Rob & Joey

Greetings! I am not dead!

First of all, please accept my sincere apologies for not updating this blog in what, to me, has felt like a very short period of time, but what I now realise has been around three months!

As you are about to find out, my travels have seen no end of change and surprise since I last regaled you with the grim details of the adventure thus far. From charity work to Chinese New Year and rip-offs to road trips, it seems to have happened! Might I suggest getting a cup of tea and a warm blanket; this could take some time…

I shall pick up where I left off… Negombo, Sri Lanka.

After a safe return through Colombo, myself and Joey checked back into Dephani Guesthouse for a final night before flying out to Hong Kong. The laid back attitude of the staff here epitomises the Sinhalese way of life; “no worries!” After attempting to book a taxi to the airport through reception for 4:00 am, I wasn’t filled with confidence that it would actually materialise, and yet, also in true Sinhalese style (although somewhat paradoxically) it arrived with military precision and ended what had been a busy, and at times traumatic experience in Sri Lanka, but nonetheless one that has left me longing for my next visit.

After a trouble-free flight to Hong Kong, it wasn’t so much a relief, but more of a shock to be back in a modern city. After a swift journey through immigration, we jumped onto one of Hong Kong’s many underground trains (boasting a train to every station, every ninety seconds – The London Underground should be taking notes!) and headed into Kowloon. From the station we then jumped into a taxi and asked to be taken to our destination, proud to have secured a reservation at a “hotel” that markets itself as “The cheapest and most basic lodgings in all of Hong Kong!” – Chungking Mansions. However, following the drivers response, which went a little like this…

“Ahhh… Awwwrrrr… Chungking Mansions! Arrr… Brave!”

…our hopes began to sink a little.

Chungking Mansions is best described as what a human termite mound might be like. A truly huge building which houses seemingly every possible hotel and business enterprise known to man, all connected by a thorough, yet utterly baffling system of lifts, stairs and passages. Thank the lord that our humble lodgings; “Ashoka Guesthouse” was only on the seventh floor…

To call this place “the most basic lodgings in Hong Kong” was surely an understatement – it resembled a psychiatric ward; small & cramped rooms with floor-to-ceiling white tiles and rounded corners on the few pieces of furniture we were provided with. In light of this, we dumped our stuff and hit the streets as soon as possible.

Hong Kong is two different places. During the day, it is abound with smells, suits & smog. However, as soon as darkness falls, the lights go on and it transforms into somewhere truly incredible. The whole city relaxes into a totally different place. We headed towards the northern edge of Kowloon island to check out the skyscrapers of Hong Kong’s main island lit up at night, but were met with huge crowds of people centring on The Peninsula Hotel. After concluding that they must be either supporting or lobbying some sort of politician or celebrity, we lost interest and went off to eat. After a somewhat ropey first taste of Hong Kong cuisine, we went to pay the bill and were just about to leave when the street outside was lit up with the sound and light of a huge explosion, shortly followed by several more. We headed outside to see what had happened, adamant that we couldn’t have found ourselves at the scene of another bombing. We were met by the most spectacular firework display I have ever seen, lighting up the water of Kowloon Bay in a mesmerising and almost indescribable manner. It was then that the fireworks, jubilant crowds, and numerous placards of rats fell into place… It was Chinese New Year!

After watching the rest of the fireworks, we sheepishly retired back to our “hotel” for a night of well earned rest.

As amazing as it was to have witnessed Chinese New Year in Hong Kong, it also had a serious negative attached to it – everything was to be closed for the following four days; the length of our stay…

Consequently, the rest of our time in Hong Kong was spent trawling various suburbs in which the streets were quite literally empty. The only activity to be found was in selected shopping malls, which as wonderful as they were, didn’t really reflect the side of Hong Kong I had hoped to encounter. Nevertheless, as somewhere I was initially sceptical on going to (I had wanted to go to Bali) I really enjoyed Hong Kong and cannot wait (once again) to go back in the hope of getting a fuller feel for the place.

