Only in India

So here is my final post on what has been an eventful and epic two month journey around a fascinating part of the world. And what better way to end this journey than by visiting a country that I had heard so much about from various other travellers. It was the country they described as "exhausting but amazing" and the country they couldn't shut up about, and I apologise if I reciprocate this. INDIA.

Fortunately I was lucky enough to have an old Uni friend living in Delhi, Madhuri, who was able to relieve some of the pressures of backpacking, offering her home as a resting point (and also eat some fantastic home cooked Indian food) as well as setting out an incredible itinerary for the short 12 days I was in the country. Arriving in Delhi, the first thing that hit us as we walked out the airport to meet Mads was the 46C dry heat that was to accompany us throughout the trip, not to mention the clear blue skies during this Indian summer that was hot enough to even reach the New Delhi newspaper headlines. This aside, we rested a night in the house and the next day embarked on our first adventure to Rishikesh, by night bus.

Rishikesh

The night bus that arrived to pick us up for our 11 hour overnight journey was, to say the least, a cramped minivan full of Indian people. But after pulling luggage from the back and strapping it to the roof, a bench was folded down and we embraced what was to be a sleepless, bumpy journey with nowhere to rest our weary heads. In those situation, the only thing you can do is laugh.

We reached the camp the next morning, staying in comfy tents on a spectacular sandy beach on the river. Here we spent two thrilling days riding the challenging white water rapids of the holy River Ganges, and meeting some of the Nepalese rafting guides who had some interesting stories and magic tricks to entertain us in the evening by the camp fire beneath the stars. They also allowed me to rekindle some of my badminton and cricket skills in the afternoon, labelling me as Glenn Mcgrath after taking a few nifty wickets, top notch.

Holy Rafting.

Upon leaving, we chose to hitchhike back to the town from the camp to get our second night bus back to Delhi, saving hundreds of rupees (which sounds a lot). In fact, this proved to be an exhilarating experience, with the driver accelerating and overtaking into blind corners, narrowly missing other vehicles and skimming the edges of cliff roads, all without even flinching. You know it's bad when you look at the roof of the drivers cabin to anticipate where you will fall when the truck rolls down the mountain. Despite this near death experience, I loved every bit of it. Felix Baumgartner ain't got nothing on this guy when it comes to living on the edge. Thats didn't end our already eventful journey, as we boarded a night bus upon which the driver tried to throw us off 20 minutes into the journey, in the middle of nowhere in the pitch black, claiming we were on the wrong bus after previously checking our ticket and allowing us on. Mads was the saviour of the day, as she turned on her no bullshit attitude and stood firm, we shall not be moved. After a nervous few minutes, the driver eventually left us to carry on driving, as the people standing at the front of the bus prior to the incident seemed to have just hopped off the bus. Were we the easy 'white' targets to chuck off the over booked bus? Who knows, but thank Krishna for Mads.

Jaipur- The Pink City

After another cosy rest at the Delhi house and a visit to a colourful night market, we boarded another (rather uneventful given the previous occasions) night bus to the historical Pink City, Jaipur. I say uneventful, the bus was again full as we tried to get on, only before three tired looking people strolled off under the instruction of the driver; this seemed to be a recurring theme for most our bus journeys. Throughout this fiasco, a man was explaining how this wasn't our bus, and he ultimately turned out to be a tuk tuk driver, it's a mad world.

Jaipur struck me as a lively, bustling place where the relentless heat and beating sun didn't deter people from going about their daily lives. A spectacle itself was simply to watch the traffic/wildlife that went down the road, be it a man riding a camel, a donkey and cart pulling along a tonne of fruits, cows wandering aimlessly crying out to be farmed, monkeys eyeing up the produce of a nearby food stall, and pigs rustling through garbage by the bins. This accompanied various sorts of pungent smells that I can still smell in everything I wore, that simply makes me wish I was back there when I accidentally get a whiff of it emptying my backpack. That day we ate some incredibly tasty Indian food at a highly recommended restaurant and visited The City Palace within the 'Pink City' old town, named after the distinctly pink coloured stone used to build the walled city. The next day we made a trip to the impressive Amber Fort on the edge of the city, where we were lucky to catch the last of the elephants lumbering down from the fort back into the city. The journey back to the hostel in the tuk tuk went through the chaotic and amazing Bazaar road through the old city, passing all sorts of weird sites, smells and sounds.

