Hong Kong, the friendliest city in the world

Long Way From Home [Enlarge & More]

It was 1:15am in Chennai and we were finally boarding our 2:45am flight to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific. Both of us had mixed feelings about leaving India, it would be good to see somewhere new but we both had really enjoyed our time there.

Cathay Pacific has a good reputation which it lived up to and the flight was uneventful. The time was the only downside as when we touched down it was 10 in the morning having lost 2.5 hours as Hong Kong was ahead and having had no sleep for 24 hours.

Fried Rice,Anyone? [Enlarge & More]

We have been in Hong Kong for a day and half now and it’s one of the friendliest cities I’ve ever been to. As soon as we stepped foot outside customs we’ve had people helping us when we’ve asked and also when we’ve not. A sweet lady helped us the first time we used the Metro here, the equivalent to the London Underground. We were having a ‘debate’ about which exit to use and she kindly pointed us in the right direction

Harbour Skyline [Enlarge & More]

On the Star Ferry for the first time going over to Hong Kong Island from Kowloon, a really nice guy helped us out by telling us all the places to go and see and where is good for what. There is Soho here, full of eating and drinking places a bit like in London.

Jono has remarked a couple of times if he wanted to live in a city this would be it which is high praise indeed as he does not like cities generally. I love the place too, it’s a very modern place but East definitely meets West here. The view at night of the harbour front is the best I have seen, it beats Manhattan in NY by a mile and I thought that was the best. Then you turn a corner and you are presented with a Blade Runner like view that is definitely eastern, I just love it

Milkshake - Yummy! [Enlarge & More]

Being a city it is definitely muggier and hotter than India, the curious thing is that a lot of the shops are air conditioned but don’t have doors, so as you walk past you get a blast of cold air. It’s a momentary relief before you hit the wall of heat again.

I’ve definitely suffered culture shock here, not because it’s so different from back home in England but it is so different from India. As we are only here for a few nights both of us have gone a little overboard on the milkshakes, sweets, coffees and food. My poor body does not know what’s hit it.

Temples at Last

Tribute to MJ[Enlarge & More]

Our last long journey in India consisted of a bus ride. Although we’d both done buses in India before, neither of us knew quite what to expect as we’d booked a sleeper bus (with berths rather than seats). We were both looking forward to leaving Ooty, as in the three days we’d been there it had more or less rained constantly, and it was cold enough that once wet, clothes would not dry. Once on board the bus, we relaxed in our reasonably spacious beds. The first hour or so was full of bends in the road, making the journey a bit unpleasant, but after that it was reasonable enough – I even managed to get some sleep overnight – the first journey in India where I’ve slept at all! We arrived in the sprawling city of Chennai the following day at 6:30am, and at that point, we managed to get a taxi for the remaining 60km to the seaside village of Mamallapuram. On the way, we saw a couple of tributes to Michael Jackson on huge roadside billboards – slightly odd but unique I guess.

Curious Monkey [Enlarge & More]

Mamallapuram is definitely not cold – it’s pushed 40 degrees a couple of times, so there’s definitely no more complaining about the weather – plus it’s not rained once! The beach here is one of the nicest we’ve seen, and as the monsoon is nowhere near as advanced as on the west coast of India, it actually feels like everything is still up and running. There’s none of the protective blue tarpaulin we’ve seen elsewhere, and all the fishing boats are still up and running here, which makes for quite a different feel from Goa and Kerala. Tourism is definitely at it’s peak here, and there seem to be almost as many foreign tourists as there are locals – a few hippies who have gone feral as well!!!

Huge Elephant[Enlarge & More]

We’ve existed here for the last three days on a diet of seafood and curries – we’ve had some delicious food. However, many of the restaurants here seem to cater for a very western palette, and one restaurant last night did not even do chapattis, but did do some Indian food – we walked out in disgust! However, all the fish we’ve had seems to have been freshly caught, making it all the more delicious. Furthermore, the hotel we’ve stayed in – Sea Breeze Hotel – has been an excellent final stay for us, with a large and very clean pool for us to cool off in!

