Bangalore and Mysore 2-5 May

Our first day in India was set down for recovery and exploration. Recovery from flying in and out of airports was quick enough so we set off to explore some of Bangalore and familiarise ourselves with India, it was 33 years ago that we were first here. Bangalore Palace was first stop on our list. A short walk from our budget hotel, past the street vendors, open drains, cows and beggars on the footpath and filth, we were there. Not a bad hut in its day but maintenance appears to be a problem and the place is slowly deteriorating. Back on the street and we wandered past numerous magnificent buildings, mostly government offices where the officials do not shy away from opulence. It must be hellingishly confusing for some of the populace to look out from under their $10 piece of blue plastic cover from the Warehouse, to see a building so grand, running water, electricity and spare rooms. But we are in India and the gap between the have's and the have nots is a gaping crevice wider than the Grand Canyon.

 

We did enjoy some fresh food off the street stalls, especially the natural wrapped varieties like banana. Also took a short ride in an "auto-rickshaw". These are tuk tuks in every other country but India previously had the rickshaw, pulled by a skinny man and these don't seem evident in the south. There are 95,000 of the autos in Bangalore alone and at times it appeared that they were all coming down the street at once. They have meters in them so are pretty much a very small taxi which if you think of the number of people that travel alone, then are more economical than huge cars. They squeeze themselves through pretty narrow gaps at times.

 

Our Tour car driver, "Pradeep", arrived at our hotel at 8.30am as organised and once settled into the rear seat of his Toyota car we were off on our journey through Southern India. First stop was to be Mysore about 4 hours southwest. The journey was uneventful if you overlook the 3 crashes we witnessed (one of which included a fatality), the hair-raising overtaking, the detours to avoid cows on the road and the over laden trucks, tractors and tuk tuks all using the same piece of bitumen (which itself added to the hazards in front of us). Our driver is very good though, very patient and we don't feel that we have been in any danger while driving, or at all for that matter!

We had a very salubrious hotel in Mysore and had booked a day tour of the city with a guide. These city tours are good value as the guide is able to show and explain things that we would otherwise miss. The tour took us to the top of a nearby hill however the views were not that expansive due to the amount of smoke and dust in the air. We travelled on to visit the Mysore Palace.....what a monstrosity it is. About 24 Maharajahs have called it home. That recently changed with the death of the last Maharajah last December. The Palace is now in Trust and will pass to the city administrators when his wife dies. We were not allowed to photograph inside but assure you it was extremely lavish for its day. (A mixture of Middle Eastern and Victorian architecture, teak doors, some also inlaid ivory or silver, Czech crystal chandeliers, painted copper panelled ceilings, cast iron pillars made and shipped from Scotland in 1906. The Maharajah was obviously enticed to get the best the world had to offer. Fully electrified as Mysore was the first town in India to get electric light in 1904. A cost of 4.2 million rupees $80,000.) What was most amazing was visiting the Palace again in the evening as they turn the lights on every Sunday night. There must be over a million lights, the place looked like Disneyland! and again must confuse those that are still scrimping and saving for candles.

The above Palace at night

 

 

India certainly is a strange and different place. I have the privilege of having doors opened for me and chairs pulled back from tables while my dearly beloved finds her own way. Most of the hotel staff type people will talk directly toward me however after the first two words I am looking directly at Diana as I can't understand a word they are saying. They do then talk to 'Madame' but it isn't first option by a long chalk. Weather has been good, not nearly as hot as we expected and we were treated to the loudest electrical storm we have ever heard last night. Plastic bags, horse dung, fruit peelings of all types, general rubbish and men piddling into open drains in full public view will take more time for us to accept than we have.

 

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Onward to India. 1st May

Our journey from ChiangMai was to Southern India through Bangkok and Mumbai. We had allowed a couple of hours break between flights and were wondering what we might do to fill in the time. We needn't have worried. We had booked tickets right through, off the internet and intended to board planes and disembark as is the norm. But not to be.

