A week in the mother country.....

We flew into Edinburgh in the evening, a little late but were so pleased to have Moira pick us up. It has been many years since she visited family in New Zealand, nice to catch up and talk about our two boys who had recently visited her. She whisked us north to Dundee to be reunited with her Mum, Helen. These two have to be two of the happiest souls in the country, there is a bright side to everything. We had a great catch up and enjoyed having a homely house to live in for a few days. Attention to my aching shoulder was also brought into a brighter light as well. Moira is a practicing physiotherapist and both Helen and 'my sweet' are trained nurses. There was no wait in consulting rooms and no need to have have explanations made by expensive medics. Not sure that I would understand their English though as just as you seem to be getting onto the right wave length they throw in an "och aye" and you wonder if you missed something. So I now know that I have a trapped nerve and it will take a few more weeks before everything comes right. Just knowing that makes me feel better.

 

 

One of the most interesting things that 'one' can do in Dundee is visit the Royal Research Ship, "Discovery". This is the ship that was built in Dundee for Robert Scott to visit the Antarctica in 1901. Shackleton was also aboard and these guys did some pretty daring deeds. To think they were headed for the South Pole with no GPS makes my attempts and failure at finding a geocache with coordinates, a description and a hint.....and a GPS! Pretty pathetic. Fortunately I wasn't aboard but did give myself a few moments to pretend that I was thrashing through pack ice at the South Pole. A really well presented museum display and the old ship is being kept in excellent condition.

 

 

 

Dundee is a city built of stone, either grey or brown. It is an old city with numerous pubs and churches. If one isn't on a street corner the other is. It seems everybody is either drinking or praying....maybe doing both! The stone doesn't brighten what is a fairly dour climate......I felt that a maniac with some pots of high glow paint could brighten the place up, (British Paints isn't flavour of the month with the current situation of Jake the Peg). So it is very grey and when the temperature is in single figures and there is a cool wind off the channel it is unpleasant. Current season tells us that it is coming on summer and we have had some cold days and some not so cold days. However when the weather does nudge into the top of the teens it means summer and off with the jerseys, t-shirts and shorts are order of the day. Out the families come and down to the 'rec' they go. I am pretty sure that if skinny white legs are an inheritable characteristic then I have some Scottish ancestors. It is hard to believe that they can sell convertible cars here and we also surprisingly note a number of solar panels on roofs.

 

 

 

 

An improvement in my arm means we have made a plan to have a couple of days in a rental car around Aberdeen then fly from Edinburgh to Berlin early next week. Surely more adventures to be had in Europe.

 

 

 

 

We headed north in our wee Ford Fiesta this morning and spotted a few castles on the way. Mention of William Wallace brought back memories of "Braveheart", tough times. There are so many amazing castles in this part of the World, hundreds of years old.......we could spend months wandering around here but we must get back to Edinburgh airport by Monday morning.

 

 

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From Dubai into Italy

Our last day in Dubai was enjoyed with a self guided tour of the city, a bit of geocaching and some shopping. I was keen to buy a momento from the Islamic state and also a scarf in anticipation of some cooler air trying to creep down my nape! In the bazaar the guys were seriously in your face trying to sell their wares....the fact that you didn't want new shoes or a 1:50 scale camel didn't matter a jot. Their job was to sell you one! I managed to find a scarf that I think will do the trick. Didn't get the camel though.

 

Three days wasn't enough in this city, I would have liked to stay longer after initially wondering why we were stopping over at all. It is a really good place to visit.

Our next stop was Rome but this was just a stop over for an hour as we had booked an apartment in Naples for five nights. We arrived in Naples at 11.30pm after a few aviation type hold ups and one thing and another so were well pleased that "Antonio" was standing at the door of our house to be, in the middle of the night - we paid him an extra 20 Euro for that, not because we wanted to but because he told us we had too....grrrrrrrr.... Naples is an hour south of Rome, has a population of one million and is reputed to be the birth place of pizza. We tried a couple and I would have to say that Dominos do a pretty good imitation.

After catching up on some sleep and getting some domestics sorted we did some wandering in the home of the mafioso. We mosied through the narrow streets, dodging people, motor bikes and cars just looking to get a feel for the place, and it's alright. Even though we had been warned to watch out for pick pockets, deviants and beggars, the place is pretty good. Certainly different than Dubai our last stop, where any public show of affection is severely frowned upon. Here, in the romantic country of Italy, we regularly see couples expressing love for one another. Men kissing each other on each cheek, men and woman regularly kissing and at times some serious deep throat antics that would have the Arabs speed reading the Koran. It must be all good in Naples though as they have near on 450 worship houses which is the highest ratio of churches per person in the World.

