Queensland: Caboolture - Hervey Bay - Airlie Beach

Lost 3 hours in time zone flying back to Aus, body is really confused, thinks it is John Wayne ( normally thinks it is Wayne Sleep)

Picked up the new hire wagon and took to the scenic highways in the hills up from the Sunshine Coast. It is very nice up there. We visited old Petrie, a real dish of a town. It seems to be set up like a living museum. We watched the steam enthusiasts trying to bring an old steam traction engine up a track from the lower field to their workshops. First they got a steam traction engine and tried to tow it. No joy! the traction engine could get no traction - only wheel spin. Next they brought the steam road roller and coupled it to the traction engine and tried to tow again, still no good. Then they drove the 2 engines up to the top, wedged their wheels to stop them slipping and put a cable on to the steam driven winch on the traction engine. I had to leave them, I will never know if they succeeded, being gritty Aussies, I imagine they did. We then drove onto Dayboro and had a clotted cream tea in the sunshine, leaf Earl Grey, strainer and all, scones cream and jam, yum.

Linda then took on the map reading duties to take us up and along 1500 foot ridge to Mount Mee and down Aguiller to Caboolture. We started well along some lovely switchback roads wit nice drops over into the valley, the roads got smaller and smaller.....and then we went off road onto gravel tracks (don't tell Budget Rentals), the track got smaller still until we ended up at a dead end in the forest. Linda suggested, I asked the way at a house up in the trees, I opened the car door and the sound of banjo could be heard from the porch....... I did a quick uuie and back we went.

I continued my track record and we found a motel that is a converted timber chapel. Got free beer and wine when we checked in. We asked the owner for a recommendation for dinner, he suggested the Blue Anchorage on Birbie Island We drove over in the evening ands had a stunning meal, herb crusted snapper and crayfish on a bed of mash and bokchoi with a pepper chowder sauce, the parakeets were deafening in the trees around us, the sun was going down over the mountains, glorious reds, golds and turquoise turning the sea purple - wow. I dunno if the piccie does it justice.

Another little quiz item - how many modes of transport have Lin and I used so far? Guess and name them.

Now in Hervey Bay. It is a delightful little coastal town with sandy beaches, pine tree lined at the beach edge, followed by a cycle/walking path that threads its way along the coastline. Lots of benches, picnic areas with coin operated barbies, fitness stations ( for those so inclined) and backed with bars restaurants, motels etc.We rose early to visit Fraser Island on a guided tour. Cruised over on a Tank Landing Craft, they call a barge. Fraser is a World Heritage site, the biggest sand island in the world, 165k by 18km, 500m deep, it has rain forest, temperate forest, deserts of dunes that are overpowering 60m high trees. This cycle of dunes overpowering forest, in turn being colonised by forest again has been going on for millennia. It has resulted in strata of peat like layers called coffee rock because it crumbles like grounds when handled. This forms waterproof layers that retain all the water that falls on the island so that you get a 500m deep aquifer that supplies springs and streams all over the island. There are no roads, so only 4WD can cope on the tracks. We drove over to the far side of the island where there is a wide sandy beach that is used as a highway, an airstrip and also as a beach all at the same time. We took a flight from the beach in a single engined aircraft for a tour of the surrounding sea and the rest of the island. The 4WD continued up the beach and we landed further up the beach to re-join it, landing over the top of the cars and taxiing through streams - cool, Linda was very brave. She took a fancy to our pilot, he said people thought he looked like Prince Harry, but our driver said everyone calls him "princess"

We had a nice lunch and then went inland to a freshwater lake for swimming. The water is all sand filtered, very clear and with a ph around 4, so no life in it to speak of, very clear and very cleansing on the skin and hair.

There is plenty of wildlife, we saw dolphins, goannas, dingoes and tiger sharks, plus loads of birds and flies. It was very full day from 7.00am to 5.00pm that went like lightning. The dingoes apparently steal any leather gear if you leave on the lake beach while swimming.

