Andlays' travels

Last post

2010-11-22T23:28:00.000-08:00

Hello.....well it did stop raining and I was able to spend the whole morning on the beach yesterday........loooverrrly!
I set out at midnight last night, it is now 12.55 the following day. I eventually flew from Cochin to Dehli arriving here at 10.30. Baggage collection was reasonably painfree and by 10.45 I was enroute to the International check in, two hours later I have just found a little haven with iced Savignon Blanc and super food all courtesy of Amex, I needed it I can tell you I was about to explode. The red tape and bureaucracy here is just unbelievable! It keeps thousands of police in jobs and hundreds of airport staff working at the usual Indian pace appearing to be busy!
So here I am due at number one gate in a few delicious moments and reflecting on my trip I have concluded I am so pleased I was able to experience the pleasures and delights of India, I am too old to relive the many annoyances, I wish I had managed to see Hampi, Rickasesh (or similar spelling) and a few other special places, I am so very pleased I did this trip. I worry they have nuclear power at their fingertips and have rethought visiting China due to the knowledge I now have from the many poor Tietans with whom I have chatted.
I feel so enlightened and so exhausted all wrapped up in a wonderful bundle of memories.
Bye for now xxx

Hello and it is raining!

2010-11-21T02:54:00.000-08:00

This may be my last post from India and unfortunately I have to report it is raining. In fact we have had rain here in Vakarla, everyday except yesterday but today it started around 13.00 following a hot but mostly cloudy morning and looks set to continue all day. I guess it is good practise for me returning home tomorrow. It has never persisted for a long time before but oh well, notice already I am talking about the weather!
I have spent a few relaxing hours slung in the hammock outside our room, as it is very warm so I was able to enjoy my book.
Spending too much money in the shops here as the beach is not an option and now I am taking a relaxing drink. We have arranged to meet up with a few people we have met in other towns who are also now here, have a game of scrabble and or cards.
So even though the weather has let me down at this last stage I am able to enjoy and relax.
Love you and take care from India. xx

Vakarla Beach

2010-11-18T03:54:00.000-08:00

Hello from my final stop. We arrived here after a mere tuk tuk to the bus from Kovallam, two buses and a second Tuk tuk. However following the train journeys we have had this was comparatively easy!
India is such a vast country that travelling from one town to another is always a mission. Vakarla itself is a small town still in the state of Kerrala but not quite on the coast so of course the bus drops at the main town and from there of rickshaw is required. When on the bus, well I use the word loosely as, if you can recall the depot where the oldest and most broken down old buses have laid for many years awaiting a miracle to resuscitate them back to life, well that is the bus! No windows of course, in fact I cannot recall seeing windows in many places here, just the occasional building and cars of course. The door is pulled close after use by the nearest passenger (on this occasion me) using a piece of string. We do of course attract huge amounts of attention as we travel, particularly from the younger generation. The little children take much pleasure in greeting us with a sweet 'hello' and a very large smile followed quickly by a proud glance toward their family. The young men, but rarely girls, are always so very keen to 'extend their conversational skills' as they so wonderfully put it.
So we arrived and a lovely place it is too. We have two nights at a 'couch surfer' which basically means free and have decided to stay here until I leave for my flight. We have found a lovely room to move to on Saturday night for 300 rps each night, a real bargain. It is very near the front and has a hammock to laze in outside. The 300 will of course be split between us and when you remember the rate is around 70 to a pound sterling it is one of the best we have found.
Vakarla consists of a very small beach, the beach extends as the months go on, they have the monsoon finishing around August Sept and from then the water becomes reduced which exposes more beach! Their winter is just beginning (which is also the high season for tourists) so prices will be increased soon.
It is 36 or 37 degrees everyday with the sun being very strong until about three in the afternoon. The food is wonderful with loads of fish and even a rum and coke.....so civilised! The high cliff , that requires tackling to access the beach supports the single row of traders including restaurants and travel agents. Well on the subject of travel agents we actually found one here who had a map of India, it brought such excitement!
So it is here in this rich and clean area, one where the locals no longer spit, they have learnt to wait their turn, they often are seen shaking hands (oh so very western) and to top it all there are no cows that I spend my last few days before returning to England.
I will leave here on Monday night to fly from Cochin at 07.15 and a direct flight from Dehli to UK departing at 11.45 I believe.
I may speak again..........
Chris x

Varenessi

2010-11-18T03:12:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of the charity feeding for the DaVali celebrations. All the local hungry and homeless arrive and queue up outside while the rich Indians who have donated the food play music and make a bit of a thing about it before opening the gates allowing the poor in. They all are very quite whilst they file in a single line. They sit down and wait. They are issued a vine leaf each (not to eat but to adapt as their plate) before several people come round serving different foods onto the leaf. When all is served they begin to eat and shortly after they leave, still poor and homeless but for now anyway no longer hungry. This happens once a year.

Monday 15th Nov Still in Kavala

2010-11-15T06:15:00.000-08:00

Hello Well we have decided to move on tomorrow. We have thoroughly enjoyed the time here, have met some lovely people and enjoyed the gorgeous food. Fish, fish and more fish so I have been in my element.
I have strolled the 'front' so many times with the touts now smiling and saying 'hello' Today I took my wrap around skirt off as I came out from lunch and joked with the wrap/scarf seller offering it for sale to him. We were joined at lunch by a chap who arrived yesterday from Taunton and our afternoon trek up to the lighthouse was 'guided' by a fantastic guy who is a fisherman and life guard. He has his handmade boat which he paddles out to where the Squid and mussels are, he dives down with his machete and collects the fish returning to the boat, so clever, he is also a lifeguard as the tide and current here are so very strong, they are all fishermen and really know the sea, they rescue at least one person a day. What a fantastic life he has, I so admire him, he learnt to dive for fish as a boy going out with his father. He was telling me today he has three brothers, two of which are in Saudi Arabia making lots of money. They are a Muslim family. He received an invitation from them to join them and also make money but he declined, saying he is happy in his soul and has sufficient money to live and feed himself also looking after his parents.
We also have met several English people in our hotel so a group of us are around most of the time.
Anyway I must tell you about my highlight that you will not believe! Yesterday we met a guy at breakfast and we were chatting , he said a few of them were taking a taxi to Trivandrum that evening g as there was a rumour that Bob Geldorf was playing a free gig, would we like to join them. Well of course we did so off we went at 17.30 six of us all squeezed in the taxi. Arriving at the palace we strolled through the grounds where a book convention had been for the previous week. We found the natural auditorium and took the front row. It started to spit! The equipment that was on stage under the covers began to get wet and a sad air of disappointment hung around us. The loudspeaker crackled into life and a voice said there are two ways of dealing with the rain, we either all pray or we have a rain party! You can guess the rest......but just before the band came on stage we realised that Sting was seated forth row back with Trudi. The band came on then Bob came onstage. He played for two hours and Sting joined him for one number.
It was absolutely amazing I can't tell you and for free.
So here I am seated in the Internet cafe, its 19.30 and we will eat dinner soon, at least that was the plan but the sky has just opened and tipped a huge amount of water onto us accompanied by very loud bangs of thunder. It has been very very hot so I am really not surprised. It will not last long and then it will be dry again.
So tomorrow we travel to Varcala just up the coast a little where we have two free nights accommodation, we are hoping to do a backwater tour from there which also places me nearer to Cochin from where I fly home.
Now I will venture out to the restaurant to retrieve my beer!

Love you xx

we have arrived AND there is food!!!!

2010-11-13T07:05:00.000-08:00

We began our journey at Varanasi, having had a huge pasta dish and steamed vegetables, which is really two meals but I knew I had to 'stock up'. We arrived at the station, huge, full of people (and cows), many platforms with many people keen to rip you off. We established the appropriate platform and struggled up the many steps to walk several yards and then down many steps with huge baggage which seems to multiply every time we move on.
We had of course purchased many items of food that were available on the streets, this amounted to crisps, bananas, apples, one pomegranate and some nutty/coconut type sweets.
Looking up at the platform display sign and allowing my eyes to wander from left to right the headings were as follows:- Train number......destination.......train name.....scheduled time.....late
LATE ....already printed on the sign, well that is a very good insight into the general level of efficiency in India. In our case the figure was 1.30, meaning the train is already running one and a half hours late and still a couple of hours before the scheduled arrival time!
So that was the beginning of our arduous journey. The first night was impossible to sleep as the driver was leaning on the horn all night long! The second not too bad, probably due to us being pretty comatosed by then and the third again impossible as this engine clearly had a fault with the clutch, so every time he dropped down or moved up through the gears the whole train lurched and jolted throwing all personal pocessions flying. With the increasingly unbearable stench of urine wafting from the said 'toilets' and the persistent cries of "biriyani' every ten minutes or so, as the 'boys' from the kitchen were of course on commission, the advantages of travelling this way were quickly forgotten.
Arriving at Trivandrum was more a case of falling off than alighting with style! I can't begin to explain how dirty we were, it was when we began to have coins offered to us that we realised just how we mimicked street people! No only joking. Anyhow we were of course immediately surrounded by Tuk Tuk drivers, taxi drivers and the like but quickly realised this was a city and a big one at that. We really had had enough of the city life so took a tuk tuk straight to Kovalam, booked into a hotel, got a good deal for 500 per night (after we changed rooms cos the first had no hot water, they always try it on) and had a shower.........well it was the best shower of my life, boy does this travelling make you appreciate what you have at home!
Next stop....you guessed it food! We had eaten so very little I should have lost loads of weight but sadly not. Think it may have something to do with the beer as there is no choice of alcohol.
Then I opened my eyes and realised we were in the most idyllic bay, the waves crashing in and every restaurant displaying the catch of the day for my indulgence.....and boy am I!
The sunset here is amazing and looks like we will be here for a couple more days....Oh the agony of it!
I do miss you all..really. I am off to dinner now. Speak soon xxx

