Andamans Baby!!!!

SOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLL!!!

So I've just come back from holidays. (ha ha) It was pretty damn awesome to be honest. My cameras memory card has a load of viruses so I'm trying to get it fixed so I can upload pics of my amazing tan.

I arrived in Port Blair on the 10th Dec. The views of the islands from the plane were immense. The sea was turquoise! TURQUOISE!  And you could see white stretches of beaches along several islands. (I regretted leaving my camera in the overhead locker...) The plane turned left and then right then left then right quite a few times - so I worried that I was going to die as a result of the plane driver clearly being drunk... but at least I'd die happy I thought... The town itself was fairly standard, although cleaner than the mainland. But nothing of particular interest there. Joined forces with a lady called Tanya for the day to get a taxi find a hotel and a place to eat yadda yadda yadda.

The next day I left early to get off South Andaman and go to Neil Island (especially for Neil Wilson.) It was all a fair bit more hassly than expected. I went at 5:30am to catch the 6:00am ferry, which had left at 4:00am. So I had to go off and return at 1:00. Chilled out by the other port that looked over Ross Island. Had an awesome breakfast for 30 Rupees. Went to the Aquarium which was AWESOME 5 Rupees and there were loads of dead animals in jars!!! SO cool. I particularly liked all the funny names of fish (goatfish indeed!) and the jar that had clownfish in and it was just stuffed with loads of them rather than one and they were all upside down and dead. It was amusing. (Poor fishies,,,,)

Queued for ages when I got back to the ferry dock and met a guy called Boris (such a great name) from Switzerland. He had a man who was there getting him a ticket for Havelock Island. Turned out there was no boat for Neil that day so the same guy sorted me a ticket for Havelock too. The ferry was insanely rocky. But it felt a bit like being on a theme park ride so I enjoyed it - I stayed on deck in case the boat went under and I needed to jump overboard. (One wouldnt want to get stuck below deck in a sinking situation....)


I hopped in Boris' autorickshaw to his hotel- the Emerald Gecko -it's not really a hotel so much as a series of cute little beach huts. The cheapest were very expensive (Rs1200) - but it was dark and I didnt fancy walking around lost in the dark trying to find accomodation so I took their last hut. It was SO quintessentially islandy. Little beach huts, made of bamboo with a compact bathroom (no toilet), bed upstairs with mosquito net. Then just about 20 steps away was a little beach. The moon was out reflecting on the ocean the waves lapping against the palm trees. It was just AMAZING. Boris and I stood staring and smiling a long time. Then we had a delicious dinner at the hotel (aubergine fritters and veg coconut curry in my case followed by caramel bananas with nutella on!) and watched and petted the little puppies that were living in an upturned boat outside the bamboo restaurant that was playing chill out music and had a sand floor. Oh! It was just wonderful.


Every so often my head would just sort of scream with excitement : "I'm on a tropical island!!! A Tropical Island!!!!!! So exciting. " And I'd just walk around smiling to myself.


Woke up with those thoughts and then bikinied myself and went to make the most of the beach. No one else was on it. (to be fair I think it was about 7:30) It was basically paradise. Little hermit crabs crawled about - I tried to befriend them but they just sort of tried to crawl out of their shells away from me. :-( Or they'd try to pinch me with their little pathetic claws that I couldn't even feel. Awwww. SO CUTE!


Diary Entry: I read Terry Pratchett and loved life.


I felt safe, and relaxed, and extatically happy all at the same time. I noticed the island continued along it's stereotypicallness - a few fisherman on a boat in the distance, a brightly coloured kingfisher eating a crab, a little washed up bottle on the shore.

Anyway, later that day I decided to go eat and then go for a little walk to the market - about 2km away. Once I got there there were signs to the 'beach' which was strange as there are like 9 beaches on the island or something and they all had numbers. I presumed it was beach number 3 as thats what was nearest - so I followed the signs. 2 hours later I was becoming a little concerned that maybe there was no beach. There was however a lot of forest and quite a few local settlements. I hopped in the next richshaw that came along and he took me to the beach, it was only 15 mins away and was beach number 7. I think I walked about 13km. Therre really are no words for beach number 7. It looks like a postcard. Long, with soft white sand, turquoise and dark blue sea, with waves, and surrounded by vibrant green trees. I found a spot, left my bag and what not there and went for the sea. It turned out to be a tad more energetic than I had anticipated and after being beaten up by 2 waves I decided that was probably enough swimming/almost drowning. Built a sandcastle. Got a rickshaw back to my hotel after beaching myself for the day.

