THE BIG ADVENTURE: September 2009

Tuesday 29 September 2009

'Yipping'

Our new hobby…

Yipping: ‘yoga-in-public-places’ ing

After a short but very early 3 hour train ride, we were very pleased to find we had such a great view from our hotel’s roof-top restaurant, looking directly over the beautiful Taj Mahal: the Taj Plaza hotel is just a ten minute walk from the east gate of the Taj and at only 7 British pounds per night (without air-con, a little more with) we felt it a good deal.

On our first day in Agra, our tuk-tuk driver drove us around the whole town so we could take in all the sights excluding the Taj Mahal which we wanted to see at dawn the next day. We really enjoyed seeing the ‘Baby Taj’ which was apparently the inspiration for the real thing. Different precious stones are inserted into the white marble which makes up the whole building - it really is marvelous.

Guddi the tuk-tuk diver also included a number of shops and marble craftsmen in our tour where he hoped to earn commission if we bought anything. However, we feel so tight, really! We bought nothing, nada. We’ve both agreed that if we were here in India on a two week holiday, there’s so much we would buy here - there are such amazing ornaments and gifts and even items of furniture which we could gladly have sent home - we would definitely stock up on many of these items if A) we weren’t on such a tight budget and B) we didn’t have to carry it around with us for a year or C) pay a fortune to ship it. Honestly, we have met such talented craftsmen and artists and seen so many beautiful gifts; the prices are so reasonable but we just aren’t buying anything. It becomes quite embarrassing when you’re being shown such beautiful things at such low prices which you would ordinarily buy, but we just can’t.

Anyway, the TAJ. Definitely one of, if not THE, most beautiful buildings in the world. We woke up at 5.30am in order to get there as it opened at dawn and see the sun rise. It’s such a fabulous building and of course we couldn’t come to India without seeing it…(and practicing some yoga poses within its grand archways!)

After our pre-dawn wake up and visit to the Taj, we took a public bus out to the town Fatepuhr Sikri, a small market town where there is an old abandoned fort. It was an interesting experience but the heat and the constant hassle with people trying to sell us things as soon as we got off the bus was too much and we took refuge in a rooftop restaurant to avoid all the madness!

Friday 25 September 2009

Week One in India

Chris: Unlike many travelers, we were fortunate enough to be ushered into Delhi by our gracious hosts from their comfortable home. Bridgit and Graham provided an introduction that most could only dream of. They took us for some local shopping, sights, eats and we even were able to meet several Indian colleagues and get their travel advice on our first night in their country.

I was able to take the new camera for a test drive although I admit to using mostly automatic modes for advanced settings so far. Steph kept herself very busy with a Women’s Rights conference at the Habitat Centre and visiting a Mosque during the evening Ramadan festivities. Meanwhile the cook, Anthony, also agreed to take a day with me at the market, and then showed me how to cook a full Indian feast from the kitchen and the BBQ. He offered a good deal of techniques and tricks to cooking a butter chicken tikka with vegetable and paneer curry. The following day I tried to return the favor. Anthony helped me cook the family a slightly more continental dinner of a curry pear salad, grilled vegetables, corn on the cob and homemade macaroni and cheese.

We loved our first week in Delhi as it gave us a comfortable base to launch our tour of Northern India. On Saturday we boarded the Raj express for Agra-Jaipur-Ajmer-Pushkar-Udaipur-Jodphur-Delhi by Indian rail. My only previous knowledge of Indian trains is from the luxury coaches in the film “Darjeeling Limited” and carriage-hopping in “Slumdog Millionaire”, oh, and that trains are reliably late - usually by hours instead of minutes. The first half of this itinerary is known as the ‘Golden Triangle’ that tourists often follow to see the most celebrated sights such as the Taj Mahal. The second half will be more adventurous. We’ll leave the rail lines for some long mountain bus journeys, deeper into the orange deserts of Rajasthan…Our bags are packed for adventure.