We were not allowed to check on to the plane in Bangkok as we did not have a ticket to exit India. Somehow I think that the Indian government has an idea that everyone landing here is intending to stay! I think that more than half of the locals here are in fact trying to leave.....if there are any corner dairies left in NZ then I am sure there is a million Indians hoping to be allocated the business. It took us nye on two hours to decide and book a flight and have a credit card that would process. (What did we ever do before the internet!) We now have a flight out to Dubai with Emirates dated 25 May. JetAirways allowed us to board our flight but we were running late by take-off time and stressed a little as the plane doors closed.

4 hours later we were on the ground in Mumbai. (Maybe it was a bad start as we entered the immigration area. Usually they are quite sombre orderly affairs but for the first time we experienced a run of emotions with yelling and ranting from a passenger as he exited the area...the only English we heard was "Bangladeshi shit"!)

We thought everything would be green light again for us and it was....until we hit the immigration desk. "No Visa, no entry" said the pan faced head wobbling local. "Hang on, mate, we're friends with Ed. Hillary, you know the man, he is one of us". "No Visa, no entry"......another wobble or two. (Don't you love them?). We were under the misapprehension that as NZers we had waived Visa rights and could get a stamp at the border and in we go. Two more hours and several signatures, everything in triplicate but no one has told them about carbon paper yet.....we did meet a dot matrix printer though.

Rob was taken away to another room to pay the money. Memories came flooding back of India 33 years previous as our passports were paraded between offices and closed doors. You can do nothing but sit and wait for the process to take its' course. We were wondering if our bags would be still going around on the carousel! They were at the Jet Airways desk and we hurried to checkin for Bangaluru. We were in time but the bus had already departed for the domestic terminal. Off downstairs to patiently wait for a handwritten taxi chit...in duplicate...and into a minute taxi with our bags on the roof! Checked through the bags, through security...men one way, woman another....Rob with both boarding passes!!

We used up our two hours with nothing to spare as again we were the last ones into the plane bound for Bangalore. A bit of luck was on our side - we could hardly call it 'good management'. Our taxi pick up was perfect and drop off to our hotel at midnight ended a fairly long, frustrating, interesting day.......I think many more of them to come. Our idea of visiting Sri Lanka may now go on the back burner as we can't contemplate asking if we can re-enter India to fly out on the 25th from Mumbai.

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Chiang Mai and Sally. 27th April

 

Our flight from Luang Prabang went smoothly enough and entry back into Thailand was through the "green line" which we completed in record time. We found Sally's house and although it had been only a couple of weeks since we had been together it was nice to meet her on her home turf........well.........parched dry dusty corner of the world. Sally cooked us tea and we consumed our 2 bottles of Chilean duty free wine. (They had no NZ on entry).

 

 

 

 

We spent some time geocaching in Chiang Mai which was fun and we now have another Travel Bug to help wend it's way around the world. Sally came to meet us one afternoon and for a few minutes I thought she may have been hooked....not so, a fair bit of walking involved. She did join us for a couple on her bike though.

We took a "Red Ride" car and driver for a day trip out of Chiang Mai. Enroute we visited an elephant farm (sort of farm, training area, tourist attraction) and got quite close up and personal. We stopped off at a very large cave (including bats) and a spot where we saw a handprint of Buddha. We had seen the footprint of Buddha on the top of a hill in Luang Prabang so the big fella got around a bit. I think both were just mystical sites, akin to "Ripley's Believe It Or Not".

On our last day out we enjoyed a smorgasbord lunch. Just a few doors down was a Gallery of murals set up for photo opportunities. We felt like kids again as we tried them all out.

Our short stay in Chiang Mai was good fun, great to see Sally again and share a couple of thunderstorms, one of which produced hail!! I kid you not. Never thought there would ever be hail in the Thailand. Thank you Sally for making our stay so comfortable.

 

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Anzac Day

Unsurprisingly there is no recognition of Anzac Day in Laos.