The next day I planned to go to Neil Island. I'd found myself a Markus from Austria who was also going - so I just invited myself along. He was cool with it. He had dreadlocks. People with dreadlocks are always cool. It was more of a hassle lining up in queues to be told that the boat was full today. We booked tickets for the next day so as not to be disappointed again. We stayed a different resort - which had more colourful, and importantly, cheaper beach huts. The place was called the Coconut Grove and was run by a guy called Hari or Ari - not sure - from Nepal. I like Nepalese people. He was nice and smiley. Markus and I wanted to do something with our day and I'd been told by the rickshaw driver who took me back from beach 7 yesterday that I could rent a moped without having a license... Markus had a license just not with him. So we walked down the road asking ever moped place on route for a moped but they wouldn't let us! Eventually after almost giving up we found a place where a guy was covereing the moped shop for a friend... he suggested I try riding the moped up the road and back as I'd never driven one before... So I drove off in the moped in a veryy staccato fashion with the man calling out "Slowly! Slowly!" behind me. I thought I was going slowly. Then I tried to turn the bike around in the road but instead I drove it into a ditch, which I couldnt get out of. Markus and the man came and pulled it out. I suggested that Markus drive the moped. Off we went - beach number 7 again where we met another couple that Markus knew. Got battered by more waves before deciding not to go in the sea again and started to tan.

Slobbed out on beach number 5 before hopping on the ferry to Neil Island. Woo! Markus and I were quite excited. I went off to a different hotel from his as his was a little prices, I found a place that did little huts for 200Rs, so I stayed there that first night along with this girl called Alinka from Slovenia. We also met a French boy and an Italian boy. I went with them to the beach when it was dark to watch the moon and stars while they got stoned. We saw giant toads and giant bats and also shooting stars. It was pleasant in the bright light of the moon and watching to see if the sea would break through Matteo's sand wall. I wasn't happy with the rocky beach though so I moved from beach one to beach 4 the next morning. Checkout was at 7:30. I found a much more satisfactory place : A.N.D. Rs400 for a hut with bathroom. And a beach where I could swim because the waves wouldn't kill me. (Markus joked I could only be in the water if it was like a paddling pool. There is only a certain degree of truth in that.) Matteo and Louis joined me later that day when I was playing the beached whale game. I was also hassled by a whole group of Indian men on that first day... they asked to take my picture - and then took it anyway even after I said no. Then persisted to talk to me and pose next to me- encroaching on my personal space! Whilst their wives also took pictures from a distance. Sigh. They told me to visit them when I returned to Kolkata - I buried their business card in the sand.

Markus and Ben (a German guy that was also on beach 7 in Havelock) popped round the next day after I saw Ben the day before in the market and told him to visit. We rented bicycles and cycled to the natural bridge. It was just one of those arch things you learn about in Geography. I went to beach 1 to watch the sunset - but missed it. Went back to my hut to sit in the hammock I bought the day before, I had arranged to meet Markus and Ben at a restaurant for dinner after they'd been night fishing. They were 2 hours late and had many interesting fish. I watched the guy prepare them while the others went to freshen up. Some fish were definned and descaled and disemboweled whilst still alive. The restaurant guy and I talked about religion and afterlife and fish. I stayed and chatted with the boys as they ate their catch, I'd already eaten, we drank and they got stoned, then as it was like 12:30 we decided to go our separate ways home. I was chased by vicious dogs on my way home. It was incredibly scary. One started barking at me then started chasing and about 4 or 5 others joined in. It was dark and they were loud and sounded very angry. I pedaled fast. 

Visited beach number 5 the next day in the morning, a storm started when i arrived. I got very wet despite hiding under a bamboo frame with grass roof shack. I decided to cycle onwards as I was soaked through anyway. I had intended to go to beach 3 but didnt see the turning so I went to look for it again. On my way back I saw the restaurant that my European neighbours had recommended so I went in and had some delightful food before beaching myself a bit more on beach number 3 now. The owner came and took me for a little walk. We sat down to enjoy the view and he called me fat before asking to kiss me which I thought was a little strange. I said no. He was quite cute though. Marcus and Ben had arrived when we returned to the main beach so I chilled with them for a bit, sun as well as sea bathing before watching the sunset. We parted ways and decided to meet at the Ferry back to Port Blair the next day. I got chased again by dogs on my way back to my hut.

