We arrived in Mumbai, home of 16 million people, yesterday morning at 7:30am. Our day started at 4:30am to catch a 1 hour taxi ride to the airport, so we were pretty zonked getting here. We booked into the 'Chateau Windsor' to stay in the south part of Mumbai, a nice hotel which seems to have been converted from a commercial building into a hotel.
Our first day we hit the streets here and walked for hours. There's a different feel in Mumbai compared to Delhi. We've heard from other people that depending on what city you fly into in India, you end up hating it. Glad we stayed in Delhi first then, because we've really enjoyed Mumbai. People are more friendly and you can walk around for hours without being hassled for a taxi or rickshaw. Nice to have sidewalks for a change as well. They've banned three wheeled vehicles from this area so it's cut down on pollution, congestion and the noise. Mumbai's poverty is crazy, the airport is located in the slums and you see the slums for miles when you're coming into the city.
We met a Canadian girl in Goa who is living in Mumbai now, so after a day of last minute shopping, we met up for drinks and dinner. The first stop was her local pub serving Kingfisher draught, much better than in the bottle, and then we hit up Indigo for dinner. Best dinner hands down in India. And we had 'real' wine!
Haven't done much sightseeing, but we did see the Taj hotel where the terrorist attacks happened. They just re-built it and it opened two days ago. Weird to think what happened here.
After two days in Mumbai, it was a whirlwind, but we loved it here! Now it's time to come home....
Here's a map of where we're at.
Take care,
Vanessa
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Beach time always flies by....
So here we are now in the city of Panjim, Goa, which is one hour north of Palolem. Back into the city with the traffic and horns honking, a bit of a change from the quiet in Palolem where you'd hear waves instead of noise. We're just sitting here drinking some chai tea as it's been coming down with rain today.
The three days in Palolem were amazing and we're glad we found this little town on one of our scooter excursions. It's definitely a little backpacker haven on the ocean and used to be a small fishing village. Considered to be Goa's prettiest beach, we had to agree. Every day we saw the fishermen out on their boats or bringing fresh fish in. We had a great time getting some lazy beach days in, reading and chilling out. We even got some time in the ocean, which we didn't think would happen. But the beach is so much cleaner here (you didn't have to step over garbage every two feet or so) and the waves are tame (not like Benaulim) since Palolem is protected from the open sea in a bay. I guess the most dangerous thing about Goa is the rip tides and every year tourists are killed in Goa's waters. Another reason we didn't hit the beach in Benaulim. Surprisingly, there's a ton of lifeguards around even on the most deserted of beaches.
The days have been beautiful, sunshine and blue sky for the most part during the day and rain at night. One night though, we had a full moon and a clear sky. We grabbed a bottle of Indian wine (Sula Sauvignon Blanc, circa 2009 - wasn't awful but it was drinkable compared to the few other Indian wines we've sampled), grabbed a few chairs from our guest house and just sat under the stars enjoying the beach to ourselves with our bottle of wine.
Goa's food is one of the things we have enjoyed the most. Every day we had our pick of fresh fish. We 'splurged' on dinners every night. To have a whole fish (red snapper, king fish, etc) along with sides and drinks it came out to 900 rupees or about $20 for the two of us. Nice!
In Panjim today, we visited three old churches built by the Portuguese in the 1600 and 1700's, St Augustine, St Francis of Assisi and Bom Jesus or Basilica of Jesus. We're talking beautiful and huge churches! One of them, St. Augustine, was demolished in the 1800's due to the explosion of religious orders by the Portuguese government. It was actually quite sad to see what once was a huge structure, just torn to shreds. Half of the tower still stands at 40 m, which is huge. The other churches were still standing (not sure exactly how they survived but St Augustine didn't) and they are used for services today. Filled with art and sculptures, it's almost surreal that they are even in India.