Five Rathas [Enlarge & More]

While we’ve been here, we’ve also been browsing the sights in this area. Mamallapuram features an impressive set of temples and carvings cut from the rock in the area – there are ancient 1400 year old temples cut from entire boulders here. Many of the carvings are very well preserved, making for very interesting viewing – particularly some of the areas which are free for the public to view. The Shore Temple and Five Ratha attractions require you to pay to get in, but they are still well worth it – the large life-sized carved elephant is a sight to see, and is apparently one of the best in India.

Tonight we fly from Chennai airport to Hong Kong, where we’ll spend four very busy days trying to pack in as much as we can! I’m looking forward to some delicious Sweet and Sour Chicken, Hong Kong style of course – although not so much to the 3am flight!!

..and finally a video of us enjoying ourselves by the poolside.
( you may have to visit the site if you can not see it in the email)

Grown Women Giggling Like School Girls

Day Hike[Enlarge & More]

Ooty itself never got any better however our stay here was made worthwhile when we did a day hike in the Blue Mountains (Nilgiri Hills) and a trip to Mudamali National Park.

Our guide, Anthony, took us for a day long hike into the mountains. We went through Eucalyptus and Tea plantations, over rolling hills which reminded me of the Lake District and Jono of New Zealand. For a moment it felt as if we’d transported ourselves instantly to the Lakes with the drizzle, sheep and clean and pollution free surroundings. Sheer bliss! The hike was made even better as our guide who’d been leading tourists around for the past 16 years was known to all the locals and we got a friendly reception wherever we were. It was really sweet to see grown women giggling like school girls asking Anthony for sweets. I asked him how they knew he had some and apparently he always carries them with him.

Sheltering from the Rain[Enlarge & More]

Yesterday we got up at the crack to dawn and made our way to Mudamali National park to catch the 7am tour round it to see the wildlife, both of us hoping to see wild Elephants. The alarm went off at 4.30 and we packed up as we had to take all our stuff with us, as we were off to Chennai that night. Thankfully we’d bought a torch at Heathrow as there was a power cut and without it we’d have left half our stuff behind.

The taxi we’d hired was due to pick us up at 5am so we dutifully waited outside our Hotel (Reflections Guest House). Half an hour later, the taxi had not turned up and we’d just decided to go back into the warmth of our hotel room when he turned up. Both of us were secretly disappointed that we could not go back to bed.

Wild Elephant [Enlarge & More]

The park lived up to expectations and we got to see wild Elephants, a little too close for my liking. As we were being driven round the park we were looking at Elephants in the distance to the right when I heard a trumpet and looked to my left where a whole herd of Elephants was approaching at speed. I panicked and tried to close my window, like that was going to help. Then I tried to take a picture but got nothing. So much for my calm photography skills. Luckily, Jono kept his composure and captured some video, it does not quite do it justice but I’m pleased he got it.

Botanical Gardens [Enlarge & More]

After the excitement of the park we traipsed around a few more sights but the dull, drizzly day made them a chore. We’d planned to spend the whole day doing this but by lunchtime we were done, so as to get some value for money we asked the driver to take us to the Botanical Gardens in Ooty. I’m so pleased we did as this IS the highlight of Ooty and if you ever get here it’s not to be missed. It’s well maintained and can compete with anything I’ve seen before. It has trees and plants from all over the world – some of which are hundreds of years old.

Ooty has very little to offer, however the surrounding country side is superb and very different to anything else we’ve seen and getting there on the Blue Mountain Railyway is a real treat.

Snooty Ooty – A Nice Cool Climate

Rain Stops Fun[Enlarge & More]

Not. What a dump. It’s done nothing but drizzle since we arrived here yesterday, and this does nothing to enhance the dreary, dirty, over-populated town that is Ooty. Promises of a cool climate, lovely lake, beautiful flora and fauna and some interesting sights have all fallen somewhat short, and so far we’ve been a bit disappointed by the place.

