Having now resolved to document my journey through Asia, the first entry is a letter I wrote to my parents from Varanasi.
DISCLAIMER: These, and all future posts, are unashamedly the views of a a 25-year-old Londoner, who has for the last two and a half years, led a champagne and prawn sandwiches lifestyle.
These are my first experiences of traveling in a 'third-world' country.
Hey hey,
Hope all's well,
We safely made it into India a couple of days ago.
After saying goodbye to Simon and Wendy in Pokhara on the 24th, we
headed to Chitwan for three days. There, sadly, we were slightly
dissapointed. It emerged we'd booked a package with a dodgy company
which meant we didn't get to do everything we had hoped. (No rhino or
tiger sightings, and no real ventures into the national park). But we
did a canoe trip in a crocodile-packed river, which was great - must
have seen 10 two-metre-plus crocs on the banks. We also took an
elephant ride, but it wasn't so enjoyable as the poor critters are
clearly treated appalingly. We were taken to see a breeding sanctuary
where young and old were held with their front feet chained together
and tethered to a post. To pour a bit more misery on the experience, a
leech found its way into my sock and I didn't notice until it'd had
it's fill and my white Umbro sock was drenched in blood. I also picked
up food poisoning from, I think, some dodgy chicken.
From Chitwan, we took a 5 hour bus and half hour jeep to Sunali where
Nepal borders India. Within sight of the border, I had an attack of
the Bradley Pitts and had to sprint into the nearest hotel. We crossed
the border without incident but as soon as my Visa was stamped, I had
to run into a hotel in India for the same purpose.
We then took a 3 hour bus journey to Gorakhpur and spent a night
there. It is not a pleasant place, but interesting nonetheless. I had
my first taste of the world-famous Indian cuisine - a nutritious meal
of Naan bread, Sprite and Imodium.
Since Sunali, we've been travelling with a really nice English couple.
Scouse bloke, Bucks girl. It's been great to travel in a slightly
larger group.
Having not booked train tickets, Dave and I travelled unreserved 2nd
class (the worst available) for 7 hours at a cost of 75p from
Gorakhpur to Varanasi. The train was mental. There were 38 people (me
and 37 Indians staring at me) crammed into a section with 6 seats. Not
to mention there were also 4 caged rabbits, three 20kg sacks of rice,
countless tins of paint and everyone's bags. I spent most of the
journey perched on metal bars in literally a cubic foot of space. An
experience to tick off and never repeat.
The sheer amount of filth - particularly shit - in India is hard to
get past. There are huge amounts of people sleeping rough and the
volume of public defecation is revolting. There are thousands of
sacred cows everywhere, too, sharing their sacred shit with the
pavements. Every foray on foot is a messy hopscotch adventure.
My other observations about India are that it is massively
overpopulated, there's a severe lack of room in urban centres. With
the 1 billion population set to double by 2050, I do not know where
the extra 1 billion are going to go.
The police are armed with WW2 weapons - including sten guns and
bayonets (!) "Show them the old cold steel, they don't like it up 'em
Mr Mainwairing."
All Indian men wear shirts. This makes it hard to tell anything about
anyone. Who is an official? Who is a tramp? Who may speak English?
Who wants to sell you heroin? Even worse is that nobody's shirt fits
them. With a billion people, and a billion shirts, I can't help
thinking that a giant Gok Wan-organised clothes swap would do wonders
for the place.
In Varanasi today, we've seen tens of Hindu cremations on the Ghats by
the Ganges. It was weird at first but this afternoon, I found myself
walking past a pair of smouldering legs and I hardly bat an eyelid.
The remains are scattered into the Ganges.
All of the City's sewage and rubbish (4 million people live here) also
ends up in the river. It's disgusting. I watched people swimming and
washing their clothes in the water a metre downstream of a mound of
rubbish and dead fish. There's no education about sanitation.
I got a haircut by the side of a street. It cost 50p. It was fun.
Sadly, despite the barber and his friends being very chuffed, it is
not a good hair cut. It's a cross between a Morrisey and a bullying
victim. Using a cut-throat, my barber has shaved a clear inch above my
ears and neckline - successfully making my hairline receed from all
360 degrees. He's revealed virgin skin which has never been exposed to
the elements before, let alone India's unrelenting 30-degree Sun. Sun
cream at the ready.
Next up we stopped by the river for a half-hour full body massage. It
was phenomenal. Head, face, hands, arms, back, legs then feet. The
bloke's hands were filthy. At the realisation that minutes before
massaging my face, he was rubbing someone else's feet - I went back to
the hotel and showered for an hour.
Fortunately my stomach is not so bad now, so I've risked a few veg
curries, parathas, pakoras and a Thali. All very very tasty.
We've got an air conditioned second class sleeper carriage booked for
a journey to Agra to see the Taj in 2 days. Then we plan to visit
Delhi and Jaipur.
We're also making arrangements to watch all 5 days of the England v
India test match in Mumbai, which I'm very excited about.
