Happy Birthday, Eli and Kristin!

Even though we're cruising around India at the moment, every sense being bombarded, we haven't forgotten about our friends and family around the world.

We'd like to give a shout-out to our favourite 3-year-old, Eli, who celebrates the big day tomorrow (May 1st). We wish we could be there, but we've sent a Muldoon emissary in our stead, the ever-popular Tessa Muldoon, who I hope will shout "Hip, Hip, Hooray" at the end of the "Happy Birthday" song, as we Americans miss out on this festive song-ending burst of glee. :)

Not to be overlooked, my favourite sister (and Eli's mom) is also celebrating a birthday this week (May 5th). Happy Birthday, Kristin! Please eat some Mexican food for me. :)

As for the rest of you, as you're celebrating birthdays, promotions, house purchases, births, and the like over the next few months, please have a drink for us! :)

Cheers,
AM (a.k.a. "Aunt EA")

Gujarat and back

After we left Jodhpur it was time for a little business to mix in with all the swanning about we've been doing in Rajasthan. Two days of meetings in Bhavnagar were followed by a 24 hour lay-over in Ahmadabad before an overnight train to Udaipur.

Bhavnagar is not a tourist destination. At best it's a jumping off spot for nearby wildlife parks and, if you're a little more daring, the strictly prohibited ship breaking yards at Alang. Ship breaking - what a remarkable concept. Every time I've ever seen cruise liners or a huge cargo ships they've looked like the most solid, non-destructable pieces of equipment that you're ever likely to see. Perhaps a ship could sink but I've never been able to comprehend them being stripped down like an old car in an auto wrecking yard. But that's exactly what they do at Alang.

By far the biggest ship breaking yard in the world, Alang, serves at the final resting place of most of the world's greatest ships. Uniquely situated on mud-flats which have a high tide only once a month, the ship breakers of Alang start from the front and work their way back through the hulls of these massive vessels, tearing out every fixture, fitting or raw piece of steel for resale and recycling. Just like meat ants on an animal carcass.

We hired a car after our meetings were done in Bhavnagar to take a look. As the entire area is off-limits to tourist we weren't able to get as close as I would have liked but we did see the boats off at a distance plus we passed by the hundreds of stalls set up on the side of the road selling the booty. There are stalls for toilets, kitchen fittings, life vests, diesel engines, mirrors, lounges, mattresses, and every other possible piece from the ships. Alang is truly a remarkable place.

Ahmadabad was all about resting after arriving at midnight and leaving again 24 hours later. We were lucky that the hotel offered 24 hour check-in and out plus they had the HBO cable channel so movies were the order of the day. There really wasn't a lot more to recommend the hotel which featured some of the most creative plumbing in the bathroom I've ever seen. Still, the aircon worked and the movies included several Van Damme classics so it was all good.

Actually we did venture out for lunch to a place around the corner from our hotel recommended in our travel guide which was really good. Some of the best food we've had in India.

The other memorable moment in Ahmadabad would have to be the trip from the hotel to the train station. Yet another auto-rickshaw which is hardly out of the ordinary but there was one intersection just as we reached the station which was completely surreal. Its close to midnight and there are thousands of auto-rickshaws, pedestrians, buses, trucks, cars and pushbikes around. And they all want to cross this huge intersection simultaneously. Traffic is crazy at the best of times in India but this was truly insane - absolutely nobody was giving way to anyone else and there were no lights, round-abouts or policemen to assert their logic onto the scrum. This was the traffic equivalent of dreadlocks and I couldn't help but chuckle to myself for the full 10 minutes it took to cross to the other side. There would be a public outcry replete with angry letters written to the local member and flames posted to Column 8 in the Sydney Morning Herald if this was Australia :)

DM

Elephant Baksheesh

In a country with as much povery as India (yes, the poverty is as devastating as you've heard), the people have developed a keen sense of value. That is, compensation can be requested for even the smallest act that can be perceived as a service. Of course, there are plenty of helpful strangers who don't expect anything in return for helping a tourist find a bookstore or good restaurant, and who are eager to engage in long conversations about food, sport, religion, politics, culture, or anything else, but there is also a sizeable population that earns a living by providing assistance.

