Mingalarbar, Myanmar!

Our trip to Myanmar started in Mae Sot, the Thai city on the border. When we got off of the bus we met two German girls, Corinna and Lara, who were also going to the border so we shared a songthaew to the immigration. We crossed the Friendship Bridge by foot and entered Myanmar easily, hoping to catch a bus to Yangon. Unfortunately we were to late for the last bus and the next one would be in two days. The girls had no plans either so we decided to share a taxi to Hpa An where we would get a bus the next morning to Yangon. We had to withdraw some money not knowing exactly the prices of anything so we took 200.000 kyats (aprox. 200 USD). The ATM spat out so many notes that we could not fit them in the wallet! The thing is that the biggest note was the 5.000 kyats note! 

Tachi feeling at home on another Friendship Bridge

The driver wanted 40.000 kyats (about 40 dollars) and we thought it was a good deal, until we felt how he was going to drive on those poor roads full of curves and narrow parts with cliffs to one side and rocks to the other. It was like a roller coaster, but worse! The scenery was beautiful, but we couldn't really enjoy or take good pictures because of the crazy driving! It was really scary when we passed the big trucks on those narrow roads! Now we understood why the bus goes only one way one day and the other way the next. 

Taxi ride up in the mountains

We had to stop some times to show our passports to uniformed men. It seemed like they were writing down our information in a big book to keep track of the tourists, we couldn't understand exactly what that was for. When we finally got down from the mountain we had a stop for food. It's a weird way they eat, they just bring out many little plates with side dishes and a bowl of rice to the table and we had no idea what they were. Asking wasn't an option as no one spoke English, not even the taxi driver. 

It got dark very quickly and we were still racing to Hpa An. Suddenly we heard a loud noise, and went out to see our flat tire! Oh, what a nice start in Myanmar! It was in the middle of nowhere, in the darkness, and we had to use the flashlight of our phones so that the driver could change the tire. After 5 horrible hours on the road, we finally got to Hpa An. We bought our bus tickets for the next day and went straight to a guesthouse to rest our super tense bodies and minds.

Flat tire

The next day we had breakfast and took the bus to Yangon. It was a local bus for only 5.000 kyats, with ok space, air-con and TV where they were showing karaoke music videos and very overacted Burmese movies. It was also funny that it stopped in the middle of nowhere to pick up locals that had to sit on small plastic stools. It was about 6,5 hours drive to Yangon. From the bus station we shared a taxi to the Sule Pagoda area where we checked in at a very ugly and dirty guesthouse. We had some late lunch and walked around exploring the nearby area. The next morning we decided moving to a neighbor guesthouse, a bit cleaner than the other one. We took a local bus to the area near the famous Shwedagon Pagoda. It was very hot so we looked for a place with air-con, bought some things and headed to the Pagoda. It is believed that it was built more than 2.600 years ago, making it the oldest Buddhist stupa in the world. 

Shwedagon Pagoda

We were supposed to meet Corinna and Lara there, but it was so crowded that we couldn't find them. We spent a lot of time there and got to talk with some Burmese English students that wanted to practice their English. When it got dark we went to the Vista Rooftop Bar where we could get a nice view of the Shwedagon Pagoda by night.

Shwedagon Pagoda by night

The next day we went to the train station to buy tickets to Bagan. A man that we thought worked at the station recommended us to go by bus because the trip was shorter and almost the same price. He took us to a travel agency that offered us "VIP" bus tickets for 25.000 each. Luckily, Tachi had read about the prices before and she thought that was a bit more expensive and suggested that we went back to the hotel to check it. On our way back we stopped by another agency to ask for prices and they offered it for 5.000 less and that was what Tachi had read, so we just bought the tickets there. We had lunch at the 999 Noodle Shop, which was quite good but nothing special like TripAdvisor said. 

A street near the Sule Pagoda

It started to rain so we headed back to the guesthouse to have a siesta and wait for it to stop. Late afternoon we walked to the river where we had heard about a pagoda that was supposed to be nice for sunset. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy and foreigners had to pay to enter so we decided to just have a walk along the riverside.
At night we met up with the girls and went for some food in Chinatown, but we didn't find Chinatown to be very exciting. The food did not look very tasty or Chinese, so we ended up just having some beers and David got to try deep fried crickets with some locals sitting next to us.

The next day we checked out from the guesthouse and relaxed in the park until we had to head to the bus station, where we met the German girls. We arrived in Bagan around 4am and had to spend 20 USD each just to enter the city. We found a nice guesthouse to rest a little, have breakfast and rent bikes to tour around some of the more than two thousand pagodas.