National Congress for the progression of Women’s resource base…

On Thursday, I went with Bridgit to a national conference for womens’ rights. One of Bridgit’s Indian friends had organised the conference and Bridgit does a lot of work in support of the women’s rights organisation she runs. Bridgit was there to type the minutes and so I asked whether I could tag along.

It was a very interesting day with women from many different regions in India there to share their experiences and put forward their proposals. The conference was conducted in Hindi, Tamil but mainly English and began with some traditional songs about equality and putting an end to poverty, as well as a ceremony where an oil lamp was lit and then coconuts were presented to the main speakers.

I learned that in India women make up only 35% of the workforce as opposed to over 50% in Europe. The whole day was quite fascinating as we heard of many projects in place where women who wouldn’t normally work were being given skills in agriculture and masonry. The consensus seemed to be however that many things currently being done to help women and reduce poverty here are extremely short term and there needs to be more focus on long term schemes which allow women to become a part of the working community and support their families financially.

A visit to a school for street children

Every Tuesday and Thursday, Bridgit volunteers in a school for street children - she invited us along last Tuesday. Bridgit and Graham’s landlady (Mrs Metha) and her husband own a textile factory and are very anti-child labour. In June this year they set up a school with the intention of training up some of Delhi’s street children, giving them skills in embroidery and also a basic education in Maths, English, IT, Hindi etc.

In India, it is illegal for children between 14 -18 to work for more than four hours a day. Of course, this is not the case for so many children as they are too poor to afford school and need to work as many hours as possible to earn money to eat and to help their families live.

At the school we visited there are around 50 boys between 14-18. Every morning, they do four hours of embroidery. Though they are being trained with the intention of eventually being employed in the factory, this is still classed as ‘work’ and the children thus receive a small wage. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to afford to come here because they have to be able to take money home; some of them are surviving on their own. Some live in NGOs, others in slums. After the school has finished (at 5.30), many of them go on to an evening ‘job’ which could be selling books or magazines to passengers in cars, washing dishes in a restaurant etc.

After the sewing in the morning, the boys are given a good meal for lunch before going on to just over three hours of classes. The boys admit readily that they love coming to this school and ask why they can’t come on Sundays too (this is the only day the bus doesn’t come to collect them from the slums to bring them to school).

Chris and I were invited to take three classes each (each lasting one hour) and accepted the challenge. Being unprepared, neither of us felt inclined to teach a formal English lesson. Instead, I taught ‘art’ (I know, anyone who knows me must be laughing aloud! I haven’t taken an art class myself since I was 14 - dropped it in year 9!) and Chris taught ‘sports’! When I say art, really all we did was make some masks and make a design and then all wear them at the end of the lesson.

Chris taught some volleyball, played some football and even taught some chess! During Chris’ football lesson, the ball continually landed on the roof, and before he could even blink, the boys had scaled two stories barefoot to retrieve it.

The boys have never had any formal kind of education before and find it difficult to concentrate at times. Many of them are really so bright, it’s such a shame that they haven’t been able to go to school before and it’s so good that they now have an opportunity to at least be properly trained to be able to get a job in a factory when they’re 18.

Mrs Metha‘s idea is that if they’re trained from an early age, their different talents can be more easily spotted so that by the time they come to be 18, they can work in different departments in her factory, taking on a design or a managerial role perhaps.

After classes end, the boys have to do their prayers. This is something that is very important to Mrs Metha who wants to encourage the boys to be tolerant of others and open minded. There is a mixture of Hindu and Muslim boys and every day, they spend 15 minutes all together chanting Christian prayers in English, Hindu prayers in Hindi and Muslim prayers in Arabic. This is very impressive for boys who, for some of them, only months ago didn’t speak a word of English, to be reciting prayers in three different languages. After school has finished, the bus takes the boys back to their homes in the slums or NGOs.

Chris and I both really appreciated being invited to spend time in the school, founded completely in a contribution towards the end of child labour, and meet the boys. They insisted before we left that they show us their dance moves. Such fun! And a very humbling experience.