For example, when I posed next to a guard in Jaipur's City Palace for a photo and he then rubbed his fingers together in the international sign for $$$, I offered him 10 rupees (30 Aussie cents) for his service, which he appreciated. It's also common to offer baksheesh for someone "bending the rules" to gain us access to "restricted" sites or enjoy an upper class waiting area at a railway station when we only have a second class ticket.

Another form of baksheesh is offering small amounts of money to the homeless and handicapped. The tricky thing about that, however, is that earning baksheesh has also quite unfortunately become an industry. It is impossible to know if the legless man pulling himself around the streets by his arms asking for money when rickshaws are stopped at a red light is doing the only thing he can to get by (there is no welfare system in India), or if he has been mutilated by a boss (similar to a pimp) whose people work the corner or the street and who then collects all of their earnings at the end of the day. Children are also used in this way. A child who has left poor home conditions out in the country can be taken in by one of these bosses and then sent into the intersections with small naked babies to beg for money. It's heartbreaking, but the advice we've received is that to offer any money to these people, who actually really do need it, won't actually help them. In fact, it could even make the greater problem worse by encouraging the industry. So, we've decided that the best way to go is to make a donation once we get home to a charitable organisation that actually serves to do some good here.

On a lighter note (and there is plenty of beauty, kindness, and amusement in India to make the poverty more bearable, although not lessened in any way), we were on our way back to our hotel last night after taking in a gorgeous sunset on a mountain peak with 360 degree views of Udaipur, when we passed an elephant in the street. I quickly asked our rickshaw driver, Mustafa, to stop so we could take a photo. Dane jumped out with the camera, and the elephant owner obliged by walking the elephant over for a close-up. Dane got the shot, at which point the elephant reached out its trunk and rubbed its little trunk tip nubbins together. Knowing exactly what he meant, Dane pulled out a 10 rupee note, which the elephant gratefully grabbed hold of and then passed up to his owner. And there you have it: Elephant Baksheesh! :)

AM

Best laid plans...

Well, our overnight train to Jaisalmer didn't quite happen. After our first dose of Indian Railways second class sleeper (taking us as far as Jodhpur), I just couldn't face another 8 hours on a dust-covered blue mat 18 inches from the ceiling with rickety fans blowing hot air in my face. After having experienced Chinese railways, Dane was up for the adventure, but I just wasn't.

So, I worked up enough of a chest-rattling cough for him to take pity on me and agree to stay put in Jodhpur for 2 days, which was actually the original plan before a Californian hippie in the New Delhi Railway Station convinced us to squeeze in a day in Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer is the home of the camel safari across the Thar Desert, but given that it's currently 45 degrees out there, maybe postponing that adventure until our next (?) visit to India was the best decision we've made yet.

The good news is that the hotel in Jodhpur that we managed to book at 11:00pm on Friday night is amazing. It's run out of an 18th century mansion and is operated by the same family that built it back in the day. The window in our room spread across the entire northern wall and faced the massive wall of the fort Jodhpur is famous for. The view proved even more valuable on Saturday, as Dane ordered bed rest for my recovery. I think I was awake for only 3 hours all day. But the rest did me good, as I'm feeling much better today (although I'm still clearing yellow-green globs from my chest--yuck).

We've finally done some sight-seeing around Jodhpur today, and I'm so glad, as it's my favourite place so far in India. The Mehrangarh Fort is much more than just an abandoned mass of delapitated stone walls (which describes most forts in Jaipur--the brilliant exception is Amber Palace, which would be stunning if a bit more effort at maintenance were put into the place). Walking up and around Mehrangarh Fort, it is clear that the design was very much built around the craggy mountain top where it is perched. You wander through courtyards into state rooms and entertaining halls and then up stairs into more bedrooms that lead to terraces that open up onto more courtyards. The views from the terraces and windows definitely do justice to Jodhpur's title of the Blue City.