You definitely see and feel the Portugese influence in Goa, in the houses, streets and churches. The local people here are referred to as Konkanese, not Goans, because they speak Konkani. Even the local people's names have Portugese names like Clifford de Silva. Their language even sounds a bit more Spanish-like and not as much like Hindi that we've been used to hearing. Supposedly the older generations still speak Portugese.
The houses here are so much more colourful than anywhere else in India. They've painted them every shade of the rainbow and it's always a bright colour, purple, pink, green, blue, yellow and red.
We also be-friended a few local stray dogs by feeding them some of our biscuits and dinner at different times. The dogs here....well, let's just say they have good memories. Every time they spotted us, the tails would start wagging and they'd be your best friend in the whole world. We couldn't get past the fleas though so our affection didn't go so far as to pet them or take them home.
For an idea of where we are now in Panjim, here's a map. We fly out tomorrow morning for Mumbai where we spent two days in the Bollywood city before flying back to Canada!
Take care,
Jack and Vanessa
The three days in Palolem were amazing and we're glad we found this little town on one of our scooter excursions. It's definitely a little backpacker haven on the ocean and used to be a small fishing village. Considered to be Goa's prettiest beach, we had to agree. Every day we saw the fishermen out on their boats or bringing fresh fish in. We had a great time getting some lazy beach days in, reading and chilling out. We even got some time in the ocean, which we didn't think would happen. But the beach is so much cleaner here (you didn't have to step over garbage every two feet or so) and the waves are tame (not like Benaulim) since Palolem is protected from the open sea in a bay. I guess the most dangerous thing about Goa is the rip tides and every year tourists are killed in Goa's waters. Another reason we didn't hit the beach in Benaulim. Surprisingly, there's a ton of lifeguards around even on the most deserted of beaches.
The days have been beautiful, sunshine and blue sky for the most part during the day and rain at night. One night though, we had a full moon and a clear sky. We grabbed a bottle of Indian wine (Sula Sauvignon Blanc, circa 2009 - wasn't awful but it was drinkable compared to the few other Indian wines we've sampled), grabbed a few chairs from our guest house and just sat under the stars enjoying the beach to ourselves with our bottle of wine.
Goa's food is one of the things we have enjoyed the most. Every day we had our pick of fresh fish. We 'splurged' on dinners every night. To have a whole fish (red snapper, king fish, etc) along with sides and drinks it came out to 900 rupees or about $20 for the two of us. Nice!
In Panjim today, we visited three old churches built by the Portuguese in the 1600 and 1700's, St Augustine, St Francis of Assisi and Bom Jesus or Basilica of Jesus. We're talking beautiful and huge churches! One of them, St. Augustine, was demolished in the 1800's due to the explosion of religious orders by the Portuguese government. It was actually quite sad to see what once was a huge structure, just torn to shreds. Half of the tower still stands at 40 m, which is huge. The other churches were still standing (not sure exactly how they survived but St Augustine didn't) and they are used for services today. Filled with art and sculptures, it's almost surreal that they are even in India.
You definitely see and feel the Portugese influence in Goa, in the houses, streets and churches. The local people here are referred to as Konkanese, not Goans, because they speak Konkani. Even the local people's names have Portugese names like Clifford de Silva. Their language even sounds a bit more Spanish-like and not as much like Hindi that we've been used to hearing. Supposedly the older generations still speak Portugese.
The houses here are so much more colourful than anywhere else in India. They've painted them every shade of the rainbow and it's always a bright colour, purple, pink, green, blue, yellow and red.
We also be-friended a few local stray dogs by feeding them some of our biscuits and dinner at different times. The dogs here....well, let's just say they have good memories. Every time they spotted us, the tails would start wagging and they'd be your best friend in the whole world. We couldn't get past the fleas though so our affection didn't go so far as to pet them or take them home.
For an idea of where we are now in Panjim, here's a map. We fly out tomorrow morning for Mumbai where we spent two days in the Bollywood city before flying back to Canada!