I ended up getting the earlier ferry, so I didnt see the boys until I met Ben at the airport. I never got to say bye to Markus - I'll e mail him a goodbye message. It was very nice hanging out with these other beach people. I thoroughly enjoyed myself tanning, reading Terry Pratchett, pretending to swim and not doing a lot generally. I think I'd be incredibly happy living in the Andamans and I would defo go back. I would recommend them to anyone who wants to slob out big time. There is also a lot of stuff you can do there - boat trips/diving/snorkelling/animal watching etc. I didn't do a lot. But I enjoyed myself and that was the main thing. :-)

I didn't want to come back to Kolkata to be honest. And especially not to a room with no natural light after living in idyllic little beach huts where natural light comes through the bamboo every morning waking one in a most desirable fashion. I hunted for an acceptable room, but they were all pretty grungy and most didnt have any natural light coming through... I realise this is very important for me - not entirely sure why, maybe something to do with my pineal gland.  Anyway, I ended up in an incredibly fancy and expensive hotel (Rs1800! - like 25quid?) I stayed there for one night and have now found another slightly dingy room but it is a lone room on a rooftop of this hotel with hot water and air con (possibly not working...) for Rs600 (7 pounds) I really like it -it smells a bit like English granny's house used to smell, a little bit of damp and a little bit of smoking. And I'll get some exercise going up and down the 6 or so flights of stairs.


Today I have been busy trying to find places which can fix my camera memory card, buying Terry Pratchett books,  eating cake and finding a hotel. It's been active. Sort of. Tomorrow I have to wake early (4 or 5am) to go to mass with the nuns and start my volunteer work. Blog in a week or so to let you know how it goes.

Have a great Christmas everyone. I shall endeavor to be on skype at that time - if any internet places are open....

New abode

Sundarbans Tiger Tour and a bit more

Wow.
India really does get better the longer you stay. Heres a VERY brief lo-down if you can't be bothered to read the whole blog:
The food is AWESOME.
visited a few sites in Kolkata including mother Teresas tomb and the Victoria memorial, a few churches and a graveyard and an art gallery. It's all been really good.
Met up with some NZ girls (who have been living in England) to go on a tiger hunt at the nature reserve - didn't see any tigers but saw a lot of other cool animals. Met a NZ man and his Aussie wife on this tour who were really nice. AJ our guide was wonderful.
Found more interesting accomodation. At least there's a window.
I'm going to the Andaman Islands!!!


Food:

this is where I get my somosas and onion bhajis.

I've frequented a few little almost western cafes where I've met other lone travellers like myself and it's nice to chat to them over breakfast. But my favourite place for breakfast has been this little street stand where they do the most wonderful flavoursome somosas ever! They also do some delightful potato patty things and onion bhajis at night. So Good! And it's like 3 Rupees for a somosa! Such a bargain! I had 2 somosas and tea for 11 rupees this morning! I've been finding all the coffee shops and trying them out. I've come to the conclusion Barista does the best coffee, but everythings a bit overpriced. I went to cafe coffee day and was disappointed in the coffee but the brownie was superb. Then I went to Flurys and didnt really ever want to go anywhere else. I shall go there whenever I'm feeling sorry for myself.... which I must do more regularly... (I am having to stem my chocolate/biscuit/cake eating because of the cellulite dimples that have started appearing on my bum. But seriously I've found the best cake in the WORLD! the eggless chocolate truffle. I'll need to buy one more to take a photo). I've been to a few restaurants too, I haven't found the food too spicy at all - it's all basically perfect, although I was at one Bengali restaurant the other day and I couldnt eat all the chillis in my bindi bhaji.  I went to a restaurant called Prince when Alexis and Anthea arrived and there was a whole array of different flavours in our different curries all made to perfection. We all fitted in 2 mishti dhoys each as well, they're like little yoghurty things which have like added sugar and basically they're inexplicably delicious and just what you want after a hot curry. Last night I had my first dosa. Oh my goodness - Amazing, like a rice pancake which is crispy with a spicy potato and tomato, chilli and onion filling served with a bowl of curry and a coconut sauce. Yesterday Alexis also bought one of the Kali egg rolls which the place is renowned for and I tried some of that and may have to buy another at some point. I JUST LOVE ALL THE FOOD!

Activities:
I had a busy day visiting the Victoria memorial which it said in the lonely planet would probably be one of the most beautiful buildings in India if it was built as a romantic gesture for a living princess rather than built for a dead colonial Queen...

Victoria Memorial and Alexis.