The Girls at the City Palace

Elephants at Amber Fort.

Ranthambore

Our next part of the itinerary was again something that seems to go under the radar as a great thing to do in India: Tiger Safaris. We had been warned that due to the rarity of seeing tigers in the wild anywhere on Earth, the same applied to Ranthambore National Park, where a huge conservation project had helped just under 50 tigers survive in the wild in this large area of protected land. We were fortunate enough to be staying in a very decent hotel resort, and upon arriving we decided to take a walk around the grounds. This is when I stopped, stunned and speechless, as I saw in the distance a large cat walking away from the grounds down a path into the bush. A lady working at the hotel came over and I pointed it out, prompting her to adopt a similar gasped look and ring up the hotel manager. Soon after, several staff came scurrying out to pursue the cat, later arriving back to confirm that it was an 11 month old tiger cub who had wandered into the grounds looking for a drink. So the safari hadn't even started, and we had seen what others had never seen in years of visiting Ranthambore- lucky us! That afternoon we went on our first safari into the national park zone, eagerly hoping to carry on our luck. And sure enough, after waiting around for 10 minutes in an area where they had reports of a tiger, we struck gold. A female tigress, named T-19, emerged from the long grass on the back on the water, and strolled down the bank, across the water, towards our vehicle and down the road. A spectacular and beautiful couple of minutes that I will never forget.

T-19 emerging from the shrubs.

The next day we took off on our second and final jeep safari, which brought some luck as we were called to a dried out riverbed to spot a lazy male tiger sleeping in the near distance. The occasional movements revealed what a beast this tiger was. He was named T-29 "The Teacher", and had last year mauled a park ranger to death after sneaking up to him through the shrubs. Its huge muscular thighs and paws were an intimidating site, and it was a daunting spectacle to see such a killing machine within walking distance of our vehicle. And it also confirmed our decisions not to go on an optional tiger visit in Thailand to get 'pictures with the tigers', after hearing about tigers at such places being drugged to prevent their natural instinct to kill humans snapping piccies with them. This was the real deal. The tiger wandered off graciously to a distant body of water and we headed back, only to strike luck again when a lady spotted another Tiger male, named Starman, chilling in a cave a short distance from the vehicle pass. So this tiger was apparently a celebrity, being in a BBC documentary a few years ago, named Starman from a distinct black star shape above his eye, and also being the Frosties mascot for a short time. One of these facts is false. ENOUGH ABOUT TIGERS, despite my new found love for them.

T-29, The Teacher.

Agra

Our final instalment of an eventful and extraordinary Journey in India was to visit one of the seven wonders of the world- The Taj Mahal. Again, we boarded a fully seated bus, some people just got taken off to make space available, and we made the 5 hour sweaty journey from Delhi. Arriving in Agra, as the only white people on the bus, we were greeted by a man calling us his friend, and taken off at a different stop to everyone else. He tried selling us our journey back to Delhi, which we pretended to be interesting in booking, and got his tuk tuk to the hostel for a decent price that we managed to haggle down from his ridiculous price. We then completely ignored his requests for us to stop at his booking office on the way, much to his angry dismay- we were pro's at this game by now, bye friend. Unfortunately our £4 room had no working air con, so our room resembled an actual sauna which required wet towels and bottles of cold water pouring over us to relieve some of the heat. This didn't work too well, so with an hours sleep I vacated to the lobby before the 4.30am wake up call for the Taj Mahal sunrise, which couldn't come soon enough.

Needless to say the building was spectacular on arriving as one of the first people to enter the site. We managed a few shots of the empty grounds, pictures on the famous 'Diana Bench' and then holding the top of the building from the perfectly positioned poses. It was hard not to be impressed by the structure, which was perfectly symmetrical at each direct angle, and even had towers built slightly leaning outwards, built in this way to fall away from the main building if there were an earthquake. But its best to let the building do the talking, as it glowed spectacularly as the sun rose to hit its Eastern side.