We decided on a visit to a rice farm. While it is patently obvious to most kiwis that rice comes in a box from Uncle Ben, there on the supermarket shelf alongside the porridge oats......however this isn't totally true. We travelled about 5kms out of town and were given a guided, "hands-on" tour of a working rice farm. It is a small project being run by 5 locals with the help of many others, where visitors can get down and dirty in the real work. We steered "Suzuki" (a 6 year old buffalo) through the puggy waters ploughing the land. We planted, harvested, threshed, ground, ate and drank everything to do with rice. It was a beaut day out and good to see some enterprising locals, very environmentally and socially aware but also including tourists in their venture. Anzac Day was a Friday and today, Saturday is a bit of a rest day in preparation for leaving Laos tomorrow and flying to Chiang Mai. Laos has been an interesting country to visit. In general the people are helpful and friendly, not many speak English but they are keen to learn. Many of the bright students that we have met waitering in the restaurants or hotels, are stuck in the poverty trap and can never see the day that they could earn enough money to be able to even visit their neighbour countries - that is the reality for them and that is very grounding for us who take so much for granted in our part of the world. It is hot, very hot at the moment, and the locals are waiting for rain...the temperature won't change much but the clouds are threatening at the end of each day. Time to move on.

 

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Lost Laos 23-24 April

 

Our adventure day in Nong Khiaw we decided, would be a day trip on the Nam Ou River, a tributary of the Mekong. Eight of us fair skinned travellers from 5 different countries boarded our long boat at 9.30am and headed upriver...first to a normal riverside village. Bit like Wanganui but different, perhaps Wanganui 200 years ago!

The village had some 25 families who mostly live hand to mouth. They grow rice, hunt and fish to survive. There was a small school for juniors, two classrooms with about 15 children in each. While they are poor (and Laos is among the 20 poorest countries on Earth) they still managed to have satellite TV. There were probably 5-6 sets in the village and if something important was on, more likely English football than the All Blacks v Springboks, families would gather together to watch. The village is quite communal and although they can individually own pices of land, maybe 5 hectares, they will work together on each other's farms to get the work done. This little fella in the red hat took a liking to Diana and spent half an hour welded to her finger.

 

Secondary school for these guys is in Nong Khiaw about an hour boat ride away. They have to board during the week either at accommodation at the school or with relatives. In the evenings they would probably work at a restaurant to help pay the costs of boarding and getting back home for weekends. Laos kids are expected to stay at school until they are 16 but this isn't policed and in many cases it is beyond the means of their parents to afford them schooling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our little group trekked for an hour and a half through paddy fields and jungle to a waterfall. The temperature was around 34C so we were well pleased to be able to dive into the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. Only problem was that when we were half way back to the river we needed the waterfall cooling off pool again.

 

 

Back to the river and we boarded kayaks for our 2 hour journey down the river. We discovered that the management persons of the company we trekked with had discussed Diana and my suitability for the kayak leg of the adventure. The main criteria that initiated the discussion was the colour of our hair! Clearly we were past the rough and tumble of kayaking through rapids. The bloody cheek of them! Fortunately they didn't totally insult and decide we couldn't do it. Although I am sure that the combined age of any of two others was less than my age and more than likely less than Diana. Once 'discussed' I did outline to the rest of the paddlers and management that NZ has an enviable record of the boating type. Gold medals at the Olympics, more NZers than any other nation at the Americas Cup and I threw in the invention and development of the Hamilton jet.....most of this detail was missed by the Lao but none of the other nationals argued....! We then surprised ourselves by getting through all the rapids, albeit with a kayak full of water, and not falling out at all. That couldn't be said by all those on the river that afternoon. We had a great day out.

 

 

Getting back to the World Heritage listed town of Luang Prabang involved a 4 hour ride in an open back little Mazda type truck (saungtaaou) sucking petrol fumes. We thought the minivan journey up was challenging!! We got back in one piece.....it wouldn't be correct to say "safely". There were no safety features obvious on the vehicle and the driving is an adventure in itself. The green T-shirt men here are tuk tuk drivers touting for our business. All good hearted banter and totally non-threatening.