Tuesday 22 September 2009

Daily Yoga classes...

The best way to start the day has to be with an hour of yoga with a private yoga teacher in your own home.

Dr Rawat comes to do yoga with Bridgit every weekday morning for an hour and agreed to stay an extra hour for a yoga session with us every day. We absolutely loved it. I love the energy I feel afterwards and also how my body feels after stretching so much. Chris loved the breathing exercises and the way you’re taught to breathe during the exercises. Our favourites are monkey pose and camel pose! After a week, we both feel totally refreshed and yoga is definitely something we HAVE to continue with. Recommended to everyone we know! I’d love, in an ideal world, to start EVERY day with an hour - it’s got to be difficult without a private teacher though, so we'll have to wait until we're rich!

A week of luxury in Delhi...

Steph: We’ve been in India now for over a week and I really don’t know where to start! There’s so much to describe and so much that we’ve done so I’ll try my best to do it all justice in the blog. In Delhi, we’ve been so incredibly lucky to be staying with my old neighbours from Paris, Bridgit and Graham, in their fabulous house with marble floors and air conditioning, a chef and a driver! What luxury! We were made to feel so much at home there, especially as they hosted their very first Indian party the evening after we arrived. It was a wonderful party; the men who Graham works with and their wives (who looked beautiful in their saris - such fabulous colours) all brought gifts for Bridgit: flowers, paintings, vases!

The delicious food - all served in huge golden pots - was cooked by the chef and there were waiters walking around offering people drinks and Indian style hors-d’ouvres. The best thing for us though was to be mixing with so many Indian people on our very first evening.

I sat indoors with the women while the men sat together outside. It was really interesting to see a

first glimpse of the segregation between the sexes and we met some lovely people who advised us on where to visit during our time in India. I also learned a little more about Hinduism and the traditions here, more of which I have found out about since visiting a number of Hindu temples. At 10.30pm everyone left (EVERYONE at once!) and this left the four of us alone to continue the party on strong. We soon turned their living room into a dance floor and even the chef, Anthony, came out to show us his Michael Jackson moves!

On Sunday, needless to say, we were slightly worse for ware and only Graham’s beans on toast could sort us out! We got in a tuk tuk (which Chris was invited to drive!! The driver hastily took back the wheel when Chris overtook a bus!) and went straight to India gate from where we walked to the parliament buildings.

The tuk tuks are like a colony of green and yellow ants dodging, often extremely precariously, through the insane traffic. It’s generally quite cooling though as you sit there with the breeze in your hair and they’re completely shaded with their little yellow roofs. In all honesty though, we’ve been exceptionally lucky to have been invited to use Graham’s driver, ‘Geet, who, in an extremely comfortable air-conditioned car, has driven us around to whichever sights we wanted and added a few places of interest of his own to make our visit to Delhi extra special.

We did our fair share of sight-seeing in Delhi: Humayan’s tomb, the Bahai ’Lotus’ temple where people of all faiths are invited to pray - I loved it here, so calm and peaceful amongst the madness of Delhi. We also explored the Quintar Mintar which is a very ancient and beautiful pillar surrounded by tombs and the Jantar Mantar observatory and sundial built in 1725 which looks more like a modern art style structure - see photo. Finally the Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in the whole of India - it can hold 25000 people in its courtyard - which we caught at an especially poignant time when all the men were leaving after the final prayer of the day.

We visited the famous Red Fort by night where we watched a sound and light show about India’s history. Rather bravely, we took a taxi into Old Delhi after sunset which was apparently especially mental as it was the last week of Ramadan so people were out and about everywhere celebrating and eating after their long day of fasting. Crossing the road was a crazy task - Mum, you would have hated it - and Graham led the way through the cars, buses, tuk tuks and motorbikes (often carrying a whole family! Dad, mum and two children!) as I held my breath and hoped for the best! Strolling around the empty Red Fort at night time was eerie and a very special experience. There were barely any people there and the majority of the fort inside wasn’t lit up at all, making it quite spooky. I especially loved it as my Grandad was based here for a number of years during WW2 when the British used the fort to house their army barracks before India gained independence in 1947. I’d recommend the sound and light show if you’re interested in India’s history, though Bridget wasn’t impressed with what she described as ‘the constant Empire-bashing’.

