Our intrepid explorer is off on her amazing travels yet again. Michele is
leading three tours: Delhi to Kathmandu (with 3 days
sailing along the Ganges to Varanasi), by rail from Dhaka (Bangladesh) to Delhi
via Kolkata (Calcutta), Amritsar (to visit the Sikhs Golden Temple) & the hill
station of Shimla. Plus a family tour in Kerala (southern India).
Delhi to Katmandou 31st October
Namaste to you all from Kathmandu
. We made it!
What a tour! Full on, not much
sleep but so many highlights & adventures!
One of the best tours I've ever led & one of t
he
best groups.
I flew into Delhi just a
couple of days before the group. I was last in India 8 years ago. The smells of
India soon hit me: incense burning & the rest! Those who believe London is the
nerve centre of the world should visit some of the chaotic, bustling, noisy
Indian cities. London is peaceful in comparison!
Amongst the many highlights
were the Taj Mahal. Still one of my favourite buildings in the world. built by
Shan Jahan, a muslim man for his favourite wife, Mumtaz!! Beats chocolates &
flowers! Sunrise is a particularly beautiful time to visit so we were up early &
took cycle rickshaws along the crazy back streets.
In Jaipur, the capital of
Rajasthan, I took the group to a beautiful cinema to see a Bollywood movie. The
audience participation during these 3 hr long films is just as fun to watch. I
love to see the tacky singing & dancing which features in every Bollywood movie.
Then we took our auto rickshaws to the Rajbagh Palace Hotel, a former Maharaja's
palace for a nightcap in the Polo bar. We also celebrated India's win over
England in the cricket match played that day in Jaipur.
Did a 3 day cruise along the
holy river Ganges to the most holy Hindu city in the world Varanasi, ancient
Benares. After the hustle & bustle of the towns it was so peaceful drifting
along the Ganges with the odd body part also floating along from the many
funeral pyres along the way! Should have camped on the banks of the river two
nights but on the second afternoon a storm blew over, more like a mini-cyclone &
we had to abandon our boats & ended up staying in somebody's house on the floor
of three rooms. Fortunately we were all prepared with mattresses, sleeping bags,
our very own chef, food & plenty of beers which we consumed in the local park as
we were not allowed to drink on the premises of the house as he had his very own
temple! Quite an experience. A homestay which was not part of the original
itinerary but enjoyed by everyone.
Varanasi is a fascinating &
colourful place. To see the hundreds of pilgrims & Sadhus who visit this city
every day to bathe in the holy river & to drink the disgusting filthy water to
cleanse them of their sins! Incredible & shows such devotion.
We were also lucky enough to
witness Diwali, the most holy Hindu Festival of the year, in the most holy hindu
city. Also known as the Festival of Lights. Many homes & businesses decorate
their buildings with colourful lights. The celebrations last for 5 days. On the
third day, Diwali itself, fireworks went off from sunset to the early hours of
the morning. It was like being in a war zone!
From Varanasi we crossed the
border into Nepal & headed into Royal Chitwan National Park. During our two day
stay we rode elephants into the jungle & had excellent sightings of the
one-horned rhinos grazing on the grass, took dug out canoes along the river to
view crocodiles & bathed with the elephants & got completely soaked as they
sprayed us with water form their trunks. Lots of fun.
In Kathamndu most of us flew
to Mt Everest & back on a scenic flight, awesome. A flight I will treasure for
ever.
Overall we travelled in 13
different modes of transport, ate some delicious cheap curries, stayed in some
excellent accommodations (Explore is getting soft but I'm not complaining!) &
had some interesting evening entertainment including a puppet show, Kattak
dancing with sitar playing & stick dancing by the Tharu people of southern
Nepal!
This afternoon I fly to
Calcutta to begin my next tour. Should have been Dhaka, Bangladesh but due to
the recent riots in Dhaka we've had to cancel Bangladesh & divert everyone to
Calcutta. Disappointing but I've had a couple of days to enjoy & recharge my
batteries at our modest hotel in Kathmandu, a former 19th century Raj Palace
with a lovely outdoor swimming pool. Temperatures are a little cooler in Nepal,
30 degrees compared to 35 plus in India & not so humid!
Well that's all my news for
now. Hope life is treating you well.
How many shopping days left to
Christmas?? (hee hee!).
Lots of love
Michele XX
20th November
Namaste everyone from Darjeeling!
Another tour over & another fun group.
As you may recall due to the riots in Bangladesh
our Dhaka to Delhi tour became Kolkata to Delhi.
Calcutta changed its name to Kolkata in 2001 & was
once the capital of the British Raj. There are some beautiful buildings from
the colonial era such as the Victoria Memorial where we watched the 'son et
lumiere', very professionally done & supposedly the best one in India.
Kolkata is a mix of old & new, rich & poor, British
& Indian. It certainly is a city of contrasts.
Also known as the City of Joy, you may have seen
the film of the same name.
I have never seen so many people sleeping on the
streets, mainly refugees from Bangladesh & workers from the countryside trying
to find a better life! As with most Indian cities all four out of our five
senses are used to the full with the noise, smells, colours & cuisine.