This is the view from our apartment balcony onto what is one of the main arterial routes! No wonder small cars are popular. Most of the city streets are large stone cobbles.

There are a number of things to have a look at in this sea side Mediterranean city. The town lives less than 20 kms from Mt Vesuvius an active volcano. Back in 79AD it erupted and smothered the town of Pompeii in ash. The remnants of this town were discovered in 1748 and have been slowly excavated by archaeologists since then. Over a third still remains to be dug up and catalogued but what we saw was amazing. These guys had a well organised town 500 years before our dearly beloved JC was born! We spent a few hours with a guide book in one hand and a map in the other. Everything we saw was hard to believe, this stuff is 2,500 years old. It is all well preserved as the layer of ash has protected everything from decay. We found houses, a bakery, public baths, some praying places, a medical premises, a market place, a brothel and an amphitheater. The whole thing was fantastic and worth the trip to Italy just to see it. Evidently there is another smaller village similar to Pompeii that was even better preserved in mud, but we never got to Herculaneum.

 

 

 

We took the train to Pompeii, then Sorrento. This is about 25kms south of Naples and is a regular holiday spot for local Europeans. From Sorrento there are regular buses heading southeast along the Amalfi Coast. The bus from Sorrento to Positano was a 45 seater on a road that was built for motorbikes! The road clings to the side of cliffs and people have built houses also clinging to the side of the cliffs. I can't say that I'm envious, a couple too many, a stagger and a trip and you fall 50metres into the backyard of the neighbour below you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow it is time to move on. A number of destinations are in the offing. Everywhere is so close compared to NZs nearest neighbour. We have looked at numerous options but have purchased tickets to Edinburgh, Scotland. Not far away live relatives in Dundee, Helen and Moira. We are flying there to attend to some shoulder problems that I have....basically an aching and sometimes downright painful shoulder that high rates of pain killers or antiinflamatories aren't getting on top of. A disappointment but travelling on isn't really an option. Hopefully we can understand an English speaking medic and we can get something sorted out and continue our travels. We will fly British Airways, Naples to London, and then on to Edinburgh. It would be be very coincidental if the BA captain was one Grant Spence, my step-brother. We will find out at 1pm tomorrow, Saturday.

 

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Out of India

On our last day in India we were driven to the Marriott Hotel which was one kilometre from the Kochi International airport. We said somewhat sad farewell to Pradeep, invited him to look us up next time he was in New Zealand realising that although he has a fairly good job, is quite well educated and had plans for the future, it is most unlikely that he will ever travel outside of India. The Marriott Hotel was one of the best we have stayed in. Although it is in a dirty dusty climate in India it matches up well to some of the best places we have seen in Australia or South Africa. We enjoyed our last night before flying to Dubai.

 

Emirates flight into Dubai took four hours and as is expected on this airline everything went smoothly. We landed to 34 degrees but it didn't seem that hot, very dry heat probably. Dubai is quite a contrast to India where all the people are dark skinned with black hair but the country is so clean and the skyline was full of skyscrapers. Dubai boasts the tallest building in the World and one gets the feeling that if another was built somewhere else, they would build another to maintain their '....tallest building in the World'. We had a man waiting at the airport with a sign ".......Mr Rob.....", I love that! He quickly taxied us to our lodgings at a bed and breakfast accommodation. Once off the motorways we are into narrow streets with three story stone buildings on either side. Our room was through some even narrower corridors, and we instantly had a feeling of being in Arabia somewhere....I don't really know why because we haven't spent any time in theses Arabic countries before. In saying that there was once a very famous Lawrence in these parts of the World!