On another evening, I went with Bridgit and her amazing landlady (more on her in a blog to follow this!) to visit a Muslim shrine outside a mosque in Old Delhi. This was a wonderful experience, especially as it was the last Thursday of Ramadan and so the streets were alive and CRAZY with people. It was lovely to see so many families there paying respects to the shrine, and praying. It was so packed that the men were pouring out of the mosque to pray alongside it. We sat cross-legged on the marble floor outside the shrine (no women allowed inside) for at least an hour and a half soaking up the atmosphere..

Bridgit also took us to an amazing Indian clothes shop, famous in Delhi for its range of styles and colours and also prices: FabIndia! Chris arrived slightly dubious as to what on earth he might be able to buy here but emerged after what Bridgit considered an especially loooong time (AGES after the two of us had finished in the ladies’ section) from the changing room with a rather large selection of garments he wished to purchase! We helped him decide eventually on two pairs of Indian style trousers, one top and what is apparently called a photojournalist’s jacket. I bought two pairs of extremely baggy, long and light trousers. I absolutely LOVE the colours here - India really is full of such beautiful colours. It makes me wonder why we insist on such dull clothes in the West! I congratulate anyone of you reading this blog if you’re not wearing one of our Western favourites: black, grey, brown or beige! Comments welcome…

We’ve eaten really well in Delhi (no Delhi-belly yet, touch wood!), mainly due to Anthony (the chef) but also due to the great and bargainous restaurants here with such a fab selection of food! I LOVE Indian food; it’s something of a favourite with my family and many British families, I’m sure. There’s just so much choice and so many flavours. We’ve stuck generally to the vegetarian options and we’ve tried some wonderful dishes. My favourite so far has to be (can’t remember exact name…alu dak??)… two boiled potatoes stuffed with paneer (Indian cheese), raisins and pistachio nuts, soaked in a tomato, onion and amazingly creamy curry.

Thursday 17 September 2009

Hong Kong to Delhi

We had a crazy two days in this spectacular city. It is insane! The streets in Kowloon are like gritty 80s New York, and packed like ant hills. We didn't fight them too much since the heavy typhoon wind and rain came in and we decided against a few outings like taking the coastal bus to Stanley, a market and beach town. Instead we updated our blog (no censorship in HK - facebook finally!) and went to a huge dim sum dining hall where they push carts of the bite-sized snacks between tables. Then the afternoon was very exciting. We went to an enormous computer and tech wholesale market just around the corner. We didn't need much, but did pick up some really nice computer cases and a travel speaker for only a few dollars. With a new toy set up, we were ready to hit the streets and explore more of Hong Kong island and ignore the rain. At this stage Steph declared it to be 'Christmas for Christophe' (and loves that we have the 10 free accessories to carry now, including a massive tripod...). So, we went for her choice of a burger along the world's longest escalator as our final tour before a late night departure to incredible India!

We arrived in Dehli without any real trouble except it was a 2am landing and 3am before our bags came out. Due to the typhoon our flight pattern was a huge s-shape to avoid the bad weather in the South China Sea. There wasn't too much turbulence at all on our Cathay A330 anyway and we happily continued our episodes of 24 burned on the old netbook. Our friends Bridgit and Graham from Neuilly were so kind enough to even pick us up at this ungodly hour. We then stayed up talking to them until the mosques made their call out at 6am.

