites, had lunch and then wandered through the desert on camel back.  by about hour 3 on camelback, i was a bit over camel riding, particularly since i had a sore butt, the sun was ridiculously strong and there was no escaping it!!   in addition, the desert didn't quite live up to my expections as it wasn't nearly as barren as i'd expected; there were small shrubs and trees which didn't fit my image ;-( 

we arrived at a pretty sandy spot around 6pm and set up camp which effectively meant removing the camels' load and gathering some firewood.  amg and i took some silhouette photos of the sunset with the camels and our camel herder before we settled down to have dinner and relax for the evening.  we slept out under the stars which was a cool experience however whoever attempts to convince you that sleeping on sand is comfortable hasn't done it ;-)

we rose the next morning and headed off again by camel, passing a small village and a temple en route.  we settled for lunch and then had our siesta before we were collected by a jeep who took us to the sam sand dunes to watch the sunset.  we arrived around 3:30pm and watched as the masses of buses, cars and jeeps arrived as we approached the sun-setting hour.  the dunes were absolute madness with large amounts of people, camels and hawkers selling cold drinks and chips - it was definitely not a tranquil setting!!  i'd hoped that the sun would light the sand before setting however it didn't so we just watched the sunset with everyone else and then quickly departed in hopes of beating the rush!!

our final day in jaisalmer involved a complete tour of the fort, some jain temples and more photos.  i'd considered heading off to a ghost town about 25km out of town but was pretty worn out from the camel trek, etc...  we headed off to the train station for our overnight train to jaipur and well, we had a bit of an incident involving our train tickets which i'll share next time ;-)

 

hugs to all!

s

mumbai and udaipur...

we woke early to meet up with some bollywood folks and head over to elephanta island.  that said, amg wasn't feeling 100% and couldn't attend so michael and i headed over to the gateway to meet with the others but no one else arrived...  i'm guessing they were all suffering from mild hangovers ;-)  the boat ride was about an hour long and we chatted, observed the fluorescent film on the water and watched mumbai disappear into the haze as we got further and further away.

we arrived at the island and had a tour of this fantastic cave dedicated to shiva, an indian god.  the carvings were absolutely beautiful, depicting shiva in a number of different tales however many of the sculptures were ruined by the portugese who reportedly used the sculptures for target practise.  from there, we checked out the three lesser caves and started heading back to the docks to catch a boat.  luckily, we passed amg en route into the complex as we had to head to mumbai to catch our flight to udaipur.  

an hour long taxi ride to the airport later, we arrived at the airport with a little over an hour to spare before we caught our flight.  i'd booked all of the flights after our all-nighter and unfortunately, one of the flights/airlines i'd written down had to be changed as it was sold out however i didn't write down the new airline.  as such, we arrived at the kingfisher terminal and were informed that there was no flight at 4:50pm and no one could advise where a close internet cafe was so i could check to see which terminal/airline we were flying.  midly panicked, we managed to get some assistance from a kingfisher employee who checked the computer and then walked us to the correct terminal and checked us in.  i was overjoyed to get to the right terminal with time to spare before our flight!  that sorted, we kicked back and relaxed until take-off!!

we arrived in udaipur, caught a taxi into the city and found a place to sleep and eat before we headed off to bed.  i was up at the crack of dawn to update my emails while amg slept in.  from there, we went out to breakfast with these two guys we met in the hotel and then we headed off with a rickshaw driver for the day to see the sights.  we started in a garden above the city to see the two palaces in the lake.  then we headed off to a local market, then to some cenetophs which were beautiful, some more gardens, a couple of shops (amg spent a fortune ;-) and then he dropped us off at the city palace & museum. 

