highlights - the end of India to Bratislava

Sometimes you leave things so long that the thought of coming back to it seems a little overwhelming and it becomes tempting to abandon altogether rather than face the backlog, which for the reader would also most likely be onerous.

So you`re going to get highlights -

Late April, Andaman Islands - Pure paradise. White sandy beaches. Lush green bush. Thatched beach huts. Whole red snapper for NZ2. Daily scooter hire to explore island, new beaches, snorkel spots. Laxed out backpakers with nightly beach party, bonfire, sunrise. Laxed out friendly locals who didn´t try to sell you anything.

Early May, Darjeeling - another little gem. Funky town of 60 000 sprawling down a steep hill. Crisp mountain air welcome change from late 20s early 30s. Himalayan people so friendly, and price things... Tasted tea harvested exclusively for Harrods. Wished we were there for longer, but had to get to Kathmandu to meet mum and dad.

May-early June, Nepal - Month with mum and dad Silvester. Sister Annie, John and I joined mum and dad on a pilgrimage trek through the Kumbu-Everest region for the 50th Jubilee celebrations of the school that mum volunteered at in the 70s while assisting dad at the nearby hospital. Spectacular, breathtaking, awe-inspiring scenery. Lots of laughs, music (although John`s guitar is much worse off for joining us for the trek) and of course, walking. Special to see mum and dad as honoured guests, and makes you proud to be a New Zealander because of the work of Sir Ed and how appreciative locals were. Last three days were spent white water rafting with some neat cats we`d crossed the border from Darjeeling to Kathmandu with. Awesome.

Mid June, Turkey - Istanbul is vibrant, livable, tactile. Layers of history showing Christianity overlaid with Islam, overlaid with a sort of religious tolerance that allows a fluid intermingling of cultural expression, despite the obvious dominance of Islam.
Cappadocia-Goreme, a natural theme park with valleys of `fairy chimneys`, rock formations that early christians carved into for housing. Surreal, beautiful. breathtaking. Splashed out on dawn hot air balloon ride, ascending with hundreds of other multicoloured spheres. Magic.
Stayed in a `treehut` (wooden hut on stilts) in Olympia and took a 4 day boat cruise to fethiae(sp). Indulgent, relaxed, super cool pirate looking boats.

Late June, Greek Islands - Beautiful and amazing for reasons other than the beaches (New Zealand`s are better). Blue blue sea, blue blue sky, white houses, large cliffs. Rhodes fortified old city and cute narrow cobbled streets, Santorini beautiful typical architecture, Naxos with white sandy beaches. First time our daily budget has meant we have to self cater, but bread, cheese, tomatoes, olives and stuffed vine leaves are fortunately very cheap. Delicious, but by the time we leave we were done with it. Missed Athens because the strikes limited transport options. Taxied to the airport. Ouch.

Early July, Munich - Met a local at the hostel who showed us `Peter`s Munich`. Awesome. Bikes for the day, which is a bit of a challenge for me, but no better city for it. The best beer gardens, the best sausage, and the best surf. Munich has a river that creates a natural constant wave. It`s awesome. Check out John`s post on facebook.

Mid July, England - the visiting leg. met from the plane by friend Malcolm, and stayed with him and his partner Charlotte for four days, where, to be honest, we didn`t really do much except visit the world`s longest pleasure pier, and enjoy good company and hospitality. Then onto London for the usual sights, staying with friend Anthony and wife Rhi and failing to connect with various other friends. Then Reading for a wonderful one night wonder with cousin Emica, shooting through to the Cotswolds for a night in quaint English countryside with John`s uncle James and onto the Midlands to stay with a fabulous couple we met in the Andaman Islands. Had 3 fabulous days in the Lakes district - Windemere - one of the prettiest places on earth, and then visited friends Anna and Max in Cambridge. About halfway through this, we were beginning to decide that staying in England was beyond our budget for the whole of July, and we heard that Ireland, which was our original plan was worse, so we booked some flights and here we are in Eastern Europe.

Late July to early August, Budapest to Frankfurt via Bratislava, Prague, Berlin and Amsterdam - Budapest is a cool cool city, tragically beautiful, crumbling buildings, avant gard, artistic, musical, dynamic. Stayed in the most magical hostel run by an artist. Could live here.

Is raining hard in Bratislava. Braved it yesterday, staying indoors and catching up on emails etc today. Cute city, better preserved than Budapest, but not as lived in so lacks a little life in comparison. Compact, which has served us well in this weather.

Rest to come, hopefully in more frequent bursts.

Indian Rock Star

We weren't sure what to expect, or what was expected of John - as a local band had been hired also - at the anniversary party. When we arrived back in Jaipur we were treated like royalty - the staff were falling over themselves to serve us with anything we wanted - all paid for, along with the accommodation and train and airport transfers. Chains of marigolds were laid over the balconies and the pool (this was the nicest place we stayed at in India). An industrial strength fan spraying water was set up, along with a full bar of international spirits and wines - being able to drink wine for the first time in weeks was amazing.