Some of the pagodas and stupas

Enjoying the sight from atop a pagoda

The next morning we woke up early to try to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately it was cloudy, but it was still a beautiful view. We got some sandwiches from the guesthouse that we had as breakfast on the pagoda before we continued biking to some villages. In the afternoon we tried to watch the sunset, but the weather was not so helpful again. 

Sunset in Bagan


On the next day we took a bus to Kalaw from where we would start a new adventure.

Chiang Mai

The day after the BSB concert we took a night bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, the second largest city in Thailand. It was about 10 hours ride and when we arrived in the city we had to look for a place to stay. We found a very nice room just outside the old city. After some rest we went out to explore the numerous temples inside the old city, which is surrounded by ruins and a moat. When we stopped to eat, we met a very kind woman who invited us to follow her to her home. She took us on the back of her scooter, and showed us her pets and gave us some tips about the city before we continued our walk.

Ruins of the wall around the Old City

The next day we had our first cooking class. We got picked up at our hotel and went to a local market to learn about some of the typical ingredients in Thai food. Also we got to try bamboo worms, crunchy and salty, yummy! After that we went to the home where we would have our class. There we had to choose 7 different dishes we would learn to cook. We chose different from each other, of course, so that we got to taste more different foods. It was a very fun experience and it was amazing when we tried the food we made. We actually couldn't believe that we were able to cook such good food! And it was a looooot of food. At some point we were so full that we had to ask to take the food back home. Our dinner and dessert that night would be our own take away! 

Masterchefs

The next day we went to the Elephant Nature Park office to book our visit, and in the afternoon we took a songthaew to the Wat Doi Suthep. Doi means mountain, so this was a temple up in the mountain from where we could have a great view of Chiang Mai. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy :( Coming back from the mountain we wanted to make a short visit to the night market in the old city. We arrived just when it was about to start, and everybody froze on the street while the national anthem was played over the loudspeakers. The market was huuuuge, and we ended up spending more than 3 hours there, including an amazing massage!

The whole city froze for the national anthem

On Monday morning we got picked up at our hotel for a day trip to some places outside of Chiang Mai. The first stop was at a hot spring, where Tachi boiled quail eggs in the hot spring for our breakfast. We also had a stop at Wat Rong Khun, also known as The White Temple, in Chiang Rai. This was a weird, but beautiful temple. We couldn't go inside because there were people working on it due to a earthquake last year, but it was interesting seeing it from outside. It had so many white and mirrored details. 

One of the weird things you can find at the White Temple

The next stop was the Golden Triangle, which is where the Ruak and Mekong River meet at the triple border between Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.
At this place we had an option to take a boat across the river over to Laos, but we preferred to go to the Opium Museum. We learned a lot about the area which is one of Asia's main opium producer, second largest after Afghanistan.
After lunch we headed to Mae Sai, the northernmost point in Thailand, at the border to Myanmar.

Handstand at the northernmost point of Thailand

Our last day in Chiang Mai was spent at the Elephant Nature Park, the main reason we planned visiting the city. This was a suggestion from Caroline, a very close friend of David's family. The Elephant Nature Park is a rescue and rehabilitation center, very different from the other places nearby where they offer riding the elephants that are actually forced and hurt to do that. We got to see how they took care of injured and handicapped elephants who had been taken out of their captivity. After visiting this place we decided to sign up for one week volunteering here :) 

Feeding the elephants

Since David was running out of time on his visa exempt, we had made our plans to visit Myanmar for a couple of weeks and then return to do our volunteering. So early the next morning we jumped on the bus heading for Mae Sot, where we would cross the border to Myanmar by foot.

Oh my God, we're back again!

We headed back to Bangkok because we had bought tickets for a concert in a couple of days. Yes, you guessed it; Backstreet Boys! 

This time back in Bangkok we decided we would try staying near the famous backpacker street, Khao San Road. We knew that it would be a quite dirty area, but we were still surprised when we arrived our hostel at about 4 am, and rats and cockroaches would be crossing the floor of the reception area. The receptionist not even caring or noticing our discomfort. As we didn't have any other option at this time, and we were tired, we took our chance and checked in. Luckily the hallway with rooms, and our room was much cleaner so we could get a good rest! When we got up some hours later it had totally changed, and the place was filled with life! By night Khao San Road is a street filled with tourists, street food, people selling everything from fake ID's to fried scorpions, people offering "ping pong shows" and probably anything else you can imagine! Tachi even got her hair cut, but most likely David could have cut just as well, or even better.