After a much needed sleep we woke up to the sound of monkeys in the trees around the villa! Our friends live in a fabulous house with a grand entryway, staircase and huge bedrooms and terraces. Yesterday they took on our fist tuk tuk to lunch in their leafy neighborhood on the south side of New Delhi. The Indian food was delicious - We had cheese (paneer) for the first time since Paris : )

Wednesday 16 September 2009

One Perfect Day in Hong Kong

A top day in Hong Kong begins fighting the throngs of pedestrians on the street to just get to the nearest metro. The first stop will be a spectacular overview of the city from the peak (accessible by train). Head back down to 'central' MTR station. Now escape all the commuters again with a double-decker bus ride out to Stanley market for a late brunch and a bit of exploring. Then hit the beach. Hong Kong is blessed with it's beaches and their are countless paths to trek along the beautiful coastline. Shek O is a good one nearby. After a good bit of sun, head back to 'central' when you are ready for more city life. From here you can climb the world's longest escalator if you are up to the 'challenge'. However it's best to press on if you want any time for electronics shopping in Kolwoon. It should be late in the afternoon by now so you have two options 1) fill up on snacks during happy hour at the central pier before catching the star ferry or 2) head directly on the ferry Kowloon-side for shopping. If you do press on, you could stop for some post-shopping tea at Peninsula Hotel - a time honored tradition. Either way this crossing is absoluty quintessential Hong Kong. But be sure to fill yourself up on snacks since it will be a late one! Now timing is everything. Now at 7:45 make your way for a stroll along the Chinese walk of fame just in time for the 8pm harbor light show. Meanwhile be sure to hunt down Bruce Lee! Then double back and hop on the next star ferry to wan chai this time. Head immediately for the happy valley racetrack. Hong Kong stops in it's tracks on Wednesday evenings and weekends for this time honored tradition. It would be a shame to miss the action. Plan a debaucherous trip down bar street thereafter or end your day back in Kowloon with some fish outdoors under neon lights in the temple street night market restaurant benches. It's been an action packed day so it might be time to get a little rest. There's just too much to do here in one day... If you have any time tomorrow, don't forget to take a view over town from "the peak". And on your way out of town, why not catch a 4-D film in at the Extreme Screen in Terminal 2.

Photo Album - Curio China - Lost in Translation

Click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=zimme2cj&target=ALBUM&id=5381381075238563057&authkey=Gv1sRgCMmmu8GlyMzG-QE&feat=email

Tuesday 15 September 2009

Fun and Frolics in Hong Kong

Steph: One thing we found difficult in Hong Kong after all our success stories in China was finding accommodation for under 20 pounds a night (take note especially of the amazing hostel mentioned by Chris in Shanghai - definitely worth booking if you are planning a trip there). We settled eventually on the Dragon Hostel; the write-ups for Hong Kong hostels within our budget on the internet were so similar and comments had prepared us for the small size of rooms and bathrooms and lack of communal areas. Our hostel matched these descriptions: it was clean and if all you needed were a bed for the night and you’re fine with dodging toilets while showering, the Dragon Hostel could be for you. Chris described it beautifully as being more like a dungeon or prison cell than a hostel. It was, however, in an incredibly lively location with markets all around: Mong Kok.

Hong Kong is a great city. It’s buzzing with energy and it’s wonderful that people here drive on the correct side of the road (!!) and there are even beautiful double-decker buses that bring fond memories of home! Well done to the British to bringing at least these things over! We attempted on our first night to go to the horse races at Happy Valley race course but after a long journey over there found it to be closed as, unluckily for us, we had arrived two days earlier than the season beginning. Our second day took us to the lovely Clear Water beach on a wonderful bus ride but again, unluckily for us, a typhoon was coming and sand being whipped into our eyes led us to make an early departure, fearful of being caught in torrential rain in our bikinis!

Instead we went camera hunting for Chris who has been excited about buying a new one in Hong Kong for months. We did lots of research, visited many camera shops and electronic markets before returning to the Dragon to reflect.

In the evening we went to meet an old Copley school friend of mine, Mike Smith, who I haven’t seen since the grand old age of 16 when we left school.