Guests were to start arriving at 9, with supper a buffet which people began eating at about midnight or later. These were obviously upper middle class Indians - the women in gorgeous glittering saris or cocktail dresses. This was the only time I saw any Indian women in knee length dresses the entire time we were in India. The women laughed and drank and danced and seemed so much freer than the average Rajastani women I saw on the street (or not - I felt like women were often invisible on the streets of Rahjastan, which I understand is one of the more conservative States).

The band played several songs - western classic pop-rock using keyboard, guitars and backing music and then John was asked to play. As the wife in the audience, I was inundated by the men clamouring to tell me how amazing John was. They were truly blown away and spoke with passion about his talents and all wanted copies of 'his cd' - little did they know most of what they were hearing was Cat Stevens and John Denver. John played for over an hour at their insistence and for that time he truly was an Indian rock star.

The evening went until maybe three with speeches (which rivaled a best man's speech for embarrasment), cake (which was smeared on each other more than it was eaten) and dancing (bollywood style of course).

Leaving Kathmandu

So we have a lot to catch you up on. We last wrote from Jaisalmer, where we were about to head back to Jaipur for John to perform at a 25th Wedding anniversary party for the owners of the hotel we stayed at, and then fly out to the Andaman Islands the next day - a spontaneous booking to escape the suffocating summer heat. But before we get into that, we should mention that on the way to Rajastan we spent two glorious days in Agra, exploring the old city, the Agra fort and, of course, the Taj Mahal, which our hotel had the most magnificent rooftop restaurant views of. Weary from having just left Delhi, we decided to splurge on a car with guide for the first day, and we felt like rock stars being chauferred to all the main attractions other than the Taj. The Agra fort was really impressive - built from red stone, it had rooms for each of the 4000 women of the harem, palaces, courtyards, mosques and was fully plumbed with open water running through to act as a cooling system. It took us several hours to walk through. It was also here that we met our first kiwi - we weren't sure where all the foreign tourists were, but there didn't seem to be that many around for our first few weeks in India and it was nice to hear that familiar accent. We only met one other kiwi the rest of our India leg - and he grew up in Manaia - on the coromandel peninsular about 30 minutes up the road from my home town!

We went to the Taj at dawn, although the sunrise itself wasn't particularly impressive. The building is as beautiful as it is made out to be. Pure in its perfect symmetry. Creamy and glistening. Gigantic. It's only when you get up close when you realise how impressive it is, and then you lose the whole as you can only take in small portions. Photographs are almost useless. It was built as a shrine for the favourite wife of a great ruler - the guides call it the greatest monument to love, but to me it is too austentatious for the simplicity of love and seems more like a monument to self. The ruler was intending to have a mirror image built in black stone across the river, but the son imprisoned him in the palace in agra fort overlooking his creation, as to build it would have bankrupted the kingdom.

Later we wandered - the old city is charming with ancient brick buildings and haphazard paved and crumbling streets that wind without exit for several kilometers (which can lose its charm quite quickly in the heat of the day). Back out on the tourist strip the rickshaw drivers are relentless and seem confused when you reply "for a walk" to "where are you going". Some followed us for over 30 minutes at a time. The shop owners were also some of the most active we came across - but one we were particularly amused by, yelling "give us your money" as we walked past - at least he was honest.

desert storm

When I started writing this I was sheltering in an internet cafe from a sand-storm, come rainstorm, and then the power cut. We have somehow managed to spend over a week in Jaisalmer, when most tourists come in , do a camel tour and leave. But this city - far western Rajastan, the desert forming a border with Pakastan - is quite magical. The old city was used as the backdrop for Arabian nights, and as the Lonely Planet says, it really towers like a giant sandcastle. Majestic, golden. The city is the smallest we have come across - 75,000 people and this change of pace is very welcome. But what is really charming about this place is its richness of colour and vibrance. Music is strong here and performers can be found in streets and in restaurants - we've missed the festivals but I can imagine them being an experience not to be missed. The quilts remind me of my Nana Grace's - thick wool borders surrounding rich and glittering patterns of colour.

And yes we did a camel tour - three days out in the desert. They stop the camel tours in the next couple of weeks because it gets too hot, and even now they recommend only one day... The desert was mainly scrub - like our own desert road, except hot. We breaked under the shade of seldom seen trees between 11:30 and 3:30. And even in the shade the heat was uncomfortable, and only really good for sleeping. Our camel drivers were good-humoured and possessing what I have observed (and taken from reading White Tiger - highly recommended) as the ingrained servant-master mentality, it was not until the second night, that we could convince them to eat with us. We did the Camel trek with a fantastic English couple we met in Jaipur. And I spent my birthday next to a campfire, with them, our camel hosts and John and his guitar sleeping with only a blanket under the stars.