Rotavator, Waitomo NZ - Stinktown

Been driving around North Island NZ, clocking up the miles. Rotorus was lovely, it is amassive volcanic area and the whole place smells of sulphur. We stayed in a small motel, and even that had its own geyser feeding a spa pool. The public park has been nicely done with bubbling mud pools and geysers steaming away amid displays of park flowers. Went down to Waimangu Valley, which is the scene of fairly recent volcanic eruptions in 1886 and the early 1900's. The 1886 eruption of  Mt Tarawera blew a huge hole in the top which overe the years formed a massive lake, we took half hour boat ride to just to cover one quarter of it. It is still very active and the "frying pan" is the largest boiling spa in the world, 6m deep, 38,000 sq m. A geyser blew over 450m in height in 1900, killing 4. Steam all over the place. Its a lovely nature reseve with abuandant animals - they are just about to re-populate with Kiwis, trout up to 20lb. Even if Robbie couldn't catch any, the water is nice and warm by the bank!

 

Visited Waitomo caves today, saw the glow worms. The guide said thet were maggots that lived on the cave roof, spun tubes of silk that glowed at the tip so thay could catch flies to eat - looked like LEDs to me. Spent the evening in the Toby Jug, steaks, NZ beer, live music and Aus rugger on bigscreen. Off to Brisbane tomorrow.

What's Up - Auckland

What's up?  A lot of the local place names in the Perth cape end in up, Yallingup, Cowamerup, Boranup. I must look up the meaning/derivation. I guess it is local lingo from the natives or early settlers. Sitting in the Perth Lounge, not  a patch on Singapore, but Singapore Air is providing free internet, must piss off the local suppliers at the airport. Driving went well, no problems and the Lancer was good for a hire car.

 

No rain seen so far, but I think that will change in Auk. The hot spell has broken, apparently the East Coast is down to 30 Deg C.  Bad news about Arsenal, I think MU have got it again. The SW cape is very nice, its very like Cornwall very rugged, small villages. This is Easter weekend, very strange, its supposed to be the busiest weekend of the year, but most of the restaurants shut early and all the shops are closed. You should see the E Monday rush - no cars at all. I guess its a reflection of the low population here.

 

You recall that here were no rooms in Margaret River and we got room in a camp site. It was very nice, new build, big rooms, but they had spread fertilizer on our garden, blood, fish & bone if I recognise the stink. Got us $200 back on the week - well done LIn.

 

We are on a 20 kilo baggage limit which is intersting on a world trip. I have only used a fraction of my gear, Lin has used all of hers. We are weighing in at 39.4 kilos. My thought for the day - pack less clothes, pack more money!

 

Arrived in Auckland at some ungodly hour 5:10am. I am surprised how dark it is here in the morning, still dark at 6:45. It is their summer after all and back in he UK it will be getting light now before 7. Shuttled in to our hotel - Chalet Chevron, another of my attempts not to not pick standard "Marriott" style business hotels. This is  very small  place in Parnell, a Victorian "historic" district. No one here at the Chalet yet to let us in. We will take a wander off shortly and have breakfast in town. 

 

Been using the local buses, very good. A free city bus, a circular route bus for 64p a trip and the rest at £1.35. Auk is very "English" and is nicer than Perth. We have been out to Mission Bay, a little resort town just outside Auk and we have toured around all of the major sights. We went up to Mt Eden, some hike that uphill. Poor Linda suffered a bit. Visited the museum, nice place in the middle of Auckland Domain - Any of you guys speak NZ and know what a domain is? Know what a short black is? Got an historic tour guide from tourist info, went on the walk, it takes you around loads of places that are no longer there. I tell you what, you need a really good imagination. Learnt about the NZ wars, never covered that at school in my day.

 

I always imagined the NZers to be reserved quiet people. Not at all the kids are really rude and pushy with no respect we had to shove them out of the way in the museum at times. In contrast to the Aussies, they drive like nutcases, flat out in all the lower  gears, tearing round corners, walkers have to watch out. On my way to Rotorua, we've heard its a bit of a stink hole, but never mind, lets see for ourselves.

