Je na dekhyo Jaipario, To kal men akar kya kario?*

One of the downsides (or I suppose advantages if you're a proper backpacker) of travelling independently, is that to work your way through any sort of itinerary you need to learn to navigate the public transport system of the country you're visiting. Unfortunately, in a country as vast and as addicted to beurocracy as India something as simple as buying a train ticket can easily become a whole-day odyssey. Back in Mumbai we tried in vain to buy a ticket to our next stop of Jaipur but were defeated by a system that, if we understood it correctly, involved: 1). queuing at one window to find out the number of the train you may wish to travel on, 2). queuing at a second window for a card to be taken away and completed with the train number, a mini biography of all passengers and full details of where you were staying at your destination, 3). queuing at a third window where, in the unlikely event you had filled out your card to the attendant's satisfaction, he would issue you a number for, 4). a fourth window where, if they weren't on break, someone may be willing to book you a ticket assuming, of course, you knew which of six classes you wanted and also understood the finer points of reserving against cancellation, waiting lists, the taktal quota and the tourist quota.

Thoroughly confused we eventually had to fall back on a very jolly travel agent who, for a mere 50% commission, booked us in with great confidence in about five minutes. Despite all of his assurances we were still surprised and relieved when we finally arrived at Udaipur station to find our names taped to the side of the third class AC car - 48 hours and 1000 miles from the tin hut where we had booked the tickets.

For all its complexity India's train system is reknowned for its efficiency and pulling away a short while later we began to appreciate just why the system is so treasured by the people who rely on it. Our third class ticket entitled us to two comfortable, air conditioned sleeper berths with all bedding provided and, once we had tucked our bags away and one of our fellow passengers had ended his mobile phone karaoke session, we slept very well.

Knowing we would stay in Jaipur for a few days we spent a little more than usual on our room (a hefty $19!) but secured our travelling holy trinity of a spacious air conditioned room, a clean bathroom with western toilet and decent wi-fi. The hotel itself is a grand old colonial building slightly out from the city center but a short tuk-tuk ride takes you quickly into the old "pink city" that is still the commercial and cultural heart of town.

Even limiting ourselves to around 5 hours a day due to the heat we've still managed to see a lot. We spent our first day walking the streets and getting our bearings but did stop in to visit Hawa Mehal or "the palace of the winds." The entire purpose of this beautiful structure was to allow the royal women to survey life in the city from behind a cool screen - the top three floors are just one room thick and honeycombed to allow breezes to pass through.


The second day we were a little more adventurous and took a tuk-tuk to the local monkey temple where a colony of monkeys try to steal your camera while you watch young locals dive into a murky pool. The water is supposed to be spiritually linked to the Ganges but we weren't tempted.

We spent that evening at a government run "cultural village" where for a six dollar entrance fee we enjoyed a huge buffet dinner and took part in all manner of Rajasthani cultural activites like riding a camel (finally!), shooting things with a bow and arrow and riding a human-powered ferris wheel.



Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan; a fairly recent amalgamation of 22 separate states ruled by dynasties of Hindu warrior-princes each with their own proud military traditions and legendary heroes. After centuries of resisting Moghul invasions they didn't seem to mind the British (who paid them off with riflles and introduced polo) and as a result many of the Rajputs ended up fighting for the Raj against independence. All of which is a round about way of explaining why the city is pink - they painted all 13 square kilometers of it in honour of a visit from Prince Albert in 1883! The other main legacy of Jaipur's warring past is the majestic hill-top forts which surround it on all sides. We hired a tuk-tuk to visit two of the most famous (Jaighar Fort and Amer Fort) on our third day in town and at Jaighar got to see the world's biggest cannon!