Walking down Khao San Road

Before the concert we were hoping to meet up with a friend of Tatiana. She had been staying on Bali for some time, but just visited Koh Phanang with a friend of hers, where we originally wanted to meet her. Since we never made it to Koh Phanang we made the effort to meet her in Bangkok before she headed back to Bali. Darcie had visited Tachi and her family last year, as a Servas visitor, and by coincidence we would be in Bangkok at the same time. We met up with Darcie and her friend for lunch, and just spent some time talking about life and our travels! It was great to meet up with her :)

Meeting up with Darcie

Finally the day was here! The day that Tachi had been waiting for for almost a month. The day she would finally get to see the Backstreet Boys live. In Bangkok!

Who would have thought this would happen? Definitely none of us.

That morning we didn't do much, just eating and relaxing, until we started to find our way to Impact Arena. We decided we wanted to start out early just in case any problems would show up along the way. It would have been devastating if Tachi had missed the concert! There were no problems, and we arrived 2 hours before the concert. That gave us the chance to take a picture with the Backstreet Boys!!! We got some free cookies to enjoy until they opened the doors, and then we easily found our seats.

Waiting excited for the Backstreet Boys

It was a bit weird seeing the old guys on stage, and singing songs we sang back in the end of the 90s! Tachi had a dream come true, but she had to manage with the company of David instead of all her girlfriends...

Photo with the Backstreet Boys

Beachtime on Koh Tao!

The trip to Koh Tao started by taking an almost 2 hours delayed night train from Phechaburi to Chumpon. It was about 5 hours of shaking and noise, and as expected Tatiana could not sleep. We arrived at Chumpon just on time to get the ferry tickets to Koh Tao, which took about 3 hours. When we arrived to the island we had a quick snack before we walked towards Sairee Beach, in search for a diving school. We found one with Spanish speaking instructors, and Tachi decided to start the course that same afternoon. We ended up staying next door in a dirty bungalow so we wouldn’t have to get up so early to walk to the diving school.

While Tachi was doing her Open Water course David had to find other things he could do on his own. On Tachi’s first day in the water David decided to explore the island by foot. On the way up to Two View viewpoint he met and joined two other travellers who were heading for Aow Leuk, a beach on the other side of the island.

View over Sairee Beach from Two View viewpoint

The next day, David joined the boat for a couple of dives while Tachi kept doing her exercises. Unfortunately she did not feel comfortable, and had problems with some of the exercises, so she decided not to finish the course. A three day course was a bit to quick for her to get comfortable with the sensation of breathing under water, so we got a cut in the price for not continuing the last day. Hopefully with some more practice she will be able to join David for some scuba diving in the future.

As we didn’t need to stay next to the diving school anymore, we headed out to find a better place to stay. We found a very clean place in front of Sairee Beach, with swimming pool, restaurant, bar, and for the same price as we were paying at the dirty place. Now we had a few days to enjoy the island and its beaches!

Boats in the sunset at Sairee Beach

The day we moved to the new bungalow we just stayed around Sairee Beach and enjoyed a relaxed day in the sun. We didn't really have much luck with a cloudless sunset, but it was still a beautiful view! The next morning we got up early, grabbed a not so tasty breakfast, and started our hike to the other side of the island. David had managed to convince Tachi that the steep and sweaty walk was well worth the amazing views over the island. Our plan was to do the same route over to the other side, but then go to Tanote Bay instead of Aow Leuk. Because of the burning sun, and a very steep road down to Tanote Bay, we ended up going to Aow Leuk. It was so good to get into the water, but unfortunately we didn't have enough money to pay the deposit for renting snorkeling gear :( Just because we had left almost all the rest of our money as a deposit for our bungalow... Why all these deposits??
Nevertheless we enjoyed the beach, and could watch some colorful fishes in the crystal clear water. As the sand was to hot we spent almost all the time in the water, just getting out for lunch. Before it got dark we returned to our hotel, and enjoyed a refreshing dip in the pool after a long day of burning sun and a lot of sweating. We were hoping to have a nice fish dinner as our last on the island, but we were rather disappointed. 

Enjoying Aow Leuk Beach

The next day was our ferry back to Chumpon, and our overnight bus back to Bangkok. We will be missing Koh Tao!!

Sa wat dee, Thailand!

Wow! What a difference! First of all the communication is much more of a challenge here, hardly anyone speaks English. To find our way from the airport to our hostel we used simple words and pointing on maps. We caught a train from the airport to downtown Bangkok, about 1 hour, for only 5 Thai Baht, which equals about 15 cents (USD). Several times during the train ride people tried to throw water in the windows. From April 13th - 15th is a big celebration of Songkran in Thailand, also known as the water festival. This is why we left India before our visa ran out, so we could join the Thais in celebrating their New Year. From the train station we could just jump on the metro taking us nearby our hostel. In the street where our hostel was everyone was playing around, soaking each other with their water guns and buckets. Of course as we were arriving they wanted us to be washed as well. Luckily we managed to keep our backpacks dry, but not clean, and we arrived happy to the hostel.

