Into northern India

After leaving Mumbai, Claire & I had a good day walking around the Rajastan town of Udaipur… famous for it’s palace “floating” in the lake, which hosted a James Bond movie. It seemed like a nice place and I would have liked to stay for a while… but after only one day we got another night bus to Dehli.

Dehli could be a nice city. Besides the crappy people we met… there is quite a bit to see. On Sunday (8 June) we walked around “old Dehli” and saw the Red Fort, a Jain temple & the largest Mosque in India. The next day (Monday 9 June) we walked around “new Dehli”… which was a totally different experience. Cleaner streets… less rubbish… more middle-class people… and KFC!

That night we caught an overnight bus up to north India and finally escaped the heat.

Impressions of India

Sorry Jody, Ari, Sukrit, Jyoti… and any other Indian-ish friends, and all good Indian people out there… but India needs to work on it’s people-skills.

I have been to over 1/3rd of the countries on earth, and I have never had a worse first impression of a country. And second impression. And third impression.

To start with, it’s insanely hot. The bureaucracy is a nightmare. The transport is aweful. The open sewers/toilets, overflowing rubbish, persistent flies and rat problems don’t help. But this is all forgivable. The big negative so far has been the people.

Touristy stuff

This is a catch-up blog.

Kathmandu – Besides my fun’n'games with Indian visas (Tuesday & Friday) and buses (Saturday 31/05)… my most exciting moment in Kathmandu was getting electrocuted. It was a shocking experience. Oh… bad joke. But seriously, it freaked me out for a while until I realised I was still alive. Wednesday (28/05) was actually the day that Nepal officially changed from a monarchy to a republic, under the leadership of the Maoists. It was a bit strange to see people marching in the street with the communist hammer & sickle… but apparently they aren’t really communists any more anyway. They just like the name.

Varanasi –  After two sleepless nights on Thursday & Friday… I only had a few hours sleep on Saturday (31/5) night before being woken up for a morning tour of the river & city. Sunrise over the Ganges. I saw my first dead body, floating in the water. Bought a silk scarf. Later in the day I walked around town and watched the final of the Indian Premier League (cricket 20/20), which Rajastan (captained by Shane Warne) won on the last ball. Then on Monday I caught the overnight train to Mumbai.

Mumbai – The 30 hour train trip was better than the 28 hour bus trip because (1) it was only one train; and (2) it was possible to sleep. I arrived late on Tuesday (3/6) and dodged some of the most persistent and annoying touts on the planet. In the evening I went out to the airport to pick up Claire… and waited around for 4 hours outside their crappy airport because they won’t let you inside unless you have a ticket.

I got less than two hours sleep before being woken up and dragged the next day (Wed 4/6) to a Bollywood set to act as an extra. Good news because this was my main reason for coming to Mumbai. Bad news because I had to leave Claire alone in Mumbai on her first day travelling. Sorry Claire.

Bollywood is organised with typical Indian efficiency. Which means that I waited around for over 13 hours before they actually needed me, they dropped me home 7 hours late, and then under-paid me. But despite that, it was a fun five seconds of fame and I’m glad to tick it off my list.

Thursday (5/6) was our “Mumbai-day”… walking around town, getting lost, playing street cricket, dodging smack-heads and making travel plans. The plan ended up being a sleeper bus the next day (Fri 6/6) to the Rajastan town of Udaipur. Which is where I am now.

Cricket in Kathmandu

After two flights, and an eight hour stopover in Sharjah (UAE), I finally arrived in Kathmandu on Friday (23 May). I had heard lots of good things about Nepal, but at first it seemed nothing special. Lots of touts… a tourist area to rival Khao San Road (Bangkok)… cheap, dodgy accommodation and food. Same, same.

On Friday I explored half the backpacker area (called Thamel), discovered the joys of Buff Momo, broke my walking stick and glued it back together, and stupidly forgot to apply for an Indian visa. Now I’ll have to wait until Monday to apply, and then probably another week before I get the visa. Damn.

On Saturday (24 May) I explored the other half of Thamel, and walked down to the famous Durbur Square and around the markets, bought 9 DVDs for $0.70, and went drinking with some Irish guys and an interesting/strange British woman who had just escaped the Mumbai mafia.

Today I had a bigger look around Durbur Square, with it’s many temples and open courtyards. In one monument lives a 10 year old girl who is apparently a “living goddess”. She comes out for a few seconds around 4pm every day. Didn’t look that god-like to me, but perhaps I’m just a hopeless cynical skeptic (or “denialist” as John Quiggin would say).

After that I walked around for a while and escaped the tourist areas. It felt a bit like a slightly-richer version of Cambodia. Except that when I found a big park in town the people were playing cricket instead of soccer. Nice. I think that was the point at which I decided I liked Nepal.

I walked around for a while and was invited to join a 15-over game. Our team didn’t do to well… all out for 85 in the last over. The other side won in the 12th over with 5 wickets to spare. My contribution was 15 runs (2nd highest, run out) and a dropped catch while fielding at point. The other players were apparently practicing for an inter-college competition coming up soon. I might go back some time later this week and try to find them for another game.

