Lins and Rich’s Travel Blog

Hello everyone, thought i`d type a quick update while Linds, Danny and Dahlia are all asleep. Very heavy session last night, one of Danny and Dahlias friends was 36 so we all went out for “a few quiet drinks” which turned into alot so were all hungover to hell

For the past eight days Lins and I have been relaxing in the luxurious island of Singapore. We visited here three years ago so we have seen the sights before so its a great opportunity to relax and catch up with Linds brother and his girlfriend.

Lins and I have tried our best this week to put back on the weight we lost in India by gorging on the culinary delights here. The food is fantastic. After spending a month in India desperate for a steak the first day we were treated to a slap up French meal were i ate a huge piece of steak.

Danny and Dahlia treated us to brunch last weekend which was fantastic. Brunch here is an experience that id recommend to anyone. The hotels charge a set fee and cook all sorts of amazing food from seafood to curry in a buffet all you can eat style. The food is truly fantastic and you can eat as much as you like. Linds was slipping this time, last time we went she managed five puddings but this time she only managed two!! Its a great way to try foods that you usually wouldn’t, i got stuck into the seafood and tried lobster, crayfish and some great sushi. For all the guys in India , alot of beef has been consumed so im happy again!

Apart from eating we have mainly been catching up on sleep, swimming (getting in practice ready for diving in Malaysia!) and visiting a few art galleries and treating ourselves to a couple of massages each. We also discovered the greatest bakery in the world called Bread talk, they do a loaf called “crouching tiger hidden bacon” which has bacon and cheese rolled into it, amazing!!

One day last week we went to the botanical gardens via bread talk and had a picnic. Really nice area of Singapore and can not be more different from the noise and bustle of the rest of the island.

From an update point of view its been a boring week but been nice after the chaos of India just to stop. On Monday we head to Malaysia to KL to start our tour of South East Asia

Right, im sure i haven’t eaten for ten minutes so im off to fix that. Roll on obesity!

We’ve done quite a bit of moving about over the past week so haven’t had much time for blog-writing, but now, with a very full and contented stomach (following my 6 course Shangri-La dinner - only 2 of which were dessert courses), a couple of good night sleeps and a few good showers down, I feel fully rejuvenated and ready to write again!

It’s been over a week now since we left Palampur and the people we had spent the first four weeks of our travels with.  Rich and I were both very sad to say goodbye as we had had so much fun together - the hours before bed every night at out house, ‘Silver Oaks’, were some of my favourite times so far as we would all just sit and talk about everything from our lives and our travels to the way the sun, earth and moon move, Disney films and our bowel movements!!!

Those of us who were leaving (including those of us who were doing the 4 week programme and those who had already been there for 8 weeks as they’d arrived in July) piled into 2 jeeps for the 4 hour journey back to the train station.  The rain was pouring as we pulled out of camp - I like to think it was the tears Palampur was shedding because we were leaving, but the clouds had cleared by the time we had moved down the road (obviously the town wanted to remind us of it’s beauty before we left) to reveal the peaks of the mountains which provided a stunning backdrop to a vivid rainbow.  It was a beautiful picture postcard and a fitting final memory of the area.

We arrived at the station at 10p.m. and the train wasn’t due until midnight as we had to sit and wait for a couple of hours.  I only got about an hour’s sleep on the train so wasn’t really in the mood for the 3 hour wait we then had at a very crowded Delhi station for our next train (London in rush hour isn’t a patch on the discomfort of Delhi in the midday heat!)  We were especially infuriated by the wait when we found out that the train we were already on goes on through to Agra and the company we were travelling with make you get off the train to wait three hours because it saves them money.  This fact was made even worse when we found out that, in spite of their claims that they book all tickets 90 days in advance, in reality they book last minute and seats are only reserved in case of cancellations in the air-conditioned class.  As there weren’t 16 cancellations (funnily enough), we all had to travel in ’sleeper class’ - the Air Con in this class is the open windows!  If it rains, which it did, you try to close the windows, which only close half way, and then you just get wet! There weren’t enough seats to go round so many of us spent the journey sharing a top bunk, sitting with our necks stooped so we weren’t hitting our heads against the ceiling. None of us would have had an issue with this way of travelling if it was what we had paid for, but the costs the company charge for this sector of the trip would undoubtedly cover First Class rail travel and still leave money over for investment in the volunteer projects (- someone is making  hefty profit out of other people’s good will - the company appear to be putting very little money into developing the projects; most of the good work being done on the projects is because the volunteers are dedicated and want to help).