Last post from Varenesi. Monday 9th Nov

2010-11-08T20:32:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, we have finally arranged our next move. We are due to leave this evening on the 23.55 train to Chennai arriving there at 14.20 11 th Nov, we then take the train at 19.45 to arrive at Trivandrum at 11.20 on Friday the 12th. A very long journey indeed but the most economical one by far. So today our mission is to colllect as much edible food as we can find to take on board, generally this amounts to only crisps and fruit! We have booked economy sleeper which means no a/c and no bed roll. As it was so very cold on the last train we decided that would be the best 'class' to travel.
Well did I tell you the beauty of Varenesi, it is a city of very old buildings all extremely close together, reminding me of Victorian London, creating a mass of narrow alleys through which cows, motorbikes, pushbikes, goats, dogs and literally hundreds of people all sieve through avoiding, where possible, the caramel coloured pats spewing from previously sealed wads, the pungent exhaust fumes and the touching of the many beggars.
The 'burning ceremony' continues relentlessly twenty four hours a day with bodies being paraded through the streets held high by the family, only the males of course as the women are considered too emotional to attend. These bodies, wrapped in many layers of varying coloured cloths with tinsel and flowers topping the package, are laid upon makeshift wooden stretchers to take the weight of the body, which at times is carried several miles terminating the journey at the burning gat. The deceased person has normally passed that day however if the family were more spread out (normally only the more wealthy) then a vehicle is used, the body laid on the top and the family collected en route, this sometimes requires the body to be laid on ice for up to two days prior to the burning. Once arrived at the said gat the stretcher is laid on the ground, a fire of wood is carefully prepared by 'a boy' , the rich use sandalwood but the masses any old wood. The men then go to the barber where their heads are shaved leaving only a tiny ponytail on the crown in memory of their lost one. They then return to the corpse, lift and hold in the river, this river being of course The Ganges, a holy river and considered to be so very precious. This dunking is the second element, there are five as follows: earth, water, air, fire and sky. The sky under which they burn is representative of heaven and eternity a spiritual conception. The corpse is then placed back on the soil where the flowers, tinsel and many covers are removed leaving only the cream coloured shroud that encloses the raw body. These wraps are now no longer required therefore, naturally they are thrown in the river (where else would you place them!) The stretcher carrying their loved one is then placed on top of the carefully prepared fire, the men withdraw and collect on the nearest wall or space where they squat and observe the fire. A boy regularly attends ensuring any limbs that slip are placed back on the flames. There is no crying or wailing. The bullocks also attend these ceremonies finding the discarded flowers particularly yummy. The family spend the next fifteen days at their home fasting and in mourning. There is a particular ghoulish attraction to watching this ceremony,naturally photographs are not allowed out of respect for the dead, unless of course you pay a 'guide' then respect goes out of the window. When the fire has died down the ashes are collected in a sieve and placed in the Ganges where the boy allows water to flow through until they are no more. The gold exposed by this process is of course retained. Incidentally not everybody is dealt with in this fashion. There are some who are considered to be too pure for burning and they are wrapped, a rock tied to a foot, taken by boat to the centre of the river and thrown overboard. These consist of children under ten, pregnant women, Sados (holy men) and cows!
So I hope I have begun to paint a true picture of this city. I can't help thinking if it were lifted from here, cleaned and placed in England it would be considered so special.
There are numerous opportunities to make a fortune here. They are just not geared up for westerners. There are many rooftop restaurants, in fact they are nearly all on the roof as that is they way they live. They have no real kitchen or bathroom, instead they wash themselves and their clothes at the same time on the roof using the nearby hosepipe water supply. All the females of the household are present and all the children, a child matures at about 12 years and are then expected to work . They play an equal part in the running of the household and if Father has a shop or stall they are often selling goods from there. Few attend school as they have no money to pay for education.
It is difficult and very time consuming to put photos on this blog but I have many capturing the atmosphere of life in India.
Well I think it will be several days before I am able to blog again so until I reach the south (Kerala) take care.
Love you xxx

Hi Sunday 7th

2010-11-07T07:42:00.000-08:00

Hello we are still in Varinasi and today visited the temple from which Buddah delivered his first sermon. We used pony and trap to get there which was lovely, it was approx 10 klms and all the way the children were waving at us, it was like being a celebrity! That was in Saranat but there was nothing else to do there. This evening I ate the same spaghetti dish I had last night which was lovely and this morning for breakfast I managed to get fruit muesli and curd (yoga rt) so all in all a successful day! Note my days are measured largely on the food consumption.
Tomorrow we must finalise our next movement to the south, we are having great problems, as I said but it is likely we will take the train to Chennai, about 37 hours, followed by a further 6 or so! Mad I know but the flights are just so expensive it seems it would be more money than I paid for the UK to India return. They say of course it is because of Davali but I really can't see much changing as that was supposed to be yesterday! They say the fireworks will continue for some time, Marie is far from happy as she does not sleep with the noise.
So today we saw yet more bodies being carried down to the river, to think yesterday when we were there, those people were alive and breathing, it is a crude reminder that we are here for only a short time, it is sensible to enjoy every minute.
If I don't get to the blog for a while you know its cos we are on a very long train journey!
It was lovely to speak to Adam today, I tried to get Daniel today but with no luck, will try again soon.

Love you all xxx

At Last Internet! Saturday 6th Nov

2010-11-06T07:21:00.000-07:00

Well so much to tell you. We left Bikaner at 09.00 and travelled via Mandwar back to Dehli. The stop in Mandwar was quite nice with some lovely buildings all hand painted fine art and the structure is so intricate and beautiful. We did stop at a restaurant hoping for some food but again found nothing on the menu that we could even contemplate, so we opted to continue the journey. In total we were travelling for 12 hours, as we approached Dehli we were stuck in the most horrendous traffic, I thought the M25 was the worst but this beats anything I have ever seen!
Arriving back in Dehli was not relished as we both feel it is just so very dirty but at least there are a couple of places we can eat.So our tour of Rajesthan completed it has gone so quickly, I have only three weeks left! We were walking down the backpackers road 'Street Bazaar' and were approached by a guy who directed us to a hotel up the side street. We found they had a room which was acceptable so agreed to stay, when we pointed out that they would not have our business if it hadn't been for the chap who carried our baggage in, the chap at the reception just did the usual 'pooh pooh' gesture they are so fond of, we felt sorry for him but by then he had left. Life is so very hard for poor people here.
We left the next morning to catch the 06.50 train to Haridwar, buying the train tickets is a complete nightmare, involving queuing at the reservations booth at the station, resisting natives continually pushing in, insisting on our turn. We had to bend down and shout through a tiny hole in the metal bars to be told we had to queue at the next desk along, so another fight and insistence to buy the ticket. The trains are all particularly busy at the moment as it is Devali. De vali is their sought of new year and they celebrate by purchasing new items for the home and personally during the few weeks beforehand then the 5th Nov is the day . We were told everyone spends the day with their family, which we thought would ease the transport situation but nothing seems to change. It just remains their excuse for things not being organised .
So the train was full and we travelled to Haridwar, arriving about 11.00.
Haridwar was more of the same, ubiquitous cow pats all over every surface, heaps of rubbish on all the roofs and gutters and even worse....again absolutely nothing to eat or even drink! Could not even get a beer as like Bikaner it is dry. Oh did I mention the rats in the cafe in Bikaner, we were eating (again I had vegetable chow mein) it was very poor and Marie noticed a rat running along the top of the tiles on the wall opposite. Nice!
So back to Haridwar we were so disappointed because we had been told it was a special place being a hill station. So much of India so far has been flat we had looked forward to some contour. We did go up to a temple accessed by cable car. We had wandered around and taken some photos and sat down at the top to eat an ice lolly. I thought I may be really greedy and have another so we left the table briefly in order to look at the list again when a local pointed to the lolly stick that we had left on the table accusing us of creating rubbish! Well talk about pot/ kettle I was fuming, while we had sat there the chap in the little hut had thrown some tissue out onto the floor in front of our feet, everywhere is covered with rubbish from cow dung to plastic to flowers(from their religious celebrations) everything is thrown onto the street, no one uses bins! In fact there are no bins! Marie told him in no uncertain terms that in our country we use bins to dispose of our rubbish unlike some...
They tend to have flat rooves on all the buildings and they are used for all no longer required items from broken chairs to wood to food and boxes, anything at all may be dumped there, even up at the lovely fort in Jaisalmer there were many dumping areas! Also there they have so many motor bikes and tut tuts bombing around within the walls that I wrote to the magistrate suggesting he should preserve the stone paths and peoples lives by banning the vehicles.

So back to Haridwar and what a disappointment so we tried to arrange a train for the following night and wanted to go to Richikesh during the next day as again we had been told it was beautiful with waterfalls etc. However we were unable to get a night train until 7th and didn't want to stay there for that time so we agreed to a train the following day leaving at 10.40 due into our next stop Varanasi at 01.50 the following day. We decided to buy some fruit before boarding the train as there is no way I could eat the train food. We struggled to the station with all our bags and I went off to buy the supplies, returning with two packets of crisps and bananas, i put them in a large bag Marie carries when suddenly a monkey ran at high speed jumped up at our bags, grabbed a bag of crisps and dashed off followed by another and a baby! Everyone laughed , it was so quick! So off I went again and told the man in the shop what had happened ,took another bag and gave him another 20 rps, he then gave me a second bag free! I couldn't believe it, when I returned to the station concourse Marie was there and next to her was the little old lady who had been seated there throughout the entire event, I gave her the 20rps we had gained, as she was homeless and very poor but unlike most had not asked for money. She was so pleased and kept telling me I was from heaven and had earned lots of Karma. I hope so, I needed it after some of the thoughts I have had regarding the dirty way they live! They push and shove you when they walk in the same way as they drive!
We have seen such funny things, there was the motorbike that past with two men both wearing construction hats, the fat ole male owners of most businesses who sit and order the 'boys' around (these boys are between 10 and 17 yrs) ,on the train the door is slung open and people hang out whilst its going along at , occasionally, great speed, it really is a completely different world!
We did try to sleep on the train but we always create such interest with the locals, they constantly ask us for our photo! Anyway we realised we were running late but there is no announcement system, very little lighting at the stations, names are in Hindu and all the 'staff' were asleep so we feared missing our stop. We finally arrived at 03.15 and took a rickshaw to a staff room in the only hotel who could offer us a bed! Everything is full....'its Davali'! Yes and don't we know it, we were told it is only the one day but here we are on the 6th and the fireworks are banging constantly. It makes me die Marie is just like Kathryn Tate every time a bang goes off she jumps out of her skin, its so funny.
However we have just had the most special experience, we have spent most of the day with a Sadu and his wife (a holy man) and this evening they took us on a boat on the Ganges to watch a festival, it was beautiful and I had a very special moment when I lit a candle for my Kai and floated it on the river. I have taken a video for Terri and Warren. Earlier today we went to the temple where he spent his childhood on the banks of the Ganges and saw the burning ceremonies that go on 24 hours a day with approx 200 bodies being brought to the banks to be cremated. This is a very holy place, one of only four on the Ganges river.
It seems we will have a problem getting out of here as well. This country is far bigger than I realized and although the railway is very good it is such vast distances from one place to another. we want to go down to the south next and it looks like we may have to fly. However the prices are sky high because.....you guessed, it is Davali!