Take care,
Jack and Vanessa
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Palolem, Goa
Ah, Goa. How laid back and chill you are. We've been in Palolem for two days now and the beaches here remind us of Thailand. The people are so easy going and laid back, which is a nice change. There's more travelers and a few restaurants open, still not a lot happening since it's the off season.
We checked into the Ciaran guesthouse which is a few feet away from the beach and you can hear the waves crashing at night. Only problem was...there wasn't any water. Hmmm. Not sure why, but today they worked out the issue so we can at least flush the toilet or take a shower. Ironically, not long before that a crazy rain storm blew through here and the roads become rivers. We had to race through the ankle deep rain and we were soaked in seconds.
Last night we ate at a beach front restaurant and had fresh fish of the day, a red snapper. Ah. They grilled it with some fresh veggies, absolutely awesome. We've determined any weight we lost in the first few weeks of being in India, we've packed back on in Goa. The fish is incredible.
Tomorrow, there will be more lazying around on the beach and maybe a river boat ride through the mongrove forest. Yeah!
We checked into the Ciaran guesthouse which is a few feet away from the beach and you can hear the waves crashing at night. Only problem was...there wasn't any water. Hmmm. Not sure why, but today they worked out the issue so we can at least flush the toilet or take a shower. Ironically, not long before that a crazy rain storm blew through here and the roads become rivers. We had to race through the ankle deep rain and we were soaked in seconds.
Last night we ate at a beach front restaurant and had fresh fish of the day, a red snapper. Ah. They grilled it with some fresh veggies, absolutely awesome. We've determined any weight we lost in the first few weeks of being in India, we've packed back on in Goa. The fish is incredible.
Tomorrow, there will be more lazying around on the beach and maybe a river boat ride through the mongrove forest. Yeah!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Goa- Relaxation and Driving on Indian Road
Well, we have been chilling out in a timeshare for a week here in Goa, Benaulim, to be precise.
The beach here is quite dirty unfortunately as garbage is chucked everywhere and we don't think anyone understands what a garbage can is. We have been chilling out at our pool, going on nice walks on the beach, just relaxing and reading books.
In typical Hennigan fashion we needed a little adventure, so we decided to head out on the Indian roads in a rented scooter. India has no rules on the roads, just some basic guidelines to yield to anything bigger than you no matter what direction it is coming in. Oh and you have to use you horn excessively. Rule number 1. For our first day we took a coastal road down to a little town called Palolem, it has beautiful coast lines and almost empty roads. Other than a crazy dog that chased us, it was a long but peaceful day.
On the second day, Vanessa wanted to go to a spice farm. You could take a guided tour to the farm, but those who know me know that I would rather have my fingernails pulled out than go on any organized tour, so we rented another bike. I wanted a bigger bike with some gears so I asked for the next biggest size. They brought me a crotch rocket and considering I have never really ridden a bike for any length of time and we were heading through the crowded streets of Margoa (the nearest city to us), I thought I should go for a test drive before asking Ness to hop on the back. It was awesome cruising the roads, however my senses took over considering the fact that we wouldn't have any helmets and rented a scooter for another day and said good bye to my crotch rocket.
I had sketched a map on a little piece of paper and we headed out. Driving through the city was an adventurous experience (people step out right in front of you, cars pass you no matter how much room they have). We had no idea how we actually found the Sahakira Spice Farm but after an hour we were there and Ness thoroughly enjoyed learning about how spices grow and such. You get a nice lunch of curries and a shot of fenni. Fenni is like the Canadian version of moonshine and is a Goan drink made from cashew nuts but tastes like formaldehyde. Yum. At the end of the tour, they told us it was mandatory to have a nice splash of cold water and citronella oil before you leave, but didn't mention they poured it down your back. With our backs and butts soaking wet, we walked around a bit to dry off before getting back onto the scooter for our journey home.