It was so good to come to a place where they had information! You weren't just looking at pictures it explained who painted them and what they were about - how refreshing. It also had it translated in Bengali, Hindi and English - most impressive. And the place was beautiful and restful, although I was asked to pose in a few pictures and take a few pictures. I went to chill out in the gardens and ended up speaking to a fairly safe Indian man - he was like in a suit and didn't ask if I was married as like the second question - we talked about religion and colonisation and stuff first.
Afterwards I walked slowly on purpose so that we didnt have to walk together and then went into this art gallery, contemporary stuff. It was really good. Inspirational. I love art galleries. I was taking photos of a lot of it (most of it) and this guy noticed and was like - do you want a brochure and it had pictures of all the works in and was free so I was like - yes please :-)
I went back to both of these places yesterday as Alexis wanted to go on her last day in Kolkata and I was quite happy to go again as there were pictures in the VM that I wanted to draw as you're not allowed to take photos - (they really should do postcards). We also chatted to some of the actual artists when we went to the art gallery as they'd seen us discussing their paintings. So it was all good.
I visited a cemetery - South Park St Cemetery - I find them quite peaceful and some of the tomb stone things were huge! Much bigger than one would expect but not particularly elaborate. It's also nice to get away from all the beeping of the horns and people. There were a few people shouting in the cemetery... I have no idea about what. Insane numbers of house crows were loitering in the trees and there were quite a lot of chipmunks running freely over the graves. No photos allowed though.
I walked down AJC Bose road one day to Mother Teresa's motherhouse. It seemed to be a largly muslim community down that way and I wasn't sure I was walking in the right direction. Once I got passed all the street stalls selling food, there were all these rubbish clothing stalls and then a really long mechanics garage road; where insanely, as if the car horns beeping of the road wasn't enough, it was like the only thing being fixed on this road. Seriously - why don't they just have a regular volume horn? I eventually found the motherhouse and walked in to see the tomb, I misead a sign as you couldn't take photos and misread another sign saying that you shouldn't take your shoes off - but I think a lot of other people did the same. The tomb was fairly unremarkable, there were some lovely paintings on the wall though and the atmosphere was lovely and peaceful, prayerful. I said some prayers and left as I'd come at a time when the museum and the church opposite were closed. I intend to go back at some point.

Sundarbans:
Alexis had facebooked me to say she and Anthea were doing this tour and I would I like to go - I'd been thinking about doing it by myself and thought it would be nice to go with people instead, and they suggestede this tour operator. It was great!
http://www.tourdesundarbans.com/
I went to speak to Rajesh as I was in Kolkata and the other two weren't and had already booked. It was very easy for me to be put on the same day as them and Rajesh just showed me on his computer what we would be doing. It was all very straightforward.
Our group - which also comprised of a couple from Australia - assembled at 8 and left at about 9. We had delightful cucumber and tomatoe sandwiches on our quite comfortable mini bus to drop off point. AJ, our lovely guide, pointed out various sites on the way. Including Kolkata's rubbish mountain. Where you could see building on top of it, he explained were recycling centres, where the poorer people could find work. The river flowing in front of us was black. There were a variety of smells along this road. None of them were good, and all of them were incredibly pungent. We passed flats of land holding water, I dont know what was in there - maybe fish, it didn't look like rice paddies. We stopped for tea a few times before hopping onto a boat to cross to a Sundarbans Island. There was a busy market which AJ explained was where people from all the islands around came to as it was the best shopping place. It did seem to have everything. I would have happily lost myself there for a day but we walked to find rickshaw carts (I'll upload a pic rather than trying to explain what they looked like). It was fun but not the most comfortable. I also got bitten a lot on my bum at this point. We stopped at a local family's house to have our lunch which was divine. Then we walked a short way to the guesthouse. We could have stayed there but 3 of us opted for staying the night on the boat.
We walked around the village. Lots of goats and children. A temple a sort of sea wall. Mangrove trees. We saw wild bees in a tree. The atmosphere was very different. Very islandy. We then had a boat trip until sunset - watching out for mostly kingfishers - of which we saw a variety, and other birds like bee eaters. Very good.
We came back for a meal (just magnificent) and regional music from a folk band. After listening to their 1st song, I wondered if they knew what timing was and if they were just making it up as they went along. But after that it got better, we even danced. We were joined by 2 Israeli people who seemed much more into the music than the rest of us.

Mangrove trees.

Slept on the boat after playing cards ( it was most comfortable but AJ had said there weren't mozzies. I was covered in bites the next day - so do opt for the mosquito net should you do this. The one on my arm has started to go down but there was a strange red circle around it about 8cm in diameter. We started our hunt for tigers on a day so misty we couldn't see the banks of the river. It cleared before we entered the reserve, but we didn't find tigers. It was still a wonderful experience spending the day on our pirate ship type boat. We saw loads of kingfishers, plovers, herons, cormorants, sandpipers, shanks; as well as monitor lizards (AJ was imossibly good at spotting these) and crocdiles (ditto from the last brackets) and spotted deer. I think that was it. Oh and monkeys - the scary ugly ones. The backpackers have a pet rescued one - it's a baby but I'm still scared of it...

lovely food - made on the boat!