the museum was nothing short of madness!!  we had to queue to buy the tickets and then we had to queue to get in the main entrance and then we had to queue every time we changed rooms and on and on and on...  i can't say that i have ever attended a museum (or any event for that matter) which was more clausterphobic instigating than this!!  all we both wanted to do after the second room was leave but you had no choice but to keep walking forward through these stuffy, non-ventillated corridors with a million of your closest indian friends, hoping to get to the end!!  i can't say that we appreciated much of the palace museum because of the quantity of people and the overwhelming heat - it certainly was an experience!!!  outside, we had a very expensive bottle of water and waited for the sun to lower so that we could take some photos.

we had dinner at a rooftop restaurant (every restaurant in udaipur is a rooftop restaurant, met a canadian ;-) and then headed back to the hotel to collect our bags before our night bus to jaiselmeer.  the bus trip was 12 hours in duration and for some of the trip (udaipur to jodphur), we'd booked ourselves into single sleepers.  effectively, this means sleeping in a tiny, narrow, clausterphobic compartment above a seat which wasn't long enough for me to stretch out without hitting either end of the compartment.  i got lucky and ended up over the back wheel of the bus so that i was jostled throughout the entire night.  this, coupled with the cold and the constant musical horn made sleeping slightly difficult to say the least ;-)   

we stumbled into jaisalmeer exhausted, filthy dirty and hungry around 10am the next morning.  from there, you'll have to wait for the next posting ;-)

hugs to all!

s

 

p.s.  i'm not sure exactly why but i'm being asked to stand in photos quite frequently with the indian people.  on our tour of udaipur, i ended up in four different family photos...  i'm pondering agreeing to be photographed for a fee of 5 rupees, just to see their reaction :-)    

....and action!!

since my arrival in mumbai/india, i've been assaulted by a whole new set of smells and experiences and so far, it's been pretty fantastic :-) i had a half day to acquaint myself with the city before anne-marie arrived and from there, we truly haven't stopped!! 

we headed off by local bus to the dhobi ghats which is the local outdoor laundromat for all of the hotels/businesses in mumbai.  it was amazing to watch these guys in the blistering heat and humidity bash dirty laundry against the concrete so that it became clean.  they then put it through the manual spinners, hung it to dry and then ironed it with a coal-heat iron.  it looked like quite an effort!! 

from the ghats, we got on a local commuter train and went to see the gandi museum.  en route, we stopped off in a little fruit and veg market on a quiet street and where we were asked by almost every stand operator to take their photo!!  it was a fantastic experience and i ended up with some great photos of the local people.  we had lunch and then toured the museum which gave a reasonably thorough synopsis of gandi's life and his accomplishments.  after the museum, we headed over to chowpatty beach for a stroll along the coast.  it was hot and the sun/humidity were oppressing so we eventually departed and headed for some shade.  we headed off to the prince of wales museum which had a massive collection of statues, sculptures and art from the raj era including an old coin collection which i loved!  that said, we were both exhausted from so much activity that i'm not sure that either of us truly appreciated it to the appropriate degree. 

from there, we headed back to the hotel for a shower and then dinner.  a funny thing happened on the way to dinner...we got asked to be extras in a bollywood film!!  we met up with about 10 other tourists and headed off in a taxi, train and then bus to bollywood which is about an hour and a half north of mumbai city.  it was an overnight film shoot so we arrived around 10pm and left around 5am the next morning and for all these hours, we were paid 500rupees which is about $13cdn.  i'm happy to report that working on a film shoot is not as glamourous as some might expect, at least not in bollywood :-)  we did the same clapping scene about 20 times while the "hero" attempted to walk across hot coals and his "heroine" attempted to show concern for her man.  they were both fairly horrible actors and there was much effort taken to ensure that hair, make up and eye brows (yes, eye brows) were looking beautiful every time!!  by around 1am, i was over the whole experience however i was kinda stuck there until the shoot was finished.  we got driven back to mumbai city and en route there was a bit of miscommunication between the driver and one of the girls about where to leave us and suddenly the driver was racing down the city streets at breakneck speeds and all of the foreigners were holding onto the seats in front with white knuckles!!  it was a harrowing experience!!