Kolkata was the first Indian city to have a metro &
is the only Indian city to use trams plus the bright yellow Ambassador taxis
add to the colour.
Kolkata is home to 13 million people. Also once the
home of Mother Teresa. Many people refer to her still living (in spirit) in
Kolkata.
There are Jain temples, Hindu temples, mosques &
churches & everyone appears to celebrate each others festival. Any excuse for
a party!
From Kolkata our first train journey out of nine,
took us to Bodh Gaya where Buddah sat under a Bodhi tree & attained
enlightment! Many different countries have built a temple here in the style
of their own: Japanese, Korean, Thai, Chinese, Indian, Tibetan ............It
is the most sacred of the four most important Buddhist towns in the world.
Back to Varanasi & our arrival coincided with
another Hindu festival. As we drove across the holy river Ganges we could see
thousands of candles with their reflections in the water. Bodies were burning
on the funeral pyres. It takes a body on average 3 hrs to burn away!
On to Sarnath, where Buddah gave his first sermon
after attaining enlighment. Another of the four most important Buddhist
towns. Due to the festival it was buzzing with Buddhists from all over the
world. Monks in their saffron or purple robes, young & old. Their faces
always look so young.
Next to Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh &
because of this it is very refreshing to visit a clean & tidy city plus there
are very few beggers & people hassling. The Residency was the scene of the
Siege of Lucknow in 1857/8 which led to India becoming independent from the
British. One of the stars was Sir James Outram, a British general. One of his
ancestors was on my tour & for him Lucknow was the highlight.
Before boarding our overnight train to Agra we took
cycle rickshaws to the movies & saw a Bollywood James Bond film titled 'Don'.
A remake of the original with car chases & singing & dancing with bears no
relevence to the story but adds to the enjoyment. We all came out singing &
dancing!
Back to the Taj Mahal, this time at sunset which
seems to be more popular with locals.
Had another ayurvedic massage with wonderful
smelling oils. Not used to having my boobs massaged by a woman though!
Another train journey took us to Chandigarh. This
town was designed by the Swiss-French architect le Corbusiere in the 1950's &
is laid out on a grid plan. The only Indian town of its kind. It's neat,
clean, orderly & popular with wealthy Sikhs! Visited the 'world famous' Rock
Garden. Full of sculptures made out of recycled rubbish designed by an
ex-road inspector Nek Chand. He is now commissioned to create sculptures all
around the world. It has a reputation of being the 2nd most visited
attraction in India after the Taj Mahal? If interested check out his website:
www.nekchand.com
The Rose Garden contains 1600 varieties of roses
which are in bloom in January/February.
Took the narrow gauge train to the hill station of
Shimla through 103 tunnels. The 60 miles took 5.5 hrs! That's an average
speed of 12 mph!The British Raj once ruled 1/5 of the world from here. It's
the most popular & largest of all the hill stations in India & the capital of
Himachal Pradesh.
Next to Amritsar & the Sikhs Golden Temple. A very
spiritual place. Visited by day & night. At night the lights of the
buildings reflect in the sacred water where the Sikhs are baptised. The
Golden Temple is the Mecca for Sikhs & each one should visit once in their
lifetime. We met many Sikhs from Leamington Spa, Birmingham, Wolverhampton,
London & Canada! The Sikhs holy book is the Guru Granth Saheb which to them is
not a book but a living Guru. It is carried each morning to the Golden Temple
where it stays all day until the closing ceremony around 21.30 when it is
carried on a golden palaquin to another building to spend the night all
wrapped up. Sikkhism believes in men & women being equal, Yes!
From Amritsar we travelled 30 kms to the Wagha
border where we watched the most entertaining & bizarre ceremony which takes
place every evening at sunset. Pakistan & India compete to be the loudest &
most impressive. I reckon Pakistan won with loud party music blaring out but
the Indians soon turned up the Bollywood music & started strutting their stuff
along the road. Completely mad! Has to be seen to be believed.
Our journey took us back to Delhi & the end of the
tour where we explored the new City & the Old City. There have been 7 cities
in Delhi in total. Climbed the minaret of the largest mosque in India. Women
are not allowed to go alone as there have been reports of men with wandering
hand problems! I hired a man to accompany me as we climbed the winding
staircase & still got my bottom pinched! Cheeky!
Another tour & another
adventure..............................
Now I am in the hill station of Darjeeling drinking
lots of tea! Recceing a new trekking tour where we hope to have views of
Kanchenjunga, the worlds 3rd highest peak. Then to Assam & Nagaland.........................
Never a dull moment!
How's the Christmas shopping coming along? I hear
the Christmas lights have been switched on in Oxford Street. I have not
seen a single sign of Christmas in India! Yippeee! I shall be in Kerala,
southern India this year for the festive season leading my first family tour.
Four families are booked & between them have 7 daughters between the ages of
12-16. Not sure if this is good or bad! Watch this space!
Wishing you all lots of fun & laughter.
Love Michele XX
December 4th
How's the Christmas shopping coming along? (hee hee).