So for now I will close and hope to get on the net again soon for the next chapter of my fantastic travels!
Love you xx

Hello from Bikaner

2010-11-02T05:34:00.000-07:00

Hi this photo is of a beggar in Jaisalmer who is a lovely guy, he gets around on his hands as his legs are completely useless. He loves posing for photos but will sit with his legs hidden so he looks more normal. I took this from a long distance and he was unaware I was there.

The other photo was taken from the back screen of the car as we were travelling today. It was quite unusual to see an elephant on the road, so far camels have been the regular transport.

Sorry this site is too difficult to place photos. The rat is one of the hundreds that live in The Rat Temple. Unbelievable place we have just come back from there. It was a temple which no doubt due to their dirty way of living became infested with rats, they therefore decide that rats must be holy and so encourage them. There are dishes of food and water everywhere and a stench in the enclosed areas. You are not allowed to take photos unless you pay (which actually is the norm here) but I managed to sneak this one without them noticing. They do not believe rats to be holy anywhere else....that is until they take over somewhere else. Its is a wonder they do not also consider pigeons to be holy as they also ruin most of the buildings.

The young girl is one of the kids that live in the villages in the middle of nowhere. They do not go to school as their family have no money. They tend to wander to the nearest point where they may have some fun and or get something given to them. On this occasion we where driving along a very remote road and came to a level crossing, of which there are many, we stopped as the gate was down and these children appeared. The o lder boy wanted a pencil or pen but unfortunately we had left our luggage at the hotel and only had personal bags with us in the car so we were unable to help but gave them a little money instead. It was a pleasant change not to be asked for money initially!

Our last night of our tour and tomorrow we return to Dehli very late in the day, stopping at Madwar on the way. We are taking the early train the next morning to Haridwar.

Take care and speak soon

xxx

1st November 2010

2010-11-01T02:07:00.000-07:00

Hello We have arrived back in Jaisalmer from our night in the desert. When we first arrived here two days ago it had been raining ( rain they had not had in the past four years apart from monsoon time) and it was muddy and dirty, we had a look round and were not impressed but that evening our driver Geto showed us the large part of the town which we had not seen and actually it is quite nice, well I use the word 'nice' loosely as all India so far is very dirty with cow pooh all over the streets and rubbish that is lazily swept into piles for the cattle to munch through!
So yesterday at three we left for the desert, with only our valuables and water. I rode the camel from the base camp (where the cars are left) to the base in the sand, which of course is just anywhere you fancy cos it all looks the same! We watched the sun go down which I have to say was not a particularly spectacular event and then rode the camel back to have dinner and music before once again leaving, this time on a camel cart, to the sand dunes for the night.
Well my bottom is so sore from riding that camel I can't tell you.....I had to put cream on.
So we had table type bases with padding on the top and a blanket over us, which at least meant we did not need to worry about the bugs, of which there are many. Marie had blocked her ears with cotton wool so nothing could crawl in whilst she was asleep! We watch the fantastic stars until getting a little sleep, waking up wanting the toilet and having to walk in the dark to the nearest bush, creeping back freezing cold to the makeshift bed for another couple of very uncomfortable hours. The camels around us were sleeping then groaning then making rude noises with their bottoms all night!
It was though, a great experience and I am so glad I did it. I am looking forward to a good nights sleep tonight as we are back in the same good hotel as our first night here.
So tomorrow we go to Bikaner by car that will be our last night on this tour of Rajesthan and when we say goodbye to Geto our driver.
Love you all
XXX

Saturday 30th Oct from Jaisalmer

2010-10-30T04:15:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone sorry its been a couple of days.....we decided to stay in Puskar for a total of three nights in the end. That is the beauty of being driven around like a rich person you are able to adapt your itinerary as you go. We loved the place so much, it has such a lovely feel to it, we met up with the guru guy yesterday and had 'chi' (well I don't cos its a very sweet white tea made as we make coffee with hot milk, so I drink lemon tea which is very good) with him and his family, very interesting to listen to and we were surrounded by monkeys jumping above us from one building to the other.
We were walking down the 'high street' yesterday and walked closely past a cow as you do all the time and for some reason it suddenly dropped its head and butted me to the left
side of the groin with its horn! I couldn't believe it , I was fine as it clearly did not put much weight behind it but it made me think how it could have been as that is where the femoral artery is! The Guru said it only happens occasionally when they become irritable! I was pretty irritable!
We found another nice place to eat last night and again they whispered an invitation to purchase beer with our meal, all completely against all the rules of the town, so we had beer served in a stainless steel tea pot this time and had to agree to wrap the serviette around the glass.
So in all we were there three nights and decided to miss Udaipur out completely and not stay overnight in Bikaner but just pass through. We have chatted to many people who have visited and consider those nothing to write home about. Re arranging has also allowed us to have a total of three nights in Jaisalmer. We knew we would not arrive until mid afternoon and here we are just got here. We have dropped the luggage at the hotel, seems to be a nice one and dashed off through the 'town' in search of an Internet cafe.
We are going on a safari tomorrow night, we drive into the desert, this place is only 56 klm from Pakistan, and do the camp fire with the camel people who also cook for us. We sleep under the stars and they serve us breakfast in the morning before going back here by jeep. We wanted a night after the desert in the hotel so we could shower and sort ourselves before continuing with our trip hence the need for three nights in this area.
We found a fantastic juice bar in Puskar, pure fruit juice and any mix, they also do a yummy bowl of fruit, yogurt, home made muesli and topped with honey, Dad I thought of you when I had mine this morning. Its served in a casserole dish so very filling.
We had a long journey in the car today passing many hut settlements with people working in the fields, also many camels either grazing or carrying loads or pulling carts. There was some road works and several level crossings. We had some rain as we approached this town but all cleared up now.
We are trying to book our train to Haridwar for the 4th Nov but not having much joy. Its quite expensive and full! Still we will persist.
Must say bye for now take care and love you xxx

Good afternoon from Pushkar

2010-10-28T03:52:00.000-07:00

This is one of the street kids. These are the monkeys wayTajMahal

This is a photo of my beer! They have to pretend it is tea they are serving, this is Dehli.

Firstly I must tell you of our day in the village where Sonny grew up. We left mid morning and arrived in time to have lunch with his Mum. On the way we stopped at a piece of rough ground where some homeless families had pitched their shelter. We opened the boot and found something for just about all the children. They all poured from their make shift shelters when they saw the car arrive, they were so grateful and some so very tiny babies we were able to give little vests to. It was such a humbling experience. We then went on to meet Sonnys' family. It was a little awkard as again food had been prepared for us and I was unable to eat it, even Marie who loves Indian food in England is finding it difficult to eat anything. We went om to meet his father who is the village notary and his brothers, all such lovely people. We left to go to another camp, more people who are considered to be part of the same village but due to their poverty live outside. Again we were able to give the children clothes and Marie had bought some pencils which they loved, we also opened a pot of bubbles which Terri had contributed and that was wonderful. Initially they just stood and watched with inquisitive expressions then when we demonstrated catching and touching, they realised it was safe and they all began to giggle and laugh, I can't explain in words the happiness I felt. These poor people have nothing, they experience so little and yet they are so beautiful, their minds and hearts have so much love.

So yesterday was an exhausting day, we said goodbye to Sonny and Neelain, what wonderful hosts they are and left with our driver to travel to our next destination Pushkar. Three hours later, largely due to Jito going the wrong way (you would have thought that during his two days off he would have sorted the route but apparently not) we arrived at our hotel and what a surprise, a nice room with a proper toilet! We went in and he asked us to confirm we were happy with it, we shreiked with delight when we saw toilet paper and the bed, prompting him to request a further two rolls to be brought immediately!

This paragragh is for my girls......in this country they don't have proper toilets. They have sort of holes in the ground shaped a bit like a sausage and about three foot long by one foot wide, each side of the hole they have a foot place.So you have to stand one foot on each foot place and squat down and aim and hope! Then to make it even worse you have no toilet paper. So sometimes when they know a lot of Western people will be coming to their cafe or hotel they have a western toilet put in but they never clean it, cos they don't clean the holes in the ground, so now you understand why Marie and I were so happy when we got to our hotel last night and found a normal toilet and toilet roll!

Today we have had a lovely day in Puskar. It is a special place, a very spiritual and religious area where they have a lake in the middle of the village. It is blessed water and many people come to cleanse themselves. They do not allow meat, eggs, alcohol or kissing! We have met a man who was so very interesting I could spend a week listening to him. He was a sort of guru.They smoke a lot of Hashish and Ganger and another drug, all of which are legal in this country.

My time is nearly up, just to tell you that we found a place to go to eat tonight where we can watch the sunset It is called Pink Floyd Cafe we found it as we were walking but it is in Lonely Planet Guide. We met the owner who is also a lovely person, so I am looking forward to an interesting evening.

Love Me xxx

At last Internet!

2010-10-26T21:18:00.000-07:00

Hi...So good to speak again. Its amazing, even in Cambodia and Laos they have wifi everywhere but here it just isn't around. We are at our homestay, sourced from couchsurfing.com, in Japur and due to leave soon but let me tell you about the last few days....

After speaking the other night I got chatting to a German chap who told us he had got the first plane into Dehli when he had discovered the festival being run at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. You can do what I did and look it up on the web if you like, so when I saw what it was we thought it would be silly to miss that so decided to postpone our leaving Dehli for another day. On Sunday we went to the market where Maria had ordered a punjab suit and had to collect, sounds easy but when you are faces with hundreds of shops all offering tailoring its a complete nightmare trying to find the one. We walked round and round for hours, asking many people, you get to be able to recognise a probable English speaking Indian. We had two young men ask if they could help, we explained and they made a phone call and whilst we waited for their friend to arrive I asked if they were business men(naturally I was expecting them to escort us to their moneymaking enterprise as that appears to be the norm here) to my amazement they explained quietly that they were in fact plain clothed police! So that is the explanation of how we were escorted by the police but in this case to the place we needed to be!

I was starving we had only had breakfast so more crisps as that is one of the few items I presume to be safe.From there we went to the Arts Centre and watched the most incredible parade of masked people(I have photos) later we watched two shows, the first was a puppet/light show, so very clever and the puppets are approx. 1 and a half metres high. The second show was a masked show and brilliant. This was all free, very unusual for here.