you'd think that we'd have headed home to bed (like everyone else did) but i knew i wouldn't sleep so amg and i went out to gateway to india and watched the sunrise.  we then had breakfast, planned our itinerary and then headed off on a tour of the dharavi slum. 

the slum is 1.75 square kilometers in size and houses just over 1m people.  we toured around their recycling operation (they bring much of the city's waste into the slums and then rework the cast-offs and then sell the item back to the manufacturer for re-use).  the slum itself generates around $650m in income every year simply by recycling the cast-away items such as plastics or cardboard.  in addition to industry, people also live, bank and go to school in these slums.  we toured through the residential area where a family lives in a small room with no furnishing which also contains the kitchen. there's another house stacked above with access only by a very steep ladder.  there is no space between "houses" and the house across the road is about the shoulder width of me x 2. there's no natural light and everything has a damp feeling.  in addition, the toilet facilities are shared; 1 for about 15,000 people.  the organisation who's running the tours is donating much of the money paid to schools and community centres within the slum.  it was definitely an eye-opening experience which makes one very grateful for our quality of life!!

we headed out for dinner and then drinks with some fellow travellers from the bollywood shoot.  somehow, despite our exhaustion and lack of sleep, we ended out dancing to indian dance music until 1am!!  42 hours with no sleep...  i crawled into bed that night and slept like the dead :-)

i think i'll stop there as otherwise, my update will be too long but i can happily report that the adventures have continued and i reckon this is only the beginning ;-)

hugs,

s

 

 

never a dull moment... ;-)

my touristy trip this month was a trip out to perth/margaret river which was wet, rainy and enjoyable!!  i cover western australia as part of my territory (or portfolio as they'd call it here) for work and since we were opening our new capital office branch, my boss was fine to send me to perth to ensure that everything went as smoothly as possible!!  so i took a three day weekend and headed down to margaret river for some wine tasting, relaxing and coastal views. 

i rented a car and drove down the coast along all the tourist roads to see the pretty coastal views however it was so cold and windy on the way to margaret river that i was less than inspired to get out and take photos.  from there, i arrived in margaret river only to discover it unseasonably cold, wet and raining :-(  i hibernated in a cute cafe and read for the rest of the afternoon as oceanic views were not appealing!  on saturday, i did a wine tasting tour with some fantastic little boutique wineries.  i met a couple of english girls and we continued sampling wine at a local restaurant later that evening.  sunday, the weather was no better however i was optimistic so i set off to augusta to see the cape leewin lighthouse and the meeting of the arctic and indian oceans.  i was blessed with some good clouds for the lighthouse photos before it became clouded over and rainy (again).  i started my journey north, stopping at a handful of small wineries and small coastal towns.  unfortunately, the weather did not co-operate (everytime i wanted to get out of the car it poured) so i ended up bringing home more wine than planned and taking many less photos!!  all up, it was a great trip and i can happily report that the branch looked pretty spanky on opening day!! 

my normal life is as hectic as ever which is why it's the start of october and i'm just writing in my blog now for september!!   there have been many birthday events (4 in two weeks), dinners and/or drinks with friends, dancing nights with the girls, etc...  truly, it's been a ridiculously busy couple of weeks!!  i managed to squeeze in a trip to daylesford (a spa town just north of melbourne) for a body scrub and some r&r with some friends last weekend which was fantastic!!  my skin radiated for days afterwards :-)  and we discovered this fantastic chocolate mill just north of daylesford; i brought home five delicious truffles and wish i'd bought more!!

that's about it for me for the minute!  enjoy your thanksgiving weekend - i can't believe that it's been a year since i was last in canada!

hugs,
s

p.s.  i leave for india in less than two weeks and i have a list of things that i have to get done between now and then.  i reckon it's all manageable however life has a tendency to throw me some curve balls when i least expect them so i've got my fingers crossed ;-)

how'd it get to be august already?!