 

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Journey North

21st April

 

Our kind hotel owner gave us a lift to the centre of town to catch our 'minibus' to Nong Khiaw. We left town at 8.30am but only got as far as the bus station where it took them an hour to organise people in to 3 buses each with 9 people. They were hopelessly disorganised and took people's luggage on and off the roof racks more than 2 times! The journey is about 200kms but the sealed road was narrow and potholed. We had a break in a village after 2 hours and had a few choices of nibbles - crickets, frogs, black tough looking chickens - needless to say we went for the oranges and a packet of Pringles. We were all visitors on our bus but we did pick up one local on the way. Total journey not too bad at 3.5hrs but with no air con it was long enough for us.

 

 

 

Nong Khiaw is a sleepy little place next to the Nam Ou River which has huge 'karst' (limestone) formations rising up all around. It is very picturesque though no clear skies again as the farmers burn the hillsides for rice crops. We look forward to doing a bit of exploring tomorrow.

 

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Laos 14th April

We hunkered down in Vientianne after our initiation into Pii Mai.

 

One day of water throwing had a few funny moments but after a day we I had about seen enough. Mostly young people threw water at any one within about a 5 metre radius and they would keep it up from 10.00am to 10.00pm. Reminded us a bit of the hilarity of the Sevens tournament but it went on forever. As we walked about in the city we were continually approached and had half a litre of water poured down our shirts. Just as we were about dry another (30 minutes) another would come along and "bless" us again!

Just as we were both commenting on the fun nature of it all we did see a small fracas on a corner while we were eating. It was soon placated and there was very little police presence. We did read there were 37 road deaths and 157 injuries related to the road behaviour in Laos. The next day was pretty quiet and all of Vientiane had been cleaned up and swept by 9am. The Mekongs water supply must have been lowered substantially though.

We did catch up with Peter Wallis and his Lao family. Peter was one of the first employees of PFOlsen Ltd and following an assignment in Asia 25 years ago...he never came back. At 74 he has a few things on his mind now. He has a Lao wife, much younger, and they have and 8 year old daughter....he thinks about her gaining a secondary education in NZ.

 

 

 

We visited the COPE centre in Vientiane where they make artificial limbs. Most of their clientele is from the villages near the Vietnam border where cluster bombs and land mines were dropped by the Americans and their allies during the war. The centre treats about 20 people per year and while the land clearing continues it will take 100 years at the present rate to have all the affected land arable again. This was quite a sobering visit.

 

 

 

18th April

While Vientiane was an interesting and safe city, plenty of good tucker and cheap beer, we once again made plans to head to the airport and fly up river about half an hour. That saved a 12 hour bus ride and we flew 1st class! We felt important as some well dressed, heavily jewellery laden passengers walked past us in the front of the airplane. They must have missed the "Fly 1st Class" option that Diana spotted for $10 more!

 

 

Luang Prabang is a very pretty little town, quite clean by Asian standards and well set up for the budget traveller. The French must have been sorry to leave this place but their legacy remains. The food is brilliant and cheap, service as usual is instant. We have to drink a lot because it is so warm, the temp never goes below 25C and is well into the 30's during the day. A large bottle of water is $1.20 and a 600ml bottle of beer $2.00. Happy hour generally from 6.00pm in numerous pubs all over town.

 

 

 

 

We have spent time geocaching, as you do, visiting the museums and the occasional temple to keep on the right side of Buddha. Finding a temple isn't difficult in this town, there are literally hundreds of them each with their own team of Monks and apprentice monks. These guys are pretty friendly and all have known where NZ is when we chat to them. Generally they are keen to improve their English so happily yarn away until it's time to get another drink!.

 

Here we found a geocache....GPS is sitting in the groove on the tree trunk. Monks are looking after this one, we gave them a small donation and if everyone gives them a small donation they could do well playing this geocache game even though they probably have no idea why one would want to play it...I haven't worked that out yet either ......but it is quite fun.

Tomorrow we have booked a minibus (we have no idea what that means here?) for a 3 hour journey north to another little town on the banks of the Mekong River. We may look at some river travel to add some adventure factor while we are there.

 

 

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