Aus: Margaret River

Picking up our hire car today - first driving since we left blighty, I wonder what that will bring. Have to keep sober now!  Spent the morning here in Perth, weather is great, Freemantle Doctor keeping us just right. Been using the free CAT buses to take us around the city. They run very frequently, there are 3 different routes and there are plenty of stops. We will soon be headed East. We met some Aussies up by the WACA, who were over from Adelaide for the HASH at the trotting track, whatever that is. They said it had been over 38 Celsius for 14 consecutive days. Hope it cools before we get over there.

 

I can't quite make. the Aussies out, confident, brash, lively - but drive like pussies. Came all the way down without exceeding a speed limit 110klicks max. Arrived and stayed in Bunbury, again quite bizarre for a seaside town, all closed up by 5:30, the pub was closed by 9:30, ghost town.

 

Here in Margaret River, nice drive down and its a lovely place, climate great, a small town on the bottom SW tip of Aus. It has a high street with bars, restaurants, cafes. Lots of wineries in the area, surf dudes in town, nice place. We got the last room in town, its Easter week and apparently this is the place to be. We are in the bar right now, on the verandah, eating lunch. Fed up with roaming charges and got an Aussie mobile now. It's 0061 439151907.

 

Its very rugged here, we went to the beach yesterday, there is nothing there except the beach and dunes. The sea is coldish, although that's not too surprising as we are at the junction of the Indian & Southern Oceans. The sea is pretty wild and it is always windy. There is a lot of people surfing and kite surfing. This is also wine country, there are dozens of vinyards, some with names you would recognise from wine in the UK. Even, though it's Easter break, there are so few people in town in the evenings, most of the restaurants are closed by 6:00pm, it is so unlike being in the Mediterranean. The people all seem very nice and helpful.

 

Drove down to Augusta, right in the South West corner. We tried a bit of spelunking as the coast is riddled with caves. A tough walk down and up out of the cave, it was 63 m below ground, some in our group really struggled to get back up. After the cave climb, gluttons for punishment, we climbed the lighthouse, only 35m this time. It is great driving here, lovely single lane roads thru te Jara tree forests, dappled with sunlight. Easter Mon coming up, I wonder what the traffic will be like going back to Perth - we fly out that day to NZ

 

Went to a winery(vinyard) today. A real one man show run by Pat & Tim Negus. They moved here about 14 years ago and bought 130acres and built their own house and then a chapel to display her art. When I say built, I really mean it - they made their own mud bricks and built it themselves. They thought about farming beef but one day on a whim, Tim bought 500 vines and planted them, no budget no costings, just did it. He does all the work himself, fermenting, barrels, bottling, no chemicals. He makes about 5000 bottles pa of cab sauv and merlot and a bit of rose. Oh, he has a Jack Russell called digger who helps out. Pat started painting watercolours when she arrived here and illustrated a book on West Aus wild flowers, apparently little is available.The originals are on show in the chapel, in which they also hold concerts and weddings. We went down and watched the surfers in the evening. It looks a waste of time to me - they spend most of their time paddling for 10 seconds of surfing (if lucky) every 15 minutes. I heve mentioned how Aus defeats my pre-conceptions. It happened again today, went out for a pre-dinner drink, no joy, you can't buy a drink on Good Friday. Its dry Friday, I dunno if thats good or not!

Perth

We had a good flight with Singapore again, they are a great airline. We boarded about 9:30 and got uderway, the Singapore girls soon came around with drinks - orange, water etc. Linda went for a Singapore Sling - well, she said, it is a pre-lunch drink With that, I had scotch and ice. Nice flight, woke up just before landing. If Delhi and Singapore wrer different so was Perth. Linda  had put some "coated peas" in our case. This  is some form Singaporean snack, I'll let you know when we eat it what it's like. Now, the Aus immigration is pretty tough on what you bring in - no worries, we bluffed it. The climate is great, humid to dry - fantastic, if a bit draughty. I don't know what the rest of Aus is like, but Perth is A bit like it is shut for winter, after Singapore. It is so quiet, everyone gos home prompt at 5:00 and all the shops shut. It also reminds me of London, Victorian shops, greasy pavements, Stoke Newington High Street says it all. We have spent the day, wandering. It is St Paddies day and we stopped for a beer at a bar on the water front. I had a Guinness in the "The Lucky Shag" and guess who dropped in - a Shag, well there you go.There is not much going on for tourists in Perth, we wandered around to the Bell Tower (waste of time) and then to the Perth Mint, much better. Took the free CAT bus up the WACA and back.