Australia…

After over a month of idle travelling, it felt great to be in a city which, over the course of the next three months, I would find myself calling home. As finances were running low, priority number one became finding both a job and a place to live. As a backpacker, work is easy to come by in Sydney, but may not necessarily be what you want. After many unsuccessful applications, I found myself in the employ of “Biz Savvy” a marketing company specialising in Charity work. I shan’t go into too much detail, but after five weeks of working myself into the ground we were sent on a road trip to Tamworth – “the country music capital of Australia!” The theory behind going out to these far-flung places is that fewer people are familiar with what you are doing and so are easier to persuade into supporting your cause – which is most certainly true. After three days of a proposed week-long trip, we received a phone call from the boss – Mark Kinsman – asking us to return to Sydney for reasons he was “unable to tell us”. After having not been paid on time for the past fortnight, this set off alarm bells for all of us, only compounded when the Company Credit Card bounced upon check out leaving us stranded. Shortly after, the police arrived to make sure we didn’t make a dash for it, which gave us only one option… to wait. After seven hours, finally a deal was reached by which we would be invoiced for the bill and then given a certain amount of time to pay it. Upon getting back to Sydney, we were given no explanation of why we were asked to return and from then on didn’t seem to have any contact with the Boss whatsoever which marked the end of five weeks of employment, for which neither myself, nor any of my co-workers were paid a cent. It has now transpired that Mark – the ex-boss - has been sanctioned and admitted into the psychiatric ward at St Vincent’s, and is both bi-polar and in severe denial.

My thanks go out to Cat & Family, a friend I met through work while she was in Cambridge, who put me up (and put up with me!) for the duration of the whole affair – I would have been truly stuck without you guys!

Now utterly broke, I had to go through the whole process of finding a job again, and when offered a sales position within a national Milkman company- Aussie Farmers Direct - I was wary of going into sales work again, but in light of my position, felt I had no other choice. Now two months down the line and following a recent promotion, I am only too glad that I took them up!

To cut a long story short, I’m now far more settled, and although once again living in a Hostel after discovering a bedbug infestation in my apartment in Bondi, do not have to worry about money and putting a roof over my head! I now manage a sales team of ten people, and although under constant pressure to meet targets & deadlines, take huge enjoyment from work. not only have I met some great people and made many life-long friends – special mention to Ingrid & Paul – I also relish the fact that its my show to run, and that I am at liberty to manage things as I see fit!

A huge part of my job involves keeping my reps motivated, which means my work is just as much socially-orientated as it is business-orientated. This is where the real joy in my job comes into play…

So far, particular highlights have included regular visits to the Blue Mountains, a weekend get-away to Jervis Bay and most importantly the Uluru Roadtrip…

6800kms… 82 hours of driving… Ten people in a twelve seated minibus living, eating and sleeping… Need I say any more?

Since the trip, I seem to find myself asking every new person “so what did you get up to over the Easter weekend?”

We set off at midnight on the Thursday and drove solidly through day & night, thick & thin until we got to the rock. The first night was relatively drama-free and after running so low on petrol, we became convinced that we were going to run out altogether. We rolled into Broken Hill on nothing but fumes and were never so happy to see a petrol station – so much so that we managed to crash into it. Undeterred, we gassed up and grabbed some food and hit the road again. Our next port of call would be Port Augusta, a short distance from Adelaide. Again, this proved to be a largely un-eventful stretch of the journey and hoped that it would continue as such until we reached the rock. Little did we know… little did we know…

The Stuart Highway runs from Port Augusta right up through the middle of Australia and eventually reaches the north coast; about 3000kms of open and un-inhabited land, with no mobile reception or way of contacting anyone… at all. It is notoriously dangerous and is only frequented by long distance road-train drivers in armoured and bull-bar fronted road trains – the official statistic is that if you break down, there is a 40% chance of death - which explains why people were left speechless after hearing we were about to tackle it in a 1992 Reg. Toyota Hi-Ace minibus, with no bull bar…

We thought (or rather hoped) that those who had strongly advised us to turn back had only been playing about, and felt comforted for the first few hours out of Augusta having only encountered semi populated bush-land and a few small Grey Kangaroos. Then one notices the glow of civilization slowly begin to drop, slowly creeping away and bleeding into the ground until eventually it is gone altogether, leaving nothing before us but an endless and straight road, and deathly black darkness. Then, slowly you begin to notice things; tiny glints from the side of the road, a sudden movement on the verge of the road. This is what we had been warned about… Red Kangaroos. You cannot comprehend the size and weight of a “Big Red” until you’ve seen one up-close, and to put it into perspective, right now we were looking at well over a hundred of them.