I did not want to take the same route back, so we set off to see some different scenery and tried to connect some of the random towns together to get home. However I was having trouble pronouncing the names of the places as my printing was messy on my small little map. We got royally lost and ended up on some crazy mining road that reminded me of Fort McMurray. Our little scooter held up surprisingly well, the little scooter that kept going, even though our backs and legs were killing us. We kept stopping and asking directions given most of the road signs are sporadic at best. It almost seemed like we would never get home, but 100km later, we were finally home and exhausted. Since we were both facing the same direction the whole way, we didn't get a chance to look at each other until we got back. Yikes!! When we both took off our sunglasses it was like we were football players with black tar under our eyes, our hair embedded with sand and mud, and Jack's beard was as black as sin. We celebrated by going to a super fancy 5 star resort , the Taj Exotica (same owners as the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai), for a dinner buffet and where I preceded to fall asleep at dinner. Ah adventure and scooters....
We are chilling in Paloem for another few days and it will be nice to have a wonderful beach without garbage. We are also planning to eating lots of fish brought in from the fishermen on the same day. I only wish I knew something about fish....I think we are going to have 'rock fish' tonight.
Happy Birthday to my Dad on the 23rd!!!!
Here's a link to a map of Benaulim, Goa.
Here's a link to a map of Palolem, Goa, where we are now.
Hope all is well and we miss you all.
J&V
The beach here is quite dirty unfortunately as garbage is chucked everywhere and we don't think anyone understands what a garbage can is. We have been chilling out at our pool, going on nice walks on the beach, just relaxing and reading books.
In typical Hennigan fashion we needed a little adventure, so we decided to head out on the Indian roads in a rented scooter. India has no rules on the roads, just some basic guidelines to yield to anything bigger than you no matter what direction it is coming in. Oh and you have to use you horn excessively. Rule number 1. For our first day we took a coastal road down to a little town called Palolem, it has beautiful coast lines and almost empty roads. Other than a crazy dog that chased us, it was a long but peaceful day.
On the second day, Vanessa wanted to go to a spice farm. You could take a guided tour to the farm, but those who know me know that I would rather have my fingernails pulled out than go on any organized tour, so we rented another bike. I wanted a bigger bike with some gears so I asked for the next biggest size. They brought me a crotch rocket and considering I have never really ridden a bike for any length of time and we were heading through the crowded streets of Margoa (the nearest city to us), I thought I should go for a test drive before asking Ness to hop on the back. It was awesome cruising the roads, however my senses took over considering the fact that we wouldn't have any helmets and rented a scooter for another day and said good bye to my crotch rocket.
I had sketched a map on a little piece of paper and we headed out. Driving through the city was an adventurous experience (people step out right in front of you, cars pass you no matter how much room they have). We had no idea how we actually found the Sahakira Spice Farm but after an hour we were there and Ness thoroughly enjoyed learning about how spices grow and such. You get a nice lunch of curries and a shot of fenni. Fenni is like the Canadian version of moonshine and is a Goan drink made from cashew nuts but tastes like formaldehyde. Yum. At the end of the tour, they told us it was mandatory to have a nice splash of cold water and citronella oil before you leave, but didn't mention they poured it down your back. With our backs and butts soaking wet, we walked around a bit to dry off before getting back onto the scooter for our journey home.
I did not want to take the same route back, so we set off to see some different scenery and tried to connect some of the random towns together to get home. However I was having trouble pronouncing the names of the places as my printing was messy on my small little map. We got royally lost and ended up on some crazy mining road that reminded me of Fort McMurray. Our little scooter held up surprisingly well, the little scooter that kept going, even though our backs and legs were killing us. We kept stopping and asking directions given most of the road signs are sporadic at best. It almost seemed like we would never get home, but 100km later, we were finally home and exhausted. Since we were both facing the same direction the whole way, we didn't get a chance to look at each other until we got back. Yikes!! When we both took off our sunglasses it was like we were football players with black tar under our eyes, our hair embedded with sand and mud, and Jack's beard was as black as sin. We celebrated by going to a super fancy 5 star resort , the Taj Exotica (same owners as the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai), for a dinner buffet and where I preceded to fall asleep at dinner. Ah adventure and scooters....
