Tibet into China

This is our toughest travel to date, but the scenery is out of this world and round every corner there is something new and special!!

Been a fantastic crosssing across the Tibeten plateua, though had some crazy weather and found we had to drive through a major snow storm to be able to camp, even so ended up cooking a dinner at eleven at night with the snow falling. As mentioned before not much of the writer and my spelling is terrible and to top it all the computer runs a Mandarin spell check so not really an option. But here goes with some great photo's.

The run from Everest to Lhasa

Anybody for frogs legs, traditional hot pot

Potala Palace, and symbols on the top of the Jokhang Monastary

Shigatse

Amazing camps, with everybody well into camping now everybosy having a blast

Our local guides, one from tibet and the other a Han Chines, Moffie on the left is a legend

is off to walk the length of the Great Wall next

We mount the yak horns with the Tibeten holy painting on as a good luck symbol and a tribute to the sky gods!

On the way from Everest to Lhasa we did some a amzing camps as well as visiting the temples and forts of Shigatse and Gyanste.

The Run into Everest base camp

After a small delay of 24 hours at the border we headed into China and Tibet, we spent three days jumping up and down the side of the Himalayas as we adjusted to altitude and made sure everybody was ready to enjoy there time at base camp. Got to be here to experience it properly, bu after India this is what overlanding is all about. We went as high as 5360m and spent almost 2 weeks above 4000m, was fantastic, but an extreme experience. Pictures of Everest, base camp, tents we stayed in at base camp, serving pumkin soup at the top of the highest pass we have crossed top date and generally having a blast.

Indian Border and into Nepal

Take the plunge, huge bridge swing,

Kids in the streets of Kathmandu

Dubar Square Kathmandu

Through the India border after a 8 hour wait as the border had been closed due to local elections. We then headed for Chitwan National park and headed of on elephants to look for Rhino and tiger, no tiger, but got really close to Rhino. W the made our way to Pokora and then onto funky Kathmandu where we had 6 days to get ourselves ready for the jump up onto the Tibeten platuea

Selection of photos from Alephey to Dehli

Spices in the local market,

Local Kathakali Dancere in Temple

Typical camp kitchen cooking up a storm

Traffic in India drives you nuts, was stuck behind this truck with a elephant in the back doing about 10km/h for about half and hour, just a normal days driving in this crazy part of the world

Free camp on the beach in Agonda in Goa province everybody was sold on free camping after our first night about a week before so we spent two nights on the beach

Out on the razz in Bombay in the famous Leopolds Cafe after eating a street dinner for about US$0.50 so heaps of money for the beer!! The quiter crowd having gone to bed by this stage

Alephy to Mumbai (Bombay)