 

We have selected rather ideosyncratic hotels on our trip, and this is no exception. We are staying at the Miss Maud Swedish - ever heard of it? I think not. It is great. Nice and clean and set in 1950's Sweden. The lift is 3ft by 3ft and has do-it-yourself doors, open the outer then the inner, You oldies will know what I mean. It is decorated in a rather strange Swedish style, rural paintings with the staff wearing dirndls. Victorian building. We a great meal in the restaurant tonite, with Tony on the guitar playing my style - slow hand, VM, Eagles, good stuff.

 

We leave tomorrow, Freemantle and down to Margaret River, our first car hire, how will we cope on the driving? Linda's just gone off to wash our smalls..... and just rushed back in to say you musn't wash after 8:00pm, its 9:30, she is now listening at the door for irritated guests, I'll just tell them she is on UK time and no worries. Hav any you who have been to Aus, nticed how the traffic lights sound like my 1970's car trying to start in the winter?

 

More tomorrow from WA

 

 

Singapore

I am sitting here in Singapore airport reflecting on our journey so far and Singapore in particular. I really enjoy your messages to me on the BLOG,  they're great to read - keep them coming. The airport at Singapore is fantastic, loads of shopping, free internet, cheap cafes. I see we have no guesses what the picture in the Jaipur posting. Free internet access here, which is typical of Singapore. No fish for Robbie, I don't understand it, he is good fisherman, lots of patience and understands his fish. Ah well, roll on end of close season, lets find some better waters with the LAA and on  the Severn.

 

Linda has key memories of places she visits, e.g. China - lots of noisy hawking and spitting everywhere. For India it was men pissing in te street. Everywhere we went she came across men peeing in the street. I don't  think its her thing. The Delhi B is finally fixed and Immodium has released its grip on both of us - Hoorah!   India & Singapore are like chalk & cheese. Singapore is so clean and organised, the Metro is fantastic, I recommend it to everyone. You buy single tickets on an oyster card and have to pay $1 deposit which is refunded. Airport to town centre is $1.50, about £1. A day ticket is $8. The whole of Singapore is so clean, the cleanest Chinatown I have ever see. We spent a day wandering about, City centre, Fort Canning Park, the spice walk, watched an Easter egg hunt - one kid must have found 50eggs, the talent contests in the street, Battle Box. We had a nice 1 hour massage, a lovely Singaporean girl. I have never had the masseuse climb on the bed with me - it was great and she washed me afterwards. The hotel was super. We went shopping in Orchard St, like Oxford St, but with US style Bluewater Malls. Went for tea at Raffles Hotel and ate dinner on the quay, smashing. Hot and humid, very tiring. Went down to Harbour Front and took the cable car that goes over the harbour and up Mount Faber. Mount Faber is run by a single company so they see you as easy meat and go for ripoff. A Sprite up on Mount Faber costs you $10, they must think I have MUG stamped on my forehead.

 

Walking back from Chinatown, I could have sworn I saw a UFO - I had had a drink or two, what do think from the pics?

 

I need to board now so I will complete post piccies in Aus.

Delhi 2

We finish our PoW trip back in Delhi - again up at 6;00 am to get ready to leave at 7:30. All n all we had a great time met some good folks on the train who cerytainly were characters.

 

Firstly there were the Russians in our carriage. They didn't mix with anyone really, while we went on the coaches with everyone else, they always had private transport, down to the boat that went to the Octopussy island, they had their own private guides. The mother was a NY doctor and her son was a cosmetic surgeon. Some unkind people on the train said he may have worked on her. I don't know, but she was certainly very attractive in that staring sort of way. There was a whole bunch of Canadians in our group who were great, there were two other doctors, one Aussie, who we will try and meet up with in Melbourne and one Brit who came from Southend, so it didn't matter too much if anyone got sick, except we wouldn't be able to afford the Russians. Then we had 2 lady food stylists from the US, what a scream they were, great fun to be with, not a dull moment.