We are chilling in Paloem for another few days and it will be nice to have a wonderful beach without garbage. We are also planning to eating lots of fish brought in from the fishermen on the same day. I only wish I knew something about fish....I think we are going to have 'rock fish' tonight.
Happy Birthday to my Dad on the 23rd!!!!
Here's a link to a map of Benaulim, Goa.
Here's a link to a map of Palolem, Goa, where we are now.
Hope all is well and we miss you all.
J&V
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
A few Pictures
Hello All,
Here is a link to a few photos of our trip so far. I could not load them here but posted them to my facebook account. Below is the link you can access it whether you have facebook or not...
India Pictures:
Click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=473587&id=620315132&l=2b36c6145c
Jacko
Here is a link to a few photos of our trip so far. I could not load them here but posted them to my facebook account. Below is the link you can access it whether you have facebook or not...
India Pictures:
Click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=473587&id=620315132&l=2b36c6145c
Jacko
Monday, August 16, 2010
Un-Lonely Planet trip to Very Nasty Varranasi
After a spectacular day at the Taj, we were waiting to board another night train to Varanasi, the holiest place in the world for Hindus. I tried to book a hotel in Varanasi with a view of the Ganges, as that is what lonely planet says to do, but the nice ones were all booked up. So I splurged and booked a 5 star Ramada and it was worth every cent of the whopping $70. I got sick yet again, it seems like I am living on antibiotics here in India, but at least they are cheap to buy here and you do not need a prescription for anything.
Our first day we layed around and swam in the pool while reading books. I think I am on my 5th or 6th book of the trip. Without constant distraction of my iphone I read like a machine. We did the unthinkable and ate McDonalds, no beef though I had a chicken big mac with some incredibly salty fries and Ness is still on the Veggie kick so she had the veggie burger, but I had a suspicion all she really wanted was the fries.
Our second day we braved the outdoors of our Ramada compound and the onslaught of India overcame us yet again. Being stared at like celebrities and being asked, literally every minute if we need a tuk tuk, taxi bicycle rik shaw or tourist trinket is a way of traveler life here in India and it is full on in Varanasi.
We caught a tuk tuk to headed towards the Ganges river. Our driver dropped us off after he said he was not allowed to go any further, but yet there were lots of other tuk tuk driving past us as we walked trying to find the Ganges, ah India...
Varanasi is supposedly the oldest lived in city on earth and I think we much have found the oldest streets as it was about 1.5 M wide including the open sewers on either side. the streets were like a maze and we thoughally got utterly lost. We found the chicken butcher street which was perhaps the worst smell on earth and both of us were literally gagging as we walked aimlessly through the tiny streets. After about 45 minutes we saw another white person and hoped that they could lead us on the right path, but he was just as lost as us. We eventually found a wider road and followed it and eventually found the Ganges river.
Hindus believe that if you bath in the Ganges it washes away sin and also if you get cremated beside the Ganges it end the cycle of reincarnation. Or something like that. I just could not get over as everyone was bathing, doing their laundry, brushing their teeth, filling up their water bottles as bodies were being cremated and the ashes thrown into the river, along with all the sewage from the city and everyone's personal garbage. I even saw some Korean tourists jumping in. I guess they forgot to read their guidebook. The Ganges is something like 3000 times too dirty for human consumption.
We then watched some Hindu ceremony to bless the Ganges that was pretty cool, but neither of us had a clue as to what was going on. I think they need to spend more times worshiping they holy river by cleaning it up. Ness and I heading back to our oasis of our hotel and for some Pizza Hut to round off our Western food day.
