There's nothing to report from Lucknow really, it was a pretty quiet evening after a long drive day. We got to our hotel and checked in getting a room on the third floor. When we were climbing the stairs (don't trust lifts after getting trapped in one in Sofia) we were a bit puzzled as to whether we were going the right way or had somehow taken a wrong turn out of reception and ended up in a prison. It was the weirdest building I've ever been in where bits of the outside were inside..very strange.
Our only exploration of the city was to go looking for food for the next day for lunch as we knew we had another long drive day (there are lots of them and I'm growing tired of crisps and biscuits in the same way as I am eggs for breakfast). We managed to find a little place that was lit by oil lamps and stocked up on some junk food and water there. After that we went in search of a restaurant to get a decent dinner into us. It had gotten very dark all of a sudden and without my torch and any streetlight I was trying to be careful about where I was stepping – but I wasn't careful enough..I ended up walking in the biggest pile of poo I've ever seen. Thankfully I realised with the initial squelch as my foot was pressing down so managed to pull up before I got submerged in it, but I had to scrape my sandal along the street for a long, long time to get it off my sole...eurghhhh! We couldn't find a restaurant the length of the hotel street so went with eating in the hotel restaurant where the food was ok but the service was appalling. If it had been at home I'd have been up and walked out because we were waiting so long.
No photos from the day I'm afraid..there wasn't a whole lot to see!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Day 35 & 36 (Agra)
I need to keep more up to date with what's going on..writing this up more than a week after the fact so I'm sure I've forgotten a lot that can be said about Agra and our visit to the Taj Mahal, but I'll try my best :)
Driving into Agra was an experience that will stay with me for a long time because it reflected so well what I had expected of India. It was here that I saw children and adults squatted low over the sewers using them as a bathroom. The smell in most parts of the city that we went through was horrendous :(
Another thing that struck me was the number of beggars and street vendors that flocked around us and refused to take no for an answer until we got really angry and rude with them at which point they'd back away, only to return to try again a few minutes later. While I can understand that this is their source of income, I'm not minted to the degree that I can hand over my budgeted cash so the whole experience put me in rather a bad mood.
On the first night Una, Annie and I went in search of an ATM – there was one just down the street from the hotel so we had no more than a 3 minute walk there, a couple of minutes inside and then the walk back to the hotel. For the entire time we were hounded by a guy in a rickshaw who wanted to take us to a bazaar for 10 rupees..when we refused he then wanted to take us anywhere for 10 rupees. Again we said no thank you and tried to walk on but he just kept on going and it eventually got to the point that I lost my head and screamed at him to 'drive on'. He got all apologetic then and said he hadn't intended to offend me and hoped I would forgive him...and take a ride in his rickshaw..he would take us to an ATM for 10 rupees...ARGHHHH! At that stage I just gave up and tried to ignore him.
Each time we left the hotel we were pestered by kids at the bottom of the stairs looking to sell us water, chocolate, coke..you name it. The morning that we were leaving I was on security detail and got to the point where I was ready to do physical harm to the gang of teenagers that were around the bus trying to peddle anklets, bracelets, baskets with a pop-up snake, karma sutra books and a whole lot more. The same guy asked me a couple of dozen times to buy his wares..no matter how many times I refused he kept coming back. No matter how angry I got, he wouldn't go away..up to the point that he tried to board the bus to sell his stuff and I ended up stomping up from the boot to scream them down off the bus. Security duty in India was not pleasant, but at least my stint is over now...trying to watch what's happening with the luggage of all the passengers is trying when you've got so many people milling around looking to carry your bags, take you on a rickshaw etc.
With regards to what we saw in Agra, the big ticket item was the Taj Mahal which we enjoyed at sunset and sunrise. On our first night, Kim had arranged for Ali and his rickshaws to be outside to take us to see the baby Taj before moving on to the back of the Taj proper for sunset. It was pretty surreal to be standing there and one of the first times on the trip where I've realised how far away from home I am. I never thought I'd see the Taj...it wouldn't have been on my list of things to see before I die so it's nice to add it to the list of unexpected things. We took lots of photo opportunities there (see the album) and I wanted one like Mel & a few others had had taken by a young local (I had no small change to give him and knew I'd need to give payment of some form). I jumped and jumped and jumped but all the photos looked crap until I was just about to give up from exhaustion and the last one kinda worked (not as cool as Mel's but still pretty genius).
On our full day in Agra were were up super, super early to meet Ali and his boys to go to the Taj for sunrise. It was great to be there before the masses of people arrived, not to crowded and nice and quiet. It was pretty cool, but I reckon had I gone to the marble showroom that a lot of the group went to I'd have been more impressed. After the early start I needed some time-out so went for a nana nap while Loonie went and spent a fortune on a hand decorated marble box. I haven't seen her one, but the photo of Abby's one looks pretty cool. A good portion of the group wanted to see a Bollywood movie so we took the chance to get out of the afternoon sun and spend some time in an A/C'd cinema watching 'New York'. It was about as Bollywood as my little finger – or at least in the sense of Bollywood I expected. There wasn't any of the all singing, all dancing, cringeworthy colour that I expected. Instead, there was what could have been an american movie about 9/11 except that a good 80% of the speech was in Hindi with the crucial bits in English so us crazies could understand it. It was nice to see how cinemas work in India (intermission is in here), but the movie was far from what I expected! Since seeing it we've seen the guy who played Sam on all sorts of ad campaigns and the theme tune is everywhere! Later in the day a big portion of the group went to the Red Fort for a wander around, again I sat that out so I don't really know what was involved except for the monkey incident!
Direct from the mouth of Mel...herself and Jacinta had separated from the group and she was taking some snaps of the monkeys at the fort (she's a monkey lover), when a huge one jumped from the tree beside her (she wasn't photographing in that direction) and grabbed hold of the waistband of her shorts. She started screaming because it wouldn't let go of her and Jacinta ran away cos she got such a fright. The monkey started hissing at her at that stage because she was making such a racket..and then a local guy came to the rescue clapping his hands to scare the monkey away. No monkey bite this time...not a repeat of Gibraltar thankfully :)
Overall impression of Agra is that I wouldn't go back. It was nice to see the Taj, but the place sent me even further into dislike for India.
For photos from Agra click here.
Driving into Agra was an experience that will stay with me for a long time because it reflected so well what I had expected of India. It was here that I saw children and adults squatted low over the sewers using them as a bathroom. The smell in most parts of the city that we went through was horrendous :(
Another thing that struck me was the number of beggars and street vendors that flocked around us and refused to take no for an answer until we got really angry and rude with them at which point they'd back away, only to return to try again a few minutes later. While I can understand that this is their source of income, I'm not minted to the degree that I can hand over my budgeted cash so the whole experience put me in rather a bad mood.
On the first night Una, Annie and I went in search of an ATM – there was one just down the street from the hotel so we had no more than a 3 minute walk there, a couple of minutes inside and then the walk back to the hotel. For the entire time we were hounded by a guy in a rickshaw who wanted to take us to a bazaar for 10 rupees..when we refused he then wanted to take us anywhere for 10 rupees. Again we said no thank you and tried to walk on but he just kept on going and it eventually got to the point that I lost my head and screamed at him to 'drive on'. He got all apologetic then and said he hadn't intended to offend me and hoped I would forgive him...and take a ride in his rickshaw..he would take us to an ATM for 10 rupees...ARGHHHH! At that stage I just gave up and tried to ignore him.
Each time we left the hotel we were pestered by kids at the bottom of the stairs looking to sell us water, chocolate, coke..you name it. The morning that we were leaving I was on security detail and got to the point where I was ready to do physical harm to the gang of teenagers that were around the bus trying to peddle anklets, bracelets, baskets with a pop-up snake, karma sutra books and a whole lot more. The same guy asked me a couple of dozen times to buy his wares..no matter how many times I refused he kept coming back. No matter how angry I got, he wouldn't go away..up to the point that he tried to board the bus to sell his stuff and I ended up stomping up from the boot to scream them down off the bus. Security duty in India was not pleasant, but at least my stint is over now...trying to watch what's happening with the luggage of all the passengers is trying when you've got so many people milling around looking to carry your bags, take you on a rickshaw etc.
With regards to what we saw in Agra, the big ticket item was the Taj Mahal which we enjoyed at sunset and sunrise. On our first night, Kim had arranged for Ali and his rickshaws to be outside to take us to see the baby Taj before moving on to the back of the Taj proper for sunset. It was pretty surreal to be standing there and one of the first times on the trip where I've realised how far away from home I am. I never thought I'd see the Taj...it wouldn't have been on my list of things to see before I die so it's nice to add it to the list of unexpected things. We took lots of photo opportunities there (see the album) and I wanted one like Mel & a few others had had taken by a young local (I had no small change to give him and knew I'd need to give payment of some form). I jumped and jumped and jumped but all the photos looked crap until I was just about to give up from exhaustion and the last one kinda worked (not as cool as Mel's but still pretty genius).
On our full day in Agra were were up super, super early to meet Ali and his boys to go to the Taj for sunrise. It was great to be there before the masses of people arrived, not to crowded and nice and quiet. It was pretty cool, but I reckon had I gone to the marble showroom that a lot of the group went to I'd have been more impressed. After the early start I needed some time-out so went for a nana nap while Loonie went and spent a fortune on a hand decorated marble box. I haven't seen her one, but the photo of Abby's one looks pretty cool. A good portion of the group wanted to see a Bollywood movie so we took the chance to get out of the afternoon sun and spend some time in an A/C'd cinema watching 'New York'. It was about as Bollywood as my little finger – or at least in the sense of Bollywood I expected. There wasn't any of the all singing, all dancing, cringeworthy colour that I expected. Instead, there was what could have been an american movie about 9/11 except that a good 80% of the speech was in Hindi with the crucial bits in English so us crazies could understand it. It was nice to see how cinemas work in India (intermission is in here), but the movie was far from what I expected! Since seeing it we've seen the guy who played Sam on all sorts of ad campaigns and the theme tune is everywhere! Later in the day a big portion of the group went to the Red Fort for a wander around, again I sat that out so I don't really know what was involved except for the monkey incident!
Direct from the mouth of Mel...herself and Jacinta had separated from the group and she was taking some snaps of the monkeys at the fort (she's a monkey lover), when a huge one jumped from the tree beside her (she wasn't photographing in that direction) and grabbed hold of the waistband of her shorts. She started screaming because it wouldn't let go of her and Jacinta ran away cos she got such a fright. The monkey started hissing at her at that stage because she was making such a racket..and then a local guy came to the rescue clapping his hands to scare the monkey away. No monkey bite this time...not a repeat of Gibraltar thankfully :)
Overall impression of Agra is that I wouldn't go back. It was nice to see the Taj, but the place sent me even further into dislike for India.
For photos from Agra click here.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Day 33 & 34 (Delhi)
I think I've finally mastered the art of sleeping on a bus regardless of the quality of the road or the comfort of the seat...I slept pretty much the entire way from Amristar to Delhi though that may have been down to the fact that I barely slept a wink in Amristar because our A/C wasn't working and the room was at a balmy 36 all night long...how uncomfortable :(
We had a lunchstop at a roadside restaurant that seemed lovely, but either my order got messed up, or they were trying to pull a fast one. I ordered Honey Chicken and instead got some kind of vegetable nuggets that were coated in a weird sauce....barely touched it so was happy to help Una with her Onion Kulcha – Mmmmmmm! On the road Kim read out some quiz questions (most of which I slept through) and Richard was victorious with 37/50 I think or something like that.
Delhi was a 2 night stop and Kim had been raving about the hotel with it's rooftop restaurant and bar, and some rooms with wifi..I was really excited about being able to talk to home in the comfort of my room rather than having to try have a normal conversation in a net cafe. But, when we pulled up to the hotel it was pretty clear it wasn't the one Kim was expecting. The driver pulled up, the luggage man got off and started pulling bags out of the boot while Kim was trying to work out what was happening. The bags were unloaded and the bus was gone before we were sure we were in the wrong place. The agency in India had messed up our booking and we were in this dingy, dank hotel where one of the room I looked at smelled like death & decay. We were hopeful that we'd be moved, Kim was on the case and fighting hard to get the error corrected. So we sat in reception for a long, long time waiting to be moved to find out that there wasn't space for us anywhere else so we had to stay where we were. Una and I were given room 215..we went in and immediately spotted the hugest gecko yet camoflagued against the bathroom wall..there was no electricity in the bathroom so though we'd have been able to use it by torchlight there was no knowing where the gecko was gonna go! After much screaming and running around and me jumping onto and off of the furniture to get away from the geckos we were moved to room 101..altogether more pleasant though still very basic and gross.
I went out to a small restaurant not far from the hotel to have a bite to eat with Una, Barbara & Kim that had been recommended by the hotel by way of peace offering for all the hassle we'd had. They had promised to move us to Hotel Sunshine first thing the next morning and have rooms ready for everyone at 8am, provide us with breakfast there and a free dinner on our 2nd evening in Delhi...not bad really, fair play to Kim for getting al that sorted. So for dinner, I thought I'd try Indian Chicken Tikka to see if it rivalled Khan's...it did...so tasty and with a spicy kick unlike any I've had before, but Kahn's maintain their title because this place had no mango chutney to give me which is what makes the tikka so yummy!
The next morning we got up early to get moved to Hotel Sunshine, with the bus packed up we were on the road around 8am and arrived at the hotel moments later to find that though it was Hotel Sunshine it wasn't the Hotel Sunshine that Kim had been fighting to get us into! It was like the Hotel Stella issue in Paris all over again, except this time the hotel we were at wasn't as nice as where we were supposed to be so that sucked somewhat, but at least there were no geckos and the A/C was working and blowing super cold air (so much so I needed my sleeping bag!). We got checked in, dumped our bags and went to their rooftop terrace (full enclosed with wattle that had been painted green) for our breakfast of eggs and toast..really want something new for breakfast..,I've eaten more eggs in the last few weeks than I have in my entire life!