We were, therefore, pleasantly surprised to find that the hotel the company had booked for us in Agra was fairly decent.  We got our first proper hot shower for nearly 4 weeks and we were even provided with towels!  We got an early night as we decided to try to beat the crowds by going to the Taj Mahal at the crack of dawn. Unfortunately the Taj Mahal opens at 6a.m. all year round; this means that, in the winter months, it is possible to see the sun rise over this magnificent building, however, in summer,  it is already daylight by the time you can get through the gates. Still, it was worth the 5.30 start as we were able to see it before too many people flocked in.  The exterior certainly lives up to its reputation.  As the sky turned bluer, as the sun rose higher, the white marble of the building appeared to glow more and more luminous; one corner of it even glittered where the sun rays fell directly onto it.  The inside was fairly unremarkable, as was our guide - another money-saving ploy from our tour company perhaps?!

The return journey to Delhi was even more stressful than the outward one - the train got delayed by half and hour every half hour for 4 hours.  Then, when it did finally arrive, it sat in the station for another hour!  We finally arrived back at our hotel at 1.30a.m.  The travel agent tell you to book your return/onward flights for the Monday night or Tuesday - 2 of the girls who were with us had opted for the Monday night:  they had to pay for a jeep back from Agra as it became apparent that there was no way they were going to catch their flights if they waited for the train.  We were also a bit surprised at the locals’ reaction to us while we were waiting at the station, given that his must be the tourist capital of India; a group began to gather around us, just to stare at us, so we decided to entertain them with a rendition of Happy Birthday for Sam -this was clearly a grave error as the crowd quickly grew to the point where we could not see daylight through them!  There must have been upwards of 100 people around us:  and there they stayed until their train came along!  We looked to our guide for help and he shrugged at us, told us he felt really uncomfortable and moved away from us - he would occasionally look back and laugh!

And so, we eventually returned to Delhi.  We spent a couple of days looking around - we decided to use public transport and used the Metro, which has been developed in the past couple of years so is very modern.  Quite a contrast to Old Delhi,the site of the Red Fort.  We walked through the hectic, hot streets of Old Delhi, astounded once again at the number of people and the amount of traffic we had to content with - you think we’d be used to it by now!  The Fort itself provided little sanctuary as I was constantly stared at - perhaps those inside were tourists from outside of Delhi, unaccustomed to seeing white women; my personal space was constantly compromised in this city - the Indians push and shove as a matter of course and have no sense of boundaries!  The Fort was large and had some impressive features but after the Taj Mahal and the Amber Fort, it had a lot to live up to, and didn’t succeed!

That evening we attempted to check-in to our flight only to find that Singapore Air had changed the date of it from Wednesday to Friday.  We made a frantic phone call to the travel agent as my dad had arranged to stay on in Singapore for a couple of extra days especially to see us so we didn’t want to wait for the Friday flight as he would have left by then, and our original flight was restored.  So on the Wednesday we hired a tuk-tuk for a few hours to take us to the various sites of the City including the Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi memorial museums, and before we knew it, it was time to say our farewells to India.

We arrived in Singapore first thing on Thursday morning and, true to form, our bags were waiting for us on the conveyor belt by the time we’d got through customs and we were at my brother’s house within an hour of landing!  The contrast between here and India could not be greater - it was more of a culture shock coming from India to here than it was going from England to India!  Far more tower blocks have gone up in the last 3 years and there are even more shopping centres - in fact, it is now impossible to get anywhere in this country without walking through one!  We couldn’t help indulging a little and both bought some new shoes and I am having a skirt and jacket made ready for my return to work next year - it doesn’t work out much more expensive to get stuff tailor made here than it does to buy stuff off the shelves in the high street at home so I’m using the same tailor I used 3 years ago so I guess I can refer to him as ‘my tailor’ now to sound like I’ve really got money and regularly get clothes made!