5.30am. Symmetry. Perfection.

And so this was to end my short but remarkable trip around the northern half of the country. India to me was a culture unlike anything I have ever experienced, with the various habits of people, the extraordinarily colourful clothing of women, the need for people to take pictures of us in the street, the questionable hygiene of some places, the strange smells, the vast number of tasty curries that will make me question why I pay so much for the Indian food back home, the blistering sunshine, and of course the scams. This was certainly a great way to wrap up my two month trip around India and South East Asia, visiting some fascinating countries and along the way gaining so many memories, good and bad, that will never fade, unlike my tan...

Bangkok and Cambodia

Our final part of the tour involved traveling down through Thailand, stopping by in Chiang Mai where I decided to put my exceptional culinary skills to the test and attend a cooking class. The highlight of this was our female cooking instructor, Tan, who handled our jokes and tomfoolery quite brilliantly. Needless to say I cooked up 5 outstanding Thai dishes without much help at all, cheers Tan. I visited a few more temples, also watched Django in a minibus, then an overnight train took us to Bangkok. Seriously if Lonely Planet don't hire me to write for them they are missing out.

On arrival in Bangkok, I noticed it smelled really bad, traffic was everywhere and we were warned about the scamming tuk tuk drivers. And that's exactly what we experienced when going to visit the Grand Palace. The tuk tuk dropped us off at a gate to the palace where we were greeted by a guy in shirt and tie who was kind enough to tell us that the palace was closed until 11am because of "special Buddha day" and we should go on a tour on the river for a great price. Upon realising he was bullshitting us, we walked further down where we found the main entrance and guess what, the palace was open. So this kind of summed up the city for me, I much preferred the less touristy and more genuine cities in Vietnam. Despite this I had some great experiences over the week in Bangkok having finished the tour, including the Sky Bar, cheap food, Chang beer and the infamous party strip of Khao San Road.

Now for the positive part of the blog: Cambodia. Well almost positive, because this involved possibly the most exhausting and stressful journey of my life from Bangkok to Siem Reap. A taxi got me to Bangkok Bus terminal where I found the next bus to leave was 3.15pm. As the bus left, I discovered that the border into Cambodia closed at 8pm, and the bus journey was 4-5 hours. Typically, the bus stopped countless times and arrived at 10pm to a remote border town that didn't even show up on google maps. Luckily there were two American guys in the same situation, and so we scanned the town to eventually discover the only hotel. With rooms costing a bomb, I sat talking with the receptionist for a couple of hours about getting a room for cheaper but he would not budge, only knowing the words "you check-in". Eventually I gave in and got a room, waking up early in the morning to do the dreaded border crossing. Reaching the Cambodia crossing, I payed the visa fee and an 'extra fee' of a few pounds which I later found out was a scam. The three of us were then approached by men claiming to take us to Siem Reap for 'good price'. We ignored them to head to the shuttle bus, as advised, and then get a taxi which decided to drop us at a tourist office just outside town. Here we were told to get into another taxi where a guy asked for more money and sell us tours for 'good price'. We told him where to shove his tours and got dropped off in town, at the wrong hostel, so a final trek across town in the 35C heat finally got me to my hostel, home sweet home after a horrendous 24 hours with 3 hours sleep.

The next day we visited Angkor Wat, the enormous group of ancient temples that attracts a huge number of tourists to Cambodia. A 5am tuk tuk ride (after a night out on 50p beers in the towns main party strip "Pub Street" at a lively bar caller Angkor Whaaat?) took us to see the sunrise at the main temple. The sheer beauty of this immediately made the awful journey and 4.30am wake up worth it.