After breakfast a gang of us headed to Connaught Place (who knew we'd find Irish province names in New Delhi?) in search of a tourist office or some sort of desk where we could pick up a guided tour of the city. The theory was that doing a set tour would ensure we see as much as possible in our one day and we wouldn't be wasting lots of time and energy flagging rickshaws and negotiating prices. As soon as we piled out of the rickshaws just off Connaught Circle a green SUV pulled up and a guy asked if we needed help finding anything. He offered us a lift to the tourist office and said that if we liked he could give us a tour. Immediately I was wondering what his game was because I thought it unlikely it was a random stranger picking up 7 foreign ladies and offering them free use of his car and time for the day and I wondered about price, but nobody wanted to bring up the vulgar subject of money.
He brought us to see India Gate and then the presidential palace. Had we known we were going to be there we could have requested an audience but we didn't so we just stood at the gate taking snapshots through the fence. After that he looped back to Connaught Circle to drop Annie off (she was meeting the boys to have a tour with them) and he called his brother to see if he was available to give the boys a tour. It was all falling together nicely.
Before he pulled out again he brought up money telling us that it was normally a charge of 4000 rupees to have an A/C car and driver for the day in Delhi, he said he worked for the tourist office and would be happy to take us around for that price. I wasn't happy as he'd first said we could just give him anything we liked for his time and then we were up to that amount between the 6 of us. After a bit of to and fro we agreed on 600 a piece for the day with the understanding that we'd give him a tip if we had a good day..and so we were off..and then we stopped! He dropped his phone on the floor and bent down to pick it up all the while giving Abby a wink and running over a man on a bike!!! The poor guy got catapulted from his bike onto the ground and looked to be in a lot of pain, bent double on the side of the road. Our driver just sat there..it was only when a police man appeared that he got out. He was back in the car in a minute or two saying it was ok and we could go because he'd paid to make it go away! That was the first accident we saw that day.
So, the driver turned out to the a 29 year old Delhi resident who was married with 3 kids after an arranged marriage where he had only met his wife for 10 minutes before he married her! His name is Sunny and along with his brother Vijay they run a company providing tours of Delhi, Agra and some other venues in India. He was a lovely guy, we just got off to a wrong start because of the cultural differences in how you sort out money!
He took us to see a whole lot more stuff that I can't really remember (the heat is sapping away all my brain cells). Some that I can think of was a mosque that we were refused entry into because it was prayer time, the grounds where Muhatma Ghandi's ashes were scattered, the Lotus Temple, a wholesale market where we got rucksack patches and a market selling everything from keyrings to furniture, jewellery and clothes. We spent a bit more money there than anticipated with 3 of the 6 of us purchasing stuff...I got a lovely ring with my birthstone to go with my new long nails. In addition to all the sites Sunny brought us to a restaurant that though was pricey had lovely food. The only complaint was for some glass that was found on a pizza. My dinner was tasty but not as spicy as I'd hoped for..I really wanted to test my tolerance..but it's obviously something for another day.
As a result of the mess with the hotels we were treated to a free dinner at Hotel Sunshine which was really very good. They served up butter chicken with sides of veg and bread..Mmmmmm.
Delhi was nice, but dirty and I found it hard to cope with all the begging and constant requests for money from little children in rags :(
For photos from Delhi click here.
We had a lunchstop at a roadside restaurant that seemed lovely, but either my order got messed up, or they were trying to pull a fast one. I ordered Honey Chicken and instead got some kind of vegetable nuggets that were coated in a weird sauce....barely touched it so was happy to help Una with her Onion Kulcha – Mmmmmmm! On the road Kim read out some quiz questions (most of which I slept through) and Richard was victorious with 37/50 I think or something like that.
Delhi was a 2 night stop and Kim had been raving about the hotel with it's rooftop restaurant and bar, and some rooms with wifi..I was really excited about being able to talk to home in the comfort of my room rather than having to try have a normal conversation in a net cafe. But, when we pulled up to the hotel it was pretty clear it wasn't the one Kim was expecting. The driver pulled up, the luggage man got off and started pulling bags out of the boot while Kim was trying to work out what was happening. The bags were unloaded and the bus was gone before we were sure we were in the wrong place. The agency in India had messed up our booking and we were in this dingy, dank hotel where one of the room I looked at smelled like death & decay. We were hopeful that we'd be moved, Kim was on the case and fighting hard to get the error corrected. So we sat in reception for a long, long time waiting to be moved to find out that there wasn't space for us anywhere else so we had to stay where we were. Una and I were given room 215..we went in and immediately spotted the hugest gecko yet camoflagued against the bathroom wall..there was no electricity in the bathroom so though we'd have been able to use it by torchlight there was no knowing where the gecko was gonna go! After much screaming and running around and me jumping onto and off of the furniture to get away from the geckos we were moved to room 101..altogether more pleasant though still very basic and gross.
I went out to a small restaurant not far from the hotel to have a bite to eat with Una, Barbara & Kim that had been recommended by the hotel by way of peace offering for all the hassle we'd had. They had promised to move us to Hotel Sunshine first thing the next morning and have rooms ready for everyone at 8am, provide us with breakfast there and a free dinner on our 2nd evening in Delhi...not bad really, fair play to Kim for getting al that sorted. So for dinner, I thought I'd try Indian Chicken Tikka to see if it rivalled Khan's...it did...so tasty and with a spicy kick unlike any I've had before, but Kahn's maintain their title because this place had no mango chutney to give me which is what makes the tikka so yummy!
The next morning we got up early to get moved to Hotel Sunshine, with the bus packed up we were on the road around 8am and arrived at the hotel moments later to find that though it was Hotel Sunshine it wasn't the Hotel Sunshine that Kim had been fighting to get us into! It was like the Hotel Stella issue in Paris all over again, except this time the hotel we were at wasn't as nice as where we were supposed to be so that sucked somewhat, but at least there were no geckos and the A/C was working and blowing super cold air (so much so I needed my sleeping bag!). We got checked in, dumped our bags and went to their rooftop terrace (full enclosed with wattle that had been painted green) for our breakfast of eggs and toast..really want something new for breakfast..,I've eaten more eggs in the last few weeks than I have in my entire life!
After breakfast a gang of us headed to Connaught Place (who knew we'd find Irish province names in New Delhi?) in search of a tourist office or some sort of desk where we could pick up a guided tour of the city. The theory was that doing a set tour would ensure we see as much as possible in our one day and we wouldn't be wasting lots of time and energy flagging rickshaws and negotiating prices. As soon as we piled out of the rickshaws just off Connaught Circle a green SUV pulled up and a guy asked if we needed help finding anything. He offered us a lift to the tourist office and said that if we liked he could give us a tour. Immediately I was wondering what his game was because I thought it unlikely it was a random stranger picking up 7 foreign ladies and offering them free use of his car and time for the day and I wondered about price, but nobody wanted to bring up the vulgar subject of money.
He brought us to see India Gate and then the presidential palace. Had we known we were going to be there we could have requested an audience but we didn't so we just stood at the gate taking snapshots through the fence. After that he looped back to Connaught Circle to drop Annie off (she was meeting the boys to have a tour with them) and he called his brother to see if he was available to give the boys a tour. It was all falling together nicely.
Before he pulled out again he brought up money telling us that it was normally a charge of 4000 rupees to have an A/C car and driver for the day in Delhi, he said he worked for the tourist office and would be happy to take us around for that price. I wasn't happy as he'd first said we could just give him anything we liked for his time and then we were up to that amount between the 6 of us. After a bit of to and fro we agreed on 600 a piece for the day with the understanding that we'd give him a tip if we had a good day..and so we were off..and then we stopped! He dropped his phone on the floor and bent down to pick it up all the while giving Abby a wink and running over a man on a bike!!! The poor guy got catapulted from his bike onto the ground and looked to be in a lot of pain, bent double on the side of the road. Our driver just sat there..it was only when a police man appeared that he got out. He was back in the car in a minute or two saying it was ok and we could go because he'd paid to make it go away! That was the first accident we saw that day.
So, the driver turned out to the a 29 year old Delhi resident who was married with 3 kids after an arranged marriage where he had only met his wife for 10 minutes before he married her! His name is Sunny and along with his brother Vijay they run a company providing tours of Delhi, Agra and some other venues in India. He was a lovely guy, we just got off to a wrong start because of the cultural differences in how you sort out money!
He took us to see a whole lot more stuff that I can't really remember (the heat is sapping away all my brain cells). Some that I can think of was a mosque that we were refused entry into because it was prayer time, the grounds where Muhatma Ghandi's ashes were scattered, the Lotus Temple, a wholesale market where we got rucksack patches and a market selling everything from keyrings to furniture, jewellery and clothes. We spent a bit more money there than anticipated with 3 of the 6 of us purchasing stuff...I got a lovely ring with my birthstone to go with my new long nails. In addition to all the sites Sunny brought us to a restaurant that though was pricey had lovely food. The only complaint was for some glass that was found on a pizza. My dinner was tasty but not as spicy as I'd hoped for..I really wanted to test my tolerance..but it's obviously something for another day.
As a result of the mess with the hotels we were treated to a free dinner at Hotel Sunshine which was really very good. They served up butter chicken with sides of veg and bread..Mmmmmm.
Delhi was nice, but dirty and I found it hard to cope with all the begging and constant requests for money from little children in rags :(
For photos from Delhi click here.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Day 32 (Amristar)
Hello India...we've finally made it and I've been in training for years now in Khan's so do your worst (though not too bad cos I've got long bus journeys and no onboard toilet). Let's test your chicken tikka versus the one I love so much....and if get brave enough...let's try jalfrezi...or vindaloo!
We were up early to cross through Wagha into India for a one night stay in Amristar (30kms from the border). The walk from where we left Amjad &Arshad to the bus on the other side was pretty long, and was made more difficult because of a) the heat and b) delhi belly :( But being as stubborn as I am I was determined to cross on my own without hiring a porter to carry my bags so I just sucked it up and got on with it. We got through a lot quicker than I had expected and were pleasantly surprised at how close Amristar was. Driving there took longer than expected though because of traffic and the crazy way they drive here!
My first impression is that entering India we're back to a society more like home than we've seen in a couple of weeks. There are women out walking about for a change..it's not just men on the streets anymore which is refreshing. There are a lot more bikes and motorbikes on the road here than we have seen in Iran and Pakistan, but the common thing is how many people they squeeze on there! The streets are filthy and there seems to be more beggars than we've seen to date, but I'm excited to see how the rest of India is.
We got to Amristar pretty early on in the day thanks to the smooth border crossing so a gang of us headed off in search of a net cafe to check in with home (and sort out the photo albums that some of you seem to have noticed weren't actually up yet – sorted now...enjoy). We managed to get there squeezing 7 of us into a motorised rickshaw, but getting back was a different story. No motorised rickshaws to be seen and the group was now at 9 people. We didn't know for sure how far away the hotel was so we didn't know if we could walk it easily or not (we easily could have but had no map and no clue where to go). Eventually we gave in and went with cycle rickshaws, but had to fight to get three people on one as they were trying to limit us to two per rickshaw...eventually we got under way with Alex in the middle and Mel & I perched either side of him with one bum cheek hanging over the edge of the rickshaw and hanging on for dear life on the short spin back to the hotel. Quiet an experience..not really one I wanna repeat!
Amristar has one big attraction that we wanted to see – the Golden Temple. Each evening they have a ceremony lasting a few hours that involves 'putting the book to bed'. We went to see some of this and I was blown away by the place. It was so serene and peaceful and reminded me a lot of Egoli Park in Tabriz where Reza had taken us. There were thousands of people there all strolling around the lake, sitting praying or chatting and some of the boys & men were swimming in the lake (didn't look like ladies were allowed). The Golden Temple is accessible by a walkway out into the lake...we got in the queue to go in for a looksie and it was pretty cool. Inside there were lots of people praying and a full section of guys singing and playing the music that was being piped out around the whole complex outside. It was a beautiful place.
For photos from Amristar click here.
We were up early to cross through Wagha into India for a one night stay in Amristar (30kms from the border). The walk from where we left Amjad &Arshad to the bus on the other side was pretty long, and was made more difficult because of a) the heat and b) delhi belly :( But being as stubborn as I am I was determined to cross on my own without hiring a porter to carry my bags so I just sucked it up and got on with it. We got through a lot quicker than I had expected and were pleasantly surprised at how close Amristar was. Driving there took longer than expected though because of traffic and the crazy way they drive here!
My first impression is that entering India we're back to a society more like home than we've seen in a couple of weeks. There are women out walking about for a change..it's not just men on the streets anymore which is refreshing. There are a lot more bikes and motorbikes on the road here than we have seen in Iran and Pakistan, but the common thing is how many people they squeeze on there! The streets are filthy and there seems to be more beggars than we've seen to date, but I'm excited to see how the rest of India is.
We got to Amristar pretty early on in the day thanks to the smooth border crossing so a gang of us headed off in search of a net cafe to check in with home (and sort out the photo albums that some of you seem to have noticed weren't actually up yet – sorted now...enjoy). We managed to get there squeezing 7 of us into a motorised rickshaw, but getting back was a different story. No motorised rickshaws to be seen and the group was now at 9 people. We didn't know for sure how far away the hotel was so we didn't know if we could walk it easily or not (we easily could have but had no map and no clue where to go). Eventually we gave in and went with cycle rickshaws, but had to fight to get three people on one as they were trying to limit us to two per rickshaw...eventually we got under way with Alex in the middle and Mel & I perched either side of him with one bum cheek hanging over the edge of the rickshaw and hanging on for dear life on the short spin back to the hotel. Quiet an experience..not really one I wanna repeat!