Songkran welcoming in Bangkok

We were planning to go right back out to participate in the Songkran celebration, but Tachi was having more problems with her sore throat so we decided to take it easy and regain energy for a big Songkran celebration the next day. Unfortunately Tachi didn't get much better, and it wouldn't be good for her throat to get soaked by cold and warm water and enter or exit air-conditioned buildings all the time. Tachi decided to stay in and insisted that David went to celebrate and enjoy the last day of Songkran, and bring back some of the experience to share. David walked down Silom Road among thousands of Thais and other tourists!

Silom Road during Songkran

The next day when Tachi was feeling better we started our sightseeing in Bangkok. There are so many temples and other things to see and do. We started the morning with a soup in the streets for breakfast and headed for the Grand Palace. From the end of the MRT we walked through parts of Chinatown to get to the taxi boat which would take us all the way to the palace. To enter the Grand Palace you must cover your legs and shoulders. We were prepared for this, but it was an extremely hot experience. The details and colors of the Thai temples are amazing! We must have used about 3 hours sweating and looking around the huge area.

Grand Palace

After cooling off in the shade with some nice Pad Thai and fried rice we got back on the taxi boat, back to see Wat Pho, the reclining Buddha. The reclining Buddha is 15m tall and 43m long, an impressive view! Wat Pho is one of the biggest Wats (Temples) in Bangkok and they say that we could see 400 images of Buddha in different postures there. We did not count them all because we also wanted to try out the famous Thai massage they offer before closing time. The temple is considered the birthplace of traditional Thai massage. First we tried half an hour of body massage, but when we finished this we decided to do another half an hour of foot massage. It was so good after a long day of walking around in the heat!
On our way back we stopped for some dinner in Chinatown. It was incredible watching them make our food with high flames in the middle of the street, and it tasted so good!

The huge reclining Buddha in Wat Pho

Included in the ticket to the Grand Palace was another museum, a bit further north. We decided to stop by here on our way to the famous street market in Chatuchak. The museum seemed to be an old mansion where the royal family spent vacations. It was a quick walk-through, especially trying to avoid loud Chinese tours! We got onto the skytrain heading for the largest market in Thailand. At the tourist police office we got a map and description of the different areas of the market. It was pretty big! We felt like we walked through most of the market seeing everything from clothing, antiques, foods to pets. It was a lot of walking in the heat again, so for David's Birthday the next day we woke up late :) We took a nice and relaxed walk in Lumphini Park, enjoying some green parts of the capitol with the lowest amount of vegetation in the world.

Loving the green part of Bangkok, Lumphini Park

Tachi had made a reservation for a fancy dinner at the rooftop restaurant at Sofitel Park Society, and we went over there to confirm the reservation and question about the dress code. Obviously David had to wear pants, which he does not have, so we ended up going shopping.
We had a delicious dinner with a great view over Bangkok!

Bangkok by night from the rooftop of Sofitel Park Society

The next couple of days were also spent in Bangkok, getting our visas for Myanmar and having the camera for service. Early morning the 22nd we had our train for Kanchanaburi. We had two main goals for Kanchanaburi, learn about the construction of the Burma Railway, also known as Death Railway, during the second world war, and refresh ourselves in the waterfalls of Erawan National Park. The day we arrived was just for exploring the nearby surroundings. We got a view of the Bridge over River Kwai from distance, checked out prices to rent a scooter, but the best part of that day was visiting the night market. Every night, near the train station there is a market with second hand clothes, gadgets of every kind and lots of food :) We walked around trying a lot of new and different foods! One of Tachi's new favorite desserts after that night is the ice-cream balls covered with some kind of marshmallow thing, called Mochi Ice-cream.

Our plan for the next day was to wake up early to catch the train to the Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum, but when we woke up it was pouring from the sky. We decided it would be a bad idea going to the Hellfire Pass if it was going to rain like this, and went back to sleep. Luckily David woke up again not long after, and the weather had cleared up. Quickly we got our stuff together and went for the bus. We got some good help from Joy, who worked at the museum. She told us to get off the bus with her, showed us where to catch the bus back, and helped us prepare our walk on the Death Railway before the museum even opened. Thank you Joy!
We chose to do the whole trail which took us about 4 hours with some stops to listen to our audio guide and also admire the scenery and reflecting along the way.  This railway was built by the Prisoners of War and Southeast Asian labor workers, known as romusha, as Japan was in need of a more secure supply route between Thailand and Burma. They constructed 415 km of railway in 14 months under severe conditions. More than 12 000 POW's died during the construction, and the number of romusha who died is assumed to be as much as 90 000. It was a very emotional and educational walk along the railway where all of the cuttings and embankments were done by man power!