As for future train trips, they're all currently booked as second class sleeper, but we're going to see about upgrades for some of the longer trips--woohoo!

AM

Jaipur: running hot and cold

Jaipur is a calm and peaceful oasis compared to Delhi - especially our hotel, the Sunder Palace, which is really nice. We've been in the best of spirits since arriving but unfortunately not the best of health. It might be 40 degrees C outside, but we've both got colds! Our crummy (but expensive!) hotel in Delhi had A/C which was either set to cryogenically freeze, or off. Subsequently we spent several nights there alternating between hot and cold and the inevitable effects asserted themselves in Jaipur.

We did go on a bus tour of the sites on Wednesday which are spectacular if a little run down, but all we could manage yesterday was a Bollywood flick at one of the most famous cinemas in India. It was a great experience and the movie had enough English sprinkled throughout that we could follow along with the story over its epic three hours (complete with intermission).

Today the real travel begins - we'll be on a train to Jodhpur then another to Jaisalmer in the Thar Desert for over 12 hours. I'm glad we've both got books to read :)

DM

Delhi: to Tout or not to Tout

We arrived at 3am in Delhi on Saturday morning. After our ride had a flat tire on the side of the highway at 4am we finally made it to our hotel at 4:30am and crashed. Getting our train travel booked was a priority though so we were up again just a few hours later to tackle New Delhi Train Station.

OMG that place is confusing! The first person we ran into was one of the imfamous "touts" who physically stopped us from finding the legitimate tourist information office and tried to direct us to some dodgy "official" train booking office. We were expecting something like this to happen but he was far more aggressive than anticipated. Quickly fleeing the scene we proceeded to wander around the train station following signs that all seemed to contradict each other. We finally found the real tourist information office only to find that we then needed the famed Trains At A Glance timetable book. After we found the book selling office and made our way back to the tourist information office things proceeded suprisingly smoothly.

Several other backpackers from all over the world gave us some helpful tips on things to do and places to see as we started filling out the many forms required to book tickets. We have a busy schedule to say the least! By the looks of things we're going to spend about half our time on trains - 3,500km in 21 days. But every trip we wanted to make was available and booked within three hours of arriving at the station. The most remarkable thing though is the price. We attempted to book our tickets through a travel agent in Australia who quoted us $3,500 (including plane flights for legs that supposedly didn't have train links). Booking in Delhi cost $186.

The woman who booked our trips was really nice and very helpful and seemed to appreciate that we had taken the time to do our own research and fill out the forms correctly. She even gave us a good tip for our first meal in Delhi at Bangla Sweet House.

Dehli is as overwhelming as everyone says it is so it's living up to its reputation (for heat as well). The good news though is that you can usually tell who is genuinely helpful and who is trying to scam you blind.

After two days in Delhi my shoes are shiny clean thanks to Raj and Ricky, who hang out near our hotel at Ram Nagar. We've become friends with a great auto-rickshaw driver/tour guide, Mohammed, who spent a few hours on Sunday taking us on a whirlwind tour of every major tourist attraction (if only to photograph from the outside). We're meeting up with him again this morning, although I think we're just going to have him drop us off at a cinema so we can catch a Bollywood movie (most museums and attractions are closed on Mondays).

The food has been great, although we've been pretty cautious about where we eat in an effort to avoid the infamous "Delhi Belly."

Scorecard after 2 days:
Delhi Belly - 0
Touts - 3 close calls and a million and one immediate brush-offs
Meals - 4 (we're still getting the hang of finding clean places to eat)
Auto-rickshaws - 3
Cricket conversations - 30+ (Ricky Ponting is the most popular Aussie cricketer over here; not surprising considering he's on top of the world rankings)
In-room fires - 1 (our A/C blew up yesterday afternoon)
Shoe shines - 2

Tomorrow: Jaipur.

DM

So long, Hong Kong

Hong Kong Highlights:

Wednesday - Ferry ride to Lantau Island, followed by yet another winding drive up a mountain, on our way to see the Giant Buddha. In fact, by all reports it is the "world's largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha" (photos to come later), which must mean there are larger indoor standing marble Buddhas out there somewhere, which is pretty tough to imagine, because it was MONDO HUGE!