Amristar has one big attraction that we wanted to see – the Golden Temple. Each evening they have a ceremony lasting a few hours that involves 'putting the book to bed'. We went to see some of this and I was blown away by the place. It was so serene and peaceful and reminded me a lot of Egoli Park in Tabriz where Reza had taken us. There were thousands of people there all strolling around the lake, sitting praying or chatting and some of the boys & men were swimming in the lake (didn't look like ladies were allowed). The Golden Temple is accessible by a walkway out into the lake...we got in the queue to go in for a looksie and it was pretty cool. Inside there were lots of people praying and a full section of guys singing and playing the music that was being piped out around the whole complex outside. It was a beautiful place.
For photos from Amristar click here.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Day 29, 30 & 31 (Lahore)
When we left the hotel in Multan this morning we were a bit surprised by the number of guards that were outside waiting for us. There had been a lot there the evening before when we arrived, but there was at least double that number as we packed up the bus. The most shocking sight was the 4 female officers stood there in their headscarves with smaller guns than the men (we asked for a photo but they refused so we had to be sneaky and take them from a distance). The road outside the hotel had been closed to all traffic from when we arrived until after we left which I imagine had to have been an inconvenience to the locals in Multan. The level of guards onsite was so OTT that they had a sniper positioned on top of the hotel?!?
So we made it out of Multan safely and had a long drive day to Lahore where we had 3 whole nights in the same hotel. The best part was that we were finally allowed to go out and explore outside of the hotel – no more house arrest :) On the 21st we ate at Pizza Hut, on the 22nd we ate at McDonalds and on the 23rd we ate at KFC....not very Pakistani I know but with tummys as dodgy as ours had become we needed something 'normal' to eat to avoid making us even more sick. We did try a lot of local food during the day and throughout the rest of our time in Pakistan so I don't feel too bad...but I've now given into McDonalds temptation twice :( Damn their caramel sundaes and fries...so tasty, worldwide!
Day 29 (June 21st) we didn't get up to a whole lot as we were late enough arriving into Lahore. We went for dinner in Pizza Hut as I mentioned and while there got chatting to our waiter. His name was Sarfraz and he was very attentive (sending the manager out to buy a pineapple when he found out that they'd run out so we could have it on our pizza and making sure that I was given what I ordered and not the wrong type of base that had been cooked up). He chatted to us asking where we were from, how long we were there for etc. At the end of dinner he arrived over with a napkin with an invitation written on it – he wanted to take us out to see the sights and experience Lahore as a local, a very lovely gesture that we accepted to do on our last day in Lahore.
Day 30 (June 22nd) was a busy, busy day. We were up early doors to go do a tour of Lahore with Amjad and a local guy called Peter. They took us around the Old Fort, Mosque and Bazaar explaining lots about the places. Before we went to the mosque Amjad told me my shorts were too short to allow me to go in, and given the heat I decided I'd pass on it rather than having to change because the sweat of death was pumping through me already. So off we went, but when we got there rather than staying outside I was rolled up in the scarf that Arshad uses as a windscreen blind to reduce the sun coming into the bus...funny but not a particularly pleasant or attractive look :) The annoying thing was that both Una and Mel had shorts on that were as short (below the knee??) or shorter than mine and they didn't have to play dress up with the bus accessories. Anyways, I just went with it and as it was beautiful inside I'm not too bitter about my hour of looking like a fruitcake and sweltering in my layers of clothing. The fort was really cool – a sprawling space with lots of different buildings and ruins. They had a winter palace with a summer palace underneath. The water in the fountain in the winter palace was scented with rose and rose water and was fed into the summer palace through the channels that led from the fountain to the edges of the floor before disappearing underground. We didn't get to see this, it was described by Peter and the image in my mind's eye looks pretty impressive. As we walked around the fort we were constantly being stopped and asked for photos by the locals who were excited to see someone different. We thought it was funny and were obliging up until Peter gave out to us for delaying the tour..we were told not to get in any more pictures until he was done (boo!). We moved on to the bazaar for a bit of window shopping where my solitary purchase was some street food in the form of samosas...Mmmmmm! I was on the hunt for a patch for my rucksack too but wasn't having any luck with trying to describe what I wanted with each shop trying to sell me a small Pakistan flag rather than a patch. I told Amjad about the struggle and he came through for me...he found a small doorway that had a guy who made uniforms and stuff who had mini Pakistan flags that he would sell to me for 10 rupees a piece – deal I say – then he gave them to me for free...a gift from Pakistan he said. How nice was that? In the evening we went to the Wagha Border to see the closing of the Pakistan/Indian border that we would be using for our crossing. They do the same ceremony every night where they get crowds on both sides of the border (the Indian side looked more lively and definitely more colourful) and get them pumped with lots of music and chanting and singing. The crowd warmup on the Pakistan side was done by two guys who danced and spun and twirled their giant flags around before an old guy came out to join them – he had been doing the ceremony for 50 years or something like that – since they first started to use the show as an attraction. After the crowd was pumped the soldiers came out in their funny hats and did some of the funniest marching that I've ever seen. They were making faces at each other and charging at a fast walking pace at the opposite countries soldiers before taking down their respective flags and slamming the gates closed again. It was one of the most entertaining things I've seen so far on the trip..such a giggle.
Day 31 (June 23rd) started out quite badly with a flooding issue in our bedroom. Hotels don't seem to like the idea of shower trays and instead have wet rooms for the most part where the water just flows all over the floor until it drains away...unfortunately our drain was super clogged so taking a shower involved occasional pauses where the water needed to be turned off to stop it leaking out under the door. On this morning I was happily laying on my bed writing postcards while Una was showering. I was watching some old reruns of old US shows and not paying any attention to what was happening. Abby knocked on the door and was chatting for a minute or two before asking why there was water on the floor..I looked down to see half the bedroom floor had a slick of shower water that was increasing pretty quickly. I screamed at herself to turn off the water and went in search of a mop. Most of my stuff had been piled just outside the door so I had a lot of wet gear to dry out! The guy at reception hadn't a notion what a mop was so he sent on of his colleagues up with me to sort out the situation, but rather than go for a mop, he used the bath mat as a squeegy to soak up the water in the bedroom and squeeze it out in the bathroom (after he had declogged the drain – gross!). We had had the morning off so had stayed in bed til noon to try catch up on sleep and just rest up a bit...all the bus travel does take a toll. I went to Subway for lunch with Abby, April, Alex & Mel and when we'd eaten our fill we went in search of a net cafe on a tuktuk (or three). We couldn't find one anywhere that we were dropped off and so after an hour or two of wandering in the midday sun we started to feel a bit off and so headed back to the hotel. At that stage nobody was really in form for sightseeing, so I text Sarfraz to cancel, thank him and apologise for not showing up. He replied and was none too happy – it appears that rather than just meeting him to see some stuff, he had other plans. He had told his family, friends and boss that he was meeting us and had invited them all to meet us too, and by cancelling we were liars, breaking his heart and causing him to be ashamed in front of everyone...so I felt about a half inch tall :( Also felt a bit scared from the tone of his reply and slightly relieved that we'd cancelled if that's the kind of reaction he was going to give. After I had a bit of time to think about it I could see his point of view and realised that his text may have suffered from some language barrier interpretation so I sent another apology and thought that would end that. But, he replied asking us to met just him and two of his mates or to just send him on the phone number or email address of one of the girls that had been at dinner in Pizza Hut that night. So he did have an ulterior motive and I was glad we hadn't been guilt tripped into changing our minds. Loonie and I now have a pact not to accept invitations from strangers because we get the jitters about meeting them after the fact.
Overall impression of Lahore was positive and I stick with my initial impression of Pakistan. It's a country that I feared entering but was instantly put at ease about on meeting Amjad and Arshad. The people are very friendly and I'm really glad I got so see their country.
For photos from Lahore click here.
So we made it out of Multan safely and had a long drive day to Lahore where we had 3 whole nights in the same hotel. The best part was that we were finally allowed to go out and explore outside of the hotel – no more house arrest :) On the 21st we ate at Pizza Hut, on the 22nd we ate at McDonalds and on the 23rd we ate at KFC....not very Pakistani I know but with tummys as dodgy as ours had become we needed something 'normal' to eat to avoid making us even more sick. We did try a lot of local food during the day and throughout the rest of our time in Pakistan so I don't feel too bad...but I've now given into McDonalds temptation twice :( Damn their caramel sundaes and fries...so tasty, worldwide!
Day 29 (June 21st) we didn't get up to a whole lot as we were late enough arriving into Lahore. We went for dinner in Pizza Hut as I mentioned and while there got chatting to our waiter. His name was Sarfraz and he was very attentive (sending the manager out to buy a pineapple when he found out that they'd run out so we could have it on our pizza and making sure that I was given what I ordered and not the wrong type of base that had been cooked up). He chatted to us asking where we were from, how long we were there for etc. At the end of dinner he arrived over with a napkin with an invitation written on it – he wanted to take us out to see the sights and experience Lahore as a local, a very lovely gesture that we accepted to do on our last day in Lahore.
Day 30 (June 22nd) was a busy, busy day. We were up early doors to go do a tour of Lahore with Amjad and a local guy called Peter. They took us around the Old Fort, Mosque and Bazaar explaining lots about the places. Before we went to the mosque Amjad told me my shorts were too short to allow me to go in, and given the heat I decided I'd pass on it rather than having to change because the sweat of death was pumping through me already. So off we went, but when we got there rather than staying outside I was rolled up in the scarf that Arshad uses as a windscreen blind to reduce the sun coming into the bus...funny but not a particularly pleasant or attractive look :) The annoying thing was that both Una and Mel had shorts on that were as short (below the knee??) or shorter than mine and they didn't have to play dress up with the bus accessories. Anyways, I just went with it and as it was beautiful inside I'm not too bitter about my hour of looking like a fruitcake and sweltering in my layers of clothing. The fort was really cool – a sprawling space with lots of different buildings and ruins. They had a winter palace with a summer palace underneath. The water in the fountain in the winter palace was scented with rose and rose water and was fed into the summer palace through the channels that led from the fountain to the edges of the floor before disappearing underground. We didn't get to see this, it was described by Peter and the image in my mind's eye looks pretty impressive. As we walked around the fort we were constantly being stopped and asked for photos by the locals who were excited to see someone different. We thought it was funny and were obliging up until Peter gave out to us for delaying the tour..we were told not to get in any more pictures until he was done (boo!). We moved on to the bazaar for a bit of window shopping where my solitary purchase was some street food in the form of samosas...Mmmmmm! I was on the hunt for a patch for my rucksack too but wasn't having any luck with trying to describe what I wanted with each shop trying to sell me a small Pakistan flag rather than a patch. I told Amjad about the struggle and he came through for me...he found a small doorway that had a guy who made uniforms and stuff who had mini Pakistan flags that he would sell to me for 10 rupees a piece – deal I say – then he gave them to me for free...a gift from Pakistan he said. How nice was that? In the evening we went to the Wagha Border to see the closing of the Pakistan/Indian border that we would be using for our crossing. They do the same ceremony every night where they get crowds on both sides of the border (the Indian side looked more lively and definitely more colourful) and get them pumped with lots of music and chanting and singing. The crowd warmup on the Pakistan side was done by two guys who danced and spun and twirled their giant flags around before an old guy came out to join them – he had been doing the ceremony for 50 years or something like that – since they first started to use the show as an attraction. After the crowd was pumped the soldiers came out in their funny hats and did some of the funniest marching that I've ever seen. They were making faces at each other and charging at a fast walking pace at the opposite countries soldiers before taking down their respective flags and slamming the gates closed again. It was one of the most entertaining things I've seen so far on the trip..such a giggle.
Day 31 (June 23rd) started out quite badly with a flooding issue in our bedroom. Hotels don't seem to like the idea of shower trays and instead have wet rooms for the most part where the water just flows all over the floor until it drains away...unfortunately our drain was super clogged so taking a shower involved occasional pauses where the water needed to be turned off to stop it leaking out under the door. On this morning I was happily laying on my bed writing postcards while Una was showering. I was watching some old reruns of old US shows and not paying any attention to what was happening. Abby knocked on the door and was chatting for a minute or two before asking why there was water on the floor..I looked down to see half the bedroom floor had a slick of shower water that was increasing pretty quickly. I screamed at herself to turn off the water and went in search of a mop. Most of my stuff had been piled just outside the door so I had a lot of wet gear to dry out! The guy at reception hadn't a notion what a mop was so he sent on of his colleagues up with me to sort out the situation, but rather than go for a mop, he used the bath mat as a squeegy to soak up the water in the bedroom and squeeze it out in the bathroom (after he had declogged the drain – gross!). We had had the morning off so had stayed in bed til noon to try catch up on sleep and just rest up a bit...all the bus travel does take a toll. I went to Subway for lunch with Abby, April, Alex & Mel and when we'd eaten our fill we went in search of a net cafe on a tuktuk (or three). We couldn't find one anywhere that we were dropped off and so after an hour or two of wandering in the midday sun we started to feel a bit off and so headed back to the hotel. At that stage nobody was really in form for sightseeing, so I text Sarfraz to cancel, thank him and apologise for not showing up. He replied and was none too happy – it appears that rather than just meeting him to see some stuff, he had other plans. He had told his family, friends and boss that he was meeting us and had invited them all to meet us too, and by cancelling we were liars, breaking his heart and causing him to be ashamed in front of everyone...so I felt about a half inch tall :( Also felt a bit scared from the tone of his reply and slightly relieved that we'd cancelled if that's the kind of reaction he was going to give. After I had a bit of time to think about it I could see his point of view and realised that his text may have suffered from some language barrier interpretation so I sent another apology and thought that would end that. But, he replied asking us to met just him and two of his mates or to just send him on the phone number or email address of one of the girls that had been at dinner in Pizza Hut that night. So he did have an ulterior motive and I was glad we hadn't been guilt tripped into changing our minds. Loonie and I now have a pact not to accept invitations from strangers because we get the jitters about meeting them after the fact.
