Return to India - North to South in 5 days!!

So after 1 month amongst the tranquility of Nepal we headed back across the ramshackle border at Sunauli and on to Gorakphur, which was to be more of a culture shock than when first landing in Mumbai so many weeks back. Having a train the following morning we needed to find refuge for 1 night and the only available option resembled more a truckers "pay by the hour" nesting shack than any sort of hostel/hotel. For 1 night surely we'd survive, which we did, although it didn't get much better as we searched for a respectable eatery we dodged rats the size of cats, cockroaches looking like they had eaten the rats, & waiters looking like cockroaches.....beautiful!!

Needless to say we made it through the night & began the 1st of many epic train rides to take place over the coming month. 23 hours & 850km to Kolkata where we were greeted by the usual barage of questions from the ever curious natives.....these of which we have grown well accustomed to by now. We had heard some mixed reports of the former capital....extreme poverty alongside the usual difficulties associated here. However Martina and I were pleasantly surprised by the friendliness, apparent organisation of roads and obeying to traffic rules, and general ease of the city. And all this taking place amongst the busiest of cities where not an inch of space is wasted or goes unutilised. With a feast of fascinating architecture of British India around the BBD Bagh area and Victoria Memorial, a monument that would rival the Taj Mahal had it been built to celebrate an Indian, and areas reminiscent of "the land that time forgot" in Barbarbazaar & Chinatown, Kolkata has an interesting contrast of struggle & splendour. Chinatowns are hectic & fast paced the world over, however, wandering the markets & chaotic alleys here made us feel like a grain of pliau rice being ferried around by an army of busy ants!! The decision was taken to depart after only 3 days, as after enjoying the city so much we did not wish to risk the possibility of something, or someone, ruining our experience.

On to the train again.....this time a 35 hour.....1600km journey along the East coast to Chennai. How we wondered would time pass without too much boredom??? Another pleasant surprise as the train became immersed with an array of beggars.....some nice, some annoying, some entertaining & others just disturbing. We had Sari clad singing transvestites, blind men playing accordians, men with no legs sweeping & cleaning the carriages, all kinds of diseased (non contagious) & malfunctioned bodies, harmonica players with no arms (maybe this I made up???), fruit sellers, nut sellers, chai sellers, paperboys, plagiarised book sellers, plus the usual amount of train riding nutcases!! The entertainment was all free of charge and kept us sane, if at all possible, until finally we reached our destination.

With just 1 day in Chennai and after longing to feel sand between our toes we headed straight for Marina Beach. How different beachlife is in this crazy country, with women swimming fully clothed in their Saris, hoards of men playing endless games of cricket, young girls perfroming death defying tightrope acts, plus the usual Indian street cuisine. However, with trash sprawled as far as the eye can see it is difficult to understand the lack of respect for such a natural beauty as the beach & ocean are. Throw it in the bins for f$%* sake!!!! The rest of Chennai, or what we saw, is more traditional and a far cry from its larger counterparts and a wander through the market streets gives an enjoyable glimpse of village life within a city.

The last leg of this entry took us to Madurai, once again by train, only 9 hours & in the with the comfort of a reclining chair & A/C.....travelling in style now!!! Madurai is a small town with the focal point being the huge Sri Meenakshi Temple, a Dravidan architectural masterpiece, covering no less than 6 hectares of land. Inside was somewhat like a Disneyesque fair ground, with an array of souvenir shops, fairy lights depicting Gods & elephants happy to take money from the crowds of pilgrims lining up to make offerings.

So much of what we have been used to and alot of new ever surprising events. The first week back in India had been as interesting as ever.

Walking the Kathmandu Valley!!

Its been so long that it almost seems like another lifetime since we were in Nepal. But for the viewers pleasure I'll have a go at recalling the events. Since I last left you I believe we were in Kathmandu and about to commence our voyage around the valley, and I've just had a sneaky look at the photos Martina has uploaded and we appear to have come along way since Nepal, but regardless I shall give it a go.

Have not a clue where now to start so will have a guess at Bhaktapur, 1 of the 3 royal cities of Nepal, alongsaide Patan and Kathmandu. The city of culture, myself & Martina were blown away by the architecture, landscape, local cuisine and fascinating attitude of the local people. Such a joy to wander the streets & be greeted by the welcoming smiles & innocent laughs. It was here that I decided to test my travel insurance limits for the first time, by riding atop a local bus, to Changu Narayan, alongside the goats, sacks of rice and a few locals. This proved most entertaining, especially having to dodge the overhead power cables, breathing in the fresh country air and the knowledge that Martina was squashed up inside in a ball of sweat!! Bhaktapur is one beautiful little town and power cuts weeks could easily be passed by here just watching the world go by.

From Bhaktapur we then made our way up to Nagarkot, 2175m above sea level, a town said to offer unrivalled views out beyond the Kathmandu valley bowl. What we did miss though was that these views were expected from October onwards. At this time of year there is not a lot else to do in Nagarkot, so we sat, feasting on the delights of yak cheese sandwiches, in the hope that the rain would clear for a just a few minutes sat! Our patience was to pay off as one morning we were vigarously awoke at the crack of dawn to be greeted with the stunning sight of sunrise and the fascinating view of the snow capped Himalayas.....well worth the wait!

Not ones to indulge in full mountain treks we decided to take our own hike 25km from Nagarkot to Bodnath, via the beautiful small villages of Sankhu, Bramhakkel and Mulpani. Through this route we were met with some of the most breathtaking scenery and happy smiles to ever lay our eyes upon, making the walk more pleasant than we could have imagined. However we are still monsoon season and the walk was interrupted just outside of Mulpani forcing us to hop on a bus for the final few kilometres.....this was not met with too much disappointment. Nepal just keeps on amazing us and Bodnath was to be no different. A small town housing Nepal's largest populaion of Tibetan exiles and incredible architecture built around the incredible Bodnath Stupa, which is best visited late of an afternoon to witness the Tibetan and Bhuddist community going about their daily rituals.

The past week has possibly been the most peaceful, relaxing and jaw dropping since our arrival on this continent. Now, however it is time to return to the organised chaos of Kathmandu and then on, once more, to Pokhara.

Namaste.