We slowed right down, fully aware of the fact that should we hit one, the van would be written off and we would be left stranded and more poignantly, surrounded by 2 metre plus Red Kangaroos. We crept through the night at about 80km/ph constantly watching for Kangaroos already on, or running towards the road. Finally, dawn broke and as if by magic, the Stuart Highway became almost “safe”. We drove right through the day, aware that as soon as darkness fell, we’d be doing it all over again. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be so straightforward this time.

We reached our next petrol stop at 2am, on the assurance that it was 24 hours. It was not. We had just over half a tank, and a 400km stretch of road ahead of us. However, this was no ordinary stretch of road. Aside being laden with Big Red’s, it also runs through both an Aboriginal reserve, in which stopping is strictly prohibited, and an area in which Atomic Weapons were tested in the 1960’s, in which stopping is even more strictly prohibited. We had either a 7 hour wait or a seriously dangerous night ahead of us. Now I’ve never been one for waiting about, as I’m sure anyone reading this is all too aware! But in light of the circumstances, and the fact that the odds were heavily stacked against us making it on to our next stop, it was the sensible thing to do. Which is exactly why we chanced it and drove on…

About two hours further down the road, and down to about a third of a tank, I relieved my Kangaroo-watch duties to someone else and went to get some rest – the first shut-eye for myself in 48 hours. Predictably, twenty minutes or so after I put my head down, a huge bang and a swerve woke me right back up. We rolled to a stop and were left standing in a prohibited radioactive Aboriginal Reserve, and for the possibly the first time in my life, I found myself thinking “We really are in serious trouble now”. About 250kms from the nearest petrol station, let alone town, we had come to a stop with virtually no diesel and a truly smashed up van.

After removing the fur and grit from the light casing, and seeing that the engine housing itself seemed to be undamaged, we were relieved to find the engine still in working order. However, we had lost all of the front right hand lights – heads, fogs, indicators… the lot, which was in many ways just as bad; to drive the Stuart Highway without a bull bar is mad, but to do it with only one headlight is just plain stupid. Myself and Dan managed to screw the headlight itself back into place and (very sketchily) reconnect it so that it cast at least some light onto the road. After dragging the road-kill off the road, we carried on at a very slow pace until day broke, with everyone constantly watching for Kangaroos – we had had a lucky escape the first time, but there was no way the van would survive another hit.

Eventually, we managed to get some duck tape and bandage up the bumper that had been hanging from the front of the Van since hitting the Kangaroo. A further 300kms down the road, we caught first sight of Ayers Rock and stopped for our first photo opportunity. Unfortunately, we were later told that what we had seen was in fact Mount Connell, a similar rock (and in all honesty, more impressive one!) found just a few kilometres before the real thing. We finally arrived at Uluru just in time for sunset, so watched from the roof of the van and then slept. Shortly after watching sunrise, we had to hit the road again and do it all again, in reverse, to be back in time for work on Tuesday morning.

The trip back was far more straight-forward, with the only casualties being a small bird and Spewie’s (Joe) arm after a particularly vicious and precise rubber band flick. About 200kms from the city, and just as we felt we had made it home trouble-free, the heavens opened us up to the biggest and most torrential storm that I, along with all of the others, had ever seen. Visibility was about 3 metres, simply due to the amount of rain and hale. Just to make things worse, not only are Kangaroos attracted to headlights, they also hate the rain, which meant that as the storm was just to our left, they were all running straight into our path. Eventually, we just had to stop and let it pass – with simply massive road-trains flying past us at 150km/ph – it was too bigger risk to keep on going. We finally got back to the office at about 10:15am, safe in the knowledge that work started at 12:00. One of the most hectic and dangerous weekends of my life, but an experience I wouldn’t trade in for anything. I can only look forward to organizing the next one for some of my own reps.