Overall impression of Lahore was positive and I stick with my initial impression of Pakistan. It's a country that I feared entering but was instantly put at ease about on meeting Amjad and Arshad. The people are very friendly and I'm really glad I got so see their country.
For photos from Lahore click here.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Day 28 (Multan)
Not much to report from today – again another LONG drive day to get us from Sukkur to Multan. The most exciting part of the trip was having our armed escort increase to 4 truck loads of armed guards by the time we pulled in to our hotel. There were guards posted all over the hotel with one sniper guy on the roof. They went to the extent of closing the road outside the hotel (it backed on to the river so nothing behind us) which was weird.
Amjad arranged for a masseur and henna lady to come to the hotel so we could do something other than sit around looking out the window. The massage was quite odd...the dude was standing on our backs trying to release the knots! Never had anything like that before so it was a bit weird. After he'd finished on Una he told her he had pulled lots of her eyebrows out during the head massage..the poor guy didn't realise she'd plucked them before he arrived :)
For photos from Multan click here.
Amjad arranged for a masseur and henna lady to come to the hotel so we could do something other than sit around looking out the window. The massage was quite odd...the dude was standing on our backs trying to release the knots! Never had anything like that before so it was a bit weird. After he'd finished on Una he told her he had pulled lots of her eyebrows out during the head massage..the poor guy didn't realise she'd plucked them before he arrived :)
For photos from Multan click here.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Day 27 (Sukkur)
I sat up front on the bus with Arshad pointing out sights to me during the drive from Hyderabad to Sukkur. It was a very, very long drive day which wasn't helped by the number of stops we had for toilet and puke breaks. Quite a few people have a bit of Dehli Belly going on..and we're not even in India yet :)
Sitting up front was ace, got so see so much of the countryside and enjoyed seeing the reaction on the faces of those we drove passed as realisation dawned on them that it was a bus full of westerners (hate that term) that was driving through their little village. I felt like the grand marshall at a parade with all the smiling and waving I was doing.
At one of our toilet stops we found 5 of the most colourful trucks of Pakistan parked up while the drivers took a rest break. I got out to take some photos and made a new friend...one of the truckers wouldn't let go of my hand after I shook it. He showed me all the paint work on the truck, being especially proud of the Benazir painting on the back of the truck. I got to climb in and have a picture taken..nice :)
We had only one scheduled stop for the day which was at some ruins. There was a debate as to whether to go or not given how hot it was and how sick some people were, but as there was a cool room to lay down in we went with it. The ruins were pretty cool, but it was indeed too hot and most of us flaked before we could see the whole place. The bus was very, very quiet when we got back on to continue on with the drive.
For photos from Sukkur click here.
Sitting up front was ace, got so see so much of the countryside and enjoyed seeing the reaction on the faces of those we drove passed as realisation dawned on them that it was a bus full of westerners (hate that term) that was driving through their little village. I felt like the grand marshall at a parade with all the smiling and waving I was doing.
At one of our toilet stops we found 5 of the most colourful trucks of Pakistan parked up while the drivers took a rest break. I got out to take some photos and made a new friend...one of the truckers wouldn't let go of my hand after I shook it. He showed me all the paint work on the truck, being especially proud of the Benazir painting on the back of the truck. I got to climb in and have a picture taken..nice :)
We had only one scheduled stop for the day which was at some ruins. There was a debate as to whether to go or not given how hot it was and how sick some people were, but as there was a cool room to lay down in we went with it. The ruins were pretty cool, but it was indeed too hot and most of us flaked before we could see the whole place. The bus was very, very quiet when we got back on to continue on with the drive.
For photos from Sukkur click here.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Day 26 (Hyderabad)
A very pleasant drive from Karachi to Hyderabad where the landscape continued to be a sprawling desert scene with very little greenery and lots of dust clouds. We passed through a lot of small villages where we were instant celebrities with kids and adults alike coming out in their droves to wave and smile at us.
We had a stop at a cemetery where the graves were marked with mounds of rocks rather than the normal graves we have at home. Where there was a family buried together there was a wall surrounding them. It was a very serene place. After the cemetery we drove on to see another mosque (this one Loonie and I passed on because we'd forgotten to keep our headscarves out of our rucksacks). When we got there the place was swarming with police, one of whom gave the two of us an armed escort to the toilet (weird!). Once the rest of the gang were finished up inside, we hit the road again to try make progress toward Hyderabad – but something weird happened....the police started following us in two jeeps, then one overtook us and drove in front forming a convoy. I hadn't expected this at all – thought since we'd flown into Karachi we'd miss out on armed escorts because we weren't near the Afghan border.
The convoy stuck with us, two jeeps with 5 guards in each the whole way to Hyderabad, even stopping when we had toilet breaks and when we did a detour to go for a boat ride on a lake. Nice day out for the guards really, instead of normal police work they got to have a go on a speedboat full of tourists. As much of a novelty as I found it to have these guys clearing a path for us to drive through quickly, I wondered what the impact of that disruption would be for the locals and whether they would ever be in a position to have the same kind of treatment. I put this to Amjad who explained that the convoy was government protocol for all groups of tourists in Pakistan and something to be happy and fell priviliged about and take advantage of rather than get offended about the attention.
The hotel didn't have any internet access so Arshad took 12 of us on the bus with an armed guard and a motorbike cop in front to a net cafe. But as the power kept dropping we didn't get to do all that much because we had to keep logging off and on. When we were done we met the family of the owner who were fascinated by us. This same thing happened back at the hotel where the owner's sister and her three daughters arrived in to meet with us once we were done with dinner. The girls chatted away asking questions about where we are from and what our thoughts on Pakistan were.
The only other real excitement from the day was seeing a gecko in my room when I popped back after dinner. The blasted thing crawled into my sleeping bag liner and all over my ankles at around 3.30am..it frightened the bejaysus out of me so much so that I was up jumping around trying to get the liner inside out to get it out...when I managed to get calm enough to try to get back to sleep I cocooned myself in the liner and eventually drifted back to sleep.
For photos from Hyderabad click here.
We had a stop at a cemetery where the graves were marked with mounds of rocks rather than the normal graves we have at home. Where there was a family buried together there was a wall surrounding them. It was a very serene place. After the cemetery we drove on to see another mosque (this one Loonie and I passed on because we'd forgotten to keep our headscarves out of our rucksacks). When we got there the place was swarming with police, one of whom gave the two of us an armed escort to the toilet (weird!). Once the rest of the gang were finished up inside, we hit the road again to try make progress toward Hyderabad – but something weird happened....the police started following us in two jeeps, then one overtook us and drove in front forming a convoy. I hadn't expected this at all – thought since we'd flown into Karachi we'd miss out on armed escorts because we weren't near the Afghan border.
The convoy stuck with us, two jeeps with 5 guards in each the whole way to Hyderabad, even stopping when we had toilet breaks and when we did a detour to go for a boat ride on a lake. Nice day out for the guards really, instead of normal police work they got to have a go on a speedboat full of tourists. As much of a novelty as I found it to have these guys clearing a path for us to drive through quickly, I wondered what the impact of that disruption would be for the locals and whether they would ever be in a position to have the same kind of treatment. I put this to Amjad who explained that the convoy was government protocol for all groups of tourists in Pakistan and something to be happy and fell priviliged about and take advantage of rather than get offended about the attention.
The hotel didn't have any internet access so Arshad took 12 of us on the bus with an armed guard and a motorbike cop in front to a net cafe. But as the power kept dropping we didn't get to do all that much because we had to keep logging off and on. When we were done we met the family of the owner who were fascinated by us. This same thing happened back at the hotel where the owner's sister and her three daughters arrived in to meet with us once we were done with dinner. The girls chatted away asking questions about where we are from and what our thoughts on Pakistan were.
The only other real excitement from the day was seeing a gecko in my room when I popped back after dinner. The blasted thing crawled into my sleeping bag liner and all over my ankles at around 3.30am..it frightened the bejaysus out of me so much so that I was up jumping around trying to get the liner inside out to get it out...when I managed to get calm enough to try to get back to sleep I cocooned myself in the liner and eventually drifted back to sleep.
For photos from Hyderabad click here.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Day 25 (Karachi)
Farewell Iran..Hello Pakistan!
I was worried about (as my mammy would say) “jumping from the frying pan into the flame”, with today's border cross, but so far so wonderful. We had a 2.5 hour flight from Tehran to Karachi which was pretty much smooth the whole way. Entering Pakistan was a worry for everyone, but after meeting our guide. Amjad and driver Arstad we were immediately feeling less worried. I'm happy to be exploring this country, but a bit displeased about the mode of transport we used to get here..it's supposed to be an overland adventure, but this is the first of three flights that we have to take and the first we heard about this particular one was about a week into the trip. OzBUS need to pull their socks up in the communication department – this is far from the first omission of vital information. Luckily my bag was under the weight restrictions for flights, but it would have been nice to have had a heads up about this flight before we got on the bus.
Anyways, that's something for my feedback to Alastair and Stephen later on, for now lets focus on Pakistan! We arrived in Karachi in the early afternoon and after words of welcome and introduction from Amjad we went to the hotel to check in. Everyone took a few minutes to freshen up and then we headed out to the beach where some of the crew went swimming while others went for camel rides and I took the opportunity to sit down and admire the view (not sure camel riding is my thing...looks particularly uncomfortable). On the way to the beach we went to a mausoleum where Amjad arranged for the changing of the guards ceremony to happed earlier than normal so we could see it, lots of stamping and thrusting guns around. To get up to see it we had to take off our shoes and walk up some steps..easy to do you'd think but when the marble slabs have been in the su all day soaking up the heat it's kinda like having a hot stone massage on the soles of your feet without the movement of the stone or the relaxing massage..it's just a burning sensation that made us all run around like crazy loons!
After the beach we got freshened up and then went for a traditional Pakistani dinner atop a BBQ restaurant overlooking the sea. We had an assortment of dishes that all went down very well even though I thought the spice might kill me..so glad that I've been warming up my spice taste buds with semi-regular visits to Khan's over the last few years. A bit more practise may have been wise :)
The only bad thing about the day was finding out that someone had been in some of the rooms in the hotel while we were out. Nothing appeared to have been taken but it was still an unwelcome invasion of privacy. The manager looked into it while we were at dinner and when we got back he told us that he'd established who it was and had fired the man in question.
So first impression of Pakistan is a very positive one. As Amjad explained the reports in the media isn't necessarily a true impression of Pakistan and it harms it's reputation and the way people view it's inhabitants. Anyone we've met so far has been wonderfully friendly and very welcoming.
For photos from Karachi click here.
I was worried about (as my mammy would say) “jumping from the frying pan into the flame”, with today's border cross, but so far so wonderful. We had a 2.5 hour flight from Tehran to Karachi which was pretty much smooth the whole way. Entering Pakistan was a worry for everyone, but after meeting our guide. Amjad and driver Arstad we were immediately feeling less worried. I'm happy to be exploring this country, but a bit displeased about the mode of transport we used to get here..it's supposed to be an overland adventure, but this is the first of three flights that we have to take and the first we heard about this particular one was about a week into the trip. OzBUS need to pull their socks up in the communication department – this is far from the first omission of vital information. Luckily my bag was under the weight restrictions for flights, but it would have been nice to have had a heads up about this flight before we got on the bus.
Anyways, that's something for my feedback to Alastair and Stephen later on, for now lets focus on Pakistan! We arrived in Karachi in the early afternoon and after words of welcome and introduction from Amjad we went to the hotel to check in. Everyone took a few minutes to freshen up and then we headed out to the beach where some of the crew went swimming while others went for camel rides and I took the opportunity to sit down and admire the view (not sure camel riding is my thing...looks particularly uncomfortable). On the way to the beach we went to a mausoleum where Amjad arranged for the changing of the guards ceremony to happed earlier than normal so we could see it, lots of stamping and thrusting guns around. To get up to see it we had to take off our shoes and walk up some steps..easy to do you'd think but when the marble slabs have been in the su all day soaking up the heat it's kinda like having a hot stone massage on the soles of your feet without the movement of the stone or the relaxing massage..it's just a burning sensation that made us all run around like crazy loons!
After the beach we got freshened up and then went for a traditional Pakistani dinner atop a BBQ restaurant overlooking the sea. We had an assortment of dishes that all went down very well even though I thought the spice might kill me..so glad that I've been warming up my spice taste buds with semi-regular visits to Khan's over the last few years. A bit more practise may have been wise :)
The only bad thing about the day was finding out that someone had been in some of the rooms in the hotel while we were out. Nothing appeared to have been taken but it was still an unwelcome invasion of privacy. The manager looked into it while we were at dinner and when we got back he told us that he'd established who it was and had fired the man in question.
So first impression of Pakistan is a very positive one. As Amjad explained the reports in the media isn't necessarily a true impression of Pakistan and it harms it's reputation and the way people view it's inhabitants. Anyone we've met so far has been wonderfully friendly and very welcoming.
For photos from Karachi click here.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Day 24 (Tehran)
Here we go again...back to Tehran so we can catch our flight to Karachi, Pakistan at crazy o'clock in the morning!
