A Passage to India (after Hemingway) 29 December

We thought it would be exciting to travel overland between Nepal & India - see the countryside as we went, the little villages etc etc. Very romantic ideal, but crap in practice. Overland travel in Asia is not recommended.

Bus would have taken 17 hours to India border from Kathmandu (and these are not Aussie Greyhound buses, but we'd be sardines in rust buckets). So we cut that & flew domestic. Costs USD$40 for Indian/Nepal nationals, but USD$100 (!) for foreigners - for a 45 minute flight. Ripped off. Kathmandu airport is essentially a do-it-yourself airport. Sit on own luggage while wait. Check yourself in as staff too useless to do it for you. Discover new taxes you must pay before you depart, as no one else will tell you until the boarding gate. Conduct own security check as the frisk as like being whipped with feather of small, timid duck.

Taxi from regional Bhardapur airport to border was huge drama. Leaving airport, met a very friendly & generous Mrs. Kumai who offered to share her booked taxi with us. The criminal taxi racket at the airport frowned on the whole affair & harassed us for almose 40 minutes! Shouting (in Nepali & Hindi, of course), barracading the taxi from leaving, rocking the vehicle, wriggling their hands through the window- we feared for our luggage on the roof! But after the fight, our taxi driver drove forcefully off. We're fine & our luggage is fine. Thank goodness.

We shared Mrs. Kumai's taxi (very generously) all the way to bustling Indian town of Siliguri & from there into a shared jeep (think Toyota Landcruiser from 1970, with 16 people inside. Fantastic. Cheap.) up, up, up into the northern Indian hills to the gorgeous little hillstation of Darjeeling. Slow, winding drive but breathtaking scenery.

Kathmandu: Most Polluted City in Asia (officially)

Ah, Kathmandu. Brent's first visit to an Asian city left him, as many before him, stunned by the dirt, smog, pollution & crowds! We stayed in the touristy area of Thamel & enjoyed the (generally) fine food in the surrounds. Nasty experience with local Nepali food though.

We had about 5 days in the capital & saw a huge number of sights (many, many temples), highlights including:

Pashupatinath: A major Hindu temple not just in Nepal, but for Hindus internationally. One of the largest Shiva temples on the subcontinent, on the banks of the holy Bagmati river. Non-Hindu folk are not allowed in, but Aditi reports a magnificent shrine with a 10x5m golden gilded statue of Nandi, Shiva's bull. On the day we visited a funeral was taking place for a political leader. The ceremony was amazing to watch - the body is wrapped in white & orange cloth, draped with thousands of marigolds, prayers are chanted, the women of the family sprinkle holy water from the river before the body is heaped upon an elaborate pyre & the eldest son ignites the timber. Very sad & moving, but very touching & beautiful also.

Dakshinkali: A temple dedicated to Kali (Shiva's consort in her destructive incarnation). Every Tuesday & Saturday numerous animals are sacrificed to satisfy Kali's bloodlust. We watched half dozen chickens meet their end, but left before the parade of goats & buffalo were brought to the alter. Amazing.

Boudnath: Village of Tibetan refugees & home to the enormous Boudnath Stupa, a huge Buddhist temple. Amazing to see the gleaming, whitewashed surface & golden spire against the cityscape.

Durbar Square: Ancient centre of Kathmandu religion & monarchy- home to numerous temples & statues dating from 16th century (some statues from 5th!!). Home of pagoda architecture, later exported to rest of orient.

Nepal: Trekking in Annapurna Mountains (18-23 Dec)

Flew into the disastrous Kathmandu airport on 15 December - a bad omen, the luggage conveyor belt was not working so we had to make a chain of people down the luggage chute & around passing the bags up manually. Laughable now, not so much at the time.

Headed out west to regional centre of Pokhara (Crazy ride on bus en route there! Tiny mountain track filled with goats, chickes, cows & bicycles - barely wide enough for two bikes to pass.)