i've been very naughty about keeping my blog up to date these last few months; my last post was at the end of may ;-(  there's good reason for it but no excuse, i should be making a conscious effort as i do enjoy looking back periodically and reflecting on where i've been and what i've been up to ;-)  for those who don't know, i had a visitor for half of june and all of july which hampered my regular activities slightly however it assisted in my discovery of things in my own backyard which is always a good thing ;-)

we rented a car and headed off into the great gold rush area of victoria where in the late 1800s, a massive deposit of gold was discovered.  ballarat, a small, sleepy town about two hours' drive from melbourne was the site of much hustle and bustle when the first nugget was discovered.  people from all over the globe came to make their fortune panning for gold.  some obviously because quite wealthy while others didn't find an ounce!  after edifying our brains with the history of the area and the gold rush that put melbourne on the map, we headed off in search of "canadian" a small suburb just south of ballarat.  we didn't find canadian itself but we did locate the "canadian state forest" :-)  who knew that so far from canada, you could find such a thing?! ;-)  appropriate photos taken, we moved on to wendoree lake which is just outside of town for some photo ops at sunset.  were we surprised to arrive and see a dried up lake with signs warning to boat safely and boathouses very clearly not in use?!  it brought home for me how much of a drought victoria (the state i live in) is actually in... 

another weekend, we headed off down the pennisula to the mornington area to do a bit of discovery. this area is reknown for its wineries and though we didn't actually find the time to visit a single one (i know, shameful!!), we did definitely have a lovely day exploring.  we lunched in a great little cafe with an open fire by the bay, went for some fantastic hikes and had dinner in the infamous portsea hotel (where i had a glass or two of the delicious mornington pennisula wine).  it was a short but nice visit!

other than our short hops outside of melbourne, robert and i obviously did a great deal of exploring inside the city.  i've had a look at the architecture in melbourne in an entirely different way as we explored the history of this fantastic city together.  we also made our way to a number of my favourite watering holes and restaurants in the city.  in addition, we got to spend six weeks discovering my new neighbourhood together which was a lot of fun and i believe he's a fan of the espy or epsy as he calls it which is a great hotel (bar) about 10 mins from my place.  it's an institution in this city ;-) 

for those curious, i've settled into my new apartment quite well and am loving the new locale!!  i know that it'll only get better as winter slowly transitions into summer here.  the days are already getting longer and i can see much potential in living right across from the beach with a great balcony..  now i only need to procure a barbeque :-)  otherwise, life is as normal as it ever gets for me!!  i'm still loving life in the land down under and now that work has become slightly less hectic (and thus less stressful), i'm feeling much chirpier (to borrow an english phrase ;-)

hugs to all back home!
sarah

p.s.  i've bought myself a plane ticket to india for four weeks in oct/nov.  i'm most excited about the trip however i've got to start looking into what to do/where to go soon or amg will have the whole trip planned ;-)       

mother may i?!

hmmm, despite my promise to do a 'touristy' thing once a month, i haven't managed one for the month of may as i've been too busy looking for an apartment.  you'd never guess it but it's been an interesting cultural experience in and of itself!! 

i started looking when i returned from canberra, giving me five weeks to find a new place.  i contacted places that first week but they were all looking for tenants the following week.  first lesson: in australia, you don't plan ahead when it comes to housing!!  as time past, i'd attend 'inspections' with 50 of my closest friends!!  try fitting that many people in a studio apartment and then try competing against them for that one apartment!!  needless to say, i was getting a bit stressed out and a bit discouraged as either the places were dives, too expensive or there were too many other interested parties when i found my new apartment :-)  it's wonderfully located right across from the beach, near two tram stops and a grocery store and a myriad of bars and restaurants within walking distance and it came fully furnished!!  effectively, i have all the conveniences i had on the 'other' side of town in my old place except now, i have my own space and beachfront property :-)  moving was a bit of a pain (i have no idea where all of the crap i moved came from!!) but i'm all settled and happy now.  it's been just about two weeks now and i must say that i'm completely loving living alone again!!  i also like the idea of trying out a new end of town...  i'll keep you posted as to how i go!!