We again had some culture by visiting the Friday Mosque and a family run ceramic business in Natanz and the old houses and park in Kashan. The old house we visited was one built by the suitor of an Iranian girl who's father said he would only approve of the marriage if the suitor build a house worthy of his daughter for her to live in. So the guy got the same architect and builders to create a replica of the girls parental home so he could win her hand. One of the interesting features about the house was the door knockers – one large on for the men to use and a smaller one for the ladies to use. The idea behind this was that you could establish if it was a lady or gentleman caller at the door and ensure you were dressed appropriately to answer it.
As we got closer to Tehran we wondered what we were going to find once we arrived there. I overheard Saki and Kim talking about what the options were, and it boiled down to whether or not we were driving into trouble. If there were problems and we couldn't get to the hotel or it was unsafe to go there, then we were airport bound for a night of sleep on the tiles there. Thankfully that wasn't necessary – though there was drama.
The road that the driver wanted to use was blocked by police and army guys who were adament we weren't getting through. After some Saki negotiations they eventually relented and allowed us pass...but not 100 metres after we got through we came to the road at the side of the hotel where the rioters had set bins on fire 3 nights previous and found it impossibly crowded. Both sides of the road were jammed for as far as the eye could see with people standing watching as a large number of people marched peacefully down the street waving their green flags. The marchers were held up to allow us cross in front of them to get to the hotel which was on the opposite side of the road to which we were at a standstill on. As we slowly passed through we were shown peace signs and getting big smiles from the people. That reaction coupled with the green told us that they were there to protest against the election result and show their disappointment that their guy hadn't got in.
There was no more trouble that we saw – just people peacefully voicing their upset and wishing the world could see it. Phones were still blocked and internet access was still down keeping them isolated from the rest of the world.
For photos from today click here.
We again had some culture by visiting the Friday Mosque and a family run ceramic business in Natanz and the old houses and park in Kashan. The old house we visited was one built by the suitor of an Iranian girl who's father said he would only approve of the marriage if the suitor build a house worthy of his daughter for her to live in. So the guy got the same architect and builders to create a replica of the girls parental home so he could win her hand. One of the interesting features about the house was the door knockers – one large on for the men to use and a smaller one for the ladies to use. The idea behind this was that you could establish if it was a lady or gentleman caller at the door and ensure you were dressed appropriately to answer it.
As we got closer to Tehran we wondered what we were going to find once we arrived there. I overheard Saki and Kim talking about what the options were, and it boiled down to whether or not we were driving into trouble. If there were problems and we couldn't get to the hotel or it was unsafe to go there, then we were airport bound for a night of sleep on the tiles there. Thankfully that wasn't necessary – though there was drama.
The road that the driver wanted to use was blocked by police and army guys who were adament we weren't getting through. After some Saki negotiations they eventually relented and allowed us pass...but not 100 metres after we got through we came to the road at the side of the hotel where the rioters had set bins on fire 3 nights previous and found it impossibly crowded. Both sides of the road were jammed for as far as the eye could see with people standing watching as a large number of people marched peacefully down the street waving their green flags. The marchers were held up to allow us cross in front of them to get to the hotel which was on the opposite side of the road to which we were at a standstill on. As we slowly passed through we were shown peace signs and getting big smiles from the people. That reaction coupled with the green told us that they were there to protest against the election result and show their disappointment that their guy hadn't got in.
There was no more trouble that we saw – just people peacefully voicing their upset and wishing the world could see it. Phones were still blocked and internet access was still down keeping them isolated from the rest of the world.
For photos from today click here.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Day 22 & 23 (Esfahan)
I was glad to be seeing the back of Tehran for a couple of days and excited about going to Esfahan for a two night stay in a hotel – really love having more than one night in a place. As is the norm we had a couple of stops along the way for our daily culture injection. First up was the National Museum of Iran where the most memorable things for me were a staircase (for the entrance into a building) carved out of a single slab of rock which I believe was granite, and the preserved head and foot of a miner who had died in a salt mine in the 1700's but was only discovered during the 1990's. After that we went to the Glass and Ceramic Museum which had vases and stuff from all over the Middle East and Asia along with a gorgeous chandelier.
As we were arriving into Esfahan, Saki advised us not to keep our passports on us and instead to use the save in the room or leave it with reception for safekeeping – I of course forgot about it, so when we left the hotel for a walk down to the river I got paniced by the number of people on the street and headed back to the hotel. When everyone got back we went to the Italian restaurant n the hotel. It was ok but nothing special. My views on the place weren't helped by the fact that the chef cooked up my pizza with olives after the waiter had taken note that there weren't to be any of it. Since we were in the land of the silent women I didn't know what the protocol was on complaining so proceeded to pick out as much olive as I could (it was diced rather than whole ones :( ), The waiter seemed to notice what had happened when he put the plate down in front of me but did nothing with it..then after everyone else was finished and after giving 2 slices away when I was halfway through he took it back giving me a new pizza. It made a nice lunch for the next day :)
There was a lot jammed into the full day in Esfahan with a tour of the city that would normally take a whole day being squeezed into the morning before siesta time to give us some time for our own exploration in the afternoon. The tour took in Vank Church with its beautiful oil paintings on the wall and Vank Museum where we saw the world's smallest book (.7mm with 14 pages containing the Our Father in 7 languages) and a human hair with writing on it that we could see through a microscope. The manuscripts they had on display there were stunning. It was very impressive to see the level of artwork and penmanship that had been put into making them. Next up was Imam Square where we visited the two mosques – one very, very large one that's being refurbished at the moment and a smaller one that was very charming. The big mosque had phenomenal acoustics as demonstrated by Saki. Also in the square, we visited the palace where we climbed to the fifth floor to see the repair work that was happening to restore the music room to its original glory. Finally, we visited a museum at the rear of the square and admired the artwork there.
After that the rest of the day was our own. I was sending more stuff home so went to the post office in a cab with Saki, Annie and Libby to get that sorted out, meanwhile Loonie and some of the others met a local guy in a carpet shop who took them to a traditional restaurant to get some lunch and they had a great chat with him. One tidbit of information they came back with was that if you're caught drinking alcohol in Iran you get 75 lashes. Also, if you are dressed inappropriately or your hairstyle doesn't adhere to the strict regulations you face being dragged off to the police station – nasty!
People were coming back to the hotel in dribs and drabs so I got into a bit of a panic when I hadn't seen Loonie around and heard a commotion outside the hotel. We were on the main street where some trouble had kicked off. I had been sitting in reception trying to get online when I heard the roar of motorbike engines outside and lots of shouting. A glance out the door told me that there was some kind of protest or riot starting – people were running in one direction with big sticks and then coming running back again. My room overlooked the main street from the first floor and as the hotel reception team had told us not to leave the premises (we couldn't be nosey from the door step) a gang headed up to peer out the window. They initially went onto the balcony but soon thought better of it and came back inside when people started shouting up at them and there was too much attention being drawn to them. When I joined them a fire had been set across the road from the hotel and was burning merrily as people chucked rocks and stones at each other on the street. The police arrived and started beating the crap out of people (3 of the gang were caught in the middle of the trouble [Kim, Alet & Nadia] and saw this happen first hand up close). We got out of the window when the police started throwing rocks up at the window – we took it as a sign that they weren't best pleased that we were watching what was going on.
The air cleared after an hour or two but it wasn't an end to the drama. In the evening there was a march by the supporters of the reelected president that went down the main street – so right by the front door of the hotel. We went out for a look to see what was happening and a guy in his early twenties came up to tell us that the police are killers and bullies and that the election was fixed. He was visibly upset and stressing out. We only figured out that the marchers were in support of the president when they started heckling and hissing at the people from the group who were sat on the step watching what was going on. The men all marched first with a huge number of women taking up the rear. We estimated close to if not more than 50,000 people marched down the street chanting and waving their flags. It was a sight to be seen, but not a happy one.
For photos from Esfahan click here.
As we were arriving into Esfahan, Saki advised us not to keep our passports on us and instead to use the save in the room or leave it with reception for safekeeping – I of course forgot about it, so when we left the hotel for a walk down to the river I got paniced by the number of people on the street and headed back to the hotel. When everyone got back we went to the Italian restaurant n the hotel. It was ok but nothing special. My views on the place weren't helped by the fact that the chef cooked up my pizza with olives after the waiter had taken note that there weren't to be any of it. Since we were in the land of the silent women I didn't know what the protocol was on complaining so proceeded to pick out as much olive as I could (it was diced rather than whole ones :( ), The waiter seemed to notice what had happened when he put the plate down in front of me but did nothing with it..then after everyone else was finished and after giving 2 slices away when I was halfway through he took it back giving me a new pizza. It made a nice lunch for the next day :)
There was a lot jammed into the full day in Esfahan with a tour of the city that would normally take a whole day being squeezed into the morning before siesta time to give us some time for our own exploration in the afternoon. The tour took in Vank Church with its beautiful oil paintings on the wall and Vank Museum where we saw the world's smallest book (.7mm with 14 pages containing the Our Father in 7 languages) and a human hair with writing on it that we could see through a microscope. The manuscripts they had on display there were stunning. It was very impressive to see the level of artwork and penmanship that had been put into making them. Next up was Imam Square where we visited the two mosques – one very, very large one that's being refurbished at the moment and a smaller one that was very charming. The big mosque had phenomenal acoustics as demonstrated by Saki. Also in the square, we visited the palace where we climbed to the fifth floor to see the repair work that was happening to restore the music room to its original glory. Finally, we visited a museum at the rear of the square and admired the artwork there.
After that the rest of the day was our own. I was sending more stuff home so went to the post office in a cab with Saki, Annie and Libby to get that sorted out, meanwhile Loonie and some of the others met a local guy in a carpet shop who took them to a traditional restaurant to get some lunch and they had a great chat with him. One tidbit of information they came back with was that if you're caught drinking alcohol in Iran you get 75 lashes. Also, if you are dressed inappropriately or your hairstyle doesn't adhere to the strict regulations you face being dragged off to the police station – nasty!
People were coming back to the hotel in dribs and drabs so I got into a bit of a panic when I hadn't seen Loonie around and heard a commotion outside the hotel. We were on the main street where some trouble had kicked off. I had been sitting in reception trying to get online when I heard the roar of motorbike engines outside and lots of shouting. A glance out the door told me that there was some kind of protest or riot starting – people were running in one direction with big sticks and then coming running back again. My room overlooked the main street from the first floor and as the hotel reception team had told us not to leave the premises (we couldn't be nosey from the door step) a gang headed up to peer out the window. They initially went onto the balcony but soon thought better of it and came back inside when people started shouting up at them and there was too much attention being drawn to them. When I joined them a fire had been set across the road from the hotel and was burning merrily as people chucked rocks and stones at each other on the street. The police arrived and started beating the crap out of people (3 of the gang were caught in the middle of the trouble [Kim, Alet & Nadia] and saw this happen first hand up close). We got out of the window when the police started throwing rocks up at the window – we took it as a sign that they weren't best pleased that we were watching what was going on.
The air cleared after an hour or two but it wasn't an end to the drama. In the evening there was a march by the supporters of the reelected president that went down the main street – so right by the front door of the hotel. We went out for a look to see what was happening and a guy in his early twenties came up to tell us that the police are killers and bullies and that the election was fixed. He was visibly upset and stressing out. We only figured out that the marchers were in support of the president when they started heckling and hissing at the people from the group who were sat on the step watching what was going on. The men all marched first with a huge number of women taking up the rear. We estimated close to if not more than 50,000 people marched down the street chanting and waving their flags. It was a sight to be seen, but not a happy one.
For photos from Esfahan click here.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Day 21 (Tehran)
Hello Tehran, this is the Irish jury calling, and here are our votes....
What a day to arrive in Tehran, the day after the presidential election when a riot starts and we're told not to leave our hotel! We went for food in the revolving restaurant on top of our hotel shortly after arriving from Zanjan. It was a beautiful place, not long opened according to the manager and serving Arnemian food. He offered us shared starters and mains for around $12 a head which was pretty expensive for what we've seen so far in Iran, but given the quality of what we got and the vast quantity of food that was laid out in front of us it was well worth it!
It was while we were at the dinner table that we noticed something wasn't quite right. There was thunder and lightening outside and the sky was looking pretty threatening. We were watching the lightening when we saw plumes of thick black smoke rising a bit away from the hotel so we thought something had been struck by lightening. We continued eating and being merry watching for more lightening and keeping an eye on the progress of the smoke. It was only when a second plume of smoke become visible that I started to wonder if something was gone wrong (the paranoia in me thought we had a series of bombs going off). Within a few minutes I had an answer – one of the girls had been watching BBC News and had seen something about riots in Tehran as a result of the outcome of the presidential election. That's what the smoke was about – two police motorbikes had been set on fire as supporters of Raza's guy (the one who was going to change Iran and try make them more Westernised) showed their disgust with the election results.
Immediately I was in a bit of a panic thinking that everyone at home was going to have seen or heard about what was going and be freaking out and my phone's not working here (damn Meteor..you do all they ask and it still doesn't work :( ). So I was down from the 16th floor to the ground looking for internet access so I would text home faster than I've ever moved before. I've finally got on the Skype bandwagon and got to talk to people instead of just texting from the internet..yay!
I spent a bit of time checking in with people and then went in search of the rest of the crew. A good few were watching what was going on from the 15th floor stairwell as the riots were spreading and getting closer to the hotel. I wasn't scared about what was going on until I saw fires lighting on the street right outside the hotel and saw tear gas being thrown at people to get them to disperse (that was a first for me and not something I was particularly happy to see). April and I went to check with Kim if there was anything we could do or needed to do – the advice was to stay in the hotel until morning (like I was gonna venture out with that going on!). Everyone was accounted for in the hotel so we kept a low profile watching what was going on outside from our post on the 15th floor. The small fires that were set using wheelie bins and wooden crates outside the hotel were put out really quickly so we weren't in any real danger.