 

We got back to our hotel in Connaught Place, settled in and went out for some tuk tuk. These are the motor scooter rickshaws. Funny enough, Lin felt safer with them than the first taxi we had. Everyone in Delhi drives with the wing mirrors in. They either don't want to see whats behind them, or are frightened of getting them knocked off. We spent a good couple of hours in the National Museum trying to understand the Indian history and who all the Gods are. Its very confusing. Its such a big country too, up north in Nagaland they seem to have tribes a bit like re indians wit feathers and bows and arrows and all. We next tuked around the government buildings and India gate. Lutyen's Delhi is something to behold. Our last hour was spent in the gardens in Connaught watching the world go by and the park keeper trying to stop the young ones snogging - they don't like it in public you know! We left early for the airport, cos of strikes, Every one said leave 4 hours. When we got there, they wouldn't let us in the terminal and snet us to a lounge $70 rupees sir. And what a slum, with cleaners on strike, their was crap everywhere. We finally got in to the terminal and after greasing a few palms got through pretty quickly. Boarding Singapore Air was like moving into paradise. What a slick airline, they knew the Delehi terminals were all crap - one I was looking at was frozen for 3 hours with the wrong gates posted. Singapore posted their own and put out their own notices. Left on ime and arrived Singapore on time - bliss after India. Stil no need to use the loo is a good thing, good job the Immodium is strong!

Agra Vation - No! Immodium to the rescue

I had had several nights with no sleep, first up early for tigertown, then Linda DBiing, nw I've got it and I am up at 5.00am for bird watching in Bharatpur, clenched cheeks I spend two hours looking at red cheeked bulbuls, owls, flycatchers, storks, mynahs, kingfishers etc. We had guides and a peddle rickshaw for the 10 km round trip. The rickshaw boys were having a tough time. No decent monsoon for 5 years and the lakes were so low that all the migrating birds went elsewhere. They said 4000 down to 400 varietys around. Consequently, the work had dropped right off. They all turn up at first light and have to enter a lottery to see who is first to get work if any one turns up. They don't get paid by the park only by the visitors. So back for breakfast with Lin. who declined the trip and off to Agra.

 

This was a very different place, back to poverty and trained squads of shock hawkers and beggars as you brave the pedestrian only road to the tomb.  You also drive the 500m before the pedestrian bit in electric buses for the environment. The Taj is set in a beautiful place along side the river with the town downstream. It was pretty crowded and again Mel was right, pickpockets were at work, especially at a crowded choke point where you actually enter the Taj. Again we had a first class lunch in the Shearaton, lovely grub, beautifully presented.

 

From there we went to the Red Fort. I think this was better than the Taj. It is a world heritage site, a smashing set of buidings with lots of history well presented. Our guide was CB, a retired judge. Pretty knowledgable, lots of anecdotes, but difficult to understand. Shah Jahan buit the Taj to bury his missus in, and it was assumed beacause she was buried in the centre and symmetry was key, that he would have another tomb, perhaps across the river. However in a story of soap opera proportions, the youngest son, murdered his 2 elder prothers and emprisoned Dad in the Red Fort so he could take over - bit like Gordon Brown! The palace in the Red Fort was all marble like the Taj and Shah Jahan was kept in a small part where he ould see the Taj in the distance. When he finally died he was buried in the Taj, so we will never really know about his tomb.

We were scheduled to visit a shop on the way to the PoW, but the whole coached rebelled and refused to get off - even the super shoppers were over shopped!

Udaipur: Beginning of the end?