We then visited a number of other temples scattered around the forest, including one that was the set of Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones and Temple Run, where huge trees towered over the ruins with the trees roots wrapping over the ancient temple structures. For what seemed like a long but mesmerising day riding around on the back of a tuk tuk through the jungle to visit each temple, it came as a shock to realise it was only 10am when we finished the tour. Five hours sleep in three days had also caught up with me. After taking a nap, I was lucky enough to be taken round a local school where a girl was volunteering as an English teacher. Since education is such an expense and a rarity for Cambodian youth, it was quite inspiring to see such enthusiasm from the students to learn in the classroom and have such appreciation for having the opportunity. Shortly after, whilst walking through the playground of the primary section of the school, a little boy ran out to ring a bell. Kids then flooded out the classroom for playtime, what great timing. So I got to enjoy some skipping and a million high fives with fascinated kids. That evening I witnessed the most intense thunderstorm that even the locals were impressed by, as they waded through the flooded streets to keep going about their business. A great spectacle to end an amazing couple of days in Cambodia. Back to Bangkok to see off a good friend, then a flight down to Phuket to experience the island life and see what all the fuss is about. I can say now that Island life is the one, as I sit on my deck chair on a white sanded beach typing my blog with a beer at the side looking out onto the blue ocean, despite having a rotten hangover. Stay tuned.

Laos

It's been a while since I've plucked up the energy to update my blog, you'll understand why later on. My final stops included Halong Bay (slightly less outstanding that I expected, although kayaking round the bay was fun) and Hanoi (fairly similar to Ho Chi Minh City, lively and some exceptional food). We left Hanoi to fly to Laos, arriving into the capital Vientiane's airport, hello mosquito central!



Hanoi Street Food, fingers crossed.

After eating our first meal in Laos, I was beginning to realise we may not be experiencing food or coffee to the outstanding standards we enjoyed in Vietnam. However there was a saving grace: Beer Lao. The country loves it, it tastes great, costs nothing and it practically sponsors every sign/billboard in Laos. Cheers.

We left Vientane to embark on a daunting 4 hour twisting and turning bus journey up into the outstanding scenery of the mountains, passing some beautiful small villages that offered a drive by glimpse of a chilled out, simplistic life in the Laowegian country (not official term for Laos natives).

Vang Vieng was our next stop, the town that was once famous for 'tubing' but has since had several of the bars closed. Despite this the town is still lively with plenty of bars and restaurants showing endless repeats of Friends and Family Guy to entice westerners. Tubing is still available, but a few of us decided to go for the safer option; renting motorbikes for about $5 each for the day! This helped us get around to explore the caves and lagoons surrounding the town, whilst also being on the edge of dying. The lagoons were like in a movie, crystal clear blue water that was incredibly refreshing to jump into to escape the heat. One lagoon even allowed us to swim deep into an empty dark cave, a spooky and surreal experience. Another cave, which required you to climb 500m up a steep path, simply kept going into the mountain. In contrast to a cave at Halong Bay where artificial lights and too many tourists ruined the visit, this huge cave was left untouched as we delved deep into the pitch black abyss with only torches to help us see. My like minded Australian friend and I then realised there was only one thing to do: rave in the cave.



Harry Nelson Photography ™



Vang Vieng: Blue Lagoon

(Warning: explicit paragraph) The perfect day could only be ruined by one thing: food poisoning. 2am waking up with a bit of sick at the back of your throat, to then chuck up everything you ate that day. The following morning saw it coming from both ends as my body emptied. As Micky Flanagan puts it: "with the gentlest of pushes, the world fell out my arse. I'd be left as a costume of a man, they'll find my hung up on the back of the bathroom door." This was perfect timing for a 7 hour bus journey to Luang Prabang. That evening I spent in bed, and woke up the next morning slightly better, no way was I gonna let illness ruin Sonkram 2k13!

The Songkram is the Thai new year, also celebrated in Laos, where people have huge water fights in the streets. This explained why suddenly our bus would get buckets of water chucked at it as we drove through villages on the way to Luang Prabang. Groups of people sit by the side of the road with hoses, buckets of water and water pistols drenching anyone that walks past, and everyone gets involved! Whereas this may turn into trouble back home, it's done with great spirit here and rarely do you see someone without a smile on their soaking face. Our first port of call was to rent bicycles and buy huge water pistols to join in the mayhem, which went on all day in the sunny streets of Luang Prabang, temples and cultural visits could move aside for this awesome carnage. In the evening we climbed Mount Phusie for a disappointing sunset, but probably the best one of the day, and forced down my first meal in two days: buffalo pad Thai.