Before all the excitement of the riots we visited the Soltanieh Dome and the Jewel Museum to get a bit of culture into the day. The dome is the 3rd largest in the world, and the jewels in the museum included one of (if not the) largest diamond in the world. The hotel we were in was the fanciest so far (we were told not to get too used to it) – Nadia and I lucked out and got a suite with 2 balconies and oodles of space. There was a single bed and the largest bed I've ever seen (I still managed to end up spread eagle diagonally in it) that I got to have cos I was first into the room :)
For a photos from Tehran click here.
What a day to arrive in Tehran, the day after the presidential election when a riot starts and we're told not to leave our hotel! We went for food in the revolving restaurant on top of our hotel shortly after arriving from Zanjan. It was a beautiful place, not long opened according to the manager and serving Arnemian food. He offered us shared starters and mains for around $12 a head which was pretty expensive for what we've seen so far in Iran, but given the quality of what we got and the vast quantity of food that was laid out in front of us it was well worth it!
It was while we were at the dinner table that we noticed something wasn't quite right. There was thunder and lightening outside and the sky was looking pretty threatening. We were watching the lightening when we saw plumes of thick black smoke rising a bit away from the hotel so we thought something had been struck by lightening. We continued eating and being merry watching for more lightening and keeping an eye on the progress of the smoke. It was only when a second plume of smoke become visible that I started to wonder if something was gone wrong (the paranoia in me thought we had a series of bombs going off). Within a few minutes I had an answer – one of the girls had been watching BBC News and had seen something about riots in Tehran as a result of the outcome of the presidential election. That's what the smoke was about – two police motorbikes had been set on fire as supporters of Raza's guy (the one who was going to change Iran and try make them more Westernised) showed their disgust with the election results.
Immediately I was in a bit of a panic thinking that everyone at home was going to have seen or heard about what was going and be freaking out and my phone's not working here (damn Meteor..you do all they ask and it still doesn't work :( ). So I was down from the 16th floor to the ground looking for internet access so I would text home faster than I've ever moved before. I've finally got on the Skype bandwagon and got to talk to people instead of just texting from the internet..yay!
I spent a bit of time checking in with people and then went in search of the rest of the crew. A good few were watching what was going on from the 15th floor stairwell as the riots were spreading and getting closer to the hotel. I wasn't scared about what was going on until I saw fires lighting on the street right outside the hotel and saw tear gas being thrown at people to get them to disperse (that was a first for me and not something I was particularly happy to see). April and I went to check with Kim if there was anything we could do or needed to do – the advice was to stay in the hotel until morning (like I was gonna venture out with that going on!). Everyone was accounted for in the hotel so we kept a low profile watching what was going on outside from our post on the 15th floor. The small fires that were set using wheelie bins and wooden crates outside the hotel were put out really quickly so we weren't in any real danger.
Before all the excitement of the riots we visited the Soltanieh Dome and the Jewel Museum to get a bit of culture into the day. The dome is the 3rd largest in the world, and the jewels in the museum included one of (if not the) largest diamond in the world. The hotel we were in was the fanciest so far (we were told not to get too used to it) – Nadia and I lucked out and got a suite with 2 balconies and oodles of space. There was a single bed and the largest bed I've ever seen (I still managed to end up spread eagle diagonally in it) that I got to have cos I was first into the room :)
For a photos from Tehran click here.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Day 20 (Zanjan)
We moved on from Tabriz to Zanjan today, with stops before we left Tabriz to see the Blue Mosque and Azerbyjan Museum which were pretty cool – though we're getting so much culture at such a pace that I can't remember all of it now! Gotta check back on the photos!
Today was mainly driving so not much to report except that it was Libby's 29th birthday so we went out to dinner to celebrate Iran stylee and had some of the most delicious cake that I've ever had. Una and I almost missed it because as soon as we got to the hotel we crashed out for several hours and were only woken by the knock at the door to tell us that it was time for dinner.
For a couple of photos from Zanjan click here.
Today was mainly driving so not much to report except that it was Libby's 29th birthday so we went out to dinner to celebrate Iran stylee and had some of the most delicious cake that I've ever had. Una and I almost missed it because as soon as we got to the hotel we crashed out for several hours and were only woken by the knock at the door to tell us that it was time for dinner.
For a couple of photos from Zanjan click here.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Day 19 (Tabritz)
*groan*
Back to the early starts...7.45am departure from the hotel for the 30 minute drive to the Turkey / Iran border. We needed to get on the road early to make sure we had plenty of time to spare in case we were delayed at the border crossing (thankfully it was pretty quick). Before we crossed we stopped at Mount Ararat (the biblical resting place of Noah's Ark) for a photo opportunity or three. We also got a group picture with the bus before we waved goodbye to Martin at the border.
I thought we were getting funny looks from people in Turkey..well in Iran we stick out like a sore thumb, but the attention we get is different to how it was in Turkey – altogether more friendly. We've all made an effort to cover our heads and wear baggy clothes, but we still get funny looks and laughs (which we found out was due to us wearing house clothes outside – eek!). The people on the street are guessing where we're coming from and are very welcoming. In our first day in Iran, I was welcomed to the country by no fewer than 12 people..pretty impressive I think.
The friendliest Iranian I've met to date is a gentleman by the name of Raza who stopped Una and I in the street to ask where we were from and if he could help us find anything. We stopped to chat and said we were looking for somewhere to get some dinner so he took us for food and we chatted about life in Ireland and his life in Iran. He's finished his BSc in Iran and will be going to Malaysia in December to start his MSc. He spoke about how people in Iran have no freedom and he was hopeful that the presidential election tomorrow might fix that big problem. He also enquired about our trip, where we were going, how long for and why we decided to do it. It was wonderful to sit with someone from another culture and listen to their story to see how their surroundings moulded their life, versus how mine have moulded my life. It was quite humbling and it's the first time on the trip that I've taken a step back and thought about how blessed I am to have the life that I have – it's not something I think about too much, but I really am very lucky. I have the freedom to do what I like when I like, wear what I like, sit wherever I like on the bus, speak to whomever I like and so on..after just a single day in Iran I could feel the strain of the restrictions that are in place on women here.
After dinner Raza introduced us to the taxi system of Tabritz...boy what an adventure. We crammed into the back of a cab and headed toward the hotel..or so we thought! After a bit of driving a man jumped into the front and shortly afterwards Raza said we needed to get out and get another cab as the one we were in was no longer going toward the hotel – something I found a bit odd and my spidey sense got a bit jumpy. But, as he seemed like a lovely bloke and had been extremely good to us already so we went with it and hopped into the next cab. Again we're driving along making progress when the cabbie pulls up and lets a lady into the front seat and off we go. At this point I was getting very confused, so we got the explanation about what was going on...cabbies fill their taxi with as many people as possible and drive whichever way is most convenient for them, but that may mean that you need to get out and get a different taxi to get to where you want to go – very, very strange! We eventually made it back to the hotel and Raza offered to take us and 2 friends to a lake that the locals meet at every night so that we wouldn't be leaving Tabritz with the only thing we'd seen being the Bazaar (largest in the world) and the plumbing shop Una used the phone in to sort out her credit card issue (some thieving gypsy tried to charge flights on her card so it's had to be cancelled). We hummed and hawwed for a few minutes and then had our minds made up to get one of the boys to come with us and to go have a look...some of the girls thought we were crazy and had me convinced it was a bad idea, but my gut feeling had been that it would be fine because he seemed like a genuinely lovely bloke. So..Ronan got roped into coming with us. Once he started talking to Raza in his car it was pretty obvious that they were getting on like a house on fire and everything was indeed as we'd expected completely kosher. The lake he took us to was called Elgoli Park and it was beside an amusement park about 25 minutes drive from the hotel. It's a man made lake with very choppy water and boats that you can rent to go out for a paddle on it. In the centre of the lake there's a pretty posh looking restaurant and all around it are walkways and flowerbeds – a really beautiful place that reminded me of night walks along Dun Laoghaire pier but with a bit more atmosphere and lots more people. Around the lake a lot of people had pitched up tents and there were families out walking with kids on scooters and rollerskates...not the kind of thing that I'm used to seeing at home so it was a refreshing change to the norm of seeing drunks falling out of pubs (don't get me wrong..I love home..but I reckon we could learn from this kind of thing). So, we walked a circuit of the lake before Raza dropped us back to the hotel. It really was a very pleasant first day in Iran..it's completely put me at ease about being here as I was quite nervous to start with. Thanks Raza!!
For photos from Tabritz click here.
Back to the early starts...7.45am departure from the hotel for the 30 minute drive to the Turkey / Iran border. We needed to get on the road early to make sure we had plenty of time to spare in case we were delayed at the border crossing (thankfully it was pretty quick). Before we crossed we stopped at Mount Ararat (the biblical resting place of Noah's Ark) for a photo opportunity or three. We also got a group picture with the bus before we waved goodbye to Martin at the border.
I thought we were getting funny looks from people in Turkey..well in Iran we stick out like a sore thumb, but the attention we get is different to how it was in Turkey – altogether more friendly. We've all made an effort to cover our heads and wear baggy clothes, but we still get funny looks and laughs (which we found out was due to us wearing house clothes outside – eek!). The people on the street are guessing where we're coming from and are very welcoming. In our first day in Iran, I was welcomed to the country by no fewer than 12 people..pretty impressive I think.
The friendliest Iranian I've met to date is a gentleman by the name of Raza who stopped Una and I in the street to ask where we were from and if he could help us find anything. We stopped to chat and said we were looking for somewhere to get some dinner so he took us for food and we chatted about life in Ireland and his life in Iran. He's finished his BSc in Iran and will be going to Malaysia in December to start his MSc. He spoke about how people in Iran have no freedom and he was hopeful that the presidential election tomorrow might fix that big problem. He also enquired about our trip, where we were going, how long for and why we decided to do it. It was wonderful to sit with someone from another culture and listen to their story to see how their surroundings moulded their life, versus how mine have moulded my life. It was quite humbling and it's the first time on the trip that I've taken a step back and thought about how blessed I am to have the life that I have – it's not something I think about too much, but I really am very lucky. I have the freedom to do what I like when I like, wear what I like, sit wherever I like on the bus, speak to whomever I like and so on..after just a single day in Iran I could feel the strain of the restrictions that are in place on women here.
After dinner Raza introduced us to the taxi system of Tabritz...boy what an adventure. We crammed into the back of a cab and headed toward the hotel..or so we thought! After a bit of driving a man jumped into the front and shortly afterwards Raza said we needed to get out and get another cab as the one we were in was no longer going toward the hotel – something I found a bit odd and my spidey sense got a bit jumpy. But, as he seemed like a lovely bloke and had been extremely good to us already so we went with it and hopped into the next cab. Again we're driving along making progress when the cabbie pulls up and lets a lady into the front seat and off we go. At this point I was getting very confused, so we got the explanation about what was going on...cabbies fill their taxi with as many people as possible and drive whichever way is most convenient for them, but that may mean that you need to get out and get a different taxi to get to where you want to go – very, very strange! We eventually made it back to the hotel and Raza offered to take us and 2 friends to a lake that the locals meet at every night so that we wouldn't be leaving Tabritz with the only thing we'd seen being the Bazaar (largest in the world) and the plumbing shop Una used the phone in to sort out her credit card issue (some thieving gypsy tried to charge flights on her card so it's had to be cancelled). We hummed and hawwed for a few minutes and then had our minds made up to get one of the boys to come with us and to go have a look...some of the girls thought we were crazy and had me convinced it was a bad idea, but my gut feeling had been that it would be fine because he seemed like a genuinely lovely bloke. So..Ronan got roped into coming with us. Once he started talking to Raza in his car it was pretty obvious that they were getting on like a house on fire and everything was indeed as we'd expected completely kosher. The lake he took us to was called Elgoli Park and it was beside an amusement park about 25 minutes drive from the hotel. It's a man made lake with very choppy water and boats that you can rent to go out for a paddle on it. In the centre of the lake there's a pretty posh looking restaurant and all around it are walkways and flowerbeds – a really beautiful place that reminded me of night walks along Dun Laoghaire pier but with a bit more atmosphere and lots more people. Around the lake a lot of people had pitched up tents and there were families out walking with kids on scooters and rollerskates...not the kind of thing that I'm used to seeing at home so it was a refreshing change to the norm of seeing drunks falling out of pubs (don't get me wrong..I love home..but I reckon we could learn from this kind of thing). So, we walked a circuit of the lake before Raza dropped us back to the hotel. It really was a very pleasant first day in Iran..it's completely put me at ease about being here as I was quite nervous to start with. Thanks Raza!!
For photos from Tabritz click here.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Day 18 (Doğubeyazıt)
Again we weren't expecting much in Doğubeyazıt as we'd been told there wasn't a whole lot to it. As we arrived into the town early we took a detour before going to the hotel to visit the palace in the town. It was pretty high up with great views of the surrounding area. The drive from Erzincan had again surprised me as the landscape continued to be very mountainous with a lot more green than I expected to see in Turkey.
We could see Mount Ararat as we approached Doğubeyazıt and I now know that this is the biblical resting place of Noah's Ark. It was snow covered even though the sun was shining super brightly so that was a bit weird.
Up at the palace we were approached by a young fella who wanted us to go to a relatives shop to look at carpets – as we're already carrying more than is comfortable we weren't really on for that. He reappeared later in the evening when a group of us were out looking for somewhere to eat. He suggested a place that might work for us and brought us there where they let us up onto the roof to eat. The meal was 5 lira..so cheap..and so incredibly good! I had chicken shish again and I think it may have replaced the Istanbul one as the best I've ever had..absolutely delicious.