Anyway - we returned the same way we came. I've not been driven in the dark since travelling - I was sort of avoiding it on purpose. I listened to my music and closed my eyes but didn't sleep and it was one of the best journeys I've had - I will do that more often. If I look out the window (in particular the front window) I do feel like I'm going to die lot.
Really wonderful time. So nice that everything was organised for me. Such lovely people. Such great food. And I love nature.

Future plans:
So I came here to work with the nuns and I've been here a week now and the ball's still not rolling. And it wont for another 9 days. (although I might go to the briefing today) I was reading my guide book and read about sundarbans and wanted to go so did - and then I ended up on the page about the Andaman islands. They basically sound amazing. And I rung up a tour airline to get some quotes - like 600 quid for return flights so I decided to check online the next day. I must have been in a particularly impulsive mood because when I found flights for 317 pounds I just booked them. So I'm off there tomorrow now for 9 days. I'm quite excited. I'm so glad I planned nothing before I came - I'm loving just making it up as I go along. Basically this is what life should be like all the time. But we've made a society which is completely unnatural and stresses most of us out most of the time. I am more than ever tempted to do what Samuel L. Jackson does in Pulp Fiction and just become a bum....

My new room in Kolkata :-)

I don't think that was really quite everything. But you've probably had enough. 

Kolkata

First impressions:

Not as bad as expected. Maybe I was expecting the worst as everyone was saying it would be so much more busy than Varanassi and so much bigger. But actually, Although I recognise its a large city, I've only seen a small manageable part. (Sudder St where my hotel is and Park St.)

The night train here was more comfortable than expected. I was in 2A which means that there are 2 bunk beds rather than 3A where you have 3 bunks on top of one another. But there were more people than my last journey. Mostly men... it's like India is hiding all the women. There were some school girls who I chatted to for a bit - and who bizarrely asked for my autograph, I did tell them I wasn't famous. I even managed to get some sleep. And the train food was awesome!

Getting a taxi was easy as there's hundreds of yellow taxi's lined up like it New York or something. I should have taken a photo really - I'll try and remember when I leave. I got in a blue taxi simply because it was the first man who approached me. He had to stop on the bridge to sort something out under the boot of his car but other than that it was ok.

I hunted around for a hotel which had a room with bathroom at a reasonable price. A lot of them were asking Rs650 which is like almost 8 pounds a night. Which is cheap but more than I wanted to pay. I found room at the hotel Plaza which was Rs400 (5 pounds a night). Yeah there's no TV, no air con (there is a fan), no natural light, no shower (a bucket and jug and a tap) but it serves it's purpose.. wait - I hope! I intend only to sleep there. I'm just going to pray there aren't bed bugs. I did see what look like small leaches living on the floor in the bathroom where all the toilet water is leaking out... The room is a good size though, and has a double bed... ooooo. I did have to ask them to change the sheets as soon as I arrived though. I'm sure it'll all be fine. Only 25 days here.

I went walkabout. Couldn't find any Terry Pratchett books in the numerous bookshops. :-( Saw a Macdonalds - which looked REALLY posh! And saw a Dominoes pizza -reminded me of the gentlemen from uni... I was tempted to take a picture, but didn't. Found a place to eat. It was in the lonely planet and was delicious. It reminded me of Snoobies' mothers' restaurant. It was quite posh. Quite a bit more expensive than other places I've been eating too... I shall have to find some reliable looking street stalls... I also found a bengali sweet shop - so naturally had to try some of what tasted like a sweet milky mushy blob. They were most tasty. I might have to go back actually - I've eaten them all now. I also found a coffee place (only instant though, so I didn't bother) that sold stuff made by children who had been taken off of the street and were being taught skills. I was drawn to it cos it was like a project founded by Don Bosco - who I know very little about but remembered he had something to do with the Selisians and Mr Mark went to Selisian college so I went in to buy some biccies and a book for drawing in.

That's about all I've done today. I intend to visit the nuns on Monday... Maybe I'll go to church on Sunday! How exciting - My first mass in like 3 months or so. I've also realised that after this week, I think it'll be the longest amount of time I've ever not seen the parents for... Uni had hols like every 3 months or so, and whenever I've gone off I always seem to come back after 3 months. And I usually speak to mother on the phone regularly. I intend to buy a small laptop at some point and then I'll skype home. And anyone else who wants to be skyped. Within reason.

Sweetie time.