Or is the end of the beginning. Well as far as Delhi Belhi, Lin kicked off with crash, up most of the night more going than coming (do you know the joke about the colours?) With suitable drugs and TLC from me she was fine for the next day. Udaipur, this is the place with the hotel on the lake, that was used Octopussy. Funny enough they were shooting a film called Cheetahs when we got there. Udaipur is a bit different to the other cities we visited. Cleaner - less traffic - no beggars or hawkers to speak of. There was more shopping to do however. We went to an artists co-op where they were painting so finely - it looked like a one haired brush and he was using ground mineral paint like lapis lazuli in gum. They were painting on camel bone, silk, formica. The camel bone was made by grinding the bone, setting it in gum and then finely slicing sheets, so thin that you could back-light the finished painting.

 

We visited a botanical garden, watched fisherman netting catfish on the lake - they must have had a haul of 40 fishes, looking like 10lb each or so. The palace was nice but a bit run down looking. The palace is huge and contains the public part, 2 hotels and the private apartrments for he boss. We ate in one of the hotels, very sumptious. On the way out Linda wanted to buy some stamps. We wres ent out and down the stairs. We wandered so far that we must have gone wrong. Salvation, I came across one of the hotel security people. I said good afternoon, can you help me? yes sir, he replied. I asked if he knew where reception was. He said yes. I said can you tell me then? He said yes I said where then, he siad yes. I said you can't understand me can you? He said yes. We went back the way we came.

 

We next went out on a boat trip round the hotel island on on to another island for afternoon tea. V pleasant.

Jodhpur: Trousers for All

Nice train ride to Jodhpur, finally got the hang of rock n' roll in bed and slept better. All the towns we visited are also known by colours  - pink for Jaipur 'cos of all the pink sandstone used, amber for Jaiselmer, aginn used in all the buildings, now blue for Jodhpur. Apparently the top class Brahmin's painted their houses blue and yu can see this quite clearly looking over the town. The fort is built really high up and dominates the town. It is really beatiful. Lin got lucky, birds shat upon her from on high while waiting to enter the fort - lucky it was her and not me eh? We had a lesson on turban tying, so if anyone fancies 30 feet of cloth on their bonce, see Linda.

 

Had lunch in the Maharaja's palace - now a hotel with him still in residence in one wing, it is some place. Built in th 30's and it has a facist look about it all Nuremburg and overpowering, but stunning. Set off after lunch on PoW for Sawai Madhopur.

Sawai Madhopar, Chittorgarh; Beggers Heaven

Set off in Sawai Madhopur before dawn for a Tiger hunt with our cameras. We went out in 20 seat open safari trucks to a National Reserve. General consensus of PoW staff was that we would be luck to see any tigers. However, we got lucky had two or three close encounters with the 3 cubs, nevertheless 300 pounds of 10 foot kitty, some cub eh! and then the whole group and then the female on her own. We very fairly close 20 feet or so and the tigers didn't seem disturbed by us at all. All in a days work for film stars, I guess! The whole park was very nice lots of deer, antelope and birdlife. After a couple of hours, back to the train for brekkie and off to Chittorgarh.

 

Chittorgarh seemed to be a very poor area, we under siege by beggars and hawkers from the very start, the kids were trying to sell their own scraps of self made drawings and were insistent that my flip flops needed a good brush and polish up. Interesting fort, again up big hill and some lakes surrounding the walls. Saw local lads impressing their girls by leaping off the walls of the fort. They had a victory tower doing a Pisa job. The town was fought over by the invading Moghuls from the east. The Maharja's army fought them off until they got besieged in the fort and with rashions running out went for a last ditch battle. All the women committed suicide (johar is it called - I blur at the moment) and the boys went out to get slaughtered. Tried their tea marsala - not my cup-of-tea. Back to the PoW. It was a long old day and trouble was brewing - more in the next episode.

Jaiselmer - Beauty in the Desert

Its been good to read all of your comments on the Blog while we are travelling - a link to home. After a long nights run west to the far side of Rajastan, we arrive in Jaiselmer. Lots of troops around, we are very close to the Pakistan border. Its a wall enclosed city of great beauty. The Jain Temple was interesting, it predates Budhism and all the saints look the same and you can only tell them apart by the emblems at their feet. Interesting religion that eschews all wordly goods. Lunch on the train followed by guided wander around the narrow streets and into some of the houses. What do you think of LInda's mustache? We had an interlude of obligatory shopping followed by a trip out to the desert for a half hour on a camel.Couldn't walk afterwards. Sunset in the desert was dissappointing, too misty to see it. There was a big party going on out in the dunes, generators, music systems and crowds on the dunes, never did find out what it was really about. Back to town for dinner where Lin and YT took part in some local dancing with the dusky maidens, very nice. Contrast to Jaipur - pop density 9 per square kilometer. Interestingly, while the females outnumber the males in western Europe, I think Jaiselmer has less then 900 females per 100 males. Back on the train, off to Jodhpur overnight.