in addition to the relocation excitement, i've been busy with general, every day life...  there's been birthday parties and drinks and visitors from perth and zombie walks and movie dates to name a few adventures!!  all up, may has flown by as every good month does. 

for those curious, work has been crazy busy for the last month (likely because i had to duck out early a lot to inspect apartments) but i'm still enjoying myself.  oh, and i discovered that i'm valued which is a lovely thing :-)

hugs to all!
s

p.s.  i'm debating my long weekend in june...  i have a location picked which would be fantastic however i believe that i'll have another surprise which might make both adventures too much to do in june.  for those still reading, yes, this is a hook to make you come back for another read next month :-)

you're spending five days where?!

i have been ridiculed to the nth degree by more aussie than i care to mention regarding my tourist adventure for april ;-)  i decided to go to canberra for five days as i got a ridiculously cheap flight there and back!!  for those who aren't aware, canberra is australia's capital and thus is akin to ottawa in people's perception of a sleepy, government town.  as such, to spend five whole days there, well, i was told it was slightly excessive!!  while there, i caught up on a lot of sleep, went to the australia museum, saw both parliaments, went to the old bus depot markets, walked to the mint (it was under renovation so i didn't actually get a tour ;-(, saw canberra city cbd and relaxed along the lake and read.  all up, it was a perfectly relaxing and lovely long weekend!!  there was only one downfall, i flew tiger home and they were almost 3 hours late meaning i didn't get home until 2:15am.  work was rough the next day!!

i've had three other rather momentous occasions this month: 
1.  i submitted three photos into an exhibit with some friends and managed to sell one of my photos!!  i was most surprised (and immensely pleased to hear) as i picked them specifically to go up in my room and gift one to a friend.  i'm still a bit shocked that someone liked my work enough to buy it. 
2.  i'm no longer blond!!  i've been contemplating dyeing my hair brown for a few months now and i did it about a week ago.  it was initially a bit of a shock however i really love it now and think i'll keep it longer than the month that i'd initially planned :-) 
3.  i have to find a new house as my housemate is kicking me out (his girlfriend is moving in).  i was a bit perturbed initially but i've gotten used to the idea and am really looking forward to having a place of my own.  i'll likely get a studio/bachelor apt so that i don't have to furnish it too much but i'm stoked about the move and having a place that's all mine :-) 

other than that, the rest of the month has been fairly busy with odds and ends...  i went to the virgin festival which was fantastic, went grape grazing (effectively you drink a lot of wine at different vineyards and listen to music which makes for a great day :-), attended a comedy show and just caught up with friends, etc... 

it's time for me to sign off and enjoy the sound of the rain!!  it's actually rained for the last three days which is fairly momentous for melbourne!!

hugs to everyone!!  i hope you're all enjoying spring!
sarah

across the country and back...

who knew that australia was such a large place :-)  (in fact, i did as it's the 6th biggest country in size in the world!!) 

i can admit to having two tourist adventures this month; one of which was more accidental than planned!!  i got told that i needed to go to perth on business for the second week of march so i decided to head out on the friday night before to enjoy the sites for a long weekend before i had to work!!  i met up with some friends from melbourne who incidentally were in town and we went up to the pinnacles for two days, had a tour of the fremantle jail and their underground tunnels and had a fantastic picnic at kings park before i had to buckle down and get to work!!  it was a great long weekend with loads to discover ;-)  unfortunately, i had to work the following week, arriving back in melbourne in time to do laundry, sleep and head off on my next great tourist adventure!! 

