Merry Christmas.

Season's Greetings.

Here's some photos of our Christmas.

Trini Christmas

Walking in the woods.

As well as beaches, Trinidad also has a lot of green spaces. Below are photos from some of our short afternoon treks.

Forest Walks

North Coast Beaches.

Photos of us on beaches. This is the Caribbean after all! We've been over to Maracas, Las Cuevas and Blanchisseuse a few times now. All beautiful, although the weather is unpredicatable, and the sea can be rough. I'm learning to boogieboard - but am quite inept. Wisely, Carrie prefers to lie on the beach and doze.

North Coast Beaches

Autism Christmas Party

Here's some photographs from the Trinidad Autistic Society Christmas Party.

Christmas Party

Trinidad

We're staying in Trinidad until the end of February 2009. The reason we're here (apart from dodging the english winter) is that Carrie is volunteering with the local Autism Society.

The society organisers are looking after us well - we're staying with them, in the annex (granny flat) at the end of their house.

Home in Trinidad

We're close to Arima, in the center of Trinidad. It's quite built-up and suburban around here, but it's only a 30 minute drive to get into the mountains, or an hour to get to the beach. Carrie is working hard in the week, but we've been having fun at the weekends - more photos to follow.

Soufriere, St Lucia

On our way to Trinidad, we stopped off at St Lucia for a few days. Very green, very friendly, very mountainous island. It also rained a lot - but we managed to get out a bit - although it wasn't really beach weather.

We stayed in Soufriere, the old french capital. Folk here still speak a lot of french patois. The food is good - we tried proper barbeque chicken, breadfruit, green banana, cassava, roti, plantain; and the nightlife is great - soca and rum.

St Lucia

We're off again.

So, thats it!

Nearly 5 months in UK, and it's starting to get chilly, so we're leaving again. We'll be London this weekend (get in touch if you want to catch up), and then we fly South next Tuesday - First to St Lucia, then Trinidad. Followed by Chile, Easter Island, Tahiti, New Zealand, Malaysia, then finally Namibia. Expect us back sometime November 2009.

Before all that fun, there's one more hurdle - Carrie has her PhD Viva tomorrow (Wednesday). She's going to pass, of course, but we're both a bit nervy at the moment. Keep your fingers crossed :)

Ta Ta for Now,
Noel & Carrie.

Trekking to the Pindari Glacier

Almost the last thing we did in India was a 5-day trek to the Pindari Glacier. It was an exhausting 45 miles, up, down, and up again, but a great experience. (apart from getting attacked by leeches on the last day).

Pindari Glacier

I've tried to be ruthless, but there's still a lot of photos here.

Himalayan Hillstations.

Ranikhet and Kausani are hillstations. We rested up there for a few days after our tiger safari: going for strolls, eating lychees, and tasting tea.

Ranikhet and Kausani

Tiger Spotting.

Here's some more photos. These are from the Corbett National Park, India, where we spent a week in May. As well as deer, elephants, monkeys & crocs, we saw a tiger - from elephant back.

Corbett

We're nearly to the end of the photo backlog now - just as well, as soon I'll be off traveling again

India-Pakistan Border

At the border between India and Pakistan there's a militaristic flag lowering ceremony every night - much high kicking, shouting and saluting by the guards; while the crowd chants 'Hindustan zindabad!' on one side and 'Pakistan zindabad!' on the other side of the border. As an outsider it's all a bit bewildering, and a little tragic.

Wagah Border

Still, at one point it was lightened up by a bunch of girls invading the pitch and dancing to Bollywood hits. That's how a border should be closed. Both nations speak the same language and watch the same films, after all...

Wagah Border

Jaisalmer

After we left Ladakh, we headed back south into the hot indian summer. The first place we visited was Jaisalmer, in the deserts of Rajasthan. After Ladakh, the daytime temp of 40C was much too hot!! I spent most of the time lying in the shade, sweltering.

Jaisalmer

Motorbiking in Ladakh

Ladakh is a great place to learn to ride a motorbike - wide roads, not so much traffic, only desert to shoot off into, and none of that pesky license or insurance stuff. It's also really stunning - but you need to wrap up warm.