Another two weeks have passed & another two adventures!
I've been busy recceing two new tours. The first one
took me to the hill station of Darjeeling, West Bengal. Also known as 'The
Queen of the Hills' & established by the British. On a clear day you can
see an amazing backdrop of mountains including the world's 3rd highest peak,
Kanchenjunga at 8598m.
The steam Toy Train is another UNESCO protected site in
India. We 'choo chooed' to Ghum, the highest station in India at 2438m. The
88 kms of track competes with traffic along the twisty mountain road but
accidents are rare!
The town has a Tibetan/Nepalese feel & is home to the
Himalayan Mountaineering Institute which was set up by Sherpa Tenzing Norgay
(first man to climb Everest with Sir Edmund Hilary in 1953). Tenzing Norgay
lived & died in Darjeeling. Met one of his sons in the Buzz Bar. He has also
climbed Everest a few times!
Did the Singalila Trek which I've been told has
fantastic mountain views IF you can see them! Sadly we walked in the clouds &
mist most days. Stayed in simple mountain huts along the way & met some
lovely mountain people (ohhh arrrr!). The trek took us into Nepal where we
spent the last night without having to obtain a visa! The vegetation is very
lush with lots of bamboo & March/April is a beautiful time to do the trek when
the rhododendrons are in bloom. In India/Nepal it grows as tall trees. Passed
by many Tibetan prayer flags, mani stones & chortens.
Next into Assam, one of the 7 North East states of India
known as the ' 7 Sisters' & the least visited region of India. The North East
has international borders with China, Myanmur (Burma), Bhutan & Bangladesh &
is connected to the rest of India by a narrow strip of land known as the
'Chickens Neck!'.
Flew into Guwahati, the commercial capital of Assam
& travelled with a 'local escort' on public transport so I was really immerged
into the local way of life with lots of local contact. I felt as if I was in
SE Asia rather than India. Most tribes are Tibetan - Burmese descent. They
obviously don't see too many tourists/foreigners by the way people were
constantly staring at me.
Assam produces more than a half of India's tea. The
British established most of the 800 tea estates & at least one golf club for
every 15 estates.
The mighty Brahmaputra River flows 2880kms from near the
Holy Mountain of Kailash in Tibet into the Bay of Bengal. It is the highest
of the worlds major rivers & its journey includes 1700km at an average
altitude of 4000m! (not many people know that!).
Assam is the 2nd place in the world (after Titusville,
US) to discover petroleum in 1867 & still produces crude oil.
Our journey took us to Majuli. The worlds largest
inhabited river island. In 1853 it was 33% larger but due to the destructive
nature of the annual monsoon rains there has been a vast amount of soil
erosion. UNESCO have now stepped in to try & save this island otherwise at
the present rate of erosion the island will cease to exist in 20 years time.
On the island are 22 monasteries/hermitages known as 'satras', founded in the
15th century & are home to some very strange & interesting men!
Many crafts exist on the island such as pottery,
mask-making, textiles & boat-building.
Anongst the population of 150 000 throughout 23 villages
most of the tribes are 'Mishing' & are rice growers. Over 100 varieties of
rice are grown. The literacy is surprising high at 80% & life expectancy is
around 70 years.
Majuli has been the cultural capital & cradle of the
Assamese civilization for the last 500 years.
Next we travelled on to Kaziranga National Park, another
UNESCO protected park & home to the largest concentration of one-horned rhino
in the world, in total around 1500. During our one day visit we saw over 60
rhinos, like cows grazing in the meadows.
Did an early morning elephant safari in the mist then
went on a game drive. This was my highlight .......... as we were the 100th
people since April 2005 to sight tiger! Yes! Not just one sighting but two.
Both males. The first was strolling along the track towards us so I managed
to take a couple of good photos. A day I will always remember.
Also saw wild buffalo with huge horns, wild pigs, rufous
macabre (monkeys), hog deer, Sambar (deer) & some wonderful birds. It is a
truly unspoilt place. Only saw one other tourist (from Germany) & a few
Indian tourists. The best time to visit is after the elephant grass has been
burnt usually around February.
Our last visit was to Diphu, headquarters of the Karbi
tribe. They are a peace-loving tribe who hate war but sadly there is
resentment towards them from other tribal groups as they are naturally
intelligent people which causes jealousy. Only last October 2005 many of
their villages were burnt & 30 people were massacred. Some villages have been
rebuilt by the goverment, others are still waiting in their relief
homes. Apparently the best way to help these people is to spread the awareness
of their plight & not to send money.
There are around 700 000 Karbi people & are also
traditionally rice growers. The women produce beautiful textiles on primitive
looms. Mainly Animists & some Christians due to the influence of the British &
American missionaries.
I was looked after all day by 3 young, modern & handsome
Karbi guys! ...............
Now I'm back in Guwahati, flying to Delhi this afternoon
then to Kerala, my last port of call until the end of the year. Martin will
be joining me for some 'fun & games' before my Christmas family tour.
Wishing you all a Very Merry Festive Season
Hoo Hoo Hoo!
With love & laughter
Michele XX