Love to Al, Reb, Ian, Sam and George,
Matt x
DISCLAIMER: These, and all future posts, are unashamedly the views of a a 25-year-old Londoner, who has for the last two and a half years, led a champagne and prawn sandwiches lifestyle.
These are my first experiences of traveling in a 'third-world' country.
Hey hey,
Hope all's well,
We safely made it into India a couple of days ago.
After saying goodbye to Simon and Wendy in Pokhara on the 24th, we
headed to Chitwan for three days. There, sadly, we were slightly
dissapointed. It emerged we'd booked a package with a dodgy company
which meant we didn't get to do everything we had hoped. (No rhino or
tiger sightings, and no real ventures into the national park). But we
did a canoe trip in a crocodile-packed river, which was great - must
have seen 10 two-metre-plus crocs on the banks. We also took an
elephant ride, but it wasn't so enjoyable as the poor critters are
clearly treated appalingly. We were taken to see a breeding sanctuary
where young and old were held with their front feet chained together
and tethered to a post. To pour a bit more misery on the experience, a
leech found its way into my sock and I didn't notice until it'd had
it's fill and my white Umbro sock was drenched in blood. I also picked
up food poisoning from, I think, some dodgy chicken.
From Chitwan, we took a 5 hour bus and half hour jeep to Sunali where
Nepal borders India. Within sight of the border, I had an attack of
the Bradley Pitts and had to sprint into the nearest hotel. We crossed
the border without incident but as soon as my Visa was stamped, I had
to run into a hotel in India for the same purpose.
We then took a 3 hour bus journey to Gorakhpur and spent a night
there. It is not a pleasant place, but interesting nonetheless. I had
my first taste of the world-famous Indian cuisine - a nutritious meal
of Naan bread, Sprite and Imodium.
Since Sunali, we've been travelling with a really nice English couple.
Scouse bloke, Bucks girl. It's been great to travel in a slightly
larger group.
Having not booked train tickets, Dave and I travelled unreserved 2nd
class (the worst available) for 7 hours at a cost of 75p from
Gorakhpur to Varanasi. The train was mental. There were 38 people (me
and 37 Indians staring at me) crammed into a section with 6 seats. Not
to mention there were also 4 caged rabbits, three 20kg sacks of rice,
countless tins of paint and everyone's bags. I spent most of the
journey perched on metal bars in literally a cubic foot of space. An
experience to tick off and never repeat.
The sheer amount of filth - particularly shit - in India is hard to
get past. There are huge amounts of people sleeping rough and the
volume of public defecation is revolting. There are thousands of
sacred cows everywhere, too, sharing their sacred shit with the
pavements. Every foray on foot is a messy hopscotch adventure.
My other observations about India are that it is massively
overpopulated, there's a severe lack of room in urban centres. With
the 1 billion population set to double by 2050, I do not know where
the extra 1 billion are going to go.
The police are armed with WW2 weapons - including sten guns and
bayonets (!) "Show them the old cold steel, they don't like it up 'em
Mr Mainwairing."
All Indian men wear shirts. This makes it hard to tell anything about
anyone. Who is an official? Who is a tramp? Who may speak English?
Who wants to sell you heroin? Even worse is that nobody's shirt fits
them. With a billion people, and a billion shirts, I can't help
thinking that a giant Gok Wan-organised clothes swap would do wonders
for the place.
In Varanasi today, we've seen tens of Hindu cremations on the Ghats by
the Ganges. It was weird at first but this afternoon, I found myself
walking past a pair of smouldering legs and I hardly bat an eyelid.
The remains are scattered into the Ganges.
All of the City's sewage and rubbish (4 million people live here) also
ends up in the river. It's disgusting. I watched people swimming and
washing their clothes in the water a metre downstream of a mound of
rubbish and dead fish. There's no education about sanitation.
I got a haircut by the side of a street. It cost 50p. It was fun.
Sadly, despite the barber and his friends being very chuffed, it is
not a good hair cut. It's a cross between a Morrisey and a bullying
victim. Using a cut-throat, my barber has shaved a clear inch above my
ears and neckline - successfully making my hairline receed from all
360 degrees. He's revealed virgin skin which has never been exposed to
the elements before, let alone India's unrelenting 30-degree Sun. Sun
cream at the ready.
was phenomenal. Head, face, hands, arms, back, legs then feet. The
bloke's hands were filthy. At the realisation that minutes before
massaging my face, he was rubbing someone else's feet - I went back to
the hotel and showered for an hour.
Fortunately my stomach is not so bad now, so I've risked a few veg
curries, parathas, pakoras and a Thali. All very very tasty.
We've got an air conditioned second class sleeper carriage booked for
a journey to Agra to see the Taj in 2 days. Then we plan to visit
Delhi and Jaipur.
We're also making arrangements to watch all 5 days of the England v
India test match in Mumbai, which I'm very excited about.
Love to Al, Reb, Ian, Sam and George,
Matt x
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