So back to Dehli in a different hotel as I had said I was not happy to stay where we were for a third night. We had viewed the agreed room earlier in the day , it seemed fine however when we arrived late we found the beds were covered with bugs! It was really disgusting, we had dirty sheets and filthy pillowcases, we asked for clean ones and were given damp ones. We had no towels, there is never any toilet paper and the noise all through the night as, guess what, they were doing building work! So Maria couldn't sleep at all, it really was the worst hotel we have ever stayed in. The next morning we asked to see the Manager to explain that we were not intending to pay the balance of the bill. We had a huge issue the manager was not contactable, we went to breakfast with an escort from the hotel so we didn't do a runner! It was so funny. He disappeared and we went to the agent we had agreed to arrange our trip around Rajesthan. We told him, he tried to phone the hotel but the phone was disconnected! We walked back as we didn't want the youngsters to have the balance deducted from their salary. Had a few words with the Manager making our point and left for Rajesthan.

We have a driver and a car for our 10 day trip. the itinerary is

Dehli

Agra

Japur

Puskar

Udaipur

Jodhpur

Jaisalmer

Bikaner

Mandwa

Dehli

In Agra we did not have an overnight stay as there is not much there except of course the Taj Mahal so after seeing that, which was exquisite ( I wish a man would love me so very much that he even built just one of the turrets for me) we then drove to Japur where we had this homestay arranged.

Today Sonny( the man of the house) is taking us to his village where he sponsors many children, we will have lunch with his family and intend to give the rest of the clothes etc, later we are leaving with our driver for Puskar

Forgot to say, we had previously got a quote for our trip from another agent and obviously intended to acquire a second quote. We had great problems getting away from the original agent however finally managed to slip out of his sight, (they have others watching for you and the moment you appear from a doorway they call the agent who then appears in front of you again greeting you etc) Anyway we found the second quote preferable so our agreed price is 205 pounds sterling each, half of which we have paid and the balance to pay during the trip, this includes all the fuel and hotels required. Not bad!

I must go now and hope to speak again soon. It was lovely speaking to Dad, Terri and the girls yesterday, my sim ran out of money so apologises to my Jazmin for disappearing in the middle of our brief chat. Will get money on card today.

Love you x x

2010-10-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

Good evening
It is 22.00 and we have just found our way back to our hotel, but we got here! Today we decided to take a tour of the delhis, there is New Dehli and Old Delhi. Marie got a price of 200 rps for a car for the day to take us everywhere we wanted to go and no shops, that seemed a good deal so when I finally emerged from a wonderful nights sleep I joined her outside. We got in the small car, the chap she had negotiated with got in the passenger seat and he said 'of course you also like to do some shopping don't you?' 'No we shouted in unison, immediately recognising the scam, we insist you take us to the places of culture and nowhere else! Ok , ok he said I do understand we will go only where you want, but we will go via the government tourist office as you will need the train times...etc..etc. Back to the fight we had twice yesterday we both said as we abruptly left the two guys seated in their car. Naturally there had been an audience surrounding the vehicle and instantly we were seized upon by another 'gentleman' who assured us he could do far better and only go to the places we chose. So we were escorted into a little office at the back of his hotel (they all have hotels) and there we negotiated our trip to Rajesthan, not what we intended you may notice but this is India, as we are persistently told. We left with the details to consider his offer and he had sold us our tour around the Dehlis. \
We were taken to a tut tut who took us to meet a 'tour bus' (you are familiar with the very old buses that you see parked up in a lot for donkey years, with the seats all broken) Yep thats the one. So on entering the bus we were faced with six chaps all shouting and seemingly arguing, someone said they had told our escort the bus was full, however eventually we were told to sit on the back row and assured it was ok. It seems there were two spaces after all so we spent the day going from one temple to another cultural experience, the bus was air conditioned although 3 Litres of water later it would be handy to have had a toilet on board!

It was quite interesting, entrance to one of the temples was 10 rps for locals and 250rps for each westerner! All seemed to involve a very long walk through pleasant grounds, lined by security guards (I think that position must be the greatest employer in India) very little lighting, notices or information . No disabled facilities, you either walk and get there or you don't go, often a toilet of sorts and always many street food sellers. One temple was a very modern design, a little like Sydney opera house in style, a load of queuing and removing of shoes, we were made to line up outside in single file to be extremely disappointed when the doors opened and a simple auditorium with hundreds of chairs was before us! No art, no jewels, no colours just chairs. The best was the tomb of Ghandi however it was dark when we finally arrived there, due to having to visit the textile and carpet factory en route.

So we were dropped off in the district we are staying in, found a half decent place to eat and had a beer, in a glass quite a novelty! We did have a nice chat with some younger Indian men both of whom were business men and had traveled regularly, they completely understood our feeling exhausted by the constant scams and felt angry that visitors to their country should go through it, they said if the others ever traveled they too would realize it was not a good way to be. Food was so so, as we left we realised we were not sure how to find our road. There are no street names and one road looks pretty similar to the next, particularly as they were starting to close up. We knew yesterday we had walked straight up our road a quarter of a mile or so and arrived at New Dehli station, we decided to walk to the station which we could see, but figured we must at the back of it. On arrival at the station we clearly were unable to get through to the other side and obviously looked lost so again a couple of helpful strangers stopped. On this occasion they genuinely were not on a scam, it turned out we were at another station. It really is unbelievable that India has such a viable and successful railway network, every platform is packed with people and/or freight, there are many platforms and now it seems there is a requirement for two stations very close to each other, in fact it turned out one at each end of the road we stay in, both being the size of a main line such as Victoria.

So that is our day two. Tomorrow we are heading to the market in the morning and possibly leaving for Rajesthan later in the day.
Sorry I have tried again to post some photos but will not behave, will try again when in another hotel.
Goodnight everyone x x

Hello from Dehli 22nd Oct 2010

2010-10-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. well a good flight and a very good seat, enabling me to put my feet up on the bulkhead, but little sleep and it i now 21.50 here so I am pretty crashed.
We are five hours ahead of you guys. I did manage to buy a sim card so Terri has my number if anyone needs me. The exchange rate is around 65 rupees to the pound, they charge 99 rps for the card 199rps for the privelege then the top up! Just imagine the outcry if we did the same!
Anyway this place seems to be full of foreigners, the odd cow, the rich and the very poor.
We managed to find something edible for dinner and the beer.....well seems no-one has a license so they have to pretend it is something else you are drinking!
This computer is awful will speak tomorrow xxx

48 hours and counting!

2010-10-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

Just a trial run really to test you get a notification that I have posted....hope it works. Speak soon
XX

Goodbye Vietnam

2010-10-14T14:00:00.001-07:00

Just found this photogragh in my collection

Preparing for the off to INDIA!

2010-10-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

Its Thursday and I fly in one week. I am working everyone of those days until D Day so loads to do and little time.
I have decided to travel light this time and instead take with me some baby and childrens clothes and shoes. I am also taking a few basic medical supplies for the communities who need them.
Flying Virgin so hope to get an upgrade, will let you know......

X

Goodbye Vietnam

2010-03-06T02:28:00.000-08:00

However this is from KL as all the computers at HCM airport were out of action I was so disappointed!

Anyway I had a pretty awful last 12 hours in Vietnam which was a real shame as on the whole it is such a great country. I left Marie at the hotel in Hoi An into my taxi which was late because the reception girl had forgotten to book it. We got to the airport in time and an hour or so flight delivered me back to HCM. I had arranged a single room at the hotel we had stayed at previously so needed to get to the backpackers part of town, which as always seems to be a fair way. I had arranged for the Cyclo man to meet me at the bus station and carry my bag from there. I arrived outside the airport to be told the shuttle bus finishes at 18.00, I couldn't believe it, all the people that had been involved in my returning at that time and no-one had mentioned the bus not running in the evening! So my only option was a taxi. I asked a few western looking people if they were interested in sharing but no-one needed one. So I got a quote of 250,000 VND and stepped in. As we approached the city it was clear he actually had no idea where the hotel eas and asked several times to see the business card which he viewed with the light from his mobile phone! Finally we got to the end of the road and he asked for the money (actually just turned round and said 'money') I gave him 250000 and tried to open the door to get out and found the handle was missing I couldn't get out! Then he said he had to pay the ticket and I should pay that, thrusting the toll ticket towards me. I argued that all taxis have to pay that and he had quoted me 250000 not 250000 plus toll. We went round and round for 5 mins or so until he eventually realised I was not going to pay and walked round the car to let me out. Phew.........

I then walked into the hotel, much to their relief as I guess they had no way of knowing if I would turn up or not. I told them about my taxi experience and they all groaned that I had paid far too much and the driver had been unfair.They showed me to the room, it was on the second floor a small room with two single beds. I went downstairs to ask the rate to be told it was 12 USD. Well that was the price we had paid for the very large room on the 3rd floor with two large double beds, this price is per room per night. I said I was not happy as I had asked for a single room and this was clearly a lesser room than the previous one, they had not told me they did not have any single rooms or that all the rooms were the same price, besides I did not believe her. Anyway she clearly said take it or leave it, I told her I had no option, I had come there in a taxi at that ridiculous price as I needed to fulfill my promise to take the room and now she was also stitching me up. I had a meal although was so short of currency that I had to choose carefully and went to bed. All through the night a pipe which appeared in the ceiling in the corner of the bathroom and went down the wall onto the floor, was flushing water, god knows quite where the water came from, in the end I got up and placed the end of the pipe in the bin! This morning I mentioned the pipe she was "shocked" as she had no idea what it was, yeah right of course .She would not reduce the price I told her she will regret it as I would have recommended and also returned myself but now I will be putting a report on both Trip advisor and Lonely Planet, she said be quiet and get out! I couldbn't believe it. So that ended my time in HCM unfortunately on a bad note, however the walk to the bus station and shuttle bus to the airport was fine.