Mel came to my rescue and got some medicated after sun cream for my poor back..it's still red but not so sore anymore. Thanks Mel..I owe ya :)
For photos from Doğubeyazıt click here.
We could see Mount Ararat as we approached Doğubeyazıt and I now know that this is the biblical resting place of Noah's Ark. It was snow covered even though the sun was shining super brightly so that was a bit weird.
Up at the palace we were approached by a young fella who wanted us to go to a relatives shop to look at carpets – as we're already carrying more than is comfortable we weren't really on for that. He reappeared later in the evening when a group of us were out looking for somewhere to eat. He suggested a place that might work for us and brought us there where they let us up onto the roof to eat. The meal was 5 lira..so cheap..and so incredibly good! I had chicken shish again and I think it may have replaced the Istanbul one as the best I've ever had..absolutely delicious.
Mel came to my rescue and got some medicated after sun cream for my poor back..it's still red but not so sore anymore. Thanks Mel..I owe ya :)
For photos from Doğubeyazıt click here.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Day 17 (Erzincan)
Because Erzincan was only a short drive from Goreme we got a lie in and didn't have to leave Flintstones until checkout time at 10.30am..wahoo!
There isn't a whole lot to report from day 17 however, we got to Erzincan and found it to be a much bigger place than we'd expected given we'd been told there was nothing to do there. A couple of us went walkabout to see what we could get by way of food while keeping a lookout for a post office for postcards. We found both, getting most of the cards in the post (the rest had to wait until our last day in Turkey) before eating in a local fast food restaurant. I went for pizza for a change as I'd been eating kebap or shish kebap pretty much every day since we arrived in Turkey.
As the Iran border was fast approaching and we were therefore going to be under a drinking ban for a while, we went to an offie down the road from the hotel and got some booze to bring back. That was pretty much all we got to do in Erzincan.
For photos from Erzincan click here.
There isn't a whole lot to report from day 17 however, we got to Erzincan and found it to be a much bigger place than we'd expected given we'd been told there was nothing to do there. A couple of us went walkabout to see what we could get by way of food while keeping a lookout for a post office for postcards. We found both, getting most of the cards in the post (the rest had to wait until our last day in Turkey) before eating in a local fast food restaurant. I went for pizza for a change as I'd been eating kebap or shish kebap pretty much every day since we arrived in Turkey.
As the Iran border was fast approaching and we were therefore going to be under a drinking ban for a while, we went to an offie down the road from the hotel and got some booze to bring back. That was pretty much all we got to do in Erzincan.
For photos from Erzincan click here.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Day 15 & 16 (Goreme)
The drive from Istanbul to Goreme saw us cross the bridge between Europe and Asia and so leave Europe behind for a few months *sob*. Along the scenery was pretty amazing with mountains surrounding us on all sides and miles after miles of uninhabited land. There was a a traffic accident on the road shortly after the heavens had opened and there was a huge volume of water flowing down the road with one section of it looking like there was a landslide coming. Pulling into Goreme was a very surreal experience. The landscape really is like something from a lunar movie so it wasn't a big surprise when one of the guys mentioned it was used in an old Star Wars movie.
We stayed in a cave hotel called Flintstones which was pretty cool once the room situation was sorted out. The rooms that were made available for us consisted of a 5 bed room for the boys and then for the girls a 4 bed room that was filled by lottery selection with everyone else being directed to a room (read dungeon) under the main reception area. The room was so dark and dank there was no way that I could stay in there – that and the fact that it was to house the remaining 10 girls (1 had been left behind in Istanbul because there were problems with her Iran visa and she needed to get it sorted out there before catching up with us). I didn't sign up for ten people to a room, so was a bit annoyed that we'd been put into a massive room AGAIN! Thankfully there were some others that were unhappy with the situation so we managed to get an upgrade to a 4 bed room but of course we had to pay for it. The remaining 6 girls got moved out of the 10 bed room into a very swish room with a jacuzzi..I dunno if they had to pay for the upgrade (in addition to being a dungeon, there was no lock on the door to secure the room) but I was glad that we'd moved regardless.
On our full day in Goreme we were up at 4.30am to go for a sunrise hot-air balloon ride and man was it worth the early start. I'd struggled with deciding to go or not because I'd done one in Phoenix late last year and I wondered whether it was worth doing it again. I decided that given the scenery would be completely different that it was worth it so went for it. Our pilot for the flight was the legendary Mike Green who took us floating within a couple of feet of the ground and up to 8000 feet to get the best view of everything there was to see in the area. It was a fantastic flight with one of the most impressive parts of it being the landing...he floated us right onto the trailer that was waiting to take the basket and balloon gear away – impressive stuff!
After the balloon we headed back to the hostel for breakfast and then Una & the other trekkers headed out walking. I was supposed to go abseiling but pulled out in favour of having a day off to relax and spend some time away from the mass group. I lay by the pool for way too long and stupidly didn't top up my sunscreen...that ended up with me burning my back to a lovely lobster red colour (3 days before the Turkey/Iran border crossing). I had a great day..weather was fab, company was fab (shout out to Michelle) and the lunch we had at Fat Boy's was fab, so fab in fact that I went back with the group later that night for dinner.
For photos from Goreme click here.
We stayed in a cave hotel called Flintstones which was pretty cool once the room situation was sorted out. The rooms that were made available for us consisted of a 5 bed room for the boys and then for the girls a 4 bed room that was filled by lottery selection with everyone else being directed to a room (read dungeon) under the main reception area. The room was so dark and dank there was no way that I could stay in there – that and the fact that it was to house the remaining 10 girls (1 had been left behind in Istanbul because there were problems with her Iran visa and she needed to get it sorted out there before catching up with us). I didn't sign up for ten people to a room, so was a bit annoyed that we'd been put into a massive room AGAIN! Thankfully there were some others that were unhappy with the situation so we managed to get an upgrade to a 4 bed room but of course we had to pay for it. The remaining 6 girls got moved out of the 10 bed room into a very swish room with a jacuzzi..I dunno if they had to pay for the upgrade (in addition to being a dungeon, there was no lock on the door to secure the room) but I was glad that we'd moved regardless.
On our full day in Goreme we were up at 4.30am to go for a sunrise hot-air balloon ride and man was it worth the early start. I'd struggled with deciding to go or not because I'd done one in Phoenix late last year and I wondered whether it was worth doing it again. I decided that given the scenery would be completely different that it was worth it so went for it. Our pilot for the flight was the legendary Mike Green who took us floating within a couple of feet of the ground and up to 8000 feet to get the best view of everything there was to see in the area. It was a fantastic flight with one of the most impressive parts of it being the landing...he floated us right onto the trailer that was waiting to take the basket and balloon gear away – impressive stuff!
After the balloon we headed back to the hostel for breakfast and then Una & the other trekkers headed out walking. I was supposed to go abseiling but pulled out in favour of having a day off to relax and spend some time away from the mass group. I lay by the pool for way too long and stupidly didn't top up my sunscreen...that ended up with me burning my back to a lovely lobster red colour (3 days before the Turkey/Iran border crossing). I had a great day..weather was fab, company was fab (shout out to Michelle) and the lunch we had at Fat Boy's was fab, so fab in fact that I went back with the group later that night for dinner.
For photos from Goreme click here.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Day 12, 13 & 14 (Istanbul)
Three whole nights in the same place...BLISS! We arrived into Istanbul on June 4th to stay at the Orient Hostel in the Sultanahmet area on the European side of the city. We were a stones throw from the Blue Mosque and Grand Bazaar – a great location. On arrival at the hostel we were given a free welcome drink on the rooftop terrace overlooking the Bosphorous Sea by owner Memhet Shark (crazy guy in neon clothes) and he gave us a bit of a welcome intro to Istanbul.
The first evening was pretty relaxing with the furthest we wandered from the hostel being the ATM and the laundry place to leave in our dirty washing (which they delivered back to the hostel the next morning so we didn't have to worry about going back to collect it!). We ate at a lovely little restaurant on the corner where they gave us lots of free stuff like bread and dips, apple tea, postcards, turkish delight..all very pleasant. They had only opened up as a restaurant two weeks before (they had been carpet sellers) so were keen to impress us and tried to get us to come back the next day with the whole group. We ate until we could fit no more and then headed back to the hostel for some beer and shisha pipe. It was a great night with most of the passengers around the tables at some point, and lots of us getting in on some Uno action with Nadia's luxury item for the trip. I won my first hand despite not having a clue what I was doing for the most part.
Once again we were in an 8 bed dorm (thought we were supposed too have 4 bed dorms pretty much all the time but it seems that's not the case – boo!). The dorm room wasn't all that big so with rucksacks for 7 people in there it was pretty cramped for space. That wasn't the biggest issue though..the top bunks were super high and there was no safety barrier to hold people in if they rolled around in their sleep..a problem for me! The hostel was fab..the only complaint I could make was the safety of the bunk beds we were given.
For our second day in Istanbul a guided walking tour of the Sultanahmet area was organised for 20 Turkish Lira. A good portion of the group took up the offer and headed off with Tarik our guide after breakfast for around 3.5 hours. He was very knowledgeable and friendly and the tour was well worth the cash we'd paid. The only thing we got free entry into was the Blue Mosque but he gave us the prices of entry into the cisterns, palace, museums etc – the only issue was we ran out of time to actually go back and do any of them. Some of the group went to the cisterns and said it was quite cool, it's something I would have been interested to see, but hey ho, next time maybe. After lunch we went on a cruise on the Bosphorus so we could enjoy views of the European and Asian side of Istanbul. The price was set at £22 sterling before it started, a price I queried because it seemed incredibly expensive given a return trip on the public ferry would cost only 3 Turkish Lira (€1.50 or so). I was told we'd get commentary and it was a proper tourist cruise rather than a commuter ferry, so I figured I'd play sheep and follow the rest of the group on it. Boy was that a mistake! We got to the harbour and got onboard a ferry (public not private cruise) and found that Tarik was again our guide (not a problem, super nice guy with a lot of info in his head) but rather than getting to sit outside and see what was going on, if you wanted the commentary you had to stay down below deck where views were limited and we had to fight to get seats. The Galway girls had the right idea in blowing off the commentary to go upstairs and get a proper look at what was on both sides..I only had a couple of glimpses at things on the Asian side and saw none of the European. A couple of us queried the price of the tour before we'd even gotten on the boat because when we were handed our tickets the price was 13 Turkish Lira which was in no way a close conversion to £22 Sterling! Kim followed up with the company to express our unhappiness at what we'd gotten for our money and they dropped it to £14 Sterling which was less of a sting, but was still extortion for what we got in my view – I'd go with the public ferry next time around.
That night we signed up for a Belly Dancing evening at the hostel that included traditional Turkish dinner for €10 or 20 Turkish Lira. Though the food was lovely, we'd probably have got the same stuff cheaper in one of the restaurants..and the Belly Dancing was free to everyone anyway. Still, it was nice to have the whole group there and see Richard, Ronan and James get dragged up to dance with the lady.
Day 3 in Istanbul was a lazy day for Loonie and I. We slept almost until lunchtime before going in search of a post office (along with one of the other girls I'm trying to downsize my bag already). Having walked forever and stumbled upon a beautiful tea garden we eventually got to the post office in time to have the guy in the parcel centre slam the door in our faces and refuse to help us. I was not a happy bunny! We decided to chance our luck by asking inside even though we knew they'd tell us that it had to go from the parcel office. Thankfully the little girl lost impressions we did got the pity of one of the guys there who when said the parcel office guy had closed the door in our faces brought us back out to try sort it out...then things got nastier and the guy slammed the door in his own colleagues face! So, the guy said he could sort out postage for us inside but we'd need to split stuff into smaller boxes because there was a weight limit on what he could send from there. Eventually we got the parcels in the post and all was well with the world.
After the post office we tried to find our way back towards the Grand Bazaar / Blue Mosque area only to get lost in the Spice Market and end back at the same place a couple of times. We managed to find our way out and get food at a little back street restaurant that served chicken shish that rivals Khan's chicken tikka for my affection. Since we'd had such a stressful day we figured we deserved a nice evening off with a trip to the Turkish Baths. It worked out quite expensive and we definitely blew the budget for Turkey, but it was worth it. Loonie has promised to write up the story, so I'll nudge her for it..she'll tell it better than me. All's I'll say right now is we've never been so clean, we're now intimately acquainted and Una now knows what it's like to visit a Turkish Bath as a blind person :)
So, overall verdict on Istanbul was that for me it was a lot nicer than I had anticipated. The only thing I didn't like was the constant heckling from the men at the Bazaar and being harassed to go into every single restaurant that we passed..but that's just what you get when you stay in a touristy area.
For photos from Istanbul click here.
The first evening was pretty relaxing with the furthest we wandered from the hostel being the ATM and the laundry place to leave in our dirty washing (which they delivered back to the hostel the next morning so we didn't have to worry about going back to collect it!). We ate at a lovely little restaurant on the corner where they gave us lots of free stuff like bread and dips, apple tea, postcards, turkish delight..all very pleasant. They had only opened up as a restaurant two weeks before (they had been carpet sellers) so were keen to impress us and tried to get us to come back the next day with the whole group. We ate until we could fit no more and then headed back to the hostel for some beer and shisha pipe. It was a great night with most of the passengers around the tables at some point, and lots of us getting in on some Uno action with Nadia's luxury item for the trip. I won my first hand despite not having a clue what I was doing for the most part.
Once again we were in an 8 bed dorm (thought we were supposed too have 4 bed dorms pretty much all the time but it seems that's not the case – boo!). The dorm room wasn't all that big so with rucksacks for 7 people in there it was pretty cramped for space. That wasn't the biggest issue though..the top bunks were super high and there was no safety barrier to hold people in if they rolled around in their sleep..a problem for me! The hostel was fab..the only complaint I could make was the safety of the bunk beds we were given.