Having spent too much in the first 2 days, we are now economising and will spend some time here just hanging around in my brother’s lovely apartment.  I also have to thank him for a couple of lovely meals - he’s making sure I eat properly by buying me dinners - thanks Dan and Dahlia!  Which brings me back to the delicious dinner I’ve indulged in today!  After 4 weeks of rice I was able to eat virtually anything you could dream of and to have as much of it as I wanted!  The hotels here compete over their Sunday buffet brunch and they all lay on a spectacular spread.  We went o the Shangri-la and there was so much choice I decided to go for a little of as many dishes as possible, though I did have to have seconds of prawns as they were so good!  I limited my dessert courses to 2 this year - though the first was a chocolate brownie filled crepe with chocolate ice cream, mashmallows and strawberries dipped in the chocolate fountain so I’m not sure if that counts as 3-in-1!  And it doesn’t stop when you’re full!  Each guest is given a box to fill with sweets to take away - Dahlia and I asked for a couple of extra boxes too - so I’m off now to tuck into the 6 boxes of sweets sitting in the fridge!

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Hi all, sorry its been so long since we updated but we were terribly busy relaxing and living in luxury in Singapore, home of shopping and wealthy people and a very western life style.

We left india on Wednesday night (just, thanks Singapore air for changing our flight day and not telling us!) and im sad to say  goodbye. Read a comment about India on a travel website before we departed i agree totally with the phrase “India, fascinating but frustrating” On one hand it drives you mad the other, its a vibrant, colourful, interesting society that id recommend to anyone with a bit of patience and the ability to slum it!

In the week before last I have attended a dance workshop (showed them a few moves of my own, sure they were impressed) and left the volunteering projects (more dancing and partying! - video will no doubt appear on facebook - cheers mags!). Ill miss the work and just as everything was coming together had to leave. Both lins and myself are now wishing we stayed on for another few weeks but such is life, can not do everything

We left camp a week ago today and it was really sad to go, having spent the month with everyone it was sad to say goodbye, though there are loads of people we have met that i am sure we will meet again at a later date. Before we left everyone sang a version of “leaving on a jet plane” which was very funny and touching. Had a good party the night before where we sampled a few more of the local beers. There not good,8.5% and taste horrible, there is real stigma attached to drinking in India, especially with women but with alcohol that tastes like that I do not think they need to worry.  The twins (Sophie and Agnes) were on fine form and we were treated to scenes from pirates of the carribien and disney classics! Very funny.

After a four hour trip to the station, in the dark (really scary) we got on yet another Indian train. We all collapsed into our beds in Air Con class and slept. Arriving in Dehli at around 10, it was a shock. Having got used to the quiet peaceful life in Palumpur and the cool temperatures we were back to 36 degrees and chaos. It was at this point we realized that Idex had made us change trains to them money and change classes for the trip to Agra. Que, four hours waiting in the hot dusty station before piling onto sleeper class.

This is how the middle class in India travel, it makes you realise how luxurious the air con class is. People cram in and we found ourselves sitting anywhere. I have a lot of gripes about Idex, the Indian volunteer organsiation but ill save them for an email complaint, is a disgrace some of the things they do but im not letting it ruin a fantastic experince. experience.

Agra is again dusty and hot and we got there at around 5. Dropping the bags off at the hotel we had dinner and caught an early night. At five thirty in the morning we met in reception in the hotel and recreated the Italian Job in tuk tuks as we hurtled to see the Taj Mahal, the iconic image of India.

Words can not really describe it and I do not think photos do it justice. Costing over 2 billion gold coins and taking 22 years to complete its breathtaking and well worth a visit. Im not suprised this has been voted one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

There were lots of people already at the Taj Mahal when we got there and the guide we had was shockingly bad. I think he must have started that morning and just skim read a pamphlet on the place!.

Other charecters we met were “miserable German Girl” (in Katie style nicknames) who tried to help herself to our groups complimentary water and tried to have a go at me because i moved for ten people and steped into her photo. Wont repeat what i said to her but she looked shocked and walked off! “Bad shirt guy” who wore a shirt that russ would have refused to wear and was offensive to the eye at seven oclock in the morning! The piece du resistance was “lady with nipples” who thought that the correct attire for a conservative country is a tiny thin white t shirt and no bra. She may as well walked around topless for all it covered. How these people get through life is a wonder to everyone in the group.

After a three hour visit is was back to catch a train.Or so we thought, we were due to arrive at 6pm and got into the room at 1.30 am. The remaining two days were spent site seeing and shopping around Dehli  before we flew out to Singapore.

Ive updated the photos on the website, more to be added today, we have copied them all across at the moment and will delete the poor ones soon.

Going to leave the blog there now as lunch is nearly ready. Hope everyone is well and you all enjoying whatever your doing. Bye for now