Our final stop in Laos was a homestay in a tiny remote village of the Khmu people, reaching it after a relaxing 10 hour boat journey down the Mekong River. Stepping off the boat we were met by the chief of the village along with a few locals. We walked through the village with locals beginning to gather to look at us as we found our sleeping areas. The village was as simple as you can get, shacks for houses and little/no electricity apart from the odd light bulb powered by generators. Although a shock, it was fascinating to see how some people can live yet remain content with daily life. We then offered to them a number of gifts such as books, pens, and our water pistols from the day before, then played football with them down on the beach- an exhausting thing to do after a few days of illness. Needless to say I slotted home a few goals and showed them all up, nah joking, but seriously, I scored twice. They say football unites the world and it was exemplified in this, the local guys showed great skill sportsmanship and helped us overcome language barriers through a game that everyone loves (sob). We ate dinner, spent time with the chief asking questions such as "do you even lift?" and had uncomfortable nights sleep to then begin another 10 hour journey to the Thai border.

Nha Trang / Hoi An

Nha Trang - life's a beach

I met the tour group that I'd be spending the next 22 days with, and discovered them to be a great group from places all over the world, who introduced me to their love of Dong (Vietnamese currency) jokes. That evening involved traveling by sleeper train to the beach resort of Nha Trang. The term 'sleeper' train is an optimistic assessment of this method of transport as I discovered, and the warning of bed bugs did little to prepare me of what was to come. Settling down that evening in my bed in the carriage, I was lucky enough to stumble across the film set of A Bugs Life 2 around the edges of my mattress. Any attempts to sleep were ruined by the feeling of a bug scampering across you. I also filmed a video on my phone that Dispatches would be proud of. Needless to say I got no sleep that night, escaping to a seat further down the train watching the Vietnam night go by.

We arrived at Nha Trang at 5.30am, being welcomed into a small beach town that closely resembled paradise; a huge stretch of sand, clear water and Islands in the distance. I spent the day under a giant thatched umbrella on the beach, with the occasional dip in the warm sea, and flinching every now and then due to chronic bedbug-a-phobia. And that evening sat at another bar that had swings instead of seats (disclaimer: not a swing bar) I witnessed the moon rise above the Island opposite ours, appearing about twice the size as normal and being an unforgettable moment which my camera wasn't there to capture!

5.30am Nha Trang Beach

The next day we visited some Temples in town where I sat in a giant bell whilst a guy bonged it and said prayers and there was also a giant Buddha. Cutting edge blogging. Then we went round the Nha Trang market with its strong smells and huge variety of food and clothes, I even bought myself some designer 'Aberconnbie and Fiche' flip flops at a bargain price- here in Vietnam, your Dong goes a long way. The great thing about part of this market was how local and untourist-like it was, as we sat down at a make shift stall asking for only 'rice' and 'noodles' and receiving incredibly tasty dishes as we sat on small plastic children's chairs. And 2 hours later, we had survived the street food scare- and so the Immodium remains unopened in its packet. That evening involved getting another night train to Hoi An, and despite not getting as bad a bed this time round, local $3-a-litre rum helped me get a comfy nights sleep.

Nha Trang Market lady

 Hoi An - suit you sir

We arrived in Hoi An to discover we were staying in a stylish hotel with swimming pool, not quite the backpackers stay I was expecting! A walk round Hoi An introduced me to one of the most picturesque, peaceful settings I have ever seen. Smiley local people, colourful buildings and unspoilt character. This town is also world famous for suit tailoring. After a chat with my wise Canadian room mate, I realised I would regret it forever if I didn't have made one of the nicest fitting 3 piece suits I have ever worn. Although handing over a lot of Dong to the giggly suit lady at Yaly Tailors (recommended by Lonely Planet), it was totally worth it. That night we indulged in some top food and 25p beers.

Colourful Hoi An

The next day was a cycle tour around the beautiful Vietnamese farms out of town. I even got a chance to ride a buffalo through a marshy field, with a local man on it with me singing Buffalo Soldier. The tour also stopped at a small play school, where the kids happened to be on break in the playground. They invited us in to sing and play with the kids, who were unbelievably cute and provided me with an unforgettable moment. Later in the day I went for a second and third suit sitting, an incredibly professional and meticulous job done by the tailors. Fell in love with Hoi An, next stop Hue and Hanoi.