Hellfire Pass

Today a part of the Death Railway is still operational from Nam Tok. We got on the train to experience the ride on the historical tracks back to Kanchanaburi. The ride was quite long but we passed by very nice landscapes and we could see how impressive it was to have built this railway in the way it was. After passing the famous Bridge over the River Kwai, we got off of the train and took a short walk on the bridge before returning to our guesthouse.

Riding the train on the Death Railway

The next day David woke up earlier to rent a motorbike before we had breakfast and took the road to Erawan National Park. Tachi was a bit afraid that we would face crazy traffic but it was actually an easy ride and we could enjoy the green around us.
The Erawan Waterfalls consist of 7 different waterfalls, with green emerald or light blue refreshing ponds full of hungry fishes eating the dead skin off the visitor's feet. When the small fishes nibbled on our feet it was just tickling, but when the big ones did it, it wasn't that comfortable! At one point Tachi decided to enter the pond with her shoes.

Refreshing in the Erawan waterfalls

The next morning we visited the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery to try to watch the ANZAC day ceremony, but it had not started by the time we had to return to do our check-out. We took the bus to Ratchaburi where we were going to catch the bus to Phetchaburi, but with a lot of misunderstanding and a lot of Thais saying that bus stopped going years ago we just barely got on the train heading south. We had to stand during the 1 hour ride, and as the only tourists we got a lot of staring at us.
At the train station in Phetchaburi we got on a pick-up taxi, called songthaew, and hoped to get a room at one of the few guest houses in the area. We got a room, had dinner at the night market and relaxed for the rest of the evening.
The next morning we had a soup from the neighbor for breakfast, and started walking towards the Khao Luang Cave. We didn't get far before we realized that it would be too exhausting walking all the way in the burning heat, so we caught a songthaew. There is a temple inside the cave with many images of Buddha. Outside the cave are many hungry monkeys waiting for the tourists to give them food, and they can become quite aggressive. Just in front of us a tiny monkey jumped onto a lady, giving her a shock. Luckily we passed without any monkey attacks ;)

Khao Luang, temple inside a cave

We were hoping for a songthaew for the trip back, as our driver didn't want to wait and said there would be others to catch, but there were none, giving us no other option than walking back in the burning sun!
For our last day in Phetchaburi we were planning to walk up to the temple on the mountain, but it was under maintenance, and we were also met by a lot of angry monkeys, so we decided to just walk around the town. We had our dinner at the night market again, before heading to the train station. Our train was supposed to leave some time around 10 pm, but didn't arrive until past midnight.
Time to hit the beach!!!

Mumbai and South India

We had problems with full trains from Udaipur, so we decided to fly to Mumbai. An early morning flight, but luckily we could do our check-in when we arrived. As we were hungry our first plan was to get some lunch, so we found a nearby restaurant that is famous for it's quality food. The food was delicious, and we felt this was a good start to our stay in Mumbai. After the meal we returned to the hotel to use the toilet before exploring the nearby sights, we thought.... Unfortunately we felt a little bad in our stomachs and would stay in our room for some time until we felt better. That meant that we would stay in our hotel room for 2 days with the worst diarrhea ever!

We were supposed to meet up with David's friend, Bhushan, from Mumbai. He was very understanding, and tried to help us as well as he could suggesting what to eat and drink to get better. The next night we felt a little better, and Bhushan came with his girlfriend, Tanaya, to take us for a quick tour to see the nearby attractions. As we had just been really sick we didn't want to eat anything that could risk us having to return to the hotel room. We felt good and ended up touring the whole west coast, finishing off with a malai ice-cream :) Thank you Bhushan and Tanaya!!

Bhushan and Tanaya gave us a great tour of western Mumbai

The next day we felt strong enough to go exploring, but first we wanted a quick stop by the post office to send some souvenirs back home. This turned out to be a long affair. We ended up using about 1 hour in the post office before we headed to Mani Bhavan, the house of Gandhi when he stayed in Mumbai. It was a nice way to learn more about the history of Gandhi. We took the bus back to Churchgate railway station and walked back to the hotel from there. On the way we saw some typical tourist attractions and stopped to watch some cricket in the parks.