Motorbiking

Later I found out that the bike I was riding - a Bajaj Pulsar 150 has it's gears arranged differently to most other bikes - so I'll have to re-learn. Still, it was a great way to get around, and I'm now a convert.

Nubra Valley

More photos from Ladakh... A trip further north to the Nubra Valley - more Central Asia than India.

Nubra Valley

Amritsar

It's been a while, but I'm back sorting through our remaining India photos.

Amritsar

The Golden Temple, Amritsar is the center of Sikhism. It's a really beautiful place, and one of the friendliest places we visited in India. Although it's very sacred to Sikhs, everyone is welcome, and you can wander into the center of the temple, where there's people playing music all day. We found ourselves revisiting quite a few times - there's something special about the place.

Jamie has done a much better job of describing the magic of this place than I ever could.

Coming Home..

I'm in Mumbai (Bombay) at the moment. We fly back to London this Tuesday. The last 9 months in India have been amazing, but it'll be good to get home and see everyone again. It's going to be dead strange being back in the UK - but I think we'll just spend the first week gorging on bacon butties, good cheese and wine.

Itinerary: Carrie & I will be in London for the first week, then in Scotland for a week, then over in Mid-Wales, Shropshire & Kidderminster for the rest of the month. It'd be great to meet up - I doubt I've got a working UK mobile anymore, so send us an email if you want to get in touch.

Update: my phone still works - so I've the same phone number as before.

Finally, I've got a backlog of photos that I'm slowly working through and uploading - there's 6 weeks more to get through :). Watch this space.

Spring in Ladakh

Spring comes late in Ladakh - and it's nice to see green, blossom and fluffy lambs after just snow and desert.

Spring

Pangong Lake

Some photographs of a day-trip over the world's third highest pass to a frozen lake on the border with China.

Pangong Lake

Caroline in her Sari.

Carrie takes a lesson in dressing up...

Caroline in her Sari

Shanti Stupa, Ladakh

On the side of the mountain above our guesthouse is Shanti Stupa - a large stupa built by the Japanese for world peace. It's a terrible slog up the steps to get there, but a great view from the top.

Shanti Stupa

On the move again...

After six weeks in Ladakh, we're on the move again. We flew down to Delhi, which seems to be in the throes of an early monsoon - we were braced for 40 degree heat, but should have packed our wellies instead. After spending a day or two gorging on food (beef, beer, wine & cheese), shopping, and suffering culture shock from being back in proper India again, we're now on our way to Jaisalmer - a desert town in Rajasthan, where it will be shockingly hot and dry.

Gompas

There's lots of monks and nuns in Ladakh. There's old wizened monks, the sort that Carrie enjoys smiling at (it makes them giggle), and there's young funky monks - the sort who have wrap-around shades, ride Enfield motorcycles, and wear Nike trainers. We've even met the monk from the Sprite commercial (but that's another story). All the young nuns chew bubblegum.

Gompas

A buddhist monastery is called a Gompa, and we've visited quite a few ancient ones while we've been in Ladakh. They're usually built on top of a hill; have amazing views from the roof; lots of prayer flags and prayer wheels; an assembly hall where the monks pray and eat; wall paintings; and shrines with large statues. The monks are very welcoming, and happy to show you around.

Leh Bazaar

We really like shopping in Leh High-street.

Leh Bazaar

Roads of Ladakh

There's some amazing roads up here - Ladakh has the top three highest motorable passes in the world, and they require a special kind of road to get up and down them. The roads are kept open year-round by the Indian Army, and they put up jaunty little signs along the way to remind you to drive safely....

Ladakh Roads

Snow

Leh in the Snow

One night it snowed heavily, and the next morning everything was covered - although it burned off before we had change to build a snowman.

A Walk in the Country.

Country Stroll

The other weekend we went for a walk in the countryside uphill from our guesthouse. It's still winter here, and although there's nothing much growing at the moment, it's quite stunning.