As Megan mentioned the food in India has been one of the highlights of the trip so far with even the simplest meal seeming to involve a huge range of herbs, spices, sauces and dressings. Staying away from fresh fruits and vegetables is proving quite hard though and while a day or two of deep-fried something for breakfast and lunch followed by curry for dinner can be great fun, three weeks may be close to my limit. Similarly, while many of the ingredients are quite alien to us there is no missing the huge quantities of vegetable oil and ghee (clarified butter) with which everything is cooked. At the buffet mentioned above Megan asked for a roti (round piece of bread) but before the server would present it to her he immersed it completely in a vat of hot fat! Ordinarily we would both consider this an improvement but right now I could eat cobb salad for a month.

The only other minor niggle we're suffering from is continuous low level headaches which we've decided is either caffeine withdrawal or the result of spending far too much time sitting in open tuk-tuks. These contraptions aren't much more than a lawnmower engine strapped to a bicycle surrounded with a dustbin and feel so precarious we are glad the roads are too crowded to get up any speed. The downside to traffic however is being stuck listening to an endless barrage of car horns and sitting in a fog of two-stroke exhaust fumes thick enough to leave black creases in our elbows every evening.

Apart from that everything is still going very well but we expect our next stop, Agra, to be a challenge. Reknowned as the dirtiest and hottest city in India there would be no good reason to visit ... were it not the staging post for trips to the Taj Mahal.

* "What have I accomplished in my life if I have not seen Jaipur?" - Rajasthani proverb

Namaste, India!

We left the comforts of Dubai a tiny bit nervous about our next stop, having heard from friends and other travelers about the dirt, crowds, heat, and general discomfort of India. We'll never know whether or not this is a positive case of lowered expectations, but we have found ourselves loving the country almost from the moment we arrived! Not many people have reported the same experience, especially considering we arrived in the bustling port/slum city of Mumbai, but everywhere we turn, there is some colorful sight or amazing smell to keep us interested and we are optimistic about our long stay here.

The food has been one of the highlights, and while we are certain this won't last forever, we are taking our lack of stomach issues as a sign that we should continue our street food diet. Nothing we have eaten so far has appeared on an Indian menu in London or New York so we are taking advantage of the opportunities. From spicy little omelettes in buns for breakfast to lentil/potato mix with countless spices to the rich and fragrant chai, this is Indian food we'd like to bring home with us. Still, I for one am avoiding the water and trying to continue eating relatively safe things in hopes my good health will continue.

It is true that India is quite poor, and this was evident from our initial 3am ride from the airport to our hostel when we saw thousands of people sleeping on the sidewalks, whole families side by side with cows and dogs, tuning out the noise of the traffic and crowds (even at that time in the night). It was startling to see so many homeless, even though I knew to expect it. This same taxi ride took twice as long as it should have, since the driver had no idea where our hotel was and stopped every 10 yards or so to ask someone new for directions. We were so delirious from our flight and the late hour that we could only laugh as the cab inched along, the cabbie asking for directions to the next corner and then asking again.

Once we'd rested up and showered, we set out for the tourist-friendly Colaba neighborhood and poked around shops and sidewalk vendors, stopping for views of the Gateway to India (built to honor the British when they arrived, and through which the British retreated upon their final exit), Victoria Terminus train station, and Flora Fountain. However, the colonial-era monuments, while beautiful, didn't hold our attention as much as the scenes on the street. There is just so much to look at in Mumbai! Every sari is the most brilliant color I've ever seen, adorned with bangles and embroidery and kept flawlessly clean and bright. The commercial trucks are painted bright colors and adorned with trinkets, including the horns which play little tunes instead of just beeping. The seaside is lined with fishing boats and fishermen in turbans, and most of the women carry large loads on their heads. I loved looking at the people, as well as the livestock - dozens of cows and goats sharing sidewalk space with the 20 million human residents.