Delhi

Delhi is the amplification of everything that is dislikable about India - overwhelming dust, smog, rubbish-lined streets, rubbish paved housing establishments/slums, beggars and slick and over-friendly scammers. But wandering the bustling vibrant streets and markets of old delhi, tasting the incredible food in the Muslim district and exploring the feat of ancient building and architecture the city offers some grace. Still, it's difficult to really enjoy Delhi - and escaping it brings such an unbelievable sense of serenity that it possibly matches the spiritual experiences people seek out in this overtly religious land.

A little bit from John on Singapore.

Wow, what a wonderful first stop stop. We have been put up by wonderful hosts, friends of the Silvesters, Laurence (of Arabia) and Amelia. We have been taken out everyday for fine dinning, experiencing a different cultural cuisine everyday. Between over eating and the relentless heat/humidity it can be hard to move but in such a busy, vibrant, and culturally diverse city there has been no lack of motivation to sweet the streets.
So as not to bore - some brief highlights.
-Singaporean Iced Coffee, mmmmm thick sickly and creamy.
-Drinking large $5 beers at 11pm (or am:-)outside the cafes, talking to friendly locals and it still being 30+
-Watching 100+ Singaporeans shaking their booties line-dancing to american pop in a packed Chinatown.hahahahaha
-Getting lost. People telling the two lost kiwis where to get on and off the bus.
-Air conditioning
-Massive Infinity pool and sauna at the top of the SkyPark in a garden with rocks and trees.

Thats it for now, off to get one last Tiger beer or a coffee then then back on the plane.
Deli here we come.

John

Singapore - monument to progress, shopping and food....

The interactive museum guide began by telling us that Singapore was a land of stories... his father was Indian and his mother was European and this mix of migrant heritage is typical of Singaporeans. This could be seen from wandering through the streets, and seeing the distinct personalities of China Town and Little India and the array of religious buildings scattered throughout the city.

The original language is Malay, but the education, government and street sign language is English and legal notifications must be published in the Indian, Chinese, Malay and English newspapers. This apparent celebration of diversity is also a recognition of Singapore as a land of opportunity - where GDP is higher than New Zealand, the port is the second largest in the world (only recently eclipsed by Shanghai), it is a favoured country for international arbitration and it is common for people to retire at 50.

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The government has labelled Singapore the 'garden city'. And indeed, every spare strip along highways, between buildings and even in and on buildings is covered in greenery. But then again, without this deliberate planting, Singapore would be a concrete jungle of roads, sky rises and shopping malls. The shopping malls in some places act as footpaths and one cannot cross a road without using a skybridge connecting one to another - we found ourselves going in circles just to find the right place to cross the road! Back to back shopping malls link one block to the next over kilometres. Little India has a mall - Mustafa - open 24 hours, stocking everything imaginable in bulk warehouse prices, including a floor of sparkling gold jewelery to cater specifically to the Indian shoppers.

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On the waterfront are huge skyscraping towers upon which a giant glass container ship is placed with a viewing platform - the skypark. From there almost the entire of Singapore, Indonesian islands and the beginning of Malaysia can be seen. The clay soil from huge waterfront developments underway can be seen, along with the newer Dubai like skyscrapers, mixing with the older and then further out of the CBD and shopping areas, densely packed 2 story buildings. It's quite spectacular, and the 57 floors require equalising on the rise and fall of the lift.

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The national elections are in two months, but we haven't seen any campaigning. Most Singaporeans don't vote, because there often isn't any opposition. While the strong leadership style seems strange to our western experience of politics, the locals seem to hold the leadership in reverence, and its not surprising given Singapore's history - colonisation through the East India Company, led by Mr Raffels (and you will see the name Raffles everywhere - on streets, malls, and of course, the Raffels Hotel, where we bought a Singapore Sling - SD$29!!! needless to say we only bought one) brought trade and prosperity (although also big divisions in wealth) - from what we have gathered, there is no resentment against colonisation... then WWII and occupation by Japan, during which time the country became very poor and had food shortages. After the war Singapore was returned to the British, but the local government no longer wanted British rule and when it achieved independence - first with Malaysia in 1959, and then when that broke down, as its own state in 1962, it had nothing, and no natural resources from which to build. It was on the strength of a non corrupt PM and his government that built Singapore to be what it is. And with this wealth, not only has commerce thrived, but also consumption, hence the boulevards of malls.

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But with this wealth, has also come hoards of foreign workers - from India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Malaysia... There is no minimum wage here, but while there is evidence of the poor, there is no evidence of the destitute. Most Singaporean households will have at least one maid, who typically leave their families to earn money to pay for their children's education.

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Perhaps because of that the food can be so cheap - SD$3-4 for Chicken and noodles or dumplings - Yum. One of our hosts remarked that Singaporeans have two main hobbies - shopping and eating. And from what we've seen, e's definately right!