malaysia...

So because i had to back date alot of the india entries, due to unforseen lack of internet in a country that does the outsourcing for the worlds technological call centres...i thought i'd tell you about malaysia while i'm here
we skipped Kuala lumpur on arrival and headed straight for the bus station, as on the way to india we quickly found out that KL can be done in a day, or two if you decide you need to see caged birds and the national hibiscus collection
so we headed off to the cameron highlands, where malaysia grow the majority of their tea.
we stayed in a hostel chosen purely on the merit that they had a bus waiting at the bus station when we arrived in a regular afternoon monsoon downpour, then headed into town to eat.
they have these great food court type places in malaysia, with a communal sitting area and about 4 or 5 different kitchens, who serve alot of the same things, but i think must have their specialties (something we haven't worked out completely as i never really listened in indonesian lessons, which would have been helpful right now being so similar to malay)
so we ate our way through a few different dishes for about 4$ all up...something we repeat each night, blindly picking from the menu, as we know only the words for chicken (ayam), mee(noodles) nasi (rice) and soup (sop/sup) but haven't had a bad thing yet, and have not been sick (malaysia 1,india 0)

we also had some chicken satay (kebabs, just so theres no confusion there kirst) and met this funnyman named jim who was on the bus from kl with us...he was a bit odd and kind of a mix between aaron across the road and uncle peter. a lecturer in some kind of science at UTS and very self-important, with all the right information (or so he seemed to put across)

in the highlands we went hiking through the jungle with david, a teacher from victoria. we started following trail 10, then 11, then swapped to 6 for the way back. all the while kirsto i remembered our rule...no walking for more than 2 hours when you don't know where you're going. and turn around when people start talking a different language to you!
( i obviously broke the no changing symbols rule though)
we emerged out of the jungle in a village/ vegetable farm (got some tomato growing tips) and found a spot overlooking the tea plantation to have scones and tea. not a bad day!
our second day we set out with a german guy called tilmo? (tilbo?) and walked about 15km to a tea plantation to see a tour of the factory and plantation workings...only to find on arrival that there was apparently not enough tea for the factory to run. but we were also informed of a bus back to town by a 'helpful' employee at the cafe
she was one of about 6 women running a cafe which had about 4 customers...one who turned out to be our friend Jim/uncle peter/aaron.
so we waited and waited for the bus, it came past to drop some kids off down the hill....and never returned back. the overly helpful women explaining sometimes it does that.
kate tried her hardest to get a sorry from the women...but it didn't work- kate had a run in with the women at reception who gave our room away and has a theory that malaysians can't say sorry...she is now testing that theory around the country with equally sorryless results.
so we got a cab back with jim, tilbo/mo walked back and later told us it wasn't his best idea for the day. and so we missed going to the strawberry farm, a bit dissapointing, but made up for it by having strawberry chocolate pancakes and mango lassi's after dinner.
i think i will have put back onthe weight i lost in india by the time i get home.
until next time...
em

agra...the Taj Mahal

We woke up incredibly early this morning to catch a trin to Agra, where the famous Taj Mahal is. Unfortunately, as seems to be the case everyday in delhi in winter, the fog was so thick that the train was about 5 hours late. a good chance to get to know old delhi train station, which namely for the toilets/ hole in the corner of a small room, is a place you should not put on your to do list for that long.
we were in 1st class seating for the train trip which was suprisingly ok. except the self important man next to me hadn't worked out how to us his phone without the speaker phone on, and so shared each of his 25 conversations with the carriage, including being on hold for 15 mins to the train company we were travelling with.
our hotel though a little basic was in walking distance of the taj, so we wandered down at about 3pm to walk through the amazing gardens, and gates and the Taj Mahal itself. It is one of those places you expect might be a bit of a let down because of hype, but it was honestly quite amazing. even the surronding gates and walls were amazing. everthing was in symmetry! the were thousands and thousands of people there, but it was well worth the waiting in line to see such a fantastic building. which we were later informed is not actually made of marble completely and is actually red blocks faced with marble...gosh! what a national coverup!.

History of the Taj (Crown) Mahal (Palace): built by Mughal Emporer Shan Jahan for his third (and favourite) wife Mumtaz after she died giving birth to his 14th child. she is intombed inside with his along side.