Then 4 days trekking (later learned the route was normally done over 6 days - no wonder we're tired!) in Annapurna Mountain range [Naya Pul > Tikkedhunga > Ghorepani > Ghandruk > Naya Pul & home]. Absolutely gorgeous! Crisp snow capped peaks of 7,500m+ towering above & drawing your gaze from any angle. Divine. Reached peak of 3,210m at Poon Hill to watch sunrise.

The landscape is incredible! Steep, precipitous valleys with most hills terraced and actually farmed. Amazing! Most of the way the path was a virtually a little road of slate stones, through villages full of guesthouses & shops. Didn't make the walk up thousands of stairs any easier, but we were amazed people could live so self-sustainably up there.

We shared the path with some tourists, but not heaps & the regular mountain traffic: donkey trains carrying all kinds of load & Sherpas carrying what looked like 2-3x their own weight on their backs!

Nepal: Royal Chitwan National Park (23-25 Dec)

Sold on a visit to the Royal Chitwan Nat Park by our enterprising trekking guide, we caught a local Nepali bus to the closest town -Sauraha- on 23 Dec. Had a generally good 3 days there, small downer being that poor Aditi fell a little ill which dampened our enjoyment of the outdoors. And we know we shouldn't compare the safaris in Asia to Africa (no comparison!), but we couldn't help being at times underwhelmed.

Highlights included a jungle walk: not for any wildlife seen, but the adrenalin rush of being accompanied -not by guides with guns to ward off aggressive animals- but porters with novelty-sized bamboo sticks with which to beat a hasty retreat from the prowling Indian rhinos, Bengal tigers, Black bears & other voracious animals! Didn't see anything bigger than a jungle fowl, though.

The real winner was an safari on elephant back on Christmas morning. Just magical - lurching from side to side through the dense, misty forests & wading through rivers atop the behemoth of an Indian elephant (smaller, but barely by a whisker, than the African). We had immense luck in seeing herds of antelope & about a half dozen Indian rhinos - including a cute, tiny baby!

A very sad counter point to the elephant safari was an earlier visit to the government run & sponsored elephant breeding centre. Here about two dozen elephant matriarchs are chained to stumps like dogs for 16 hours a day in stables (basically four poles with an iron roof) and impregnated by bull elephants as often as possible. They churn out a calf around every two years. Some of them looked quite stir crazy: rocking back & forth, eyes glazed & groaning. Terribly sad & a sad example of what level of conservation can be achieved in a developing country.

[NB Most of the elephants were not used as rides for tourists -few white, majority Indian, but sold to farmers for working in forests.]

Paris: 10-15 December

[Writing from Doha International Airport, Qatar: in transit from Paris en route to Kathmandu, but our plane is delayed so we've 6.5 hours to explore the airport. We have many bones to pick with Qatar Airlines - exceptionally rude staff & check-in slower than a sedated tortoise that took almost 2 hours!]

Paris was fantastic! We had a bit of a love hate relationship at first - the majority of the people were quite rude & unhelpful, things are frightfully expensive, the food & coffee are most definitely over-rated & some of the early tourist sights we saw were real duds.

But things picked up - it is a singularly beautiful city; they do grand avenues & state monuments in resplendent style. We had an absolutely jam packed week & saw many of the highlights of Paris:

First up, to the charming & historically seedy suburb of Montmarte Basilica of Sacre Couer (funded at the cost of two men who bet on a French military victory) & the spectacularly infamous Moulin Rouge. We saw a fantastic cabaret show in the famed house, featuring dozens of French wenches scantily clad in two beads & feathers.

The next morning we trotted into the city onto an gorgeous island on the River Seine to the Cathedral of Notre Dame ( no hunchback sighted though). Laden with gothic architecture and catholic symbols from the 19th century, the cathedral is awe-inspiring and housed famous events in French history including the crowning of Napoleon.

The guide books led us to visit the Musee d'Orsay, which turned out to be a goldmine of ancient Greek and Roman sculptures and cameos from every famous painter since the 19th century. We stood before Manet's Olympia, Van Gogh's Self Portrait and other renowned works.

The view from the apex of the iconic Eiffel Tower was grand, and we loved spotting other Parisian landmarks that were on our itinerary.