We only have 3 nights so had to make best use of a short time so chose to take a day excursion with a guide along the coast. The other option was to take a journey into the desert but it never greatly appealed, it never had very good reports either. So we went northeastwards up the coast driving out of Dubai and into their neighbouring United Arabic Emirate of Sharjah. For a short time we were in Oman as well but that was a back cornerstone of that Sultanate and nobody noticed our whereabouts. Many things are different in Dubai. There are 3 men to every one woman and in one small dormitory village near the main city there are 3000 men to one woman. Little wonder that they are completely covered up when in public! But the country is rich! Serious! When a "native" couple marry the government give the man and the wife $20,000 each. If they have a child then they are given more money and the child is given an allowance from birth that increases with age. This is only for the "native" population which are 1.5 million. The government will also provide a house, all education costs, hospitals and other services in every small town so that the native population can stay in their ancestral area - often in the middle of nowhere. Crime is practically non-existent and when some one is imprisoned they often choose to remain in prison rather than be released! Crazy stuff for a rich country goes on and on. Bus shelters are closed in and air conditioned! It is the 20th most expensive city in the World to live in but I must say my haircut at $4 was as good as any in NZ at $15. Petrol costs 50c a litre and most people have a fairly new car.

 

On our drive we visited a very old mosque and were allowed a quick look inside provided the female was dressed like a local, so barefoot (and almost penniless) Diana visited. Roads are spectacular between the seven emirates, often three lanes with very little hill climbs and no sharp corners.

 

We did find some mountains and spent quite a bit of time looking for forest.....we are still looking for that.

 

 

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Into Paddy Fields 11 - 14 May

We were down on a flat part of the Indian subcontinent and had quite a long day driving to our next destination. A short visit to a botanic garden near the tea garden had trees from all over the World except New Zealand. We will try and arrange for a Kauri seed to be forwarded as soon as we get home.

Back on the flat we entered Kerala, the rice bowl State of India. The roads, towns and houses take a very sudden cleaner more organised appearance. We were heading to Cochin (now called Kochi, by some) and a hotel on a large man made Island from when the British dredged the port. This hotel was pretty flash and we enjoyed the hospitality, the food was excellent and staff most helpful. Diana couldn't help but notice that the restaurant had the same 'loop' of 10 or so quite rocky songs playing at breakfast, lunch and dinner!! Of all the zillion that are available.

 

In the evening we were treated to a local dance show. This was an ancient dance form Kathakali, where there were no singing or dancing, a drum beat only and a commentary. The lone dancer first showed us his mostly facial and eye moves and then acted out a wee story....slipped over both our heads but we applauded loudly at completion....we were the entire audience!

 

We had a day tour of Cochin planned but unfortunately the town was on strike and our driver could not get over the bridge to our hotel. The protesters were exhausted by 3.00pm so Pradeep snuck in and we had an abbreviated half day tour. We got around very quickly now as the streets were pretty much deserted. The strike was Union organised (still quite strong in many parts of India) because the government were not supporting a fertiliser works that was likely to go under without financial assistance. The company has 1200 employees. Not sure if the strike had any effect on the government but it did stuff our day up somewhat. We still had time to see where Vasco de Gama was first laid to rest and also see some Chinese fishing nets and Jewtown. This part of India has had a strong early association with the Portuguese in the 16th century, the French and the English. It is a wealthy corner of the country that boasts the highest literacy rate at 96%.

Our Guide gave us some really interesting social history and explanations for the better life comparatively that people have in Kerala. There are 800 people every square km! and a town every 7 kms but they are not keen on apartment style living - they still appreciate having enough space to grow veggies.

From Cochin we went south to the rice growing area of Kerala and boarded a house boat for an overnight cruise and sleep. The area we visited is known as the Venice of the East, with a labyrinth of waterways that make up the main streets. The stay on the house boat was a highlight of the trip. (One could feel the serenity!) We had a captain, a boat boy and a chef and they were all exceptional in looking after us. There are 1000 of these houseboats on the waterway and it is rated the second most special thing to do in India after seeing the Taj Mahal (by Lonely Planet).

 

 

We have one night left on our tour of Southern India and are at present camped at Turtle Beach. From a quick look that Diana and I had at midday it should be renamed "Crab Beach". We are resting up, drinking the last of our 'Kingfisher', doing a bit of washing and writing a blog. Stay with us, in 48 hours we will be in Dubai for a bit more exploring and it looks like the geocaching will offer a few opportunities.