So now in KL and now for another saga! I don't seem to be doing so well now do I? I arrived at the airport and so wanted to visit the city centre as Terri used to fly here regularly and loved it. I searched around for directions or information on getting to the city but to no avail, these countries do not apease their visitors as we do. Eventually I found an unmaned information desk with a policeman standing there who fortunately spoke very good English. He said I had three choices taxi, train or bus. The bus was cheapest of course but also I wanted to see the sights on the way so took this option. It was not an easy route to the bus up one floor down in a lift move to the nextdoor building etc. however I got there and used the ATM on the way as I had no local currency. They tried to sell me a ticket to go somewhere completely different and it was only when I said about the return trip to the airport and they said I needed a taxi to.......that I was then directed to the correct ticket booth which was the same size as our ticket booths and yet manned by two people, one to talk and take the money the other to tear the ticket from the pad! Anyway I got here after an hour on the bus. The journey was interesting they have so many new buildings, palm trees but not banana or coconut just ornamental, new roads being built, green trees as in England and few bikes or bicycles, many cars, the buses are very posh, clean and luxurious. They have several huge housing estates all fairly new. They clearly have a lot of money to spend. On arrival I find I actually am not in the centre of the city but at KL central, there is very little here, I found an area they call little India, you can guess why, that was in fact very run down and clearly due to be demolished soon as it is surrounded by construction. So I have eaten Burger King as I didn't want indian from a street stall and I am now in the Malaysia Airlines office using their computer befroe returning to the airport.

So this is the last leg of my journey and the last post...........until the next time. I do hope you have enjoyed reading about my brilliant experiences and my learning curves, hopefully a little of the euphoria has been shared with you.

XX

The last post

2010-03-04T20:23:00.000-08:00

Well from here in Hoi An. This morning we have had a lovely breakfast as we were both hungry following another problem meal last night!~ This time we had gone to the Retreat which is considered to be both reliable and trendy. We had a drink and ordered a starter, the first time we had considered two courses; the day before had been such a complete failure with lunch being inedible 'chicken saled bagette (sent back immediately when it was obvious the 'meat' was not chicken) but perhaps dog/cat/rat god knows suffice to say it was very dark in colour extremely fatty and dry, dinner that evening had also been sent back as the fish baked in banana leaf with..........arrived as a very red/brown item with the texture of meat not fish and again very dry; our gorgeous spring rolls and Marie had salad were served which we thoroughly enjoyed ( I will never eat them in the UK again) thinking we would order our main course after a little break and thereby beat them with their constant rush to pile all the food you order on the table at the same time we sat back to enjoy our Dalat wine. A little while later we decided on our main course and were told the chef had now gone home! So they got us in the end and we were again left hungry!

I have told you of the trouser suit saga havn't I? Well it has been going on and on since the day we arrived here, firstly with a lack of material, then the jacket being completely baggy, no lining in the trousers etc , anyway today had to be d day as I leave later so this morning at 8.30 we strolled towards the shop. It felt like I was walking to my end I really was not looking forward to the visit at all, however it was acceptable and I have now packed it, So I learn a lesson.

Yesterday we went for the boat trip with the 77yrs old lady rowing away at the front and the daughter at the other end. It was very enjoyable. Here there are many disabled people in wheelchair bicycles they sell newspapers, seems to be their only path of survival. Afterwards we took a walk over to the island and found a jeweller who makes all his own pieces, mostly silver and spent another fortune! Lovely guy, well they all are if you are spending money, but he has a website and does ship to the UK so sort out all those Tiffany designs and he will make them for you!

I found out about another charity helping children, this one is apparently based in HCMC, I would really like to spend more time in this country, watch this space!

So that is about it! I have met so many lovely people, like the youngster who escorted us through the darkness after our failed meal last night, we came out of the resturant to find most of the town in darkness, nobody knew why, nobody seems to question. I have seen so many facinating faces, some tired, some sad, some happy but mostly, here in Vietnam, faces of emotion, experience and knowledge. Here they are people who are forced to live in what has very recently become a tourist area, in the knowledge that without the foreign revenue they have too little, but with it they have little privacy.

XXX

At last I can get on this site!

2010-03-03T17:40:00.000-08:00

Wow I have so much to tell you.

We took a cyclo for our baggage and we walked with him to the bus station in HCMC where we boarded the 152 to the airport. Naturally, cos nothing ever quite works as planned, the driver would not allow us off the bus at the domestic terminal however we managed to get a trolley and walk from the intenational to our departure area.

The prices in the airport were exremely high, at last we flew to Da Nang. A good flight of an hour and a half or so. We managed to find a couple who also wanted to avoid Da Nang and go straight to Hoi An and shared a taxi with them. He charged 17 USD which between us was not too bad. On arrival we found a hotel at 15USD per night per room, we had it reduced from 18USD as we asked for the AC to be switched off (I have the awful cough again that I got in Thailand from the AC).So off we went to find the tailor that Marie had been recommended.

This is a fantastic place I love it, it is very old, the Americans left it alone, it is crammed full of handtrades, there are tailors, jewellery makers and shoe makers everywhere. They have several bridges over the river all very beautiful, one being the japanese wooded bridge. We found the tailor and left our material with her. We wandered around and found you can take a boat trip for an hour all priced at 100,000VND which takes you round the coast and alongside the island, however yesterday we found a lovely old woman in a battered boat who whispered to us that her price is 80,000VND her daughter then appeared and said in fairly good english that she would come with us and tell us the history etc. so today we plan to do that, of course we will pay her more but she must be late 60 early 70 and to still be working that hard she deserves the business.

We went to a resturant and sat on the rooftop, which is always the preference as not only is it cooler and offers a view but you tend not to get constant interuptions from people selling various items from sunglasses to DVDs. I decided to have a pizza and chose the olive, mushrooms and anchovies.When it arrived the anchovies were 2inches long! I couldn't believe it, we had already remarked on the fact that they make fish pizzas and how awful they must be! So my sardine pizza was quickly returned!

A waitress was chatting to us and asked our birth years which then turned out to be a ploy to sell the necklaces that her son makes with the assortment of monkey or snake etc on them. She then asked Marie where we came from and asked to see some real English money. Marie showed her a selection of coins including a one pound coin, she asked if she could keep them which Marie agreed to. Yesterday I met an Australian girl and was chatting to her for ages, we had a beer together and while seated in the bar we were approached by a girl, she asked where I was from and what the currency rate was. I told her 28.000 VND to one pound and she asked if I would buy her English money from her ! So now we are aware of another scam. However I do love this place and wish I had longer here.

Yesterday we were walking down this road past the our tailor, she called me in and explained she had a problem, my material was not enough to make the trouser suit I had wanted. Apparently the width was less than they normally have! Nightmare we couldn't get more of the same material, we tried to call the supplier in HCMC and there was no answer, I just didn't know what to do. I had even planned in my head to wear a black top with the suit and hoped to find some jewellery to match. She only needed one more metre. Anyway after much, and I mean much, deliberation I decided to have cut offs and a jacket, at least I will have my own 'ideal to travel in ' suit. We will see today how it looks.

So out to the sunshine for my last full day......

Love you xxxx

Off to the airport

2010-03-01T18:06:00.001-08:00

Good morning.....we are off to the airport flying to Da Nang which is the nearest airport for Hoi An, got three nights there before coming back here and home the following day.

My its gone so very quickly but it is such a brilliant adventure I can't wait for the next one!

Hope to speak from Hoi An

Love you

It seemed a good idea!

2010-03-01T08:08:00.000-08:00

Yes it did as we had a couple of days before flying to Hoi An, I didn't want to waste anytime so I found a place in my notes and looked in the Lonely Planet to find they also felt it was worth a visit. We were told we had to take a bus from a bus station the other side of the city to get to Ho Coc so we took a taxi to the station as we have been avoiding scooters (if you saw the crazy traffic here you would understand). We approached the daunting bus station armed with our note in Vietnamese explaining we wanted to but a ticket to Ho Coc. Inside there were , as with our large post offices, around 50 or so points at which one could purchase tickets, above each point was a list of the destinations covered, we were unable to find ours so we asked and were directed to point number one. We had given the lady our note and were halfway through the transaction when a local thrust a note through us and onto the counter whilst shouting, which they all seem to do all the time, the details of his expected purchase. Giving him repeated dirty looks seemed to achieve nothing, when he had been served the lady continued with our purchase. Armed with our tickets, costing us 3000VND each, 10,000 is 35 pence, we made our way outside to find hundreds of buses waiting in rows. We were then jostled to a bus and told to sit down. We showed our tickets and asked again for confirmation we were on the correct bus. A couple of ladies were already sitting down, one was asleep, the aircon was not on, it was baking, several street sellers boarded the bus with their wares, we decided to ask what time the bus left afterall we knew there was one each hour. It was 10.22 the lady opposite told us 11.30! We managed to locate the driver who was of course seated in the open 'cafe opposite eating and drinking , he told us it would be half an hour, so we had a walk round and got back for 10.55. At 11.38 the bus pulled out! The bus next to us had left and returned, each time using his reversing lights the tune 'Happy Birthday' played! Amazing..........anyway three hours later the bus stopped. It was a dirt track crossroads with the usual small gathering of men and a couple of scooters parked. We were told in no uncertailn terms that this was our stop, but it is the middle of nowhere we exclaimed, 'where is the sea' we signed. You can imaging half the bus thought we had gone completely mad. A young girl who luckily was also a passenger spoke a little English and she told us this was the nearest point, Ho Coc was 6 klms down the side road. We got off and asked the men to call a taxi for us. No Taxi they replied and suggested our only mode of transport available is the scooter. We refused to get on so after some deliberation we started walking. They all thought this was hilarious and followed us slowly on the scooter assuring us that we could not possibly walk it. This was a particular inconvenience as I , after three hour bus ride and 2 litre bottle of water, was desperate to go to the loo. Anyway at the end of the lane (1Klm) we came across several children playing in their garden, we said hello which prompted the whole family to emerge from somewhere, one of the teenagers could speak good English. She was informed by our scooter riding escort of our predicament and she explained again that we could not possibly walk.............anyway in the end, and it was a long time, we decided to travel by scooter the 5 klms left to our destination. That was a little hairy but some time later we saw the signs and arrived at Ho Coc. We could see the sea, it looked gorgeous so peaceful. The scooter pulled into a Village Resort 5 star hotel, where I guess he thought he would get commission for taking us. We needed change to pay the scooters, well that was a huge problem. Three people at the reception desk and not one guest to be seen, we asked if thy were actually open and they quoted us about 36 pound for one night! I don't think so you guys must take us for suckers! They finally managed to sort out some change, cos of course the bikers conveniently had insufficient change.