Been a while since I last updated the blog, just been so much happening.
India and her exotic ways have treated us to some amazing sites and experiences to date. It is really place where you need to jump in and let it lead you were it may and it has taken us some amazing places! Have also had a air number of hasles with the interent conections and at this stage am waiting to Kathmandu to do a full update, so update should be complete on the 15th May! Sorry about the delay, also been having heaps of fun with the group so have been a bit distracted!
As mentioned in the last update we were headed for Alephey to meet up with our converted rice barge to head out into the backwaters on an overnight cruise. The group had opted for the luxury option and we were not disappointed with our floating palace. We all had our own rooms and bathrooms, but the best part was the large lounge area at the front of the boat, a great spot to sit back and watch this laid back tranquil part of India drift past. Our boat crew where great and soon rustled up a lunch for kings while explaining the simple but idyllic life of the backwater folks. We had the bird books out trying to identify all the birds and the waters teemed with fish. A couple of locals paddled up and tried to sell us fresh water lobster, but after our coastal seafood spree we decided to stick with the local curried fish and veg dishes the chef cooked up. As the sun set we were treated to some amazing photo opportunities with the amazing palm studded landscape making for some great shots. All to soon it seemed we where headed back the following day, having explored the back waters a couple of times, would definitely say that the overnight cruise is the way to go!
Our next point of call was Cochin, a former spice trading port for the British East Indian Company, consisting of a number of islands! We had two full days to explore and a day was spent wandering the streets around Fort Cochin. A visit to the spice market was a colourful wonder and was funny seeing all the Jewish named shops in this now very Indian run spice market! To add to the event it was Bens birthday and so he was dressed up accordingly. With a string of plastic flowers around his head he was difficult to miss and the India folks loved him. Riki and I headed of to sort out a present and a cake. With a budget of 100 rupees or about US$2.50 for presents we took to the market stalls and soon had a great selection of presents ranging from a great pair of brown Y-fronts, a Barbie Doll mobile phone alarm clock and a small bottle of the much favoured Indian aftershave Wild Rhino, Ben was suitably impressed, though the girls advised against the use of the aftershave!
The other major attraction of Cochin the Kathakali Dancers, a ancient form of dance used to tell Hindu folks stories by using hand, face and eye movement and exotically painted faces. We arrived early so we could watch the make-up session, seems a bit strange to most and a couple of the lads commented that it was not quite there thing, but once we arrived and they saw what it involved they were amazed.
After the show everybody decided it was time for a western style splurge and so we headed for Pizza Hut, a bit of s surprise as it may have the name, but India has definitly put its own twist to the theme with some fairly spicy pizzas. Was even funnier when everybody woke up the following morning with a good case of Delhi belly, our first run in with this Indian legend!
At this stage the Indian heat and humidity was really kicking in and so everybody was quite exited that we are heading for Ooty a former British hill station high up with a cool climate. The drive there takes us through some amazing small villages and a couple of funky towns and the twisty road to the top is quite the challenge. We stopped off at Conoor where everybody hopped on board the hill train, now a World Heritage Site attraction. We carried on in the truck and met up at the top as the group enjoyed a 2-hour journey up through the cloud forest and tea plantations by train. Ooty is a pleasant sprawling town with many steep streets and a small amount of remaining colonial buildings. The great attraction is to go hiking in the surrounding hills and meet some of India’s minority tribes while wandering through some great little villages with some great views down to the plains bellow. Our local guide headed of the following morning and the folks had a great day and ended up becoming part of one of the annual festivals in a small village where they found themselves as the honoured guests and got to do some interesting dances.
Riki and I had done the walks on past trips so decided to go for a game of golf on the local course build more than 110 years ago by the British. Steve a man not to fond of walking unless it is chasing a small white ball joined us for the day! Interesting to say the least, we paid up and set off for a quick 18 holes, well that was what we thought. Steve a regular golf nut says he has never seen the likes of this course. Rules in the clubhouse should have given us an idea.
Rule 1: If your ball lands in a wild boar scrape you may drop out with no penalty.
Rule 2: In the event of your ball landing in a cowpat you may also drop out with no penalty, though you must retrieve your own ball!!
And then there where the hills, I always thought the hill stations got their names from being on top of the hill, that is totally untrue, its because the golf courses are the hilliest you could possibly ever imagine, it was about 8 holes in when we decide that beer was required to finish the day a and so one caddy headed off to the local wine shop to get suitable refreshment. At the end of play Riki won the day, but both me and Steve think that it maybe a Kiwi counting thing, Steve had broken one club, and I was all for doing the walk next time as is far easier than trying to play golf! All up we had lost 13 balls, but a good time was had by all.
That evening we headed to the original governors house for a night of dining in true colonial splendour. Now a super fancy hotel and restaurant it was a great way to appreciate how the colonial rulers must have lived in the ‘ good old days’!
Next on our route we headed for Halibut and its amazing temple, different from the crazy Dravdian painted temples this was amazing sand stone rock carved temple. Made up entirely of interlocking stones and not using mortar it is an amazing feat of construction. The entire main temple complex devoted to Shiva is held up by 1100 carved elephants and has 15 bands of symbolic carvings running across the walls, our local guide explained all its details and meanings. After s quick bite to eat we hit the road trying to get as far as possible for the day. We ended up free camping in a coconut plantation. This was our first bush camp and there where a couple of fairly nervous folks who had not done much camping before and to set up in the ‘wilds of India’ was all a bit of a shock. Soon though once everybody had seen how it all worked and how comfy it is if it is done properly, everybody was having a great time and settled down for a great sunset with a couple of beers. Everybody had wanted a western style health meal so a huge veg stir-fry was on the cards. As we settled down various locals wander in to say hi and ask where we come from and to insure we had everything we needed, its great travelling through these friendly parts and added to our bush camp! Everybody woke up the next morning raring to go after to the surprise of most a great nights sleep. Free camping adds a great dimension to this style of trip!
The plan today was to head for the coast and after a quick group chat was decided to head for Agonda beach and camp on the beach, this was quite a change of tune as initially most where not interested in this option but after the first camp everybody was well up for it.
Imagine an almost deserted beach, couple of palm trees and setting up camp on the beach and then having roast lamb, baked potatoes, fresh salad and a selection of butter covered veg! This with either fresh coconut juice or a bit of the local Freny (local fire water) made from the sap of the coconut tree. Every evening while we where there the local still man wandered down climbing up to the top of the coconut trees to collect the days sap to ensure a constant supply of fire water We spent an amazing 2 days free camping on the beach. On the first morning the local fishermen offered to take us out in their boat and search for dolphins. There is something special about heading out to sea and the mind blowing experience of jumping overboard and swimming with the dolphins was amazing, we also had time to stop off at a couple of small deserted coves as we made our way back towards camp. While we were on the beach another overland truck pulled in with a married couple on an 18-month trip from Germany who had come through Iran and Pakistan. It was great to sit and chat, they possibly may follow us through Tibet and China, but time will tell!
All to soon for most it was time to pack up and continue north up the coast, our next destination was the beach of Baga in the centre of the Goa province. A major package holiday destination and not quite the place we would normally stay, but is a great spot for exploring Old Goa the Portuguese capital during colonial days. Most of the group where horrified by Baga and its surrounding sun beds, bars, umbrellas and large pink toasted English package holiday tourists. Soon everybody agreed that the best thing to do was to hire scooters and head of up the coast and explore all the small villages. We had a great day and the small beaches, villages and restaurants made for a great day out. This will be the last of he beaches for us and the next salty water we will sea will be when we cross the Caspian sea from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan in many months time. Next stop is Mumbai ( Bombay) my favourite Indian city. With its colonial past, massive population, Bolywood movie scene and a vibrant friendly people its great to explore. We arrived fairly later in the day and headed for Leopold’s a institution and danced the night away, is sad in a way as the two Steve’s, Katie, Nicky and Klaus will be leaving us here as they are returning to the real world as they only had 3 weeks leave available. Katie and Anna joining us here for the next legs and will be interesting to meet them!

