Gokarna to the Andaman Islands

So our last installment was from Gokarna where we stayed for nearly a week, soaking up the sunshine on the beautiful Kudle Beach. We headed on to Palolem, Goa, from there on 5 Jan, which was a short train trip north.

Palolem was a bit of a shock to the system after the laid back, hippy, small town of Gokarna. Some of the people in Gokarna look like they came travelling to India about 40 years ago and just never made it home. Although much more touristy, Palolem was still a very pretty, green town with a lovely, less busy beach a short walk from our bungalow. Randomly Teg bumped into a friend of hers from Glastonbury the night we arrived so we hung out with him and a few of his mates for a couple of days before we left. There are of course some benefits to being in a slightly more touristy area sometimes, like having banana lassis or pina coladas brought over to you on your sun lounger on the beach, nice. There was a big party one night which of course we attended and were actually the last to leave; two hours after it had packed up and finished in fact.

While we were in Palolem we decided to book flights to the Andaman Islands. We'd considered it ages ago and for one reason or another, probably money and time, decided against it, but we bumped into another friend of Teg's on the train who was absolutely raving about the Andamans, so we thought what the hell. They're east of the mainland across the Bay of Bengal, and are actually closer to South East Asia than India, although still part of India. So we booked a bunch of trains and flights for the next 3 weeks of our trip. Was quite a nice feeling to have plans set for a little while and just sit back and enjoy as it's so easy to flit from one plan to another from one day to the next. That's a great thing about travelling here, you can just shoot off in any direction really. But it also makes it hard to decide what to do as there are so many options!

So we made the most of our last chance to have a dip in the sea and lie in the sun before being away from the coast for a week or so (tough life). I played a bit of frisbee on the beach and Teg nursed her hangover (no sympathy).

The next day we got the train for 7 hours to Hampi (on 8 Jan). Hampi is a beautiful, quaint, little town with loads (and loads) of temples and ruins and obscurely placed boulders scattered all over the surrounding hills and mountains. With loads of chilled out cafes and restaurants, you could easily spend hours of your day horizontally, nestled amongst cushions, sipping chai. Which is exactly what we did one day as we were both feeling really rough, so we took a day off from exploring temples and chilled with our books.

From Hampi we made our way to Bangalore on an overnight train. Not much to report on Bangalore; just a big, hectic city, with the most ridiculous amount of traffic and pavements that look like they've been hit by an earthquake. We had an afternoon's trip around a couple of palaces, a nandi (a big holy bull), the Botanical Gardens and a couple of shops the rickshaw driver insisted we go to (we didn't have the energy to argue with him anymore and succumbed to his persistence).

Next we got the train to Chennai and stayed there for a couple of nights. Again not much to report from there, as just a big city and a stopping point for us on the way to the Andamans. We had a wander round one of the malls and checked out the festival on the beach. Apparently later that day there were hoards of cows with lights decorating their horns and balloons all over them. Err, we missed that bit, but we did check out the manually operated ferris wheel (?) .

From Chennai, we flew to Port Blair on the Andaman Islands. From there we took a ferry for a couple of hours to Havelock Island; the main scuba diving point. Havelock is sooo beautiful! White sandy beaches, clear/turquiose sea, bamboo huts and palm trees everywhere you look. Didn't want to leave. We stayed on the Andamans for nearly 2 weeks. Teg completed her Open Water diving course and I did my Advanced. We went diving a couple of times together which was really fantastic. There are so many other islands we didn't get a chance to visit, will have to go back some time!

So now we're back in Chennai for the night, flew in this morning. Back to reality from the paradise of the Andamans. All good though; got an action packed sight-seeing intinerary for the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow we're flying up north to Udaipur (Octopussy palace!) in Rajasthan. We'll be getting trains from there back to Dehli, via Pushkar, Jaipur and Agra (Taj Mahal), etc. Getting back to Delhi by about the 8th Feb.

Teg is thinking of heading on to Thailand from Delhi, so I may be returning on my own. I'm running out money (not sure how I managed that in India?) and looking forward to coming back home to see everyone to be honest. Oh, and saving up for the next trip...Indonesia and Australia.

Hope all is good with everyone back in blighty. Wasn't able to get any photos up last time as the internet cafe was being powered by a rat I think. And now I don't have my cable with me. Will try to make the next update a little sooner so not quite as long. Saying that, I've only got 2 weeks left anyway. Teg will have to set up her own blog for Part II!

:)

Beach....bosh

We finally made it to the beach - hoorah! Was hoping to add some photos today but there are no USB ports in this cafe, so just a bit of blurb for now I'm afraid.

We had a lovely Christmas in Ooty. We splashed out and bought each other some little gifts to open on the day, and decorated our guesthouse room with some tinsel and stars! We had a lovely walk around the lake in the morning and then treated ourselves to an Indian-style Christmas lunch of err, pizza and chocolate brownies.

We then spent a few days in Mysore (arriving there on Boxing Day). It was a four and a half hour bus journey north to get there; not including the hour and a half just driving around town in circles. Could have had an extra hour and a half in bed!? No one got on or off the bus during this time; most odd (but then a lot of things are). Was a bit touch and go on the bus tearing around hairpin bends, but the scenery was really beautiful and we drove through a national park along the way. Although saying that we didn't actually see any animals? We did see the most horrific toilets on the planet though; Trainspotting had nothing on these bad boys.

During our stay in Mysore, we looked around the fantastic palace and took a trip up Chamundi Hill - a big hill with a temple at the top! Lovely views down over the city. You could walk down the 1000+ steps to get back down from the top, but we lamed out and decided to go for the rickshaw option!

From there we embarked on our mission to Gokarna where we are now and have been since the 29th. We took an over night bus for 6.5 hours and then a 5 hour train. The bus dropped us off about an hour earlier than expected, so not only were we turfed off the bus in the middle of a dead town (apart from a few rickshaws thank goodness), we were waiting at the train station from 4.30am til 7am for our train. On the plus side, we were preparing ourselves for the train journey from hell, to be sitting on the floor with about 5 people on our laps or something. As it turned out we had our own seats and plenty of space; OK not the most comfortable seats, but seats nonetheless! And the views from the train were just stunning. Just wish I'd been a little more awake to take them in - I didnt manage to sleep on the bus beforehand as I was too busy fearing for my life. It was really beautiful setting off on the train at that time of the morning with the sun glistening off the dew. The copious amounts of tea and coffee on offer throughout the journey certainly made the 5 hour, bum-torturing trip a little easier to deal with.

When we finally arrived in Gokarna, the journey already seemed a distant memory. It is just beautiful here. Long, empty beaches, surrounded by rolling hills and lined with palm trees and little cafes (for pineapple lassies and pancakes..mmmm)! It's such a relief to finally deck out on some sand and swim in the sea! Unfortunately Tegan has been feeling rough with a fluey type bug for a couple of days (yes, she 'is' actually allergic to India!), but she's on the mend now thankfully.

We had a pretty chilled out New Years Eve here. Just had a few drinks in one of the beach bars and then watched some fireworks outside our guesthouse and had a drink with an Irish couple we met.

So tomorrow we're heading an hour north to Goa, by train. Our first stop in Goa is Palolem (right down south) for more, err, beach! Heard lots of good things about Palolem from other people we've chatted to, so quite excited about heading there next.

Well I think that about brings us up to now. Scary to think we're nearly half way through!

Will get some photos up here soon.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year....

Laters! x