We strolled out of there and up the beach, still no-one in sight until we found an alternative. It was a chalet type set of accommodations with several large open resturant and seating areas. We found the reception, a hut, and took the chalet for one night . It appeared basic but a good price and fine for us. (3.50 pound each) We took a stroll and found some Vietnamese, then more of them, it seemed this was a resort for the locals, untouched by foreigners! To cut a long story short we found the place was a ghost town, the locals left around five and by six we were the only people apart from a couple of staff who were obviously waiting for us to retire! The food was inedible we asked for chips and they managed that so we had our chip dinner and water and thought we may as well go to the chalet, catch up with blogs, tv and books then get an early night. The room by then was warm and we found the AC didn't work, neither did the TV, there was apparently no password for wifi as there was no computer facility, the sheet on my bed was dirty, which she said was caused by the drips from the ceiling........mmmm you can imaging how that calmed me! We changed to another room, where the mosquito net did not fit properly etc!

Today was a pleasant day on the beach, a gorgeous untouched spot but requiring just a little attention in the accommodating area. More people arrived this morning so there were around a dozen of us in the end on this massive site. We arranged a taxi to take us back to Ho Chi Ming, a three hour journey and a sheer luxury at 1,000,000 VND a luxury we just could not avoid as the mere thought of scooters and bus ( I forgot to mention the number of times the bus stopped to pick up furniture, people from a broken down vehicle, live chickens and a new tv stand from a factory) all the revenue gained from these illicit stops was naturally pocketed by the three members of staff it takes to run one bus!) Also one of the staff clearly felt he should sit where we had settled and shouted for us to move towards the back. We pretended to not understand and stood our ground, this action merely prompted him to sit on the metal bar in front of our seat most of the way, which actually meant he was practically sitting on Maries lap, most unpleasant!

Our taxi driver tried to up the price when we arrived, the chalet resort tried to hold our passports until we paid, but as we had already decided to reduce the fee by half we made sure they returned them this morning before we checked out. The tailor had made one dress for me , which need a little adjustment before being accepted but the other outfit was different to the model one, we had a half hour of them trying it on, you get used to it in the end and stand your ground, it can be very wearing but when they finally agree to your demands or price they then relax and smile again, its almost like they enjoy the haggle!

I forgot to tell you the taxi driver was stopped by the police. To be fair I thought he was a very good driver we had been on the road for three hours with scooters buzzing past overtaking and undertaking, nobody takes any notice of the lane markings when there are any, everyone constantly beeps cos the scooters do not have wing mirrors so have no idea what is behind them, they are often carrying a piece of furniture on the back, today we passed one with a freezer on the back, The children all go on as well so more often that not there are two adults and one or two children all on one scooter! He seemed to placate the policeman we tried to see if he paid the police money but were unable to.

We just had a lovely meal down the road from here, our hotel, we are back here for one night then I am here again on Friday night, we came back to do this blog to find a pipe about 10 inches diameter all the way down the middle of the road, the road is only like a lane in the middle of district 1 which is the backpackers area, we have to straddle the pipe to walk down the road to get to here, apparently it is the pipe for' when you wash your hair' so I guess thats the waste water.

Seems everyone has gone to bed so I guess I will say again... Goodnight

Leaving here in the morning

2010-02-27T05:33:00.001-08:00

Hi
Yesterday was spent making arrangements for the next few days, buying some linen from the market to have made up in Hoi An and having measurements taken for the two outfits I am having made here. Oh and of course I also had a foot treatment ,pedicure and manicure! All together a very nice day.

Today we went on a tour to the Mekong Delta, it was fantastic. I think the best tour I have ever done! We .....sorry my attention was diverted by a tiny gecko by my foot no more than an inch long, I am in the reception of the hotel, we moved here yesterday from the original one that I booked from the UK, that one was 11 USD each per night which at the time of booking I felt was a good price but this one is 12 USD for the room, so much cheaper when we split it. Anyway we began our day with fruit shake as they call it, which is pure crushed fruit made in front of you, followed by a large roll and several bananas which are only approx 3 inches long and green but very sweet. The later was purchased from an elderly lady who always stands on the same corner cooking sausage, eggs etc to put in the rolls, she charged 7000 VND (when 10,000 VND is 35 pence the cost of living here is wonderfully cheap). We had an hour and a half on the coach before arriving at the Delta region which primarily is an area where varying rivers meet, The Mekong being the largest, it is so big in parts you are unable to see the sides. Then we boarded a boat. The first area we went to was the floating market where each boat 'flies' an example of the product it is selling on the top of a bamboo pole. Amazing!

We visited a place where they keep bees and make Royal Jelly also making coconut candy which is delicious. We drank a tea made with a little honey followed by a squeeze of the juice from kumquats with weak tea poured on the top, it was very nice!
Soon after we were at another place where they make the most amazing coconut candy using only malt and coconut, of course we saw all these being made and took loads of photos, the candy is like a toffee.........lovely! We then saw rice krispies being made and saw how they cook the rice until it pops, mix with malt and make it into slabs to eat.

We transfered to a boat just as is seen on the Vietnamese art, a small boat with only four seats with a person, normally a lady, standing at the end holding the end of the 'oars' which are connected to a support which then enters the water. Fantastic and now I fully understand why they wear the hats, they not only protect your face and head from the extremely hot sun but also throw a shade to your lower body. It was great to be on those boats and so peaceful. We stopped for lunch and returned to the larger boat before walking through a wholesale market towards the waiting coach. On the way back again the guide was chatting to us and some thing he said really made me sad. He was talking about and pointing out, various structures that had been financed by various countries after the war finished. He turned around to face us, us of all different nationalities and said 'I thank you all on behalf of all us Vietnamese' it was quite touching.

Well now for some dinner I am starving!

Speak soon.........perhaps from the beach tomorrow.

xx

Good Morning Vietnam

2010-02-25T17:09:00.000-08:00

Marie arrived yesterday morning at 06.30 from the overnight sleeper bus from Nha Trang so she is still in bed this morning catching up! We had a hectic day yesterday, we followed the walking tour of HCMC from the Lonely Planet book which was good but tiring, culminating in the bar on the 23rd floor of the Sheraton Saigon, which of course was the highlight, particularly when we found it was happy hour!

We found some lovely grey linen material in the market which I am considering buying to have a trouser suit made in Hoi An ( where we are flying to on Tuesday), also picked up some vest type t-shirts (cos I forgot to bring mine) . We found a tailor shop last night who have three lovely items I liked, they offer the complete made to measure piece for around 17 poumd, so seriously considering that, I think I will regret it if I pass the opportunity. We are going to the Mekong Delta for a day tomorrow. Today we have to find a hotel for tonight, book my flight from Hoi An to HCMC on 5th March, collect my laundry which costs 35 pence per item, decide on the tailoring and of course have my foot treatment and manicure that I have been promising myself for the last few days!

The food here is great, no more struggling to find something, which in a way is a shame cos I was beginning to loose some weight! The roads are an utter nightmare. As mentioned before the are are no tut-tuts here but millions of scooters, and I ,mean millions, I don't know where they all go all the time but it is constant and crossing the road is a very scary experience. They have very wide roads with many complicated intersections, there are the odd traffic lights and there are many crossings but no-one ...no-one takes any notice of them at all. So we have learnt the best way to get to the other side is to wait for a local to be crossing and tag onto him, you just have to put your safety in their hands! We have both seen an accident, a different one, since we have been here, they just get up walk to the side of the road and brush themselves down! It always involves scooters.

We are thinking of going to a beach area from Sunday to Tuesday so will keep you posted. I have of course got a different sim card now, Terri has the number if anyone needs it.

Bye for now!

XX

Hello from Vietnam!

2010-02-23T21:08:00.000-08:00

Hi the flights were good a total of around 6 hours leaving as you know at 01.45 and arriving here around 10.00 but getting through the queue for the visa was a bit of a delay so finally got through and cleared at 10.45. The time difference here is not a lot different from Sri Lanka so I just need to stay awake the whole day having only had a few mins sleep on the planes.

I needed to get some cash so found an ATM and asked for 20,000VND and received the correct amount but my receipt said 40.000 withdrawn, I spoke to a girl in a booth next to the bank ATM and stupidly did it again, this time only requesting 10.000VND and being debited for 30.000. Would you believe it, not only was I done but I allowed it to happen again! The guy that should have been manning the bank booth was not there, she said he is often off out, I wonder whose money he is spending!? Anyway although it sounds a fortune there are approx 28.000 VND to one pound so the experience has not been too costly, however I will try to track him down on my return.

So I went through to the meeting area and have never seen such a massive crowd all thrusting poles in the air with name and hotel written on a paper attached to the top of the pole. Unbelievable I could not see one from another. Eventually I spied my name and a very nice Vietnamese took my case for me and told me to follow him to the car..that is when he could find it!
We drove for approx 30 mins through what are generally well kept roads, some of which are very wide. However they are all choc-a-bloc with scooters, not a toot-toot in sight but literally hundreds of scooters and yes they also drive on their hooters all the time. The telegraph poles that line the streets are heavily laden, and I do mean heavily, with a mass of wires, one would never be able to effect a repair without bringing the whole lot down and untangling the mess.
Arriving at the hotel, where I am to stay for two nights, my case was carried in and I was invited to have a cool drink of mango/lemon and something else that they were unable to translate. Very nice too.
Then my next problem.....he only has the small room at the top (5th floor) no lifts so would I not prefer to stay at his brothers hotel just for one night then I can come back to this one! Well I don't need to offer the detail of the following 20 mins conversation, I did look at the room after taking a large dose of oxygen half way up, to find it was a double bed anyway when I had the booking in writing for a twin with private en-suite. I had booked this room in October last year so you can understand why I stood my ground. I was then offered free internet and a cup of tea, hence I am writing this, the maid was dispatched to a room on the 3rd floor, a twin room, for which I now have the key.
So begins a couple of days in HCM city.

Now a well deserved shower..

XX

Here I am again!

2010-02-23T10:38:00.000-08:00

At the same free internet station as I found myself at when I first stepped foot in Sri Lanka. It's midnight and my plane leaves at 01.45 so I have a couple of hours .
Today, well in the usual Sri Lankan style, what had been arranged as first aid training for 12 to 15 girl guides evolved into a lecture addressing ( I am sure I have spelt that wrong but I have no spell check on this ...sorry) many more children. We arrived early at the girls school in Colombo. The school is considered one of the best in the area and is much sought after. They run various after school activities, as we do at our better schools, one of which is Guides. The training had been arranged with the relevant staff and on arrival we were directed towards the lecture hall. The teacher explained that as there were approx 200 children expected to attend she felt it better that we were located in a suitable auditorium! Well I nearly fell through the floor! We then found ourselves discussing the use of a microphone, me, who had reluctantly agreed to speak to small groups, now found myself in this situation! Anyhow we managed to adjust the venue to the room opposite, far more suitable (for me) and of we went teaching some one hundred or so girls what to do in the event of an emergency. My lecture was interupted on a regular basis as the school band were, of course, also meeting this afternoon. This initially did not present too much of a problem as they were situated in a room about 100M away, however as always here something happens to change things and they decided to take their very loud band, carrying many large drums, for a street parade around the school premises particularly concentrating on the area in which we were located! Really one can only laugh....its great fun here and I am beginning to understand why they have actually achieved pretty well nothing in the last 60 years since we left! It all went very well and they all left knowing more than they had previously. I have asked my groups to let me know when they apply some of the knowledge, it would be great to have a feed back.