Crazy India with a great group!

Taken a bit of time to get this online as have struggled to find a computer which has not crashed as I have uploaded everything so hope this works and sorry it has taken so long! Will try and add photos once have got this to upload!

India with a population of more than a billion people can be a bit of a shock to the system when you first arrive. I had almost forgotten what it was a like when I arrived back, though the moment you leave the plane you can feel and smell it. Was great to meet up with Riki an old India hand that I would be working with as far as Kathmandu. A Kiwi’s go not that bad as long as they don’t win the cricket! We had worked together in 2006 when we had both come through China and Tibet together. After a quick meeting to check that the Kingfisher (local Beer) was cold and still the drink of choice we where very soon onto discussing what our group would be like.

On this first leg we only have 8 people travelling with use, a fairly small group as far as Mumbai (Bombay). It’s quite amusing to try build a picture of a group based on the info you have, like age, sex and occupation! With Bob the oldest member at 65 from the USA to Ben at 19 taking a gap year from the UK its is a diverse group.

Latter that evening we met up with 6 of the group and headed off for dinner. We decided to head to a roof top restaurant with cheap and cheerful Indian food and with the national passion for cricket a big screen TV to watch the Kiwis play some cricket. One thing led to another and eventually ended up having a rickshaw race back to the hotel. All a bit messy when my Muppet driver managed to role in the last corner, no major damage, but was decided that for future reference rickshaws where best use as a means of transport only!