my second trip this month took me to tasmania where i spent two days in launceston touring around some vineyards and food places, seeing the gorge and just chilling out preparing for the big trip!!  from there, a few friends and i headed off to do the overland track which is a 65km hike (we did 75km in 5 days including side trips).  why did we do this trek some may ask?!  my grandmother clipped an article in the toronto star newspaper and gave it to me; it sounded interesting so i kitted up and arranged to do it!!  the trip started off horrendously as it was rainy, cold, hailing and you could see no more than about 10m in front of you.  i questionned our decision to head off on this adventure but the next day brought sunny skies and reasonable weather.  we had to combine two days so on day 2 we did 25km. it's a long way to walk in a day but it's even longer on undulating ground with loads of roots and puddles/swamps to avoid.  by the end of the day, i wasn't sure whether my brain from thinking where to put my feet or my feet from actually stepping were more tired!!  the views along the trek were phenomenal!!  we saw a number of waterfalls, some wild life and had a great time challenging ourselves physically and mentally!!  on our last day, we'd planned on staying at narcisssus hut.  we pitched our tents and were having lunch when we saw our first 2m tiger snake (poisonous).  in a half hour span, we saw 6 or 7 of them, one that was swimming across the river which i'd contemplated going into.  my travel companions decided we should catch the ferry and camp on the other side, safely away from the snakes so we packed up and re-pitched on the other side.  we had dinner and discovered that we'd replaced snakes with possums as our pests for the evening (possums are like raccoon, noctural, scavengers and very clever!!)  they got into everything and had our chocolate bars and oatmeal scattered everywhere in no time (no trees appropriate for hanging the food and no rope :-(  we were lucky that this site of the lake had a restaurant ;-)  after the hike, we headed into hobart for a day and a bit.  we had a tour of the sea sheppard vessel and then had a sail on a friend's family yatch around the hobart harbour.  it was a fantastic trip though i must confess that i was pretty happy to come home and sleep in my own bed on sunday night!!

i must confess to hibernating a bit after the trip as i just seemed to be behind in many things including emails :-(  that said, i have been to a few social gatherings including a birthday party, a couple of dinners out with friends and some time preparing for a photo exhibition that i'll be participating in have kept me busy and honest!!

must head as it's time for me to prepare for bed!!  i hope that you're all enjoying spring; i know that autumn is treating me well here :-)

hugs,
s

p.s.  for those curious, i'll post photos from the trips on sat april 4 so you can have a look then at :http://www.flickr.com/photos/decouvert2001/ ;-)

hanging in there....

my touristy adventures for the month of february will again seem a bit off the wall to most but for some reason, it's what i've been engaging in as of late :-)  two weekends ago i headed up to the grampians for a bit of a rock climbing expedition with some of the people i rock climbed with last year.  the weekend away was a great opportunity to regroup mentally while challenging my body physically on the rocks (oh, and there was a bit of eye candy to obseve as well :-).  it was a lovely trip up and i hope to be included again as we head into autumn and the cooler weather.  this past weekend was an even more epic journey than my cycling trip for january!!  this past weekend, i headed off to apollo bay for a hiking trip (i'm preparing for a hiking trip in march but that's all the details i'm going to share ;-)  we headed off on friday night and hiked along the great ocean road track for a total of 35km!!  and about 10km of that was on a sandy beach which made it twice as hard to hike :-(  i wore my runners which caused these horrible blisters in between my baby toe and the next one somewhere between km 1 and km 35!!  either way, the scenery was pretty and the opportunity to get out and challenge myself physically both weekends has been fantastic!!  that said, i think i enjoyed the rock climbing weekend better as there was more of a balance between physical challenge and mental relaxation but they have both provided me with a sense of accomplishment!!

outside of these physically challenging weekends away, i had an emotionally challenging day while i volunteered for the red cross bush fire efforts (as most of you are aware, bush fires have swept across victoria, killing over 200 people and burning kms of bushland).  i took calls from people looking for people which was inherently flawed in that people expected (and hoped) for instant confirmation that their loved ones were okay...  it was a difficult but emotionally rewarding day!!  in addition, i've taken to volunteering every fortnight at a not for profit organisation (similar to the salvation army) who feeds and houses disadvantaged souls...  i'm working in one of their shops, which provides funds for their programs.  