Park full of cricket and fun! Behind is the CST

For our last day in Mumbai we finally got to go on the tour to Dharavi, one of the biggest slums in Asia, also known from the movie Slumdog Millionaire. This was a very educational tour where we learned about the different parts of the slum. Learning how they bring garbage from all of Mumbai to recycle it in the slum and sell to big companies, produce different products for mass exportation, how the entire families live in tiny rooms in labyrinth-like passages, and how kids get uniforms from the state of Maharashtra and free schooling in the slum. 

As we had already checked-out from our hotel we had to find elsewhere to stay until our night train to Goa. We decided that we would go to the cinema and watch a Bollywood movie, now that we were in the home of Bollywood movies! Before the movie begun we all had to rise to the national anthem, and in the middle of the movie they had an intermission. We were having problems following the movie since it was a detective story without subtitles, so we left during intermission to grab some food before our long train ride.

Tatiana ready for a 12 hour train ride

Our destination in Goa was Palolem Beach, and it was just to relax and get some sun at the beach. Here we had some time to taste some delicious sea food, but other than that there's not much to mention. It was also difficult finding a train from Palolem to Kochi, so again we ended up flying. Our flight went via Bangalore to Kochi, but our first attempts to land in Kochi were not successful due a tiny propelled airplane, hard wind and some rain. We had to land in Coimbatore and wait for the weather to improve in Kochi. Fortunately we could land the same night, only 3 hours after planned arrival.

Enjoying a relaxed time at the beach

Kochi would be our last destination in India, and our main plan for Kochi was to see the backwaters. We had been reading about a nice little home stay in Fort Kochi, so we contacted Immanuel and arranged to stay with him and his family. They were so welcoming and helpful in planning our days in Kochi. The first day was quite relaxing, just walking around and exploring Fort Kochi. We walked along the coast and saw all the Chinese fishing nets, visited the Indo Portuguese Museum, a few churches, and by that learned a lot about the Portuguese and Dutch influence in Kochi.

A few of the many Chinese fishing nets

Later that night Immanuel's wife had arranged tickets for us to go to the local Kathakali performance. It is almost like a theater without speaking, just some body language they demonstrated before the real show. We arrived to the theater 1 hour before to see them putting on their make-up which was quite a process. The show was way too long while most of what they did was quite repetitive and noisy.

And this went on for about 1,5 hour

For the next day Immanuel had been so kind and arranged our tour to the backwaters. We got picked up in the morning and brought to the backwaters where we got on a house boat. It started very easy on the rivers with explanation of the islands around. Luckily for us there was a man who had been on the tour before asking about the visit to a local island, obviously the tour operator had removed the main attraction of the tour so the man called the office and got permission to go to the island. This was very good, since it was the best part of the tour! When we returned with the house boat we got a nice lunch, which Tatiana couldn't eat because of the spices, before we were brought to the smaller canoes. We thought it would be a nice and peaceful ride along the narrow rivers, but it turned out to be full of garbage and we heard music from a cricket game nearby.

Cruising the backwaters of Kerala

Our last day in Kochi, and India, we found a tuk tuk to take us to Jew Town and the oldest synagogue in the Commonwealth. On our way there we stopped at several sights, the outdoor laundries, known as Dhobi Khana, some spice market, and a Jain temple. We arrived near the synagogue and had to walk Jew Street to get there. All the shops seemed quite touristy so we just kept walking to the synagogue. There are not many Jews left in Kochi, but the synagogue seemed well preserved.

The clock tower of Paradesi Synagogue 

On our way back we stopped by the Dutch Palace, a museum with all the history of the different kings that ruled in Kochi. It was a nice museum, but way too much reading for us, as we were getting hungry and wanted to return. We had lunch before we got prepared to take the bus to the airport.

It felt weird that we had already spent 1 month traveling, and were finishing off India for now, but we were looking forward to moving on to Thailand.

Thank you for this time, India!

Our Worlding Begins!

We have survived our first weeks in India!!! It was quite a shock to arrive in New Delhi, and stay in one of the most crowded and noisy area, Pahar Ganj. We had pre-booked our first 2 nights and knew we were staying in the "Main Bazaar", but when the taxi driver stopped in the middle of the street we looked at each other and telepathically asked "is this where we are staying?". The street was full of garbage, dogs, people, rickshaws and tuktuks, but we actually saw the sign with the name of our hotel. After a long travel and arriving early in the morning we decided to start off by relaxing a bit. Surprisingly the room was pretty quiet considering all the noise outside (the only sounds we could hear were from inside the hotel). Later on we went for a walk down the main street to have a look. All we could hear was "Hey! Nice pants, where did you buy them?", "Hey! Nice shoes, where did you buy them?", "Where are you from?", and obviously they "weren't" trying to sell us anything...