Thursday - Subway error #1: thinking that Kowloon Station is the best destination to see Kowloon Bay. In fact, it is just a mass of SUPER HUGE private apartment buildings (~10,000 residents each) that you're not allowed to short-cut through to get to anywhere decent. So, we ended up walking along the freeway to find the heart of downtown Kowloon. We wandered through the Jade Markets, outdoor food markets, and Kowloon Park, where we observed a salsa dance class in a Chinese Temple, heaps of oldies getting down with Tai Chi, sculpture garden, early morning swimmers enjoying a very cool pool designed to look more like a lagoon, and much more.

We then made our way to Causeway Bay, where Dane wandered 2 entire floors of side-by-side computer stores in Windsor House. Dane was most impressed by the Apple presence. :) I was a bit bored, to be honest, but found a trendy laptop displaying King Kong, so didn't mind it too much. ;)

After browsing, we wandered west into Wan Chai, where there were heaps of cheap markets selling just about everything. An oasis for tired travelers is Wan Chai Park, where you can actually find a place to sit (benches are surprisingly sparse in Hong Kong) and watch elderly men compete rather intensely at Chinese Chess.

Friday - Tasty BBQ Pork Buns (Jo & Lou--wish you could have been there)! We thought we would just wander a bit before taking off for Delhi in the evening, but ended up going out to Yum Cha with the Jockey Club Mt Davis hostel bus driver. Totally unexpected, and most definitely a highlight from our time in Hong Kong. After filling our bellies and drawing pictures to figure out what we were eating, we took another scenic bus ride (#6) over the hills to Stanley on the south end of Hong Kong Island. Stanley is known for its maze of tourist markets and scenic seaside location. They also have heaps of westerner-friendly bistros, but we skipped right past those. :)

Next time we'll stay for a week and bring more money for shopping!

We're now safely in Delhi! More on that later.

Cheers,
AM

Destination: Hong Kong

We've arrived! After a long but uneventful flight (lots of in-flight movies), we arrived in Hong Kong last night. First impressions are that it is warmer than Alyse expected; the airport is huge and clean; and the buses are much cheaper than the train and drive as fast as taxis despite being double-decker.

The most unexpected thing so far, though, is the hostel - or at least where it is. The directions say "top of Mt. Davis Path." What this actually equates to is 5km of tight, mountain switch-backs that our taxi drive ably dealt with. The road just kept on going and going; every time we thought the hostel must be around the next bend, and it wasn't, we laughed. Check out the fantastic view...



Another surprise was that Alyse and I are not in a dorm room together. Men and women are separated, which is fine, but just unexpected.

The best news is that we've already run into a few very helpful and interesting people. More on that later.

DM

And we're off!

Well, today is the big day. We've had a few lead-up events, such as our farewell party with our fantastic group of friends in Sydney, last day of work, moving day, scenic flight over Sydney, and flight out of Sydney (to Brisbane), but today we finally leave the country.

For our "last meal" last night with Dane's family, we ordered in Chinese food, which was a bit silly since we'll be in Hong Kong tonight. :)

We've done the final weigh-in on our packs, and a few things had to go. The unfortunate items that didn't make the cut include Dane's multi-pliers, my long black skirt, a couple of my tops, and two extra rolls of toilet paper. The packs are still weighty, but not nearly as heavy as they were when we left Sydney, but part of the reason for that is that anything we forgot to pack into boxes for the movers had to go into our packs until we could unload them in Brisbane. Such items included an oven thermometer, 3 remote controls, a pair of Dane's shoes, dirty laundry, and scissors.

Dane's final pack weight: 10 kg + 3kg day pack
Alyse's final pack weight: 11 kg + 3kg day pack

Dane's dad reckons we'll lose another couple of kilos within the first week or two. In his experience, gear that seems "essential" before you leave becomes a ridiculous luxury as soon as you've had to carry it on your back. We'll see... I'm still not willing to give up my anti-bacterial moist towelettes!