For our second day in Istanbul a guided walking tour of the Sultanahmet area was organised for 20 Turkish Lira. A good portion of the group took up the offer and headed off with Tarik our guide after breakfast for around 3.5 hours. He was very knowledgeable and friendly and the tour was well worth the cash we'd paid. The only thing we got free entry into was the Blue Mosque but he gave us the prices of entry into the cisterns, palace, museums etc – the only issue was we ran out of time to actually go back and do any of them. Some of the group went to the cisterns and said it was quite cool, it's something I would have been interested to see, but hey ho, next time maybe. After lunch we went on a cruise on the Bosphorus so we could enjoy views of the European and Asian side of Istanbul. The price was set at £22 sterling before it started, a price I queried because it seemed incredibly expensive given a return trip on the public ferry would cost only 3 Turkish Lira (€1.50 or so). I was told we'd get commentary and it was a proper tourist cruise rather than a commuter ferry, so I figured I'd play sheep and follow the rest of the group on it. Boy was that a mistake! We got to the harbour and got onboard a ferry (public not private cruise) and found that Tarik was again our guide (not a problem, super nice guy with a lot of info in his head) but rather than getting to sit outside and see what was going on, if you wanted the commentary you had to stay down below deck where views were limited and we had to fight to get seats. The Galway girls had the right idea in blowing off the commentary to go upstairs and get a proper look at what was on both sides..I only had a couple of glimpses at things on the Asian side and saw none of the European. A couple of us queried the price of the tour before we'd even gotten on the boat because when we were handed our tickets the price was 13 Turkish Lira which was in no way a close conversion to £22 Sterling! Kim followed up with the company to express our unhappiness at what we'd gotten for our money and they dropped it to £14 Sterling which was less of a sting, but was still extortion for what we got in my view – I'd go with the public ferry next time around.
That night we signed up for a Belly Dancing evening at the hostel that included traditional Turkish dinner for €10 or 20 Turkish Lira. Though the food was lovely, we'd probably have got the same stuff cheaper in one of the restaurants..and the Belly Dancing was free to everyone anyway. Still, it was nice to have the whole group there and see Richard, Ronan and James get dragged up to dance with the lady.
Day 3 in Istanbul was a lazy day for Loonie and I. We slept almost until lunchtime before going in search of a post office (along with one of the other girls I'm trying to downsize my bag already). Having walked forever and stumbled upon a beautiful tea garden we eventually got to the post office in time to have the guy in the parcel centre slam the door in our faces and refuse to help us. I was not a happy bunny! We decided to chance our luck by asking inside even though we knew they'd tell us that it had to go from the parcel office. Thankfully the little girl lost impressions we did got the pity of one of the guys there who when said the parcel office guy had closed the door in our faces brought us back out to try sort it out...then things got nastier and the guy slammed the door in his own colleagues face! So, the guy said he could sort out postage for us inside but we'd need to split stuff into smaller boxes because there was a weight limit on what he could send from there. Eventually we got the parcels in the post and all was well with the world.
After the post office we tried to find our way back towards the Grand Bazaar / Blue Mosque area only to get lost in the Spice Market and end back at the same place a couple of times. We managed to find our way out and get food at a little back street restaurant that served chicken shish that rivals Khan's chicken tikka for my affection. Since we'd had such a stressful day we figured we deserved a nice evening off with a trip to the Turkish Baths. It worked out quite expensive and we definitely blew the budget for Turkey, but it was worth it. Loonie has promised to write up the story, so I'll nudge her for it..she'll tell it better than me. All's I'll say right now is we've never been so clean, we're now intimately acquainted and Una now knows what it's like to visit a Turkish Bath as a blind person :)
So, overall verdict on Istanbul was that for me it was a lot nicer than I had anticipated. The only thing I didn't like was the constant heckling from the men at the Bazaar and being harassed to go into every single restaurant that we passed..but that's just what you get when you stay in a touristy area.
For photos from Istanbul click here.
Coming soon...
...more blog entries from Istanbul, Goreme, Erzincan and Dogabeyazit.
We've been busy in the Turkish baths, hot-air balloon and getting sunburned (woe is me).
Just one more sleep before we cross into Iran...
We've been busy in the Turkish baths, hot-air balloon and getting sunburned (woe is me).
Just one more sleep before we cross into Iran...
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Day 11 (Plovdiv)
Take-off from Sophia was at 9am this morning so we could make it to Plovdiv early enough to see the sights with a local guide to take us on a walking tour. Breakfast at the hotel was by far the most odd that we've seen on the trip yet! Cold food was rock hard bread, selection of cheeses, ham and some pastries and buns. Hot food was sausages, eggs, brussels sprouts, carrots and sweetcorn..weird!
On the road we had two dodgy moments:
1)We got pulled over by the cops who wanted to check Martin's tacograph to make sure he wasn't driving for too long, or hadn't been speeding. We initially thought it was because Todd was standing on the bus and we're all supposed to be seated with our buckles fastened.
2)A scratching noise as we passed under a bridge which turned out to be the aerial on top of the bus rather than the top of the bus up until the end of the bus was coming through the last section and it turns out to be taller than the front..a flick of a switch to lower it a bit and we got through.
All fun and games aboard OzBUS 9.
When we got to Plovdiv we were met my a little guy called Mini who directed us to the hostel (it was fab!). We had a few minutes to settle in before we headed out on a half day walking tour with him. From the side of Plovdiv we'd come in to I wondered how it could be a half day tour as it looked like it was a quaint little village...it turns out it is the second largest city in Bulgaria and in olden times used to be the capital city. Mini took us walkabout and gave us a lot of history about the place that I personally found interesting. The tour however came to an abrupt end once we got to the shopping street. Mini said people looked bored and as it was only an hour and a half long so he was ending it there because there was no point continuing. I was a bit gutted, but soon got over it when we got pizza slices (same size as Difontaines but not quite as good) for just 50c a slice..bargain! We strolled around to see what else there was to see and picked up some postcards from a crazy guy next to the hostel.
Pretty much all the group went to see a free ballet evening in the ampitheatre ruins for the 6th International Ballet competition. Having never seen ballet live before I was pretty impressed. After the show we headed back into town to get some dinner and sampled Bulgarian kebabs..Mmmmm!
Verdict on Plovdiv is that I'd be interested in going back, and reckon that OzBUS should scrub Sofia off the list in favour of 2 days in Plovdiv in that lovely hostel :)
For photos from Plovdiv click here.
On the road we had two dodgy moments:
1)We got pulled over by the cops who wanted to check Martin's tacograph to make sure he wasn't driving for too long, or hadn't been speeding. We initially thought it was because Todd was standing on the bus and we're all supposed to be seated with our buckles fastened.
2)A scratching noise as we passed under a bridge which turned out to be the aerial on top of the bus rather than the top of the bus up until the end of the bus was coming through the last section and it turns out to be taller than the front..a flick of a switch to lower it a bit and we got through.
All fun and games aboard OzBUS 9.
When we got to Plovdiv we were met my a little guy called Mini who directed us to the hostel (it was fab!). We had a few minutes to settle in before we headed out on a half day walking tour with him. From the side of Plovdiv we'd come in to I wondered how it could be a half day tour as it looked like it was a quaint little village...it turns out it is the second largest city in Bulgaria and in olden times used to be the capital city. Mini took us walkabout and gave us a lot of history about the place that I personally found interesting. The tour however came to an abrupt end once we got to the shopping street. Mini said people looked bored and as it was only an hour and a half long so he was ending it there because there was no point continuing. I was a bit gutted, but soon got over it when we got pizza slices (same size as Difontaines but not quite as good) for just 50c a slice..bargain! We strolled around to see what else there was to see and picked up some postcards from a crazy guy next to the hostel.
Pretty much all the group went to see a free ballet evening in the ampitheatre ruins for the 6th International Ballet competition. Having never seen ballet live before I was pretty impressed. After the show we headed back into town to get some dinner and sampled Bulgarian kebabs..Mmmmm!
Verdict on Plovdiv is that I'd be interested in going back, and reckon that OzBUS should scrub Sofia off the list in favour of 2 days in Plovdiv in that lovely hostel :)
For photos from Plovdiv click here.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Day 10 (Sofia)
Today saw us enter Bulgaria from Hungary (without a new passport stamp – Boo to Bulgaria!) and have a relaxing drive through mountain passes and tunnels. In addition to the border crossing, we've also changed time-zone so we're now 2 hours ahead of home, That's gonna get more and more confusing as we move along our route.
The scenery along the drive was beautiful and there was one particular section that I loved – on both sides of the highway for as far back and as far forward as I could see there were really tall green trees with no sign of civilisation (no roads, houses, electricity poles – nothing but green). Una said afterwards that just outside the city of Sofia (our stop for the night) there were shanty towns on the left hand side of the road. I didn't see them and in a way I'm glad I didn't.
When we got the hotel we were given twin rooms on the 17th floor. They had decor from the 70's and a smell to match :) But all in all they were pretty decent and had clean towels and sheets. The lifts were a bit dodgy, so much so that Michelle, Alet and I got stuck in one on the 15th floor and had a few seconds f panic that felt like a long time.
A big gang of us headed out too explore the city before dinner. Having walked through the park beside the hotel we had to take cover in the metro to avoid the buckets of rain and the thunderstorm. We didn't get to see that much (read pretty much none) of Sofia. Dinner in the Italian restaurant beside the hotel wasn't as cheap as we'd hoped for but it was delicious. I had pasta stuffed with ricotta and pear in a yummy sauce and Parmesan cheese – not a combo that I've tried before so I was pleasantly surprised. After dinner we went to the panorama restaurant on the 19th floor of the hotel to have a drink with the bus crew. The view of the city was pretty ace from that high up.
The scenery along the drive was beautiful and there was one particular section that I loved – on both sides of the highway for as far back and as far forward as I could see there were really tall green trees with no sign of civilisation (no roads, houses, electricity poles – nothing but green). Una said afterwards that just outside the city of Sofia (our stop for the night) there were shanty towns on the left hand side of the road. I didn't see them and in a way I'm glad I didn't.
When we got the hotel we were given twin rooms on the 17th floor. They had decor from the 70's and a smell to match :) But all in all they were pretty decent and had clean towels and sheets. The lifts were a bit dodgy, so much so that Michelle, Alet and I got stuck in one on the 15th floor and had a few seconds f panic that felt like a long time.
A big gang of us headed out too explore the city before dinner. Having walked through the park beside the hotel we had to take cover in the metro to avoid the buckets of rain and the thunderstorm. We didn't get to see that much (read pretty much none) of Sofia. Dinner in the Italian restaurant beside the hotel wasn't as cheap as we'd hoped for but it was delicious. I had pasta stuffed with ricotta and pear in a yummy sauce and Parmesan cheese – not a combo that I've tried before so I was pleasantly surprised. After dinner we went to the panorama restaurant on the 19th floor of the hotel to have a drink with the bus crew. The view of the city was pretty ace from that high up.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Day 9 (Belgrade)
Yay...at long, long last we got a stamp in our passport today as we crossed the Hungary/Serbia border! We've absolutely flown through Europe with no stops at any borders so far, so no new stamps for my shiny new passport..until now! It's been a good day :)
Having left Budapest around 8.30am this morning we got to the hostel in Belgrade shortly after 3pm but had to wait around in the rain while Kim sorted out a technical issue (rumour was they had no record of our booking and so to fit us in they had to move some people out of the rooms they were in, and also set the boys up with a room in a completely different hostel). Loonie and I headed off with a few of the group in search of a shop to pick up something for dinner. We had bought some spelt in Budapest so the plan was to get something to go with that – we ended up with chicken, peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic and a pesto type sauce mixed in with our Hungarian spelt. Not exactly local cuisine here in Serbia I'm guessing, but we're trying to make up for overspending pretty much every day so far by cutting back on spending today.
After eating we headed out for a wander around the city in search of some postcards for those who have been promised a card from every country. The only thing that might have worked was a card from some seriously religious shop we found but since it didn't have anything about Serbia on it and we weren't sure what exactly the picture on the front represented we left it and kept looking in the rain. It was nice to get out for a walk and was great to see a bit of Belgrade, but unfortunately we didn't succeed in finding any cards..maybe where we stop for lunch tomorrow will have something..but we've spent all our funny money already so that might not even work out :(
As we're only here for a single night and were only out and about for an hour or so, we don't have any photos to share...we'll try harder in Bulgaria over the next two days.
Having left Budapest around 8.30am this morning we got to the hostel in Belgrade shortly after 3pm but had to wait around in the rain while Kim sorted out a technical issue (rumour was they had no record of our booking and so to fit us in they had to move some people out of the rooms they were in, and also set the boys up with a room in a completely different hostel). Loonie and I headed off with a few of the group in search of a shop to pick up something for dinner. We had bought some spelt in Budapest so the plan was to get something to go with that – we ended up with chicken, peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic and a pesto type sauce mixed in with our Hungarian spelt. Not exactly local cuisine here in Serbia I'm guessing, but we're trying to make up for overspending pretty much every day so far by cutting back on spending today.
After eating we headed out for a wander around the city in search of some postcards for those who have been promised a card from every country. The only thing that might have worked was a card from some seriously religious shop we found but since it didn't have anything about Serbia on it and we weren't sure what exactly the picture on the front represented we left it and kept looking in the rain. It was nice to get out for a walk and was great to see a bit of Belgrade, but unfortunately we didn't succeed in finding any cards..maybe where we stop for lunch tomorrow will have something..but we've spent all our funny money already so that might not even work out :(
As we're only here for a single night and were only out and about for an hour or so, we don't have any photos to share...we'll try harder in Bulgaria over the next two days.
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