A feast for your eyes!

Fear not, the boots are still walking, and the blog posts are set to continue in '2012 The Year of The Good Times'.  They may not be quite as regular, but hopefully they'll still put a smile in your dial.

The great photo round up is drawing to a close, we've got a pile of photos we've printed (yep, old school, we've even got an album!).  Here's a taste of what we've got.  If anyone would like a copy of any of the photos, then just let me know.  So sit back an enjoy, its slower than the last barage! 

Ahhh the memories...

Yes it's been a while since you've heard from us, but you know that can only mean we've been busy!  The holiday is over, we're back at work, found a house to call a home and have begun tackling the enormous job that is sifting through photo's.  But things are settling down, and we are finding the odd bit of free time. 

During these rare bits of free time we've started the reminiscing, telling a few yarns from our trip and going through the "do you remember the time when..." conversations.  To all those people out there who are still excited about the stories and some of the photo's stay tuned, the India 2011 slide night is coming to a town near you! And for those further afield or who just can't wait a day longer, then feast your eyes on the video below, a little snapshot of our trip!! Enjoy and please leave a comment, we'd love to know what you think!

Namaste India

Here we are sitting in Kuala Lumpur and its hard to believe that we're no longer in India!  Sure the city is completely different, the foods, the smells and everything else, but our bodies and minds still haven't caught up with the stamps in our passports!

Hello... Boat?

We've found ourselves back in the thick of India again, no more cow covered streets, dust covered everything or strange noises all through the night... Hang on a minute, yes there is!!  Varanasi, the ancient holy city of India has it all, including a similarity to village life!

Only in India

Only in India...

India By Train

Now that we've left the mountains and their bone shaking roads and bus trips behind, we find ourselves enjoying all that India's famous trains have to offer.

Its one of the biggest and busiest rail networks in the world moving millions of people every day which really is quite incredible when you think about how unorganised the rest of India seems.  Then when you see the operating system they rely on, consisting of bells and big knobs to turn, and is probably still the original equipment left behind from British rule, its actually unbelievable!

Only in India (Datom Version)

Village life in India certainly is a bit different from the hustle and bustle of the cities, but it's reassuring to know that those "Indian Moments" still happen! Like:

Waking the gods

Starting the day in India!

The inspiration behind this blog post came from all the early mornings that have been forced upon us on countless mornings.  Before the sun comes up the religous world comes to life, finds its voices, and the gods along with the rest of the city are woken up.

A Village Named Datom

Downtown Datom

Datom, a tiny village tucked away in an isolated corner of Jharkhand, India, is where we've found ourselves for the last few weeks.  The reason for being here is to help out some friends who are constructing a health clinic for the region because at the moment, there really isn't much available to the local people.

Fowl Weather On The Search For Sunshine!

Team Chook, ready for anything and covered in feathers... or down jackets

According to every book and travel company we read or spoke to clear skies and amazing snow capped mountain views were in order for our latest venture into the high Himalaya, this time on the eastern side of India in beautiful Sikkim.  However someone forgot to tell the weather gods and things didn't go to plan.  But our spirits remained high, and our hopes were pinned on every bit of clearing sky.

One tired Chook

High time for high tea

Loretta and Wally joined us in Darjeeling, and being in the chilly Mountains we decided to warm up with a little cup of Darjeeling tea. Normally high tea is a seriously classy affair, but not so in India... 

Looking through the Saree

Some of the regional Rajastan paintings and my new saree.

After an hour in the local saree shop, the choice of millions of brightly coloured fabrics, and a few measurements, a whole new perspective of India emerged.

"No hurry, no worry, no chicken, no curry"

"I don't ride the camel, because my bottom ran away to Pakistan, so I will search for it all year and maybe next year I will ride the camel".  The answer our very funny guide told us when I asked him why he walked in front of our camel, instead of riding his own. After two days and one night in the desert our bottoms had also run off to Pakistan and we walked like we were cross country skiing (skating!). 

Tackling the traffic!

 
After two weeks of touring the tourist beat through Rajasthan today we decided to take a detour.  It was time to step away from the tourist bazaars with stalls all competing for your rupee, German bakeries and tourist cafes all selling croisants and 'continental food'.  People trying to pull you into their shop to show you something special, and being just another white face in the crowd not venturing too far away.  The freedom machine came to the rescue again and we were set for some cycling!!

Our Two Rings

 

India is full of surprises, every corner we turn, every new place we visit, we are constantly surprised by what reveals itself, and you can be sure, we have no idea what's coming next!  Ordering lunch at a little snack shop the other day we were refused what we ordered because the guy behind the counter thought that another of his snacks was better, so we needed that instead (and he was right).  After lunch we ventured into the old fort in Jaisalmer not really knowing what was coming next.

Kuari pass... tick!

Another jaunt into the Himalaya, this time in Uttarkhand with a bit of luxury, and a trek like none other completed by us, very novel and I must say, very nice!  Once again the Himalaya showed us another face with some very different scenery.... green grass and forests!

Markha Valley

The Markha Valley was the location for our next trek in the Himalaya, and it didn't disappoint!  This one was to be a bit more challenging, both in distance and height, but we were ready.  this time we had 2 maps and a guide book with directions, a big step up from our last jaunt.  However, in typical Indian style, it made no difference what so ever!

Seven words and a few questions

 

Seven words.  That's all the information we could milk out of the tour agencies about our first high altitude adventure.  They're not so forth coming if you you're not paying for something, but we got our seven words and were ready to take on the 'Baby Trek'!  

Nice Roads BRO!

On the road to the Himalaya

 Close your eyes (figuratively, or you won't be able to read this) and imagine an old beat up country road, one with pots holes, bumps and gravel everywhere.  Now put that road on a mountain pass that goes up to above 4000 metres, add a heavy load of trucks, buses, cars, motorbikes and even push bikes and you have a 'good' section of the Rohtang La pass on the Manali - Leh road.  The road we put our lives into the hands of a mini bus driver who promised to take us deep into the Himalaya.

Rain!!

 Yep, its raining.  Raining a lot.  Mcloud Ganj is perched up on one of the first ranges of the Himalaya and the monsoon seems to run smack bang into it.  Does it matter? No not really, we've escaped the heat, glimpsed some fantastic views, chilled out, wandered around and had a really great time.