Fluffy Animals

Fluffy Ladakhi Animals

All the animals in Leh are a little bit hairier than their cousins on the plains. The cows are small and fluffy; there's domesticated yaks and imposing dzo (a yak-cow cross) with thick tangled coats; and small shaggy donkeys. Event the cats and dogs are hirsute.

All the animals here seem much better cared for and fed than elsewhere in India - although there's very little green stuff to eat at the moment there's large haystacks on top of each house.


I'd really like to see wild yak - apparently they can weigh over a ton and roam in herds higher up the mountains.

Highest Cricket Match in the World?

Last weekend we saw some of the All-Ladakh Twenty-20 cricket competition. This took place on Leh's polo ground, and drew a large crowd. The standard wasn't very high, but there was plenty of action - and this has to be the most magnificent backdrop for a game of cricket.

My hovercraft is full of eels

The Ladakhi language is related to Tibetan. I've found a wonderful phrasebook - and with this I'm sure my Ladakhi will soon by as polished as my Hindi.

As well as giving useful words like "hello", "goodbye", "I'm cold", "turnip", this book has all those handy phrases that every traveller needs:

I will open a bakery shop	ng-a i-ka be-ka-ri ha-Ti-zyik pe-yin-rak
This is a man	i-bo mi yin
Because more than the capacity of a bus people sit in therefore it smells	mi-thep-tang-mang-po gyang-ches-pe Ti-ma tong-nga-rak
Please bring two plates of rice, three naan, one chicken-curry, one meat-curry, one egg-curry with potatoes, one dry cauliflower vegetable.	Das pa-leT-nyis, nan-sum, chi-kan ka-ri-chik, she-spaks chik, a lu-nang-nyam-po-Thul-spaks chik, phul-go-bi spaks-chhu-met-kan-zyik khyong-nga-dzat
There is a stone under my foot	nge skang-pe yog-pa rdwa-zyik duk
Do you have a good book to learn Ladakhi?	la-daks-si skat lhap-ches-la pe-chha-chik yod-da?
If it is really good I'll buy some more copies of the book	kal-Sit ma-gyal-la yod-na ki-tap kha-chik yang nyo-yin-le

"Guide to learn ladakhi language" by Sanyukta Koshal, available in all good bookshops.

Leh

We've moved on again - we've left the plains behind and are now in Leh, the capital of Ladakh. It's very very different up here, and possibly one of the nicest places we've visited.

Ladakh is in the far north of India, beyond the himalayas, on the borders of Tibet and Pakistan. Culturally and geographically a part of Tibet, it's only through an accident of history that Ladakh is Indian, rather than occupied by China.

When we left Delhi it was approaching 40C, but it's still winter here. It snows occasionally, there's no leaves on the trees, it's cold at night, and we're surrounded by snowy peaks. It's very clear however, so it can get quite hot in the daytime. Spring is due in a few weeks time, hopefully.

Ladakh is a high, dry, cold desert with hard winters - but the landscape here is strangely beautiful, very sandy, stunning mountains, solid whitewashed houses and smallholdings with lots of very fluffy animals. It's amazing that people manage to make a comfortable living in such a bleak place.

There's only two roads that lead out of Ladakh - both high mountain passes that are blocked apart from June - October. For the rest of the year, the only way in or out is by flying. This means that there's not the usual goods that you can buy elsewhere in India - the people have always been more self-sufficient (and Carrie can't find a diet coke - in fact any fizzy drink - anywhere - she's started drinking TEA!!).

The people here are a mixture of Ladakhis, Tibetan refugees, Kashmiris, and Indian soldiers (who look very out of place - being posted up here can't be very popular).

Ladakhi people are very friendly & welcoming. They're more easy-going and honest than most people in India. There must be something in that buddhism malarky.

It's very high here - Leh is 3500m above sea level (2 miles up). Carrie & I had rotten altitude sickness for the first few days - we flew up from Delhi, which is practically at sea level. We were well looked after by the guesthouse owners - Tsering and Dolkar - who practically confined us to our beds for the first few days. We're much better now - and can yomp up gompas with the best of them.

We're about the only guests staying at the guesthouse at the moment, and have the best room in the house - there's a panoramic view of snowy himalayas from our bed. We get home-baked ladakhi bread and apricot jam for brekkie, and veg-dhal-rice for dinner.