The following morning after meeting up with the whole group for the first time, had to admit yet again that this style of travel seems to bring a good crowd of people together almost every time. Having met and chatted to everybody there is no doubt we are in for a great trip!

On leaving Chennai we headed south for the coastal town of Mahabalipuram, must say that as India goes Chennai must be one of the most uninspiring cities around and was great to be on the road again. As we made our way down the coast we stopped of at a snake farm where they collect venom from the snakes to produce anti serum. Was really interesting to watch a Russels Viper being milked and to see a selection of India’s snakes. The close to 4m long king cobra was by far the most impressive and some of the local explanations of the effects of snakebite are quite and India take on a painful theme. In Mahabablipurum we had a really cool beach side hotel really close to the Shore Temple a World Heritage Site Hindu Temple. It survived the Tsunami amazingly well and the fine rockwork and carving is amazing though this is only really a taste of things to come. We explored the area round the town, as there are many rock carvings of India folklore scenes some dating back to 630AD. Was great to get stuck into the local Kingfisher that evening while enjoying a selection of seafood. A festive night was on the cards and our first trip quote was soon recorded as stories of travel where exchanged! Bob took first prize with his China food stories when he said ‘I really like puppy dogs, just can not look then in the eyes’. Is the great thing with a group like this some are extremely well travelled and others have just started to travel and is great to hear the stories!

Next we headed for Pondicherry still on the coast and with its French influence from past colonial times it was great to wander the streets and visit the local Ashram, we had a great night out and met up with a bunch of students who where studying philosophy at the local university, seemed that a lot of the time was spent on the beach and out on the razz and studies where fairly laid back. Next it was on to Trichy with its many Hindu Temple complexes here we got the chance see some amazing Dravidian architecture. Visiting these temples with there calm feel compared to the chaos outside is a really special experience. The chance of being blessed by a real elephant was taken up by a nervous few. As we explored further we visited the town of Maderai, with its impressive temple and a great museum dedicated to Gandi and the independence struggle of India. If you look back at the past it really helps to understand this crazy, friendly country.

At this stage we have been heading south slowly making our way to the southern most point of India where we will turn north and head up the west coast into Kerala Province. Kakakumari (Cape Comarin) the southern most tip is a major pilgrimage point. Gandi in his wandering visited and until before the Tsunami his ashes were kept here. We spent an hour wandering around and was great to sit down and over lunch chat to some of the pilgrims who had walk many 100’s of kilometres on there pilgrimages. The less adventurous ones had hired small jeeps and was amusing to watch as they loaded about 12 people into a four seater jeep to head off more than likely on a 4-5 hour drive back to Chennai, must be terrible considering that the temperature is about 34 degrees at the moment.

On the way up the west coast we visited two beach villages and spend a bit of time on the beach as well as exploring the fishing villages and spice plantations around. A couple of brave folks headed of for a massage, to emerge a couple of hours later very relaxed but covered in far too much oil to be healthy!

Tomorrow its an early start as we head of Aleppey to head out on a converted rice barge for and overnight boat trip on the backwaters. The group has decided to do it in style and have gone for the luxury boat with aircon and all. Our mission to get a selection of drinks for the boat trip turned into a real adventure. For reasons unknown the entire town of Vakala was on strike, so we headed off into the narrow side streets with our rickshaw driver in search of a suitable bar with a off sales to supply the beer we would require to appreciate a night on the back waters. We finally arrived at what years ago must have been the local colonial hotel, which has now been turned into the largest permit room or the Indian equivalent of a bar. The great difference is to qualify as a permit room as little light must be let in as possible as faces are best not seen in places like this. Also women are not allowed, and the preferred drink is some of the foulest whiskey you can imagine, normally mixed with beer and is down all in one. Not the cleanest place around, but with many friendly chaps who would love you to by them a drink it’s an interesting experience. This permit room was especially cool as to try and exclude as much light as possible the courtyard are had been roofed in with green Perspex and gave the whole place the look of looking at everything through a pair of green tinted lenses, totally wacky, but a future attraction for when we come through next time!