OK, we're leaving for the airport in 2 minutes. Our next post will be from Hong Kong!

AM

The football season begins

Last night Mum and Dad took us to the first Brisbane Lions home game of the season against the Bombers. It was great to see the Gabba finally finished and the Lions win the game as well. The ground was pretty much packed and the atmosphere was fantastic.

Unfortunately the mighty Swannies didn't fare quite so well at home today. I'm going to be following the competition closely on the trip to see how we go defending our premiership this year.

DM

Sydney from 1,500 feet

Jeremy took us flying in a little four-person, twin-engine plane on Friday morning. It was a magical trip and I'm so pleased that I've finally been able to go up with my best mate after all these years.



We took off from Bankstown airport, flew north east up to Palm Beach then down the coastline of the Northern Beaches to Manly. From there we entered the controlled airspace of Sydney Harbour to do some circle work near the Opera House and Harbour Bridge before heading back out to Manly and then south down the coastline past Bondi, Bronte, Coogee and Maroubra towards Cronulla. We turned inland at Stanwell Park to check out the Blue Mountains and then after buzzing the Three Sisters turned sharply (!) back to Bankstown.

See more photos of our flight with Jeremy here.

DM

Moving, and why you should never do it

Moving day was Thursday. Between moving day and final packing day (Wednesday), we both had two tough days. I'd have to say that Alyse did more overall - she took charge of the situation and bossed everyone around until it was done to her satisfaction.

It's just one of those things that should be avoided if at all possible; moving seems to be an endless process of looking at something that you should probably have thrown out years ago and painfully finding a box big enough to put it in because you just can't bring yourself to bin it. Still, everything went relatively smoothly, aided by Alyse's efforts to start packing three weeks before the big day.

The truck driver apparently had sixteen kids and, despite being a born-and-bred Australian, could barely speak English to save himself. Everything went onto his truck without any dramas, though, so I'd have to rate him highly. Our stuff is due to turn up tomorrow morning in Bris Vegas and the following day we're off on our travels.

DM

P.S. Superfluous commas added by AM.

Going away party Saturday night

A great big thanks to everyone who came along to the Australian Hotel in the Rocks on Saturday for our farewell party!

It was fantastic to see so many old friends again and to share our plans for our trip and the future. Not that anyone else has been sitting still either! There were new jobs, new homes and even new babies on the way. Everyone seemed really well and I count myself incredibly lucky to know such a wonderful bunch of people.

There was beer and pizza and lots of laughs. I'm already looking forward to our first trip back to Sydney to see everyone again.

DM

Last day of Apple

Yesterday was the last day of my Apple computer sales career. Being at the coal face felt like something I needed to do but now it is done. I went out on a high note by topping the sales for the day thanks to finally having stocks of the new MacBook Pro.



I invoiced three MacBook Pros yesterday including a built to order 2.16GHz screamer.

They're nice machines that's for sure.

Ben and Shannon gathered everyone in the store around 5pm for a quick speech to thank me for my efforts and wish me well in the future. They also gave me an EyeTV 200 as a going away present. The 200 is a great piece of kit and will come in handy in the future for watching TV on my Mac if there's ever conflict. You can use it to digitalise analogue video as well so I can play with footage from the old video camera in iMovie.

Best of luck to all the guys in the new Bondi Junction super store - it will be by far Australia's largest and I'm a little sorry that I wont be there for the opening. But instead I'll be in Delhi :)

DM

The packing begins

Alyse has gone crazy packing. She's covered in cuts and bruises and has been ordering me around like I'm some army grunt. But, the house is looking good. Everything has been categorised. Every box is evenly weighted and fits together like a jigsaw.



Meanwhile I've been watching the F1 Grand Prix and filling the iPod with music. Oh, and I've taken a few loads of garbage out too. I've also managed to squeeze in documenting our possessions for travel insurance, registering our travel with our respective governments, packing up all the electronics and waging the eternal war on cockroaches. I swear that the next place I live in will have a new kitchen with no gaps between cupboards and counter tops.

More packing photos on Flikr.

DM