There's a few more eating options in Leh town - a singaporean cake and coffee place, a few tandoori restaurants and lots of tibetan kitchens. In the tourist season (when the mountain passes open) there's a lot more going on here - at the moment it's quiet, and many things are closed for the winter. But this is nice - it's peaceful, we've got the place almost to ourselves, and Carrie is managing to get her studying done.

Leh

Trekking Weekend

On the weekend of the recent Holi festival we decided to escape the city. We did a 3-day village trek in the himalayan foothills near Almora. We spent the most of the time lost, but had a great, knackering, time. Photos below:

Almora Trek

Nainital

Nainital is India's answer to the lake district.

It's another town founded by homesick brits of the empire - it clings to the steep sides of an alpine valley with a lake on the top of a mountain. It's inaccessible, cooler and cleaner than the plains, and from the town you can't see outside the valley - so there's no unpleasant reminder that you're in India. There's a lot of old architecture left: boarding houses, churches bungalows and boating clubs. They must have thought it was perfect.

Apparently my grandfather was stationed here during the war. I hope he was here for some time - I'd have thought that this was the most pleasant place possible to be stuck.

The town is very popular with Indian tourists now, who enjoy promenading along the mall around the lake; eating well in the good restaurants and tearooms; having a few drinks; and boating on the lake.

Funnily enough, that's what we did too. Most tourists hire a boatman to take them out for a row on the lake. But not us. We chose a pedalo instead, and pootled around the lake for an hour in a giant plastic swan.

Nainital

Living in Suburbia

There's some odd little things we noticed while living in the enclave in Dehradun.

It's surprising how many people come and go to your house - the gardeners, cleaners, laundry wallah and others. There's an awful amount of to-ing and fro-ing - the trust and lawfulness is quite surprising, given the huge difference in wealth between the householders and the staff.

You also get all the regular door-to-door salesmen - vegetables (on a hand-cart), milk (motorcycle with 4 milkchurns strapped to it), and encyclopedia.

The enclave has a night-watchman. The poor guy has to walk his beat all night, continuously blowing a whistle and banging a stick on gates. It's a melancholy sound, but I suppose it's good to let burglars know that he's on the way. Wouldn't want to surprise anyone, after all.

Residents like to have vainglorious name-plaques in front of their house, announcing their name, rank, qualifications and achievements:

Weekends in Delhi.

Delhi is 5 hours on train from Dehradun. That's positively local by India standards. We've spent two weekends in Delhi so far.

The first time was for Carrie's birthday, and she wanted to visit 'Delhi Fashion Week'. Apparently it was advertised in 'Indian Cosmo' and 'Indian Elle', but when we got there we found it wasn't open to the public - only to buyers and media. We tried sneaking in anyhow - we managed to get past the first security guard by mumbling something and pointing inside. Then we came to a receptionist.

Noel	Can we go in?
Receptionist	You need a pass to get in. Where are you from?
Noel	England
Receptionist	No, I mean which company?
Noel	Well, we represent three independent boutiques in the south of England. You won't have heard of them...
Carrie	<Gasp>
Receptionist	Wait a minute, I'll see what I can do.

Then we were handed passes and ushered into the auditorium. There's a catwalk right down the middle with models tottering along on it, we're in the banks of seating with other buyers, across on the other side are all the media types, and just to the left of us, at the end of the catwalk is a huge bank of press photographers snapping away. Blimey!

We saw three shows back-to-back. Carrie really enjoyed it - and I tried to look knowledgable and fiddled with my phone in what I hoped was a business-like way. Looking around there was possibly three or four other tourists who had blagged it, but most were buyers from companies. As well as the catwalk, the audience was worth watching - harrased looking indian journalists; Delhi's answer to Ab-Fab; women done-up-to-the-eyebrows; and some who looked quite a state. I didn't dare take any photos - I thought we'd be slung out.

After the show was over we wandered around the designer's stands. They were mostly interested in selling bulk orders, although some bits were for sale, these were samples, or in size 0. Carrie had a good rummage anyhow.