So here I am and only a little while before I leave. My trip here has been great, I have witnessed the most awful driving in the world, some of the most dirty toilets in the world, the most spicy food in the world, not to mention the cows grazing in the middle of the roads. I have also, and more importantly, been the recipitant of the greatest hospitality (thank you so much Anne and Ammal) and the BIGGEST smiles in the world, smiles from children who have so little.

Speak soon
xx

My last Good Morning from Sri Lanka

2010-02-22T19:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was hard. I worked at the orphanage in the morning then returned later to see them one last time. I took a couple of pots of bubbles which caused squeels of excitment from the children as more and more of them saw the bubbles.
I managed to sneak a magnetic snakes and ladders to the hands of one of the older girls hoping that she will be able to hide it, I thought the magnetic one would be better as it has a hard plastic box/case.
Of course the very worse part was saying goodbye to Arajuna who we took back to his Mum during the afternoon. He had spent the weekend with us as he is not allowed to be at the orphanage or school. He apparently is allowed back next Monday, I do hope that all goes well. I gave him some money as we were travelling to his house, I took his hand and placed a note in it, he immediately exclaimed loudly 'No' in his good English , I just said yes and squeezed his hand tight and indicated to sssh. He was so grateful it brought tears to my eyes.
Last night we met up with David who is a volunteer English teacher at the orphanage, he was telling us that he had heard the boy who had been discovered holding hands with a teenage girl, had yesterday been physically punished, he is now to be sent 'home', the problem is he has no 'home' he is a complete orphan therefore he will be sent to an alternative orphanage. That apparently is considered a poor alternative by the kids as some of them have come from other places and they say the others are even worse than this one regarding the amount of labour expected from them and the amount of abuse issued to them.

Anyway here I am now my last blog post before flying to Vietnam for part two of my adventure. Today we are going to the British School to talk to them about placing volunteers in the orphanage to cover subjects like councelling etc. Then to the market to get a couple of t-shirts (I hope) before my last first aid training at 14.30. This time it is the Guides I am teaching. I then pack and leave for dinner then Colombo airport.

Vietnam here I come!

XX

Sunday already!

2010-02-21T09:41:00.000-08:00

Unbelievable how quickly time has passed. I find I am already having to finalise the second part of my trip!
Today we took the train to Kandy, which is a town right up in the mountains, not a lot when you get there, just the usual temple and market. I think I said about their entrance fee, well it happened again. Entrance free for all except the 'foreigners' . They /we have to pay 1000 rupees to get in plus a nominal sum to leave our shoes plus a further fee to take a camera in. The train was a fairly pleasant experience but we chose to take the bus home as it is such an unbelievable fiasco to purchase train tickets. Well that was not far removed from hell. The bus is a coach and tagged onto the side of the fitted seats oneside of the coach, is a further fold up seat, hence when full, which everything always is here, it becomes a solid mass of seated passengers with no space at all. I sat there thinking how much I needed to just stand up and adjust my clothing and for at least a few minutes escape from the constant arm waving and tainted english emmiting from the Italian 'water pollution expert' scientist who was a UN volunteer and thought we were one of the same (which I guess if you ignore the fact that he was funded by the UN and he is highly intelligent) he may have something. The journey thankfully came to its end after three hours and boy was I pleased!

Yesterday we went to Hikkaduwa, a gorgeous beach with loads of surfers but the current so strong I could not stand up. I did get a little red although covered in lotion but the sun is so very strong and I have been out of it for most of the time since arriving. We dropped into the turtle project on the way down. They buy the turtle eggs from people they call fishermen but clearly the are egg raiders. The project bury the eggs in their grounds and after around 48 days they hatch, the baby turtles are then kept in a tank for 48 hours until they are able to see and have matured a little which then gives them a far better chance of survival. They let them free into the sea at night. I guess it does give them a far better chance but I certainly didn't like the bigger turtles that are kept permanently in tanks which I considered to be too small for a lifelong home. They say the reason they have them is for 'research' and 'tourism' , hmmm make your own decision on that.

The last few days we have had some very enjoyable dinners, chinese and japanese etc, I was losing weight!

Tomorrow I am now in the orphanage again as the American PTA didn't call until this afternoon (they had to consult their diaries) and I really felt their need could easily be met by applying their vast finances, so the children will benefit instead. Result!

Goodnight, only one more night here after this one. So sad .

xx

2010-02-18T10:34:00.000-08:00

What a couple of days. I have to keep this short as I have to get up early in the morning, I am working as a medic at an international basketball event, its an all day event but I guess I may be out in the sunshine a bit which will be quite a change!

Yesterday we had a first aid training session at a home for the elderly which is funded by The Lions. We were teaching the staff of course, not the residents, but what was astounding was the difference between here and the UK in the problems they have to deal with. They appear not to have any dementia nor do they have people falling and breaking the top of their femur all the time. The residents were just very elderly with poor mobility however few were having to use mobility aids and furthermore on the whole their hearing was still good and they appeared to be quite 'with it' Anyhow that seemed to go down quite well, as it seems to always and we left with a few more people knowing what to do if needed.

We went to the orphanage to pick up Arajuna to take him back to have his foot examined again as we left another boy decided to jump in the car, I think it had got round that the day before we took them to Mac Donalds. Happily the doctor said it was now very clean and less tender so it will heal properly. From there we went to see the boys play in the volleyball competition. It was a local, I believe, interschool event. The boys at the orphanage have little to do in their spare time but play volleyball so they are quite good. The day before we had bought a proper ball for them and given it to the captain of the team, they had been so thrilled. We arrived to be told they had got through to the final! We were all so proud, but they also told us that someone had already stolen their ball! The final soon began and it was amazing, we won by quite a margin and already JR thinks he has found a sponser in Holland . He has asked for an estimate for kit and a new ball. It will be wonderful for them. At the end of the match they took their shoes off and one of the boys his sole was quite literally hanging off.

We dropped the boys off and found that the principal was cross becxause they say they didn't know where the boys were. This is complete and utter rubbish as they knew Arajuna had too return to the clinic they also were with us at the competition we left in the car and they in the minibus, we feel they would prefer we ask formally everytime we do anything and were upset that on this occasion we did not. So in future we will take the official liine thats fair enough.

Today I worked with the children again, a lovely day but exhausting, I can't tell you how many children I showered but it was nearer 30 that 20! By the time we finished I was soaked through. Lunch today was bought in by a family. It was very kind of them and good training for their own children, it was a lovely meal, for them to have more than two types of food on their plate is an exception. However the staff make the children sing for their supper and the song is all about being 'only poor little orphanes but good children' it is heartbreaking to watch and listen to them. They all love singing and give it their all, I guess they probably don't really understand what they are singing. They do love 'head shoulders knees and toes' though.I taught it to them the other day and they giggle when we get to the end and speed up! We also sing 'happy and you know it' and ring o ring of roses to which they now jump up very high! They all say 'goodnight' 'Hello' thank you' etc all the time they love it. When we read a book they are asking for the English name for all the pictures ........they are just such lovely children.

As a result of the home being cross with us, Arajuna had to go to his Mother today and we visited there. It was unbelievable. To have so very little.She has to go to Oman would you believe for work. She says she can get good money as a domestic there and live in so she can save all her money. The father died at 36 yrs of age from cancer. There is a little girl of around 6 yrs and a Grandmother all living in a shack type building, they have electricity, to light the one bulb, the water is somewhere outside so I guess that is shared with the many neighbours. How others live and this is happening all over the world.....we are so rich!

Must get some sleep........Goodnightxx
Oh I forgot to mention my wonderful massage..............so rich

A day at the orphanage

2010-02-16T09:29:00.000-08:00

I was woken by Anne when they got back from the fish market this morning, quick shower and I was dropped off at Vajira Home where I helped with the 3 and 4 yrs olds in their school class. They are so sweet they very quickly got used to me being there, I sat with them at their tables and they kept touching my arm then squeezing it and looking at my fingers in great detail, it was so unusual for them to see a white person they had to ensure I was real. We did colouring and reading then it was singing time, this is when the louder ones came into their own. They knew round and round the garden but they form a line then follow each other around in a circle before tickling the child in front of them at the end. We sang incy wincy spider, twinkle twinkle and several others.

At around 12.30 school finished for this age so we walked back to their home which is adjacent to the other orphanage. We walked into a small room, there were four members of staff already there, I guess they had been caring for the babies.......I hope, anyway the tv was on (I have to say at this point childrens tv if it exists was never on) two of the staff were doing each others hair, one was laying on the floor with the remote control in her hand and the other seated on a chair, she got up to greet me and invited me to take a seat. The children all wandered into the room and sat on the floor, they are generally very quiet, they looked up at the tv. A llittle girl who has a bandaged hand was crying inconsolably, gradually I managed to get near to her and she allowed me to pick her up onto me and I cuddled her but she still cried, I asked them why was it her hand they said yes, however the same dressing was on as had been the other day when we visited. Suddenly they took her from me saying she had to have her wash, when she returned she was in a clean dress and no longer crying but her dressing still had not been changed.!