Palace on Wheels - Jaipur, Shopping Hell

We are finally back in Delhi, after Palace on Wheels (PoW) trip around Rajastan, so I have chance to do more posts. I have just set up posting by Email, of which this is my first attempt - so lets see. We joined the train after wrestling with our cab driver with whom we booked for a tour of Old Delhi, Chandri Chowk, Red Fort, Ghandi's memorials, the Hindu Temple, but who insisted on taking us shopping- jewelry, art, carpet and furniture emporium and we just got out of going in the Tea Store. Still it consumed a few hours until we joined the train at 4:30. The train is an oldish set of carriages holding 110 guests, 8 to a sleeping carriage with two kitchens and 2 restaurants and a bar & lounge carriage. Our accommodation had twin beds and a sink, toilet & shower set up. All pretty functional but not much space in the wardrobe. We shared the carriage with what we called the "Russians" They were a young married couple - Nataly and Pavel ( LIn thought his name was paddle) and their respective parents. Nataly's parents were Russina jews who had gone to US via Israel, she was a NY doctor and he was a big civil engineer. The husband's parents were from Kiev and spoke no English.

The PoW people group you up for your tours - we were the pinkies, cos of the pink PoW badges we had. They were a smashing bunch of people, but more about them later. After a strangish dinner of about 10 courses starting with Euro cuisine and ending with Indian, we got to bed. Mel was right - it was a real rock and roll job in the old carriages. Sleep was difficult..

Our first day was in Jaipur, the capital of Rajastan, over 5million inhabitants, 395 per sq km - got the picture. We went to several palaces - Palace of the Winds in the high street, next to Woolies and then on to the Amber Fort, where we rode up the hill on Elephants. After the Delhi taxi, Lins nerves were shattered. She didn't recover until after the G&T's that night.. The fort was a smashing place, really nice. We then went to lunch in a really plush hotel and were given the full treatment with red carpet and indian band welcome, flowers sashes and the bullet hole between the eyes. We got to grip with a bit of culture and the Hindu Gods. Apparently Shiva married Parvati and they had Ganesh - he had an elephants head and rode around on a mouse. It must have been a great disappointment to Mum & Dad, but he turned out to be really lucky so thats all right. Familys paint him on their houses to invite all the family and friends for a knees up when anyone gets married. After luch we went to an observatory - you could tell the time to plus minus 2 secs on a sundial - cool.

After this we started on the shopping - that taxi driver must have taught our guys all he knew. We spent hours in carpet shops, jewelry factories, shawl makers - what a grind. Apparently they take the puff puff off for servicing at Jaipur and we can't get on board again until late. Leastways, thats their story. Anyway off we go, overnight to Jaiselmer. Towns ending in -pur are walled, -mer on a hill.

Can you guess what this is?

Dehli Behli

Finally got underway. Overnight flight on nice new Airbus 340. No problem until we got ot Delhi. No taxi to pick us up - but after a couple of calls we finally got the hotel to send one. 45min delay. Met a guy who came to pick up his wife on our flight - no show. He didn't know if he had the wrong day what with the overnight flight or if his missus missed the flight. The taxi ride put the willys up Lin. No rules except might has right of way, so watch out for lorrys. See the picture of the hotel - looks a shambles from the outside, but nice inside, good location on Connaught and half the price of all the nearby hotels. Lots of complimentary goodies and free wifi. Pandemonium on the streets. Big crowds roaring at the shop windows - turned out that India had just beaten Aus in the 1day finals in Aus. Must be no sports bars in India. Just getting ready to go out for din dins.