Ooty has a history of being popular with the British upper class, and you can see why - at just under 2300m above sea level, it’s significantly cooler and less humid than the coast or the plains, with temperatures being about those of a British summer for most of the year. For a place steeped with colonial history, we were almost expecting a British version of Panaji, but Ooty is no such thing – it’s just like any other Indian town, only slightly grottier if anything! The only part of Britain Ooty retains is the weather – for the first time since we arrived in India, we spent the whole day in the rain – cold, miserable drizzle.

Blue Mountain Train [Enlarge & More]

To be fair though, there have been some good points. Two days ago, we travelled from our houseboat to a town called Coimbatore on a day train, where we spent one night. From there, we took the famous ‘miniature train’ up into the Nilgiri Mountains early the following morning – leaving Coimbatore at 5.15am! This was a spectacular journey on an old steam engine, with impressive sights and dramatic views of the countryside – forests, tea plantations, and general beautiful green scenery. The process of getting a ticket was a bit of a nightmare – we were told we did not need to make a reservation, however it turned out that this would have made things a little easier. First, I had to queue up to get allocated a seat. Then, I had to queue up again to pay for the seat. Finally, we had to pay tax on the tickets once we boarded the train itself – ridiculous. One person could have done the whole lot in a fraction of the time – I was quite annoyed. But the train was definitely worth it, and we didn’t want the journey to stop.

Rose Garden[Enlarge & More]

Unfortunately, it did, and here we are. Not long after we arrived in Ooty the rain started and it has not stopped. Late yesterday afternoon we went to the rose gardens – pretty, but not ‘The Best Rose Gardens in the World’ as the sign out front proclaimed – Swindon Town Gardens is just as pretty (although smaller!). We also visited an unusual exhibition of hand woven flowers – a sign on the wall proclaimed the exhibition a “miracle”… hmm, not sure about that one, but I guess it was quite unusual. The exhibition could have used a bit of sprucing up though – the green tarpaulin on the roof was a bit off-putting.

Ear Muffs![Enlarge & More]

As you can tell, I’m a bit disheartened with Ooty, but don’t worry – there’s plenty to keep us entertained. Yesterday, we were having a good laugh at all the Indian tourists in their warm clothes in the 23 degree heat. Some of them were wearing earmuffs – ridiculous! And not just any earmuffs – some sort of fashion disaster that wraps around the back of one’s head and covers the ears – odd. One woman looked like she was going skiing – hat, mitts, scarf, just missing the skis. Today is a lot colder, and tonight I looked like I was going skiing! It was maybe around 15 degrees, but I had about three layers and a rain jacket on, felt a bit silly, but I’m used to 35 degrees and 90% humidity now!!! I never thought I’d admit it – but I really miss the heat.

Lazing on a Houseboat in Kerala

Enjoying the Sunset, Kochi [Enlarge & More]

The Humidity in Kerala has been much higher than anywhere else we have been at about 95%. Luckily, it’s cooler so is bearable and during the night in Kochi we had found a delightful renovated old Dutch homestay called Walton’s to stay in, which was cool and airy. On the recommendation of the owner we booked ourselves onto a ‘Deluxe’ houseboat after leaving Kochi. We picked it up from Allepuzah (Allepey) after a taxi ride from Kochi. The taxi ride down was entertaining just for the fact that the driver talked to himself the whole way down, shouted at us so that we would understand his adequate English and constantly have his hand on the horn for no reason at all.

On the Houseboat[Enlarge & More]

The Houseboat turned out to be a real gem, it was beautiful and definitely ‘Deluxe’ and as soon as we had boarded it we set off down the backwaters. It was a glorious day and it was stunning with such vibrant colours and so much going on on the water. Not something I would want to do but the waters edge is used as a bathroom, people wash themselves, their clothes and what gave me a shiver, brush their teeth. The river didn’t look the cleanest.

We were looked after really well on the Houseboat and as sunset arrived we moored up for the night. The noise level by the river was amazing, particularly a frog that only calls out during the rainy season which I guessed correctly and Jono decided was a bat!! The most alarming sight was the size of the mosquitoes, up until now they had been what I would call normal size, but on the river they were huge. One good thing about them being so big was you would see them