 

 

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Beyond Mysore 6-10 May

It was good to be leaving Mysore, a big busy city (but interesting, safe and welcoming for us) and heading to bush country and less people. We drove across India, through small villages and past numerous farm areas and into Nagarhole National Park. We were looking forward to going on safari again, it is some time since we had been in the game parks of Malaysia, Namibia, South Africa and eons since some wonderful safaris in Kenya with the McKechnies. We were accommodated in the Serai Resort and safaris left from there. The first morning we were up before the sparrows had passed wind and eagerly atop a Tada "hilux" on the lookout for one of 64 tigers or a leopard. There are over 100 leopard in the park but we were unlucky enough to not see either of these big cats. We still had a thrill in the chase though. We did see large numbers of chital deer, a few sambur deer, some huge gaur buffalo, monkeys, pigs, mongoose, and many birds. After four hours we were back at the lodge, well pleased with our mornings hunt. We quickly booked onto the afternoon "boat" safari. This took us up the Kibini River into the National Park and once again the cats kept napping and out of sight. But we did see elephant, quite large groups living totally in the wild unmolested by man. Their is no ivory trade in India and from all accounts if a local were to take an animal of any species from the NP he would be dealt to by the other villagers. "Dealt to" I think could have some serious connotations.

From the game park we headed to a resort on top of a hill with wonderful views over the surrounding jungle valleys, in a peaceful setting where rest and recreation were emphasised. NOT!!! Is all I could say to the Indian who had enough money and a minimal amount of grey matter to invent this place. It didn't help that we arrived at the same time as an out of season cyclone that removed the power supply and the hot water. There was a slug 10 cms long with a reasonable girth welcoming Diana to her first sitting....where he went when flicked into the bowl and flushed is anyone's guess.....probably just 50 metres down the hill, but I don't want to know. This whole place was founded and is run on the Basil Fawlty manual. I would not be surprised if the owner of this particular guest house did not receive straight A's in Fawlty's Academy for aspiring hoteliers! After two nights it was hard work to be forthcoming with the obligatory 'voluntary' tip! I was pleased to get away, heading for Coonoor about 4 hours drive. Our driver is doing a great job in keeping us safe and pointing out things of interest and answering all our questions. We have him schooled up on his geography, he knows where NZ is and is interested in how things are done at home. We had a bit of time to spare so did some geocaching in Ooty, we were thrilled when Pradeep found the cache....he wants more now so we may have another convert.

Our digs in Conoor were a lodge on a tea plantation and again we were miles from civilisation and had to eat their local tucker. I hate to say it but I am becoming accustomed to a little spice in the vegetables, the meat, the potatoes the bread the..the...everything. Our stomachs aren't saying "that's on its way back and don't send me any more".....we might have been here to long? We visited a tea factory and a botanical garden and tonight find ourselves at Cheruthyruthy (which Pradeep says so fast it sounds like "Cheruty") in the Riverside Lodge, booked in for a massage at 8.30am. We had a long days driving with some 'hairy' moments but we have to trust Pradeep's experience and we were told he was the company's "Best Driver"!! We travelled an alternate route as they had changed the other way down the mountains to One Way due to holiday traffic! However the way we drove was tortuous but through some fantastic tea clad hills and tiny villages that we would never have known existed is this enlightening continent.

 

 

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Misunderstandings

The experiences so far in India are many and varied and two dining ones stick in my mind. Our first night out in Bangalore we headed off out to look for something to eat. You may think that with such a population the choices would be many and varied but not so, in our part of town anyway. After circling around the back streets we opted for a 'Family Restaurant' up some stairs. There were lots of tables and a waiter came straight to us but after getting him to repeat himself 3 times I realised he was saying "No women allowed!!" We were embaressed and they tried to help by offering us a room separate off to the side and were hurriedly wiping the tables and getting us better chairs. They gave us the 'menu' but it only had drinks and we'd already had a beer at the hotel. We asked about food - they asked what we would like! No menu. Mmmm....time to extract ourselves gracefully and I think they were relieved as well. We still have no idea, nor did our driver, what sort of place we had entered but they were trying to be helpful. Not a good start.

You just never know here what to expect even if you think the smiling wobbling "yes" leads you to think you have it sorted. We had experienced the buffet type breakfasts at our last hotel. They always have noodles, soups and spicy stuff available. With our Bed and Breakfast we asked if we could please have only toast and an omelette. Shame to waste any other dishes on us. Out came the toast and omelette and you guessed it......followed by the hearty soup and rice cakes!! At lunch I had had a black tea so when we ordered coffees for breakfast he said "black Madame?" I wrongly said " White please...I only have black tea" I got black tea and Rob got white TEA!! You can only smile and carry on.

One very impressive thing that this country has revealed to us is their smoking policy. For the past five years it has been illegal in all of India to smoke in public places......that is, in all public places. Introducing this piece of legislature in NZ by 2020 seems as though it is far more realistic when a country of over a billion people can do it. There are still a few people seen in the street smoking but everyone knows they are breaking the law.

 

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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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