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Rooftop area of Lofi Hostel Saigon

There are very few cities that have completely blown me away. After having a long sleep I was ready to explore the place. I strolled through the streets and absorbed the bustling, vibrant atmosphere. One thing that really hit me was the different smells of the place, with food stalls all along the street cooking up local dishes. Another thing is the sheer amount of motorbikes; the population of Ho Chi Minh City is 10 million, and there are 6 million motorbikes, and it is CRAZY. And looking through my photos so far of the trip, I have pretty got a collection pictures of traffic. It is also so noisy, with the system being such that you beep to let other vehicles know where you are. This all ultimately makes crossing the road a massive challenge, involving saying your prayers, and simply taking a leap of faith and walking straight across. Funnily enough, it works perfectly as the vehicles meander round you as you keep a steady pace, in a straight line, and feeling like an absolute BOSS.

Time to cross.

I reached the War Remnants Museum, drenched in sweat from the humidity. This was a fascinating and moving insight of the Vietnamese war and the atrocities committed by the Americans (albeit a very biased viewpoint). I spent the rest of the day wandering around, where any street can lead you to something new.

War Remnants Museum: War Crimes Gallery

That evening I chilled on the hostel rooftop, sipping some 30p beers, and went out with a few other travelers also lodging at the hostel. What followed was an incredible meal experience that I could write pages about but is better left by saying "wow, I love this city and its people".

(this is so funny, as I'm writing up the blog the hotel porter keeps inconspicuously popping on the computer next to me to check his Age of Empires game he's got on the run)

The next day involved discovering the best cafe ever: Highland Coffee. The coffee, as I said before, is outrageously good- despite the fact the beans come from a weasel's arse (the weasel only eats the best coffee beans). This, together with a warm Vietnamese baguette, made my life. I also visited Co Chi Tunnels outside the city where the people escaped to during the war, basically living in a huge underground network of tunnels for months on end, and I crawled through one for 30 seconds before claustrophobia kicked in and I had to get out. The evening was spent eating more cheap, phenomenally tasty food and going to a bar where they had swings for seats, dart boards and lots of a beer- a lethal combination. I also met the funniest man in Vietnam, Don, who was a tour guide for these two old Aussie blokes who kept calling me a Pom. I stood my ground, and asked them how Australia were doing in the cricket lately.

It's only been 3 days and I already have enough stories to write a novel. Today I meet my tour group and begin the 22 day tour of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.

Happy old lady with her portable food stall.

Good Morning Vietnam

Welcome to the hilariously named (?) Nelson's Column, which is mainly something to look back on as I have a terrible memory, but also share with you my adventures and potentially learn from my mistakes. The journey could not have started worse, as I arrived at Heathrow Terminal 4 to discover there was no McDonald's to get my MaccyDs breakfast. Boots chicken and mayo sandwich didn't quite hit the spot. Mistake numero uno: don't fly from Terminal 4!

So as you can tell from the first paragraph, this may not be the thrilling read you were looking for. I arrived at Mumbai Airport slightly nervous to go through security after watching Argo on the plane (mistake numero...two: don't watch Argo on plane, regardless of how good it is). My first experience of India wasn't too good: the security were incredibly rude, there was a man laying down in the toilet cubicle motionless (looking back, I maybe should have helped him?) and finally the airport was was playing a piano version of the Watership Down soundtrack for the whole 8 hours I spent there. I then caught the flight to Bangkok and then to Ho Chi Minh, stepping out the plane at 6pm to a wall of humidity, even now I'm sweating buckets as I type this. Sure for Men- it will let you down.

I arrived at the Lofi Inn Hostel- where the staff are really nice, comfortable dorm rooms and free Vietnamese coffee which is to die for- will bring some back for a few certain coffee lovers I know. Had an amazing sleep after not sleeping at all for 36 hours then I was ready to hit up the mad city that is Ho Chi Minh (Saigon).