That more or less sums up my adventures to date; its been a mad roller-coaster ride of both frills and spills, but all seems to have panned out quite well in the end. Looking to the future, I have found myself quite attached to Sydney and the friends I have made over here, and of all the different times and places that life has taken me so far, I don’t think I’ve ever been quite as happy as I am now. To all my friends (and even family!) from back home – I only wish you were here to share it with me as well, and for those of you planning on coming over, no excuses!

I’ll do my level best to report back more frequently from now, I only hope this 3000 word essay has compensated for what you missed out on beforehand.

All my love to all of my Family & Friends back in Cambridge and the UK, you are sorely missed!

Until next time…

After a fantastic two weeks travelling the length and breadth of India, I must take the opportunity to pay a HUGE thanks to all those in Nagda & Bhatisuda who went so far out of their way to make us feel welcome, and also to Chris, my father for being a fantastic guide and infinate fountain of advice and information! Thanks!

Our final night in India, spent in Trivandrum close to the airport for our early morning flight could well have been a world record for the highest number of mosquito bites sustained by one man in one night. Nevertheless, ever the intrepid explorer, we showed up on time for our flights looking more like pizzas than gap year students.

After a short & uneventful 40 minute hop over to Colombo, we headed straight to Negombo, our first port of call and checked into our Guesthouse. We were met by a beautiful garden heading straight onto the beach, complete with palm trees, loungers and an outdoor shower! And for a little under 5GBP a night, we were hardly complaining! Little did we know that the following week would see us visit the extremes of total relaxation and impending doom and panic...

After a pleasant two nights in Negombo, we took the train into Colombo on Lankan Independence Day to take a connecting train down to Hikkaduwa. Just as our train was moving away from the platform, a huge bang went off, and on leaning out of the train to see what had happened, all I could see was smoke and complete panic. We only realised that this had been a Tamil Tiger suicide bomb attack once we reached Hikkaduwa, and found ourselves feeling lucky to have had such a narrow escape.

Although becoming increasingly overrun with tourism, Hikkaduwa (essentially an old fishing town) is pretty much as close to tropical paradise as you can get. Massive long and pretty much perfect golden sand lines the coast, which in turn is laden with bamboo fronted Bars. Further down the beach is the Coral Sanctuary, where i've spent a good day or so snorkelling & free-diving. The variety of marine life there is incredible - Sharks, Tuna, Barracuda, Squid, Sea Snakes, Turtles, and countless brightly coloured reef fish.

Today we spent more time in and around the pool, feeling pretty exhausted after contending with the strong currents out by the rock and over the reef. However, in typical Lankan style an early evening walk onto the beach resulted in helping some 20 locals haul in a monsterous fishing net, which, eventually, after a grueling half hour struggle, turned out to be laden with fish. Ever the optimist, i sat back with throbbing arms glad that it was over and satisfied with what we'd been a part of, only to see a fairly viscious fight break out between two of the locals that we'd just been working side by side with. Feeling compelled to intervene, i managed to tear them apart, but was left covered in another mans blood putting a bit of a downer on an otherwise great day.

Tomorrow, we head back to Negombo, through Colombo (hopefully no safety issues this time, fingers crossed!) to spend a final night there, before catching out 7:20 AM flight to Hong Kong, from where with any luck, i'll be able to post a further update.

Wev'e finally arrived in Cochin, after a busy and hectic week, which went something like this:

Following Mumbai, we headed inland to Nagda on Frontier Mail, arriving early sunday morning to the un-nerving melody that accompanies day to day life in Nagda (Horns, Bells, Shouting and general pandemonium). After checking into Nagda's finest Guesthouse, Chandralok Lodge (where somewhat ironically, "Guest is God"), we were actually pleasantly suprised at the cleanliness of our room! (Nagda is by no means a typical tourist destination; supported by the man that approached us outside the train station, listing every possible way to get out of Nagda, totally oblivious to the idea that ANYONE would ever purposefully go there! As far as i can gather, the main purpose of the two "hotels" in Nagda is to accomodate visitors to the Chemical factory adjacent to the town).