We quickly learned that we need to ignore everyone trying to get contact with us.

In the afternoon we had our first Indian meal at a tiny café right across the street from our hotel. Since Tachi (Tatiana) doesn't eat spicy food we got a suggestion to try Chicken Malai, which is supposed to be one of the mildest meals in India. David ordered the Chicken Tikka which is supposed to be a little spicy, but we ended up switching plates when it proved to be the opposite.

After our meal we found a tuk tuk down to nearby Connaught Place, known as the western market. Unfortunately the park in the middle had just closed, so we had to look at the impressively huge flag from the streets. We took a walk around the market and this was where we got aware of the uncomfortable way the men look at foreign women. One very creepy man was following us and making weird noises and laughing awkwardly at us. He kept on following us, though it was obvious that we had understood that he was following us and that we didn't feel comfortable about it, so finally we had to go into a western Nike store. He actually followed us in, but when we went up to the ladies department he finally left us alone. At this point Tachi only wanted to return to the hotel, so we called our tuk tuk driver to bring us home. This turned out to be a bad mistake as well! The driver kept calling us the next days, starting early in the morning trying to invite us out for breakfast.

The next morning we wanted to go to the spice market in the old city, so we tried to catch a new tuk tuk. At first the driver started asking us why we wanted to go there. We had been suggested by others to go there and walk around to see all the different spices, dried fruits and nuts. He still tried to discourage us, but finally we started on our way. The driver would explain that we were passing the "red light district" of Delhi, and when we got near the spice market he said he couldn't go further with the tuk tuk. He told us that this is a place where most locals come to buy big quantities of products and that it was not a great idea for tourist, especially not women, to go walking in alone. We started looking at the map together with the driver to find alternative things we could do. Eventually we ended up driving around with this driver all day, and he took us to the Raj Ghat, the Red Fort and to Humayun's Tomb. It ended up to be a nice trip sightseeing, and experiencing how the traffic with no rules actually works in India!

Humayun's Tomb

The next morning we had agreed with the same tuk tuk driver to pick us up at the hotel and drive us to our first Servas hosts in India. Pramod is a friend of our parents and kindly hosted us during our stay in New Delhi. Pramod and his wife Vinita helped us with our planning and how to get around, so in the afternoon Vinita drove us to the metro station so we could find our way to Akshardham Temple. Tachi had been so afraid of taking the metro, but it proved to be quite OK riding in the "women only" wagon, while David would stay in the next wagon keeping an eye on her. All the rickshaw drivers were waiting for us outside the metro station, but it was a quick walk to the entrance of the temple. On the other hand it took us about an hour to pass all the security checks and lines to enter. Later we read about a terrorist attack on the temple back in 2008, so this might be the reason for this kind of security.
On the way back we took the metro a part of the way, but there were too many people at the station where we had to change metro, so Tachi decided we would take a tuk tuk the rest of the way. When we arrived back to our hosts dinner was prepared and we tried to eat like real Indians :) It was not so easy, but we are all the way learning by trying!

The next day we wanted to be relaxing, so we got up early and got a ride with Pramod to Lodhi Garden. This was a nice place to relax in the middle of a noisy city. Lots of people were exercising, doing yoga or just sitting down relaxing. We enjoyed the park's monuments among all of it's flowers and animals playing around.

Lodhi Garden


We returned to have a typical Indian breakfast with Pramod and Vinita. In the middle of the day it gets very hot, so we stayed in and Pramod helped us buy our train tickets for Agra the next morning. When the temperature cooled down a little we got back onto the metro, heading for the Lotus Temple. Just like many other of the beautiful monuments the Lotus Temple is positioned in a very dirty and noisy area. The Lotus Temple is a nice view from outside, but nothing much more than a cool ventilated area once you get inside. It is a place for anyone, no matter religion, to come and pray or meditate. On our way back to the metro we met a couple from Brazil, actually from Vitória, who we joined to Dilli Haat before we returned to Pramod and Vinita.

Our Hosts in New Delhi, Pramod and Vinita

Early the next morning we took our first Indian train. We were heading for Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The sights from the train consisted of kids, youth and grown ups crouching along the railway doing their "job". It is also unbelievable how much garbage they just throw anywhere! Arriving to Agra, one of the most dirty cities we have ever seen, we were first welcomed by a family of monkies and outside the station was a herd of tuktuk drivers waiting to attack us. We got really surprised when the guesthouse owner started talking Norwegian when I showed him my passport. He had a good Norwegian friend, and had been living for some time in Hamar. the rest of the evening we just relaxed in our room, so we would be ready to get up early the next morning to go to the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal was just amazing!! It is incredible that they can have such a magical wonder in the middle of all the garbage.