On our final day we were supposed to get us at 4:30 so we could catch a sunrise trip down the Ganges, but Ness and I were too tired, so we went for a 10 am boat ride instead. The boat was neat, we luckily did not see any dead bodies floating down the river. I got sunburnt on my inner arms or the first time I can remember and the pair of us loved getting splashed by the oars full of Ganges water.
We then headed back to the hotel and got ready in ten minutes as we were a little late for our flight down to Goa, but we made it.
Hope everyone is doing well!
Our first day we layed around and swam in the pool while reading books. I think I am on my 5th or 6th book of the trip. Without constant distraction of my iphone I read like a machine. We did the unthinkable and ate McDonalds, no beef though I had a chicken big mac with some incredibly salty fries and Ness is still on the Veggie kick so she had the veggie burger, but I had a suspicion all she really wanted was the fries.
Our second day we braved the outdoors of our Ramada compound and the onslaught of India overcame us yet again. Being stared at like celebrities and being asked, literally every minute if we need a tuk tuk, taxi bicycle rik shaw or tourist trinket is a way of traveler life here in India and it is full on in Varanasi.
We caught a tuk tuk to headed towards the Ganges river. Our driver dropped us off after he said he was not allowed to go any further, but yet there were lots of other tuk tuk driving past us as we walked trying to find the Ganges, ah India...
Varanasi is supposedly the oldest lived in city on earth and I think we much have found the oldest streets as it was about 1.5 M wide including the open sewers on either side. the streets were like a maze and we thoughally got utterly lost. We found the chicken butcher street which was perhaps the worst smell on earth and both of us were literally gagging as we walked aimlessly through the tiny streets. After about 45 minutes we saw another white person and hoped that they could lead us on the right path, but he was just as lost as us. We eventually found a wider road and followed it and eventually found the Ganges river.
Hindus believe that if you bath in the Ganges it washes away sin and also if you get cremated beside the Ganges it end the cycle of reincarnation. Or something like that. I just could not get over as everyone was bathing, doing their laundry, brushing their teeth, filling up their water bottles as bodies were being cremated and the ashes thrown into the river, along with all the sewage from the city and everyone's personal garbage. I even saw some Korean tourists jumping in. I guess they forgot to read their guidebook. The Ganges is something like 3000 times too dirty for human consumption.
We then watched some Hindu ceremony to bless the Ganges that was pretty cool, but neither of us had a clue as to what was going on. I think they need to spend more times worshiping they holy river by cleaning it up. Ness and I heading back to our oasis of our hotel and for some Pizza Hut to round off our Western food day.
On our final day we were supposed to get us at 4:30 so we could catch a sunrise trip down the Ganges, but Ness and I were too tired, so we went for a 10 am boat ride instead. The boat was neat, we luckily did not see any dead bodies floating down the river. I got sunburnt on my inner arms or the first time I can remember and the pair of us loved getting splashed by the oars full of Ganges water.
We then headed back to the hotel and got ready in ten minutes as we were a little late for our flight down to Goa, but we made it.
Hope everyone is doing well!
Friday, August 13, 2010
Jaipur- Forts and Garbage
After a wonderful time in Jaisalmer we took an overnight train and arrived in Jaipur at 5am, and luckily found a room at a hotel. After a couple hours of sleep, we headed out to explore the famous pink city. We explored the city palace and Amber fort in what felt like 45 degree heat. The city was nice but as everywhere in India they really have a garbage problem as it is absolutely everywhere. On every street there are tons of garbage mounds and the animals are always eating the garbage. On one heap of garbage Ness and I saw pigs, cows, water buffalo, pigs, dogs, and chickens all chowing down on garbage. Besides being a religious belief to not eat certain type of meat no wonder the majority of the India citizens do not eat any meat. Ness has been a Vegetarian the whole trip so far, but I have a weakness for tandoori chicken so I have been cheating a bit.
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