On the Monday, we headed to the Village (Bhatisuda - 4 or 5 km further down the railway line) the real purpose of our stay in Nagda. In keeping with my previous visit, i was again struck by how unbelievably hospitable everyone in the village is. Upon arriving, we were immediately inundated with invites for Lunches, Dinners, Afternoon teas, Late Lunches, Late Dinners, Evening teas... (You get the idea!) and after greeting Pukraj and family, we were swiftly whisked off for a tour of Ishva's land and well. Totally unrequested, we then had fresh chickpeas picked and roasted infront of us - unfortunately, this computer is refusing to upload any more pictures, so i cant put any up! We then had an incredible lunch with Pukraj, Prittyballa and Sunni (Pukraj's wife and son respectively).

Tuesday saw us make the journey to Jaora - we were taken on a detour on the basis that the usual road was in a state of disrepair, and that we would be best advised to take the "good road", which we subsequently did. If this road was the "Good road" then the usual road must had dissapeared altogether! Upon arrivel in Jaora, we had lunch with a friend of Chris's, Manoj - and were then (totally unannounced) swarmed with photographers and journalists for the front page story of the local edition of a national paper! (Sadly, im yet to find an online edition, but should one arise, ill post it immediately). We also visited Hussein Tekri and the other Mosques / Muslim temples that surround it, although again i have no pictures available as this computer is playing up!

3:00 AM wednesday morning, and we were up in the freezing cold waiting for the Rajhdani Express to Delhi to arrive, to take us back to the modern world. Hotel Ajanta seemed like relative luxury after the somewhat primitive environment of Chandralok lodge, though our time in Delhi was hampered by stringent security measures in light of Republic Day (26th January) on which the Indian Armed Forces parade their latest hardware and technology (Tanks, Aircraft, Nukes - the lot).

On Thursday we went to Agra to see the Taj, although after spending not far off ten hours on the train to get there and back, the sight of sticky blue vinyl chairs has left a heavier impression in my mind. Nevertheless, the Taj didn't fail to impress, nor did Agra fort or even Dog that caught a live rat at the train station!

After a final day in Delhi touring the various Bazaars and markets, we were ready to head to the more relaxed way of life in Kerala.

Were now about to head out and expore Cochin, tomorrow we head to Varkala, a smaller town further south of Cochin, and then finally to Trivandrum, from where we make the hop to Sri Lanka - which will be my next chance to write.

Here are a selection of pictures that I did manage to upload!

Greetings from Mumbai!

After receiving a free upgrade on our outbound flight (we didn't even ask!) our trip was off to a flying start! (No pun intended... honest). Having braved the crowds outside Mumbai airport, along with the trecherous journey into the central Mumbai (Including several emergency stops / near bullock cart collisions) we managed to check in to our hotel and abandon our weighty bags.

In an effort to fight through our jetlag, we headed straight to Leopolds for a beer (said to feature in the next Johnny Depp film, though whatever truth this may hold remains to be seen!)

Today, we made the boat trip out to Elephanta Island, where amongst touts, pickpockets, scammers, begging children and ALOT of steps and pesky monkeys, some rather beautiful cave temples are to be found. Pictures would be the obvious way of doing Elephanta justice, but the computer we are writing to you all from doesn't seem to have a CD drive, so that will just have to wait.

Tomorrow, we move inland, taking an overnight train to Nagda and The Village (Bhatisudra), so wont have access to the internet until we reach Delhi on the 24th, from where further news and pictures will be posted!

Until then, Namaste!

Hello all!

As you are no doubt aware, our departure date is fast approaching (Next Wednesday!) and as frantic preparation ensues, I thought it would be a good idea to set up an online travel blog to let you all know how we're getting along over the course of the next five or so months... And here it is! With a little luck, and the availability of a half decent web connection while in India (Ok, so alot of luck!) I hope to update this once or twice a week with news of our travels, pictures and maybe even the odd video, all with the sole purpose of making you very jealous.

Our flight route is as follows:

After weeks of planning, everything has finally tied together and it seems that nothing can go wrong, although sod's law dictates that something inevitably will! But I'm sure that armed with the numerous items and objects we've acquired in the name of preparation, including more anti-malarial meds than you can shake a stick at, and a Canula seemingly big enough for an elephant, let alone a human(!), that we'll get along just fine.