on a pure fun level, i've been out and about as usual.  there's been bbqs and pool parties, afterwork drinks and sunday sessions, my first cricket match ever (it's such a boring sport ;-) and crazy cycling adventures.  effectively, just a good mix of social fun!!  i find that i sometimes struggle to spend more than one night a week at home...  all in, i'm enjoying life to the fullest in the land downunder :-)

hugs and spring wishes to all those at home!
s

the height of summer....

for some of you back home, my 'touristy' trip this long weekend is going to seem like a bit of a silly (or crazy) thing to do!!  and truly, it probably is/was however it was something that i wanted to do :-)  i decided to ride my bike around the bay!!  i'm not as foolish as some who do it in a day as i decided to do it in two days.  saturday's forecast was 24 degrees but very windy and i can confirm that the australian bureau of meteorology was not off on their assessment of the weather!!  i had a nasty, 35km/hr headwind the entire 120km down to queenscliff!!  it was so strong that i had to pedal while going downhill and i was completely exhausted upon my arrival in queenscliff.  i then took the ferry over to sorrento and walked my bike to my hotel.  i showered as i desperately needed to remove the layer of grime and salt from my skin and then i headed out for dinner.  i returned to the hotel, befriended one of the hotel employees and spent a couple of hours chatting before heading off to bed.  sunday was spent luxuriously reading, resting and swimming in the pool & ocean and then monday, i got back on my bike and headed back to melbourne.  despite getting a slight bit lost on my way back (which added almost 10km to my trip home), i still managed to get back to melbourne in less time than it took to get down there... by two hours!!  i feel really good having accomplished my goal though i must confess that there was a bit of cursing on the M1 on saturday afternoon but it all worked out in the end :-)  (i've included the map of my trip in case anyone's interested: http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=466+Nicholson+St,+Fitzroy+North,+VIC+3068&daddr=-37.809106,144.963741+to:Docklands+Hwy+to:Docklands+Hwy+to:Docklands+Hwy+to:Sims+St+to:Docklands+Hwy+to:Queenscliff+VIC+to:sorrento+vic+to:Frankston+Fwy+to:Railway+Pde+to:Nepean+Hwy+to:466+Nicholson+St,+Fitzroy+North,+VIC+3068&hl=en&geocode=%3B%3BFdQVv_0dGmWjCA%3BFQwbv_0dzDKjCA%3BFfAbv_0d1CqjCA%3BFT4ev_0ddh-jCA%3BFWj1vv0dNkeiCA%3B%3B%3BFXhwuv0dEKCmCA%3BFUywuv0d-HumCA%3BFfb-vP0dvi-lCA%3B&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=13&via=1,2,3,4,5,6,9,10,11&sll=-37.81887,144.969406&sspn=0.077566,0.121021&ie=UTF8&ll=-38.053498,144.776459&spn=0.678028,1.002502&z=10)

other than my epic journey, i have been busy with summer life which we all know includes bbqs, patios, picnics, etc...  i've been trying to balance out my social life with a bit of cycling, swimming and yoga to ensure that my 'chi' is maintained :-)  over the holidays i ended up a stone's throw from the beach for a month while i house/cat sat for a friend which kind of gave me a holiday without going anywhere!  there were new restaurants and pubs to try and there really is nothing better than watching the sunset over the beach/swimming in the ocean after work!!  the cat wasn't much trouble either!!

must be off as i have a couple of things to do before heading off to bed tonight!!  we're supposed to have a record week of heat; 40+ degree weather from wed-sun which i'm not overjoyed about...  i'll be spending a bit of time at the movies or in my pool!!

hugs and happy new year (albeit a little late) to all!!
sarah