Before dinner we fit in a visit to the handmade carpet factory. Apparently the taj was going a bit funny coloured from the smog, so industry within 45km was banned around the taj, and the government started this handmade carpet industry to support local industry and women in agra villages. the carpets were amazing, with each and every strand in the carpet being hand tied. they were done in lots of different traditional patterns and qualities. and all with aussie and NZer wool! they are trimmed back and washed by hand at the factory. and new designs are also given out to the women who make them. (who upon clompleting their carpet making training are given a loom to take home.)
if i had a house i would have been tempted to buy one! they were great. so i am now your friendly handmade carpet expert!

january 2nd -Old Delhi

We started this day off on a local bus. i wasn't quite sure this is what was actually happening as we seemed to be just standing on the side of the road when suddenly a bus mounted to pavement infront of us and we were herded on.
apparently it was headed for old delhi, we crammed on and anand went straight to the back to pay the old man shouting at everyone from the back seat. who it turns out was the ticket/money collecter.
old delhi, if it is at all possible, is a little more chaotic than new delhi, maybe because the buildings are closer together. they had amazing bazaars, shop after shop of pretty much anything you need for indian weddings, spices, fixing anything. unfortunately the fog was so bad that the red fort which was only 50 metres away was not visible. we were left to our own for the afternoon, but most of us stayed together to brave the bazaars in newdelhi and buy clothes most of us probably won't wear at home. (thats my guess anyway)

Meeting our tour group (january 1st)

we met up with our group in the hotel lobby there were:
stefan and werner from zurich
kylie from gippsland
wayne and nicky from melbourne/brisbane (on their honeymoon)
amar and nathan from england
john from england
and sarah jane who we didn't meet till later as she was still suffering sickness from her trip to southern india...
half of the group had just been to the southern part on a joint intrepid trip so they we a bit more accustomed to the pushing, haggling indians
a nice group, including tour leader anand

Delhi

We arrived in Delhi late on wednesday night, everything seemed so calm inside the airport...
we bought our suggested prepaid taxi ticket from the counter (to make sure you don't get ripped off) and already we had a 'lovely' man helping us find the way to the taxis....
outside the door of the airport were a sea of people pushing, shouting...complete chaos
finally found the right cab and the driver tried straight away to get ahold of the taxi ticket(without it he won;t get paid so you have to make sure you hold on to it until you are at your hotel)
thursday morning we found a rickshaw driver to take us to the ghandi museum...but he decided we needed to go to the 'government tourist office' for more information...not on our itinerary but we ended up there...needless to say it wasn't anything to do with free information, but a scam for him to make commisision, so we got rid of him and found another taxi to get us there on a meter(a rare thing here, apparently they are almost all broken...)
the muesum was great, lots of information on Mahatma Ghandi and his life, work, teachings and assassination (he was killed at the museum _then Birla house)
then we ventured into the centre of the city where we quickly found we had lots of friends trying to help us find a good place to eat, of a good place to shop haha.
for lunch i think we had mutton kebabs, they weren't your average kebab though, not even like euro ones. they are like fried flat bread, fried egg and marinate mutton...i must admit they were fantastic! who's have thought mutton would taste so good!!
we went to the state emporiums and bought some pashminas...mine has turned my neck blue so i looked like part smurf, so i have given it a few rinses to try make it wearable...

friday we had a guided tour of the morning delhi, saw amazing flower markets, the sikh temple (a religion suprisingly saimilar to the basic priniples of christianity...minus the jesus bit of course.) saw hindi temples and an anglican church (which was full of people)
we then went to the indira Ghandi museum...a president of india (married to ghandi's adopted son)...very interesting again, she too was assassinated, as was her son. she is considered the 'mother of India' apparently- thats purely based on a book i saw in a shop.
In the afternoon we met our tour group of 11 people and out guide, anen?(i can't spell it but that seems close)
Today (2nd Jan)
Went to the bride and groom market...tash would be extremely excited with all the trinket stuff you can buy for making dresses, ribbon, beaded ribbon, sari material. extremely cheap too.e carried on to the spice market...putting my spice box to shame james, if only i could bring some home to add to it!
then had lunch and looked at the markets...where everyone is interested in you and your money

thats was a rather short version of the last three days, i am in the hotel lobby and have some people reading over my shoulder.
tomorrow we head to Agra, to see among other things, the Taj Mahal!

Namaste
Em

kate and i have set off on our race around the world if india
we pretty much did all of KL on foot in a day. just got to fit in the gardens where there is a bird and butterfly park (though i'm sure in serperate enclosures or there would be a lack of the butterflies)
then fly to india
in the morning yesterday we walked for like an hour to the twin towers of kl to see the view from the bridge between them but we missed out on the tickets for the day.
It didn't matter cause our adventure through local markets was much more intersting i'm sure. there was a food market we went into and it had live fish and chickens squirming around in boxes, every kind of fruit and dried seafood imaginable. Kate helped a store holder catch a loose fish too
we did our foot fish treatment at the markets. it was hilarious. i was giggling the whole time. it felt like pins and needles almost, but they would try get between your toes which was a bit too much. my feet have never withstood such tickling for so long. i must have looked rather odd squriming around while trying to feel relaxed.

we did a big walk through chinatown and little india and tried some different foods. kate showed me the finer points of haggling...i think she has mastered the art quite well in her past travels.Between workng out the exchange rate and what a quarter of the price was to start from i was completely lost. then the band of the watch i bought broke before i put it on anyway. some lady at the restaurant we ate at had her son fix it for me though.

we're now off to see the birdlife of malay and KL's lake gardens!
then to india!