There's some photos of Delhi below.

Delhi

Mussoorie

Mussoorie is hill station just outside Dehradun. The drive up is amazing - it's only an hour, but you gain 1300m, the views are incredible, and the hairpins on the road terrifying. Still, our taxi-driver is quite old, so he must be doing something right, and he does manage to dodge all the trucks and jeeps whizzing down in the other direction.

It was built by brits trying to escape the indian heat. And it's an wonderfully daft place to build a large town - along a high ridge, hardly accessible even now. There's one main road - 'The Mall' - that runs all along the ridge, and the town clings onto slopes to each side of it. I've really not been anywhere like this before, but it's all strangely familiar - the cast-iron lamp-posts and ballustrades, wooden houses - it's an english spa town in the himalayan foothills.

It's bright, sunny and the air is much cleaner and colder up here than in Dehradun. In fact, you can see the haze of pollution in the valley below. Looking the other way, north, you can make out snowy peaks on the horizon, while the mountain sides are terraced and wooded.

The town is now popular with Indian tourists, and parts of the main street are over-developed like many other places in the country. However, it's not hard to leave this all behind. There's various walks you can take off into sleepy suburbs, where there's tons of grand old bungalows and cottages, and where the people who live there, while Indian, are somehow quite british too.

We'd heard about a shop at the far end of Mussoorie (up on top of a steep hill, of course) that makes cheddar cheese, and we made a pilgrimage to it. We stocked up on cheese, chutney and home-made plum jam. It's funny the things you crave after 6 months in India - we had cheese-on-toast for most of the next week.

Mussoorie

What I'm up to..

Since the start of March, Carrie & I have been living in Dehradun. Carrie is working at a special school here, while I'm still working for the same project that I was with in the UK.

Dehradun is a fair sized city, quite a sprawl. It's center is crowded, grubby and noisy, as you'd expect, and getting hotter by the day. It's on the plain, but the foothills of the himalayas start just outside town - you can see the ridge of Mussoorie from our front door. Dehradun has got a load of private schools and colleges, and a few large government institutes (Forest department of India, Indian Mapping Survey, large military bases). It's a well-to-do place.

We're living out in the suburbs, in what's called an enclave and it's dull. There probably is life in this town, but it's hard to find - and to do so I think we'd need to have our own transport. I'm missing having a scooter, but can't find one to rent or buy here.

Our house is a 2 bedroom bungalow. It's got high ceilings and basic fittings - it will be the the servant's quarters for a house that hasn't been built yet - hence the large garden.



We're sharing it with Anne, another British speech therapist, who's good company.

Our place is surrounded by more developed houses - mostly the homes of retired generals and doctors.





In fact in the enclave it's easy to forget that this is India, apart from the occasional reminder:



So, our life here is quite different to Goa - no swimming in the sea at lunchtime, or walking along the beach at sunset. We've gone from eating out three times a day to cooking for ourselves three times a day (We were promised a cook, but it never happened - we do have weekly cleaners and a laundry-wallah though).

There's few restaurants in town, a narrow choice of food to buy (no fish, no pizza, no good bread or cheese, and certainly no beef or pork), and no bars or nightlife. At least I've found an off-license now.

Still, Goa must be getting really hot and sticky by now, and we're rarely woken by stoned Israelis playing bongos at 3am, or Russians having heated arguments outside our apartment. There's plenty of time for Carrie to write her PhD thesis - and it's been busy at work for me at the moment too. But I'm missing Arambol.

Dehradun is the capital of Uttarkhand state, which is really mountainous and pretty. So we're making sure we get out of the city whenever we can - so far we've been to Delhi, Mussoorie and trekking around Almora. Weekend after next we're all off to Amritsar to see the golden temple. After that, we hope to fit in the Corbett tiger reserve, a visit to Haridwar, the list goes on.. So, there's a lot more interesting things I've got to blog about - just thought I'd better set the scene first.

This weekend we're going back to Mussoorie - Carrie has heard that there's a cheese shop there.