It was great to catch up after eight years and I was very impressed with Mike’s current business man status! We went to a fab bar above the star ferry where, in true backpacker style, Chris and I dined on the free bar snacks! We took the star ferry back over to the Kowloon side in time for the light show (a nightly show where the harbour is filled with music and the buildings light up in time to the music). However, AGAIN unluckily for us, the light show was cancelled for the first time in years due to the typhoon! It was so windy but we loved it because it was a great way to cool down! We walked along the hall of fame, meeting up with Chris’ mate Bruce Lee (see photo) on the way to a great bar with live Western music.

When asked by Chris what he missed most about home, Mike replied ‘walking fast’. He told us that it was difficult to know whether it’s because the Chinese have such little legs or whether they eat so much rice (which he believes to be lacking in the necessary dietary requirements to produce the energy for a fast paced walk), but the Chinese, he says, walk incredibly slowly. I must say that I did make this observation in Hong Kong myself but I believe it to be more due to the lack of pavement space for so so many pedestrians. You can only walk as fast as the person in front of you as there is NO space for dodging or overtaking

One thing that was made even more apparent to me about myself on visiting Hong Kong was that I am truly not made for big cities like this. While I love visiting these places for a short period of time, I just cannot cope with such huge numbers of people and know I couldn‘t live here. It truly was ridiculously crowded most places we went and there just wasn’t enough space to walk. It stressed me out! I don’t think it was good for my soul!

Chris did buy his camera in the end. Of course it came with multiple accessories which we now have to lug around the world until he sends them home: a huge and heavy tripod, a case, a free Nikon cap, a free addidas hold all (which did come in handy for carrying all this stuff!) and much more. It was like Christmas day for him as he’d earlier bought himself some accessories from the computer market. He was so happy, it was great!

Before our late night flight to Delhi we took a trip on the world’s longest escalator which was BRILLIANT! A wonderful mode of transport, it winds up through different neighbourhoods allowing people to arrive home from work without having to climb the huge hill home in the humidity and heat.

Hong Kong is a GREAT place to visit and it turned out that we could have done with a few more days to see all the things we wanted to. There is so much national parkland to visit outside of the city and you really could spend at least a week exploring these places. ‘Unfortunately’ though, we had to take a plane to Delhi where we were going to attend a party the next evening…

Monday 14 September 2009

Guitar Hero: Beijing

The Chris & Steph China Awards!

Best Hostel: Mingtown Hiker, Shanghai (should be a posh hotel)
Worst Hostel: Dragon Hostel, Kowloon - Hong Kong (more like a dungeon)

Strangest supermarket item: snack-sized chicken claws, shrink-wrapped. Cucumber flavored crisps are also a little bizarre.

Odd expensive product: shaving cream - small runs for 30 RMB, impossible to find and instead you can take the subway 15 times in Beijing, or buy 10 beers (63cl) on the street.
Most useful phrase in tourist traps: "Boo Yow!" no thanks!
Finest dinner: Chinese banquets and the Peking Duck at Li Qun Roast Duck Restaurant
Biggest sellout: "Gei wo yifu dao cha?" Could I have a knife and fork?
First rip-off scam: 800gb USB 'sony' usb key at the pearl market in Beijing...should have known better.
Most useful word: "Pee-jo" beer
Best bargaining: ipod noise cancelling headphones, 2 pounds.
Best Street Food: Xian pork dumplings (followed closely by beef 'bing' in Beijing).
Best in flight entertainment: "I love you man"
Best film on China: Hero
Adopted catch-phrase: "good for lady"
Favorite Sound: ringing of bicycles in Beijing.
Quintessential item: Tea flasks - don't leave home without it.
Practical China: Street soup noodles served in a plastic bag (beer is also served in a plastic bag on the beach!)
Local fashion statement: men's bellies airing out with folded up t-shirt... and pyjamas outside!
World Badminton Champions: Victor and Chris - 204 volleys - surely a national record?
Backgammon Champion: Steph
Spit Champion: Chris