A footonote in most guidebooks, the little known Saint Chapelle resides within the Palais d'Justice (law courts of Paris), but was worth the detailed security check to witness the splendid gothic architecture at its best in a tall thin chapel walled almost entirely by glass. The stained glass windows are the oldest originals in France (14th century), and in sequence narrate books of the Bible. The large hall bathes one with colours as the sunlight peers through the glass in an amazing structure.

We then climbed to the top of another Parisian icon, the Arc de Triomphe and watched the gorgeous sunset on the backdrop of other icons - the Tour Eiffel and the Musee d'Louvre. It was commissioned by Napoleon around 1805 to commemorate French military victories.

The Musee d'Louvre was spectacular, and cannot be overstated. It's sheer size, grandeur and the amazing collection was worth the visit, and we even payed our respect to the Mona Lisa housed behind plate glass and barracaded off.

Chateau de Versailles, the new official residence of the French monarchs since the reign of Louis XIV (c. 1661) until the French revolution (c. 1789 - when European Australia was 1 year old!) Elegance and opulence exuded from this grand palace, studded with gold, artworks and wealth.

A super thankyou to our very kind friend, Matthieu (met in Kruger Park, of all places on earth!) who very generously lent us his flat for the duration of our stay, in the gorgeous suburb of Fontenay-aux-Roses, an easy 20min Metro ride from city. It was wonderful Matthieu & we hope to see you in Australia soon!

Sagrada Familia

La Pedrera

Barcelona: 5-10 December

We are presently in Barcelona, this being the end of our 5th day. We will jump on an overnight train in 4.5 hours for Paris - and another 5 day stay. Woohoo!

Barcelona has been just awesome - a city you would love to bits, I can assure you. It´s generally a really young & vibrant city population-wise, though the numbers of middle aged wealthy European tourists apparently climbs every year (not many Germans though, I think all the German tourists must still be in South Africa). It has a huge art scene & local music, stacks of bars, culture coming out of its ears with thousands of years of history & architecture to draw on.
The culture is a fascinating mix to- because it´s on the Iberian Peninsula it has had turns at being occupied by the Romans, Visigoths, Islamist settlers & from middle ages until now Catholic Christians. A city with weird hours, no one is up before 9am at earliest, lunch is 2-4pm when the entire city (& frustratingly many tourist attractions!) close for siesta. Dinner is never before 9pm, when people only head out to the dozens of bars etc after 10pm-ish.

The main street, Las Ramblas, is packed with people all night checking out all the markets along its length & watching the myriad street performers (mimes, magicians, statues, confidence tricksters etc) ply their trade. Brent was thrilled to be part of a street magician´s act, though less thrilled to learn he would only play the fellow´s coat hanger while a buxom Barcelonin took his limelight.

There are signs of famous artists everywhere! The Museu Picasso is in the ancient Gothic heart of town, though a bit of a disappointment unless you are a devout Picasso (1881-1973) fan as the museum only houses preliminary works & sketches from his youth. There are only so many ´Studies of boy & Horse´ one can stomach before lunch.

The famous architect Antoni Gaudi (1852 - 1926, hit by a tram would you believe) -I´d never heard of him before now- has left his fantastic eccentric marks on almost every corner. He has a weird kind of surrealist style of amazing natural curves & gaudy (?eponymous?) colours & styles. Some of his famous buildings around the city include the Casa Battlo (pictured above), the undulating curves of La Pedrera & the monumental testament to Gaudi´s genius (doubling as his tomb) the great & famous Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia (Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family). A huge temple with Gothic inspiration, but in Gaudi´s own true style. Begun in 1882, in the best of medieval or Gothic traditions it is still unfinished over 120 years later!

Salvador Dali, not from Barcelona, but is from a little town up the coast. Didn´t get there. Crap.

We monopolise London!