It was time to wash all the children, the little ones had several bowls of water thrown over them followed by the bar of soap again, washing their hair and body, then rinsed off with, you guessed it, many further bowls of water. The bigger ones, around 5 to 7 yrs old had their wash down which was not to include their head or hair but just from neck down and no soap. They dried with my help when I could get to them in time and dressed. It is all done so quickly. It was then time for lunch and off they went to collect their plates before going to the kitchen for food to be loaded onto them. Back in to the room with the tv, seated on the floor they eat their lunch, at no point were any of them offered a drink. They tend to drink the shower water and after they wash their plate in the sink I have seen them fill the plate with water from the tap that constantly runs and tip that into their mouth. We then played, it was the first time I have seen them play as such and judging by the appearance of the dolls it was their first time too! We had fun stacking the dolls one on top of the other and allowing them to fall, some of the girls sat holding the dolls whilst gazing at the tv screen, others started to undress them until a staff member decided to sew the dress done up at the back! We then had to move room as the staff were sweeping up, we went into a smaller room and played ring o ring of roses, they loved that and were familiar with the song. They laughed a lot. Next it was afternoon sleep time. The children collected a pillow and sometimes a mat, taking them into the small room arranged them on the floor and laid down. One little girl was not wanting to sleep and persisted in running from the room, a staff member asked me to get her to lie down, whilst coaxing me to force the child to do as she was told she was saying a word several times to the little one. Just at this point Anne arrived and the staff returned to their 'show' of being over friendly, the children were allowed to get up and mess about and after a little while we left for the area that houses the older children.

I asked what that word meant and was told it means 'swallows'. I leave you to guess at what that little girl was being told about me!

We collected Arajuna to take him to the hospital. This young man had cut his foot in water in January, presumed to be done by glass. He had stitches which were removed on the 6th Feb, he is still unable to weightbear. I noticed this yesterday and asked him if I could have a look at the wound, when I examined it he was so very tender I felt he may still have some glass in the wound so we decided to drive him to hospital for a poss x ray. Before we were able to leave the orphanage another young man jumped in the car also requiring hospital, he said a friend had accidentally poked his finger into his left eye that morning and it really hurt him. We travelled to
South Colombo Teaching Hospital (Kalubowila) well that was an experience I shall never forget! We walked into the A and E to be told he needs the outpatients dept, meanwhile Rohan (whom we found out was in fact a victim of a stone throw not a finger)had taken himself to the eye dept, we found the outpatients where we had to register his name, we then had to negotiate a queue of approx 30 people in order to get a stamp put on the slip of paper we had been given. Yes I did mean a stamp! ...needless to say the 'stamper' was not at the assigned small table with an ink pad sitting on it, so we went in search of this VIP. We found our way to an office, staffed by several administrators, one of whom agreed to stand in as the official 'stamper'. That done we were able to skip that huge queue of first timers and go directly to the doctor. She listened and looked at his face and said they had to admit him then under local anesthetic have a look at it.We decided to take him to the private doctor instead. On arrival there were so very many nurses I feared the bill would be enormous to cover their salaries. We were immediately ushered towards the doctor who said he needed to go to the examination room to enable her to examine the wound. The small cubbyhole was the examination room, we were told very severely to stay outside and the nurses would call one of us in when the doctor came in. Poor Ajaruna we couldn't leave him alone with them! ( it was like one of those films where they all lean over the victim.....sorry I mean patient...)we protested loudly which was met by a grunted and begrudged 'Come' the door was then locked to prevent any further episodes. Ajaruna was allowed home with us following a particularly painful proceedure.

I have to close now so I will skip the hours we spent back at the orphanage dropping them off, the other child presenting with a fever possibly chest infection or worse, the 'heads shoulders knees and toes' sang repeatedly with the 11 / 12 yrs olds and the wonderful walk along the sea front to the look out 'pier' interupted only by several ID checks.

From Sri Lanka..goodnight xx

Monday.........the babies

2010-02-15T10:36:00.000-08:00

Hello again well how can I begin to tell you all about yet another fantastic day....it all began with visits to a couple of local homes. The first a home for disabled and the second for the elderly. We arranged a first aid trainimg course for the second which is booked for Wednesday. We also arrange a course for the guides on next Tuesday.

We then wemt to the babies home linked to the main childrens home, where they have 30 children from about one year old to 5 yr old. There are 6 staff but things are not as one would hope them to be. As we walked into the first room we gazed apon a tiny little girl sitting in her cot rocking. She is in fact 2 yrs old , she was a premature baby and quite frankly if it weren't for the fact that we later saw her walking I would have doubted her age. There are five cots in this small room, the windows are open and the ceiling fan operating but the heat still remains. One little girl is asleep in her cot with her legs sticking through the rails another is clearly a tinker, clutching an empty wrapper from a biscuit, she immediately called for us to pick her up, although not me as I am such a peculiar colour. Another said to 'have a fever' was laying in the cot. They had no toys. Anne who had delivered a tea chest full of baby toys only five weeks ago asked why they had none. She was told the babies bite and break the toys! One can only guess what has actually happened to them. We spent sometime with the little ones whilst through the grill on the window we could see the older children (3 to 5) ish being showered. They have a shower outside and one by one they present themselves at the water, have their entire body and hair (including their face) covered in a strong white lather, they do not complain at all, when clean they dry themselves on one of the towels laying around and collect their clothes from a stand, one t-shirt and a pair of shorts which they put on themselves. I have some photos but unfortunately this site will not let me upload any at the moment.

We then drove to the older children home where they were all attending their classes. They were very keen to show me their work and particularly their art. One little girl had made an image of a chicken using tissue paper stuck onto a background, they giggled when I imitated a chicken! Soon it was lunch time, all the children had changed from their uniforms and collected their own plate from their locker, they walked across the grounds to the canteen where they formed an orderly queue waiting for the food to be put in place. I found a plate and joined the queue which caused some puzzlement before they started laughing. I helped to serve the meal, which naturally did not appeal to me one little bit.

Time then for my pedicure. I can't tell you how difficult life is here!

Later we visited Independence Square before going to the sports shop to buy a volley ball, cricket bat and ball for the older children. They have a match coming up and apparently they are very good so fingers crossed!

We have some lovely pictures of us presenting the equipment to the boys, they will go on the website to help promote the work. So many other things to tell but no time to type it all. We had a great Chinese meal this evening and now sleep before work tomorrow. I am expexcted there for 9 in the morning.

XX

Sunday

2010-02-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would try to download some of the images while I have a moment.

We saw so many brilliant scenes it is difficult to capture them.......people working in the paddy fields, old women crouching on a flat rock in the middle of a stream beating a piece of washing to get it clean often surrounded by little ones playing in the water. There are many shanty areas where all you can see is a sea of corragated metal balancing precariously against each other, these people have so little, they are hungry and yet smilling.

We also drove past the government building, set in a large expanse of land, a lake surrrounding the beautiful building. As we get around the towns we have constant reminders of Mahinda Rajapaksa one of the hopefuls in the forthcoming local elections, who likes to see himself posted on any/all spaces that can be found, he either has both arms in the air in a triumphant display or one arm raised, the recently re-elected president is also on posters with his heavy moustache, he is of course also on all the new bank notes.

Today we intended to visit the Colombo zoo which is currently being rebuilt out of town, they are apparently adopting the Winsor Park model. However the existing zoo is in the heart of Colombo and we found on arrival the entrance is 150 rupees for nationals and 2000 rupees for foreigners, this is the terminology used at the gate, a guest carrying a camera is charged an additional fee to bring the camera in. I intend to complain to the embassy on my return, you can imagine the outcry if we were to adopt that policy in England!

Today we had another amazing encounter on the road. We were negotiating along in the customely zig zag fashion when we realised the head lights pointing towards us were in fact not stationary,it was a bus, fulll of people which had decided he had hhad enough of it all and drove on the wrong side of the road to pass all the traffic

. Unbelievable!.Suffice to say we have passed two accidents in the last three days, I guess its a good job I am not based here.

Tomorrow we go to the orphanage down the road hopefully armed with games and toys which we intend to buy from a warehouse we have been told about. We have a lady coming in to do us lunch as we have a busy day.

Bring it on............

Back in Colombo!

2010-02-13T12:09:00.000-08:00

Hi I am back inColombo again, after a wonderful daytrip out to Kurrenegala we are back at Anne's place in Colombo. Its a long story but in brief we went up there with the intention of dropping me for a week or so to work in the orphanage there. I looked around and met some of the 18 girls who live there. I found them to be completely dressed, albeit a little old but their clothes were not in tatters, they had varying boxes of toys e.g. skipping ropes, balls and box games in another, they were completing forms etc which clearly did not present any great problem to them. In all I felt that these children whilst being orphaned, did not so desperately need help, compared with the 280 here, in just that one place down the road! So we turned around and drove all the way back to Colombo!

Whilst on our day out we stopped at another Leo project which is the elephant orphanage where sick animals go. They have about nine elephants at present. It is a very peaceful place, we received the tour first when we were shown varying parts from bodies found in the jungle, before going over to meet the resident star who has been in several films including Tarzan. The one thing I was not comfortable with was the fact that all the elephants still had chains around their neck and one foot. The mahout said it was because the animal would never obey orders without the chains, I can't help feeling that can only be due to the memory of the pain the chains can cause, which suggests that no-one has moved on.

We were driving up a country lane,well when I say 'driving' I use the term loosely. The art of constantly avoiding traffic which persists in aiming itself directly in our path, is indeed a task, one which requires a dominant and fearless determination. I have never, anywhere witnessed such awful driving. It really is scary, made worse when travelling through a township as pedestrians are then added to the equation! Anyay we were driving up a very remote lane and passed a young man walking up the hill carrying a cloth bag and a monkey on his shoulder. Straight away Anne and Amal recognised him as a snake charmer! They got out and negotiated a price, the chap charged all of 100 rupees for us to watch two cobras striking at him and the monkey very good value entertainment....at just under 50 pence!

We arrived back home, unpacked again and went to the beach, well it was only 21.00 where else would one go? Grabbed some food and beer on the way.....wonderful, the water was so warm , music pumping out from a gay club nearby, loads of people everywhere, fantastic.

Tomorrow.............well tomorrow s another day here in Sri Lanka

xx

2010-02-11T00:24:00.000-08:00

I'm here!!!

Just literally got off the plane, we are one and a half hours early, just walking up towards arrivals lounge to collect baggage and do the passport thing and I saw this unit...free internet access.

It's 32 degrees but a little cloudy so I expect the humidity to hit when I get outside. The time here is almost two we are about five and a half hours ahead of UK.

Love you xx

2010-02-10T11:45:00.000-08:00

Heathrow

Well only another hour and we should be starting to board. Its 19.45 and we arrived shortly after 16.00. Adam drove off in the car as I stood at the door waving frantically, never mind he was no doubt keen to get the car home before the heavy snow made driving difficult!

I have spoken to all the childrern and miss them already..its like the Winnie the Pooh poem..I have....said goodnight and kissed them all goodnight and said goodnight again....etc!

So yes I am nervous but excited.

Speak soon
xxx

Trial

2010-02-02T15:02:00.000-08:00

Just to see if this is working adequately