Bhaktapur

Some more photos of our time in Nepal. Just outside Kathmandu there's a well-preserved town called Bhaktapur - red brick, cobbled streets, and fine woodcarving. It's a magical place to get lost in.

Bhaktapur

Me mate Jamie has written about place previously. I wish I'd read that before I visited - Carrie & I found an amazing thangka, and were about to part with our money when we thought "no, let's shop around in Kathmandu a bit for one". And, of course, all we found there was overpriced low-quality stuff. Rats.

Everest Flight

One morning while we were in Kathmandu, we took a sightseeing flight along the Himalayas to Everest. You can't see the mountains from Kathmandu - the smog obscures them. However, as soon as the plane left the valley the views were fantastic - the mountains stretched in every direction.

Carrie liked it very much.

Everest Flight

Kathmandu

Nepal is an interesting place. We've been unable to get much outside the capital, as we're only really here to renew our visa, but what we've seen we like a lot.

Kathmandu

On first impression Nepal is maybe similar to India. In other ways it reminds of China. But in a lot of ways it's just quite different. In no particular order, here's what I've noticed.

The food seems to be mostly the same as India - not that we've eaten much of it, as after having an enforced indian diet for so long, we're pigging on italian, japanese, tibetan, steak & burger restaurants, bacon, sausages and all the other things the capital city offers. They're definitely more keen on meat up here.

Kathmandu has an amazing central square with all sorts of Hindu and Buddhist temples - most are in a pagoda style. Buddhism is much more important here than in India - there's stupas dotted around the city, and lots of monastries. The city is surrounded by mountains, but you can't see any of the more distant snow-covered peaks.

A fair part of the city seems to still be traditional houses - brick built, often with a shop on the bottom floor. It's a pleasure to wander the streets - they're narrow and crowded, and there's all kinds of markets, street-side shrines & shops. They're very keen on wood-carving here - all the temples and palaces, and many of the houses, are covered in intricate carving - quite a bit of it risque.

It's interesting to people-watch - Nepalis come in all shapes and sizes. Some people look Indian, others more like Thai. There's very short Sherpas, and tall Tibetans. The people are very polite, friendly, and quite chatty too. Being British seems to score extra points here.

The tourists here are a more active bunch than where we've been so far in India - everyone is planning to go trekking or scale a mountain it seems. There's lots of shops selling fake 'North Face' clothes and equipment to kit them out. I feel quite a fraud just coming here for my visa.

We went to the mountaineers bar - 'Rum Doodle'. If you've climbed Everest, you can eat there free for life. There's signatures of Tensing, Hilary and a load of other mountaineers at the bar, while the walls are covered with mementos of other expeditions.

Away from the tourists, Nepal is visibly poorer than India, and life seems to be tougher. There's power cuts for 8 hours each day (it's called 'Load Shedding') - there's a weekly schedule. At the moment people have to queue for hours for petrol and cooking kerosene too, as there's shortages caused by blockades.

Although it's warm in the sunshine, it's flipping cold at night - we've discovered the joys of extra blankets and hot water bottles.

Visas

I'm in Kathmandu, Nepal. I've been here for a week while we apply for new Indian visas - our current 6-month visas will soon expire. Getting a new visa is a lengthy process, involving 3 visits to the embassy, telexes, and lots of queuing.

We got the new visas today, so we're pleased and relieved. We're heading back to India on Friday - first Delhi, then Dehradun, where we'll be living for the next 3 months.

Carrie is planning to start work next Monday - she doesn't hang around. I'll be back 'at work' too - I've got a lot of email to catch up with.

Catching Up..

I've just uploaded sets of photos of the last stages of our trip.

From Varanasi we caught an overnight train and then a bumpy local bus to Khajuraho. This is a small village not far from the middle of nowhere, but it has the most amazing collection of old temples - which are covered in carving. They're world famous because some of the carving is quite naughty - but this maybe distracts from the temples themselves, which are beautiful.