Petra & Amman

Quick blog because my plane leaves in 20 minutes. I’ll update it later [26 May: now updated]

I decided to let the bus schedule determine where I went… and ended up going to Petra via Eilat. Somebody at my hostel had bought a two-day pass but were leaving early, so they gave me their pass for free. Nice. I spent a few minutes practicing their signature, but then I wasn’t even asked.

Walking around Petra was a good (and tiring) experience. Amazing valleys and temples/houses/monuments built into the rockface. A random asian-american girl took a photo of me reading “the catcher in the rye” inside a 2000 year old monument. I ran into Mosh (one of the Israel CSers)… freaky small world. I climbed for an hour to sit on the edge of the world and considered the meaning of life. Jordan (guy from America who has been travelling for 2.5 years) says that it is “try things and seeing what works”. Nice.

That night we watched Indianna Jones & the Holy Grail for the brief glimpse of Petra. The next dayt (21 May) I got a bus with Jordan and a few others up to Amman. Couchsurfing plan fell through so we stayed at a hostel. Amman used to be called “Philadelphia” during the Roman days. I walked around the Roman Theatre… had a few beers… watched Man Utd beat Chelsea (I had 20c riding on Chelsea)… and then bought a ticket to Katmandu (via Sharjah). I lost my walking stick at a restaurant, but got it back the next day. It’s a lucky charm.

Flight being called now.

Shabat shalom, insh’allah

That should confuse you. “Shabat shalom” is Hebrew for “peaceful sabbath” and “insh’alla” is Abaric for “god willing”. This is my contribution to peace in the middle east.

A lot has happened in the past few days. After the Independence day party (Wednesday 7 May) and the next day of red sea & recovery… on Friday (9 May) Noam, Batsheva (Noam’s g/f) and I met up with Karen (the original party host), Katie & Mosh for a few drinks. Jerusalem has a good night scene with lots of options if you’re with the right people. And I was. The night ended up lasting 48 hours.

Good, bad, good, bad news

I had some good news, then bad news, then good news, then bad news.

On Friday (1 May) I did my last major dive requirements, and then I also did my deepest dive. The recomended depth limits for divers vary depending on their training. For scuba divers the limit is 12m, for open water it’s 18m, for advanced divers it’s 30m, for experienced divers (eg with specialty or divemasters) it’s 40m. To dive deeper you should instead to “tec diving”.

My previous deepest dive was 35m at Blue Hole. One of the concerns of deep diving is getting nitrogen narcosis (like being stoned)… but 35m was no problem. I was planning on edging out my record slowly, but on Friday we went down to 51m! I was under the watchful eye of a tec diver and all was fine, but I did get a little “narked”. After that, I was in an excellent mood for the rest of the day. Good news #1.

But later that day I started to have a sore ear. The next day my ear was still sore and I was worried that it would stop me diving when I only needed one more dive. Bad news #1.

But, but… the doc gave me the OK and I got to go diving down south (where I hadn’t dived before), I did my final dives and finished my deep diver speciality and my divemaster course. Good news #2.

But, but, but… this morning I was supposed to get in two final dives at my favourite places (Canyon & Blue Hole). Instead I woke up sick and have spent the whole day in bed with a head & stomach ache. I missed turtles, going the wrong way down the canyon and a good day diving. Bad news #2.

All in all, the good has been better than the bad. I’m now a divemaster, so I’ve done what I came for. If I feel good enough, I will head off to Israel tomorrow. It will be strange leaving Dahab after five weeks as it’s become a home of good places & good people. But it’s time to go. We’re having a BBQ at Caleb’s place tonight, which is an appropriate “goodbye”. And then back on the road.

A week without diving

After 12 dives in my first week, I then went 5 days without another logged dive. Damn. After taking a day off (Monday 7/04) I then assisted in an open water course for two days that only involved confined water dives (Tuesday & Wednesday). On Thursday (10/04) I tried to go for a fun dive to the “Islands” (one of my favourites) but I couldn’t equalise my ear pressure, so I had to cancel. Same problem on Friday. Poor Temu.

I finally got another dive last night  (Sat, 12/04) and my ears seem to be better now. Touch wood. That has put me a week behind, so it looks like I’ll stay in Dahab for a bit longer. That means I’ll either need to renew my visa, or overstay my visa and pay the fine.

I did manage to get through a few tests (total mark 104/105) and do the enriched air nitrox speciality. I’m now studying for the physics test. I’ve also become a regular at a few bars (Tota, Yalla) and a few restaurants (Quickly, Sokaria). I now get the local prices. Joe has been explaining the joys of champions league soccer, and I am now expert enough to tell you that Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona and Man Utd are in the semi-finals. I don’t know who I’m supporting yet. But what I really need to do is go diving again. Hopefully this afternoon, insh’allah.