A Very New and Different Land

A sad scene in Christchurch

Silence, silence and more silence....despite the jet lag and the 24hr+ journey from India to Christchurch, Chris and I could hardly sleep when we arrived at our hostel...because it was sooooooooo quiet. Our pick up at the airport drove through the most deserted streets we'd seen since the steppes of Mongolia and dropped us at our hostel which was dead to the world. We crept in, found our room and marvelled at the sound of...nothing. Having slept for the past three and a half weeks on Palolem beach front with the waves crashing, the crows cawing, the dogs barking and the bar music blaring (not to mention those Scouser lads swearing!...) it was surreal, and slightly unnerving. Particularly since we'd been told not to worry and that we'd "get used to the tremors after the first couple". As became all too obvious the following day, Christchurch is tragically nowhere near over their earthquake ordeal and is still subject to aggressive aftershocks. It is terribly sad to see what was once a thriving city become so desolate and deserted and it was a sobering and strange introduction to the country.

Festive Fun with Friends

Christmas is a time for treats and even though Chris and I were on the other side of the world and after a more low key affair than usual, we were determined that this year be no different. After several weeks of non-stop travelling around India we were looking forward to having friends come out to celebrate the festive season with us, and to a self-declared 'holiday' from our day to day travelling adventures (I know, it's a hard life, but someone has to do it!). Our plan was to meet Charlie and Phil in Rajasthan for some palacial luxury before heading to Goa on Xmas eve to beach it up. Things didn't quite go to plan with Charlie and Phil who sadly missed out on the Northern part of the trip (who knew you needed a visa!?!) , but the Neemrana Fort Palace certainly lived up to expectations!

Indian Thali Days

A trip to India is always difficult to describe, to do justice to. On this, my fourth visit, it presents no less of a conundrum. Chris mentioned to me that he felt our experiences there had been a bit like a thali - a taster of lots of different bits and pieces - and as I look back, this description seems to fit perfectly. Our time there conjures up a hodge podge of memories and experiences, tasty morsels of Indian culture that have all come together to make a perfectly balanced and truly wonderful travelling experience. The only thread, or staple (to maintain the culinary metaphor) binding it all together is the train trips that took us from A to B, often proving as experiential themselves as their destinations and introducing us to an intriguing cross section of India's vast people; otherwise each place or region that we visited has had a unique charm and focus of it's own enabling us to sample many different facets of the country in a fairly short space of time.

Playing with ice!

I have been utterly useless in updating the blog for a good couple of months now and the Foto Fridays have all but dried up BUT I intend to be a lot better now that xmas and new year are out of the way and we are in a bit more of a routine.

Chris and I are now in New Zealand. We arrived here a couple of weeks ago and have been racing around the South Island seeing what there is to see - more on this in future posts.This week's highlight was most certainly trekking on the Franz Josef glacier on the West Coast - we opted for a full day of walking around on the glacier, crampons and all and loved every minute of it. I'm a little concerned that the more mountain activities we carry on doing, the more likely it is that I lose Chris to a life as an explorer or something - we think he must have mountain folk in his ancestry somewhere as he is like a small child whenever near ice or snow!

For more photos of the trip (and many more to come once I can get a good enough connection to upload everything up to NZ) please just click on the big 'pathological picture taker' image on the right sidebar to take you through to my Picasa photo albums, else I have just done a mass facebook upload of a fair few so you can take a peek there.

More to come soon...promise.

Jekyll and Hyde

'You either love it or you hate it', 'be prepared for a culture shock', 'the poverty is overwhelming', 'beware of Delhi belly!' these are all things that people say when they hear you are going to India and to a degree they are all true. However, having been many times before, both alone and with family, friends, and Chris, I was pretty sure I knew what to expect and that I was going to LOVE it. Strangely this was not initially the case on this visit and for once I saw the side of India that people who 'hate' the place, or who can't quite stand the chaos, must experience, its 'dark' side if you like.