Goa to Rishikesh to Bangkok

Hi there!

It's been a few times i've visited the blog, i'm not actuallysure anymore that it's still being read!? Can you let me know if it is?

It's a nice way to go back on the events anyway, so i will keep going...

We left sunny Goa on wednesday the 21st of Feb, and headed back North. We were also considering going to the South more, in the Karnataka and Kerala regions, but our original plan was to visit the North, and Goa just happened to be a beach break in all the moving around.

We left in the morning, got a ride in a rickshaw from the beach to the station, that we managed to exchange against a football Steve had bought a few days before hand, bargain!! India is great for that, you should never buy anything for the asking price, you'll always be able to get it cheaper. Reading this again, it's quite crazy to think it normal... I can't imagine the average mini cab driver in London being very impressed by that kind of payment, but that's the way it's so different, everything is so different. I could go on with this word for hours, because it's such a good adjective for India. But i'll stop!

We had a stop in Delhi, a few hours to wait, and got back on the train to Haridwar, a holy Hindu City, where the Ganges pretty much emerges from the Himalayas. We got there at 4am, and still got surrounded by a few rickshaw drivers and "little helpers" that lead us to an open hotel.

We stayed only one day in Haridwar, but it was pleasant, It was going back to reality after Goa and its Westernised feel.

There was a big market lit with thousands of fairy lights at night, and nice food stands (dangerous but good!) and the Ganges divided into a canal and the main river just before the town, and all the blessing and bathing and things were done in that little (freezing cold) canal. I don't know if you will have felt especially in harmony with the world, but we did an other prayer there, and again, blessed all our families and friends. Anyone won the lottery?? :)

We left for Rishikesh in the bus the next day. The bus arrives at the stand where an other 50 are waiting for... something? and the driver gets his head out of the window and shouts:"Rishikesh!!" That's when you know it's your bus.

On the road, the busses have no rivals, so it's probably the safest way to travel, well, no rivals apart from other trucks, that are as big and wide. Then you just have to start believing in God and prey that at least one of the 2 drivers gives his "priority" away. Well, a truck, and a cow! Don't bother the cows sleeping in the middle of the road. Find an other road!

Rishikesh was really cool, there were 2 parts in the town, North and South. The North was pretty much the travellers' area, and where we stayed. There were countless agencies selling white water rafting trips, trekking, rock climbing, motorbike renting, massage and mostly, Yoga..... restaurants , what they like to call German Bakeries (apparently they invented bakery... hum) and stuff for travellers who give up on Indian food.

We made a bit of a mix. We stayed on top of a hill west from the town, really quiet, little places to eat and watch movies in the evenings, sitting on the floor, sipping Massala Chai.

After a few days, we booked ourselves on a rafting trip, and went down 26 kms on the Ganges, in pretty big rapids, I was granted a holy bath, again, a freezing holy bath, and Steve happily threw himself from a 4 meters high rock, the only one to do it, funny enough!! It was a great day out though, the people were funny, well, if you've ever done white water rafting, you know the atmosphere, pretty relaxed and fun.

During our time there in Rishikesh, I sometimes had to remind myself that i wasn't in the Alps. I guess that sounds a bit weird, but really the wilderness of the mounts around, the river slowly going by, it was only by looking at the monkeys on the suspension bridges and, well, the sadus on the side of the rivers smoking Shilloms, that the reality of the place came back.

Steve started having a daily appointment with some kids on the river's benks and played cricket every night at 5 for about an hour. The benks are all sandy, and i mean white sand, very thin and we kept on saying we were going down the the beach.
The little boys were playing with an old bat that didn't have a handle anymore, so Steve got them a new one on the last day before we left.

We stayed about 10 days there, the proximity with Delhi (4-5 hours train) kept us there, and there was so many nice things to see... We rented a motorbike, an other Honda something that was in better condition than the one in Pachmari, and went up on the hills. Got breathtaking sceneries, mountains, valleys, rivers merging, forest, and all so big!

We did a little bit of walking too, and because of that, i was forced to get a body massage, Ayuverdic one, i came out of there with so much massage oil, i could hardly sit down without slipping... Great though! and all that for 250 Rs (3 pounds about).

There were also a few days when i got a bit sick and didn't do anything nor eat anything because of stomack cramps, and Steve got the same a few days later. We suspected the food of one of our nearby restaurants. So there were a few days wated like that, but in Rishikesh it didn't matter. We were on a go slow, and just enjoyed the area at that slow rythme... Lovely, again, everyone should try it!!

On Sunday the 4th of March, it was Happy Holy and we got painted on with purple pouder as we went through the town on the bike, I was completely purple by the end of our passage and Steve had a few red freckles extra, on top of the purple. We have pictures, it looks lovely!

Ok, so you'll get the drift, Rishikesh was great, and we stayed there until we had to go back to Delhi for our flight to Bangkok on the 10th. We got an early train on the 9th and got to Delhi by noon.
When we got to the airport, the counter man told us our flight had been rescheduled for 11.30 am a month ago. We didn't get notified, and we had just woken up at silly o'clock to get to the airport by 6.30... Well, we had plenty of time in the end, far from late.

Our flight to Bangkok went just fine (2 lorazepam, one flight size bottle of french wine, and 4 hours sleep the night before.. yes, very healthy) we slept the whole way.

We arrived in bangkok as if in an other world. The airport was SOOO clean and organised, cars air conditionned (in a crazy heat) the roads were smooth, and everything looked so colourful and bright!

We spent 2 days in the Khao San area, which is the tourist spot really, but it was easy and very very civilised, and i think we both appreciated that. It kind of felt like Lanzarote, or Tenerife i guess, but after all, things you know are the ones that comfort you most often.

We took a trip on the river, and the sky train, and ate noodles (Phad Thai) from a street vendor, and drank a lot of beer in the westernised bars, met a few nice people, but spent a fair bit of money there, getting carried away by city life. We left on the third day, after having booked transportation from Bangkok to the Island of Koh Chang. The island is the second biggest island of Thailand, and is located on the South Eastern Coast of the Gulf of Thailand, pretty much at the border with Cambodia, where we will be heading soon.

Oh my god, that is it, the blog is up to date!
Today is the 17th of March, and we have been here 4 days. We are staying in a beach hut on stilts, basically with the sea as our front garden (no tsunamis please) and every evening at high tide, the water comes under our bed, about 1 meter away. The first night we didn't sleep one bit. The second night we had drank a lot of whiskey at a beach party and found out it did the trick. We slept like babies!

We rented scooters, and went on a little exploration trip, our snorkelling kits on the back. Found a little quiet beach, with a bit of coral reef left. Koh Chang has seen too many tourists that have not respected it, and therefore today we had to book a boat trip to go snorkelling close to the other islands. Bit of a shame, but we are looking forward to the colourfull underwater wonders of tomorrow.

I have been on internet for 1.15 minutes now, and it's a bit more expensive here, so gotta go, but will be able to load some pictures next time i should think.

Lots of love
Jenny & Steve from pretty close to paradise... xxx