Khajuraho

Those of a sensitive nature (e.g. Carrie's Mum) probably shouldn't look at these pictures


We then went moved on to Orchha. Orchha was the capital of one of the princely states of pre-independance India. It's now a tiny place with two huge abandoned palaces, an enormous cathedral of a temple, and lots of cenotaphs, towers, walls and other monuments. We stayed in one wing of the palaces that has been renovated as a hotel. The rest is now only home to monkeys and bats. Indian monuments aren't covered in safety bars and 'no entry' signs - if you fall off, that's your problem. It was brilliant to roam around, clamber up, and try to imagine what it once would have been like - you just need to keep an eye out for sudden drops. The views of the surrounding countryside are stunning too.

Orchha

Next was Gwalior. There's not so much to see here, but was a convenient step on the way to Agra. There's another ruined fort, some nice clifftop temples, and an over-the-top modern maharaja's palace.

Gwalior

Finally we got to Agra, and saw the Taj Mahal. It's such a well known image, a cliche, that it was really odd actually visiting it. Still, it is a jaw-droppingly gorgeous building.

Agro in Agra

Smells, Bells, Processions & Pyres

Varanasi is the ancient holy city on the Ganges. It's also incredibly filthy and polluted - Carrie got ill, and I developed a cough (we've both recovered now).

We saw a few pilgrims, but it wasn't as busy as we'd expected. The river at the moment is particularly low, exposing muddy banks, and it's quite nippy - maybe this keeps pilgrims away?

While we were there the Maharishi's ashes were scattered into the Ganges - that day the Ghats were busier, as there were a lot of his American and Japanese followers attending. White sadhu-like robes don't look very good on europeans - they look pale and ill. I saw some of them taking to the waters. Now, if you fall in Bristol harbour, they pump your stomach...

All that aside, this is a fascinating place - all you expect - and beautiful, in the right light.

Varanasi

Tribes in Orissa

We've been in the highlands of Orissa, visiting tribal communities and markets. People here are far from the indian mainstream, and have their own quite different languages, beliefs, customs and costume.

We took a train up from the coast - it climbed through mountains onto the inland plateau. The landscape up here is a different kind of India from what we've seen before too - wide plains and steep river valleys. Somehow it seems more like Africa.

The people we met here were very warm and friendly, and the markets were great fun. Some of the stall holders were puzzled why we had 'empty noses'. Carrie bought a sari in the market, and the villagers helped her to put it on - which caused much amusement.

We had a wonderful time, and took some great photos. However, there's lots more that we didn't take photos of - to do so felt too intrusive.

Tribal Orissa

Our guide, Ambar, deserves a mention. He really made our trip enjoyable, and it was clear he has a real understanding and rapport with the people he took us to visit. I'd happily recommend him to anyone else - here's his details:

Ambar Kumar Patnaik

+919437340616

ambar_patnaik@yahoo.com

Jeypore, Orissa

Two examples of what not to call a clothes shop...

Konark Sun Temple

While we were staying in Puri, we took a tuktuk along the coast to see the Konark Sun Temple. This is an amazing structure - absolutely huge, especially considering that no arches are used in it's construction.

Sadly, it was collapsing under it's own weight - so soon after the British rediscovered it and dug it out of the sand dunes, they filled it with rubble to keep it up. Still, the outside is magnificent, and it's all covered with really fine carving - a lot of it quite, erm, racy.

Konark

Chilika Lake

We took a boat trip around Chilika Lake - a huge brackish lagoon on the coast. There's freshwater dolphins in the lagoon - and we were lucky enough to see 4 or 5 of them. They're odd looking little chaps - they've not got the pointed snout of typical dolphins, and are a lot smaller.


I'm glad we took a fishing boat, and didn't take the ferry:

Birthday Fireworks.

It was my birthday at the end of January, and Carrie pushed the boat out, trekked into the local town, and spent all of £25 on some amazingly large fireworks. We let them off on the beach - large mortars with huge bangs and big starbursts. Quite terrifying really - especially as we were quite merry on mulled wine at the time. Great fun.

From Album

I didn't manage to get any photos of the explosions - we were too busy running out the way - but the packaging is interesting - 'intel inside' sparklers and 'iPod' starbursts.

Indian Fireworks

It's Carrie's birthday mid-March - dunno what I'm going to do in return.