The next few days were spent tracing our steps through the streets of Monopoly (the game) in London.
Picadilly Circus was home to our Westend performance óf ´Chicago´, we strolled down Bond st., Oxford st. and Pall Mall.
Auntie Sandra took us on a guided tour of Wells, home to the most awesome cathedral we have ever seen, and Bath, where we toured the Roman Baths, still in pristine condition and toasty warm to this day!
Over the next few days we trekked across the London Bridge, visited Shakespeare´s Globe Theatre, which was a great insight into entertainment in his day. Unfirtunately plays only run in the summer, so we were able to do a guided tour instead and see the stage from the Pit, the Boxes and even the best seat in the house -- behind the stage so one could be seen and admired by others attendees of the plays!
The Tower of London was next, guided by one of the ´Beefeaters´- the colloquial name for a Yeoman Warder. He had numerous anecdotes and gruesome stories about various beheadings that occured here.
Madame Tussaud´s wax museum was another winner where we brushed shoulders with many (wax) celebrities.
Of course Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey (where lie the tombstones of many great names in history including Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and many others) made our itinerary, but we were much to busy to stop for tea with Elizabeth or Tony on Downing St, and just didn´t have time to give our opinion in a session of parliament...
So our tour continued to the Gigantic British Museum, home to a wealthy collection of artefacts from all over the world. Our brief audio-tour hardly did justice to this amazing museum.
So that was our whirlwind tour of imperial London, where we shall be returning no doubt!

Johannesburg: 1st December

What a city! The sprawling metropolis of Johannesburg was quite a sight. We were a bit afraid of the crime, so haven´t any photos nor souvenirs of the place. In fact, we weren´t there very long in any case.

We stayed with In Africa Lodge in an outer suburn of Jo´burg (Edenvale, for those from the dark contintent.) We really only did two things: drove through downtown Jo´burg en route to see the amazing Apartheid Museum. The drive through the city was eerie & scary, it was so empty & desolate. Almost all the building were vacant & many broken in disrepair. The streets were largely empty, and this at 10am. Amazing for a city that virtually runs the finances of southern Africa, such is the wealth that flows through it´s coffers.

The Museum was absolutely fantastic though, well worth the trip. Takes a good 4-5 hours to see properly, but if you put in the time you are rewarded with the single most moving historical experience we´ve come across. Tracking in time from before the arrival of Europeans & early South African history up to around 1948 (when the Nationalist Government was elected, who instituted or formalised the apartheid state) - then focussing on ´48 to present in incredible detail.

The museum is an amazing mix of displays with evocative use of multimedia. Right from when you enter (through different gates according to your racial group), it is a powerful and moving experience. We left truly in tears at the inhumanity of it all.

Kruger National Park

Our adventures then took us on to South Africa´s largest national reserve, larger than many nations, the size of Israel, and home to many and varied wild animals ranging from the docile giraffe and dazzling zebra, to the ferocious lion and speedy cheetah!
We stayed in Treehouses in a private section of the Kruger Reserve, surrounded by animals big and small: buffaloes, leopards, frogs and many insects. The area was also home to many beautiful species of birds that we admired through our binoculars and new-found love of birding (thanks to the Mairs in Durban!)
In the wild, we were able to witness these animals at play and slumber in their natural habitat, and were even gestured to leave by a few angry elephants who came charging and trumpeting straight at us as we had the audacity to disturb their playful mud bath!
In contrast, the lazy lions were not at all perturbed by our presence in their vicinity as many vehicles stopped to admire their grace and maternal love while they nurtured their young cubs.
Kruger Safari was an amazing experience, and as all our previous safaris in South Africa, brought us closer to nature.

Swaziland

The official kingdom of Swaziland welcomed us on our first night with sand in the face. That´s right, the traditional dancers kick up sand with their legs well above their heads during their ritual dancing, which was actually quite memorable.
During our short visit there, we went white water rafting in the Great Usuthu River, getting violently thrown around many rapids, and Brent still has the bruises to prove it! We went bicycling around the hills and plains to various museums and cultural villages, soaking the cultural experience of this society so distant from our own cultures.
We even soaked ourselves in hot springs at the end of a long, hot day spent trekking the mountains up to execution rock!
Luckily they spoke a very similar language to what we spoke in Zululand, so getting about was easier than we imagined in the land of King Mswati III.