The Amazing Taj Mahal

We though that a visit to Agra Fort was included in the same ticket as the Taj Mahal, so we jumped on a rickshaw to see the fort. Obviously we didn't read the tiny writing saying that it was only the taxes we didn't have to pay. Since we were already there we decided to pay and enter the fort. It wasn't anything special, but it had some nice details we could see while walking quickly through.

Colorful Ladies at Agra Fort

In the evening we wanted to eat at a place we had read about in TripAdvisor. We took a walk around to see if we could find it, but ended up asking a tuktuk driver. "Yes, yes" he said and started driving us around. He must have asked more than 5 people before we said we wanted to go back to our hotel. The guesthouse owner suggested a place called Pinch of Spice. Tachi checked it out on TripAdvisor and it was number 2 in Agra, so we took a chance and went there. The place was pretty fancy compared to other places we had been eating before, and actually it looked quite clean. We ordered some Indian food and Tachi made sure to ask for non-spicy food. The food looked delicious. David enjoyed his choice, but Tachi had problems again because the food was too spicy for her. The waiter tried to fix it but when he brought it back it was still spicy. Even so, she tried to eat a little because she was starving. It turned out that the food was actually a "punch of spice" to our stomachs, we both came back to the guesthouse feeling a bit sick, specially Tachi. 

The next day we just relaxed in the guesthouse until we had a train to Jaipur in Rajasthan. When we arrived the guesthouse had provided a tuktuk to pick us up at the train station. The tuktuk driver seemed like a nice guy and offered to take us for a nice tour around the city the next morning. At our first stop Tachi got a beautiful henna tattoo, which proved to be quite expensive when we saw prices at other places.

Tachi Getting her Henna

Our  main stop of the day was the Amber Palace. When we arrived it was the middle of the day, at the hottest time, and walking all the way up to the entrance of the palace was soaking! We did make it, but the heat was just too much for us. After a quick walk through the palace we quickly found our tuktuk and continued the tour.

Tachi Posing with her Henna at Amber Palace in Jaipur

After taking us to the main sights in Jaipur our tuktuk driver said he would show us a place famous for its fabrics, and as innocents tourists we accepted it. It seemed like everything they showed us was fake, just a set-up for ignorant tourists. They tried to sell us the same clothes we saw anywhere in the streets, just 4, 5 or 6 times the price! Fortunately we realized this was a tout and could get out of there without being robbed. The tuktuk driver's mood changed completely, probably because he would have gotten commission if we had bought something. He started driving like crazy and when we asked him to stop by the Hawa Mahal, he said he couldn't stop there and we had to take pictures from the tuktuk :( We think he said that just because across the street from Hawa Mahal there was a market selling the same clothes they were trying to sell us before!

The next day we took a train to Ajmer and continuing with bus to Pushkar, a small holy town in Rajasthan. We included Pushkar to our itinerary because we heard that we could do a camel safari there. When we arrived there it wasn't really what we were expecting. It was crowded by hippie tourists, enjoying that the holy men in Pushkar can sell them weed. This actually made us feel uncomfortable, and got many weird looks from other tourists.
We didn't find any group to join for a camel safari, and when we saw some camels and how they were treated we decided that we didn't want to do it anymore. It was really sad :( We started looking for tickets to Udaipur or Mumbai, but unfortunately the trains were full and we had to stay in Pushkar for 4 nights. We met 2 girls from France who invited us to join them one afternoon to the Savitri Temple. This temple is positioned on the top of a little mountain from where we had a beautiful view of Pushkar and it's lake. The french girls had met some local boys who joined us for the trip to the temple and on the way up we had a little break where David had some fun trying to teach them some gymnastics. At the top we could watch the super fast sunset before heading back.

David Showing Local Boys Some Gymnastics

The trip to Udaipur was very uncomfortable in a very old train, but we were so relieved when we arrived. People in Udaipur were way more friendly and we felt less hassled than other places. The city was also cleaner compared to the others we had been, and we actually spotted some trash cans. Udaipur gave us a feeling of a different atmosphere than the other places we had visited in India so far, and we felt we could relax a bit there.

Viewpoint over Lake Pichola in Udaipur

We have had an interesting start of our travel in the central part of India, with a lot of nice temples and forts, cows in the streets, intrusive salesmen, crazy traffic and intense smells. Some good and some bad feelings. It has been a tough start, but we have survived by learning, and now our travel continues south!

The Traveling Gymnast