We also happened to walk right by the Taj and Oberoi hotels - both of which were struck by terrorists last November. It was easy enough to imagine it had never happened - the Taj is still closed, but looked completely intact and beautiful from the street. We walked into the Oberoi on accident, thinking it was a mall when we were desperate for air conditioning, but the extremely heavy security we faced upon entering hinted at something else. Once we got inside and saw a memorial plaque, it was clear where we were. It's difficult to imagine such terrible things happening in Mumbai. Despite India's reputation for theft and general dodginess, so far we feel very safe, although we're being quite cautious at the same time. The people are startlingly friendly and sociable, which caught us off-guard at first, but we've become more comfortable chatting with people without assuming they're out for money - a cultural hangover from our Egypt trip.

After our stroll and an evening rest, we decided to go for the hottest, most humid run of all time, along the lively Chowpatty Beach, where we could smell the sea salt mixed with street food aromas. Vacationing with Ben has been good for me - I've done more running on this trip than probably during my whole last year in New York. The air in Mumbai is so thick and wet it made for a very tough run, even though the sun had gone down already, but we made it, cleaned up, and dined on street food as a reward.

The other sights in Mumbai that we had the chance to see include the fish market and a dhobi ghat. The fish market was intimidatingly crowded and smelly, but still swirling and fascinating. Photos weren't allowed inside, which was disappointing, but we were able to view the docks at sunrise while avoiding workers carting huge loads of ice and enormous fish, while the women sat with with racks of drying Bombay Duck (a kind of fish unique to the area). Nearby, the dhobi ghat is a huge block of concrete cubicles where washermen pound T-shirts and jeans clean over bins of soapy water - work that looked very physical and difficult, but the hanging clothes looked very white and clean!

In the afternoon we caught a sleeper bus bound for Udaipur, which ended up being a 19-hour ride. 19 hours. In a bus. The next time you're annoyed about taking a 6-hour flight, think about our 19-hour bus ride. In all seriousness, it wasn't that bad... we had a little cubby to ourselves just big enough to lie down in with our valuables, and luckily our section was air conditioned (some were not! The horror!), so the worst part of it ended up being the boredom once we couldn't sleep or read any more. However, once we arrived in Udaipur, we could see that the trip was worth it. Udaipur is a charming valley town with steeply pitched streets, dozens of small Hindu temples, and two huge lakes that with their floating palaces are billed as the most romantic walks and views in India.

As you can see, the lakes are dry, somewhat dampening the romance factor, but the palaces are still amazing. The Bond film Octopussy was filmed at the one above (these days, Bond wouldn't need an alligator costume to infiltrate), and the City Palace (part of which is still occupied by the current maharana!) has a maze of rooms containing 16th century artifacts and artwork pertaining to the history or Rajasthan. We spent our day perusing the many locally made handicrafts available here, getting a ride on an elephant, and getting stuck in an elevator after having tea in a rooftop restaurant. Apparently, rolling blackouts are quite common in small Indian towns. Lesson learned: Take the stairs.

In the evening, we went to a showcase of cultural music and dance at Bagore ki Haveli - another old mansion with dozens of rooms. The show was beautiful and very different from anything I'd seen before - gorgeous saris swirling, a girl dancing with a pot of fire on her head, and another woman who balanced 6 pots on her head while dancing on glass! We were given the background for each dance, which were all symbolic of different things - thanks for a successful harvest, celebration of a girl's wedding, or marking religious holidays.

Tonight we carry on from here to the pink city of Jaipur on another overnight trip, this time via train. Wish us luck!

Sheikh your booty!

While Megan may have chosen to bow out gracefully with cucumber sandwiches at the Burj you won't be surprised to hear that things did not remain classy for long. In fact by the time we'd polished off a third tray of petit fours it was time to head off to the trade center to meet some ex-pats for what, for everyone else, was post-work drinks. From there we headed to a house party kindly hosted by one of Ahmed's work colleagues where we met Ahmed's wonderful girlfriend Maaria, drowned dreams of airlifting Dubai apartments into the West Village with hearty gin and tonics and gradually warmed up for the night ahead.

I've no idea who suggested the night's final venue but when the time came to leave the party (i.e. when Megan and I had eaten all the cheese), we took yet another taxi with Ahmed and Maaria to a subterranean and, apart from us, exclusively Fillipino nightclub. If being a foot taller than all the other customers and dressed in suits didn't mark us out adequately we immediately charged the dancefloor for a vintage display of our spin, spin, trip, catch yourself, pretend you meant it and spin again dance that is still the talk of Solihull. When the dancefloor cleared we took this as a sign of encouragement and continued to flail around as if we might never hear Brian Adams again. In retrospect the applause this seemed to generate may have been for the troupe of show girls who eventually forced us to sit down rather than our dazzling footwork but fortunately this was the first day on the trip we forgot to bring out the camera so the story is that we were awesome. And I'm sticking to it.

I would say the next morning wasn't pretty but that would be conjecture as we didn't see it. We know for sure the early afternoon was sub-par but if there's one thing a bad hangover needs when it's 48 degrees C outside it's unlimited walnut and pomegranite paste, spinach and plum stew, kebab meat by the pound and hot yoghurt soup. That's normally a tall order but Ahmed, as ever, was up to it and so we found ourselves nursing our injuries at the Iranian Social Club for their weekly buffet brunch and one of the more surreal experiences of our trip so far. As beautifully dressed Iranian women and their extended families picked at plates of dates and olives and the men gathered in front of a huge TV for the preliminary results of the election we restored ourselves with round after round of the most unusual and delicious stodge I can remember.

With the exception of a morning at the Wild Wadi waterpark we spent the remainder of our time in a comfortable routine of hiding out from the heat on our wonderful host Michelle's couch until lunchtime, window shopping and watching people ski(!) at the mall till late afternoon and heading out in the evening to a seemingly endless cycle of swanky bars and fantastic restaurants of which the highlight was probably Ravi's (a local Indian restaurant) followed by Palestinian desserts (while a three inch thick plate of melted cheese may not sound appetizing don't knock it till you've tried it covered in nuts and spun sugar and drowned in syrup...)



When the time finally came to leave Dubai I will confess to having some mixed feelings about the city. Thanks to Ahmed and Michelle we had a truly incredible time and I can easily imagine that especially in the "winter" months it is a fantastic getaway for shopping, relaxing on the beach and eating very, very well. And of course you can ski. With the huge caveat though that a week isn't close to enough time to really understand a place, this professional pedestrian and sometime cyclist will not miss the hours we spent every day flying up and down the Sheikh Zayed highway (14 lanes - still gets jammed) nor the feeling that the heat, the labyrinthine highway system and the city's huge sprawl are conspiring to stop you from ever really getting your arms around the place. Many of the cities we have visited so far and hope to visit on the remainder of our trip invite you to explore them and discover their secrets on your own but on our last day, as the wind began to blow a lot of sand up into the air and the clumps of skyscrapers to the distant East and West of Michelle's apartment began to blend into the sky, I couldn't help but feel Dubai does the opposite.

That being said it is a fascinating place and one which I would love to know more about. As I walk around New York or Cairo the ratio of shops to homes to businesses to rich people to poor people seems to make sense whereas Dubai remains a complete mystery. How does some oil wealth, a few small enclaves of white collar professionals and a booming construction industry generate so much trickle down wealth that a city of 1.2 million people requires at least 20 enormous luxury malls and city employees can retire on 75% pay after 20 years? Who is going to live in the thousands of luxury condos that billboards proudly announce will be delivered this year and next and who on earth will ride the metro system when no-one will walk more than five minutes outside and no-one lives near the stations? What was clear is that someone knows what they're doing as for all the lurid reporting of the impact of the credit crunch in the region we saw precious little evidence of a slow down during our stay and have no doubt that Dubai will keep on defying superlatives for a while yet.

Seven Arabian Nights

We are sadly coming to the end of our stay in Dubai, which has been full of food, drinks, sand, and relentlessly scorching heat. It has actually been quite educational to see a place that was built on top of a desert and designed solely for entertainment, a place where no one pays taxes, and every building, road, and island is brand new and squeaky clean.

We owe the success of our stay to our friend Salty (AKA Ahmed, Subhi, or Ahmed Subhi Hussein Ahmed - he is a man of many passports and many names), whom Ben has known since college. He's a native of the UAE and the best host ever, showing us around and taking us out literally the entire week. Without him, we would have scratched the surface of Dubai and probably still enjoyed ourselves, but with his help we've really had a full experience.

Dubai has over 20 shopping malls (including the Dubai Mall, the biggest one in the world), hundreds of skyscrapers (the tallest in the world, the Burj Dubai, is nearing completion here), and dozens of man-made islands that have been built along the coast, the better to build even more luxury hotels with Arabian Sea views.

There is so much over the top-ness here that I can't even begin to describe - the next big venture in the works is air-conditioned sand on the beaches. Air conditioned sand. Nice cool sand so you don't burn your feet when it's 112 degrees F. Craziness.

Anyway, we're loving it, and we're soaking it all up before we descend into Mumbai soon which will surely be another complete shock. Our first two nights here we stayed in a budget hotel, and then we moved into the home of Michelle, our lovely and extremely generous host that we found via couchsurfing.com. This is our first experience with Couchsurfing, and it has turned out to be everything our new friends in Egypt told us it would be. Michelle opened up her home, offered to show us around, and handed us a key, all because we met her on the Internet and told her we're not crazy. We are so grateful, and look forward to hosting visitors in NY when we're able.

Our first day in Dubai, we made the mistake of trying to walk to the souks which appeared to be very close to our hotel on the map. We learned two things: Dubai is much bigger than you would guess from a map, and no one walks anywhere. The sun beat down on us with such ferocity that a mere 3 blocks from the hotel we dove into the first cab we saw, and we have taken cabs ever since. There's not really any public transportation here (although 2 years ago they decided to build a subway system and it will be finished in September - very impressive. New York, take note.), and it's too hot to try anyway. The souks ended up being much smaller than the markets in Egypt, and so new and shiny that they were a little less interesting, although we did enjoy the huge diamonds and gleaming jewelry in the Gold Souk.

We also tried to get a little culture and history in by visiting the former home of Sheik Saeed, who ruled for over 30 years. The home is now a museum and features a lot of photographs of Dubai's development, along with a few artifacts. It was interesting, but we learned quickly that museums and history are not the strong suit of Dubai tourism. People come to shop, eat, and sunbathe.

So we changed course and went to the Dubai Mall, mainly to take advantage of the air conditioning, but once we got there we had a great time! There are over 1200 stores, an ice rink, a multi-story waterfall, and a top notch aquarium where we spent a couple hours getting nose-to-nose with sharks and staring at other strange sea creatures.

Right outside the mall is the Burj Dubai, so we took in the view of all 160+ stories of it. It's such a slender, elegant building that it doesn't look as tall as it is, but up close, we could get a sense of its proportions. It's an absolute giant, but really quite beautiful at the same time.

Right outside is a plaza featuring dancing fountains (of course, 3 times bigger than the one at the Bellagio in Vegas) so we enjoyed the show and headed home.

The best parts of our stay have been the evenings out with Salty. Our first evening, we had a terrific Arabic dinner of meze and kebabs (read: mountains and mountains of meat. Even this Texan was a little intimidated.) and then headed out to Mina A'Salam, which can only be described as Arab Disney. It's a huge multi-hotel complex with a souk and a few canals a la Venice winding throughout (stocked with multicolored fish and giant turtles!), all decorated with beautiful Moorish details. Every ceiling and surface is covered with Arabic decorations, the lanterns are all traditional copper cut-outs, and the arched architecture is very Middle Eastern, but everything is so new and perfect that I felt like an extra on "Aladdin." From one of the hotel bar balconies there is a perfect view of the Burj Al Arab, which glows in different colors at night, so we had a drink and took in the amazing view.

On our second evening, Salt took us to a "dive" bar, which was a beautiful garden courtyard within another hotel complex. We had another relaxing drink outside while other patrons smoked huge sheesha pipes, allowing us to take in the wonderful scent of apple tobacco to go with our cocktails.

The third night, however, takes the cake. As an amazing wedding/welcome to Dubai gift, Salt treated us to High Tea at the Burj Al Arab - the singular Dubai experience. We got all dressed up and headed to the Burj, situated of course on a man-made island in the Red Sea and glowing against the sunset. The building itself is spectacular, and the inside is spectacularly gaudy, all red and gilt and over the top. We took the glass elevator with Sea views to the Sky Lounge and for 2 hours feasted on delicious tiny sandwiches, delicate pastries and champagne. Moments like these, we don't exactly feel like backpackers.

Ben will take it from here - stay tuned!

Hot Britannia

Apologies in advance for another long and photo-heavy post but we have been keeping up a crazy pace here in the UK and, spoilt by some incredible weather, we've packed an enormous amount into the last week or so.

Picking up where Megan left off, we had a great train ride up to Edinburgh with the sunshine making the always-impressive views really spectacular. Once we'd arrived and got settled we spent the rest of our first day in Scotland walking the streets and climbing the dizzying Scott monument for views:

We got to spend that night in a lovely hotel courtesy of a surprise wedding gift from Sula and Andrew, two of my old running teammates, but early the next morning we checked out and got a lift to a local highland games tournament where we engaged in traditional Scottish activities like pretending to like the sound of bagpipes, washing down fried food with Ironbru and watching enormous men throw very heavy things:

The focus of our day though was the fell race and at half past two we set off for a mad 8.5km dash up and down the nearest hill. Suffering through the heat of Eygpt turned out to be surprisingly excellent preparation for our first race in months and we acquitted ourselves well although Andy getting stuck in the bathroom queue as the race started flattered us both.

Someone obviously knew I was visiting because we arrived back in town to find the Grassmarket area of town taken over for an evening of bike racing across the cobbles culminating in a pro level criterium won by controversial local hero and sometime Tour de France star David Millar:

For our last two nights north of the border we were lucky enough to be hosted by Sula's father and his wife in their beautiful house in Lasswaith which was a perfect place to relax but inevitably, as always seems to be the case when I'm reunited with members of UBCCC, sunbathing was a distant second priority behind eating, more spectacular running, the occasional swim and lots of real ale appreciation:

When the time finally came to leave sunny Scotland we hitched a lift with Sarah, another good running friend from Bristol, to her new home in Yorkshire stopping off en route to join Sarah's fiance Gareth for what I may have sold to Megan as 'a nice stroll in the Lake District.' 'An arduous 5 hour trek up the second-highest peak in England including a terrifying scramble along the infamous Strider's Edge' may have been a more accurate description but the views from the top were amazing:

From Yorkshire we continued south to my old home town of Loughborough which I had not been back to in 5 years. We stayed with Frankie and Alan, my old next door neighbours in the tiny village of Old Woodhouse and while their legendary hospitality nearly derailed our plans entirely we did manage to walk into town for a nose around my old school and the town market. Very little has changed although the town has sprouted a couple of new housing estates which meant I actually got to say "Ahh, I remember when it was all fields around here."

From Loughborough we took another train (or rather 3 trains and a walk - the joys of National Rail), to nearby Solihull for a quick catch-up with yet another ex-Bristolian Matt and his wife Penny and then the wedding of our very good friends Simon and Amy. I've been looking forward to their big day since meeting them many years ago and even the inevitable end of the heat-wave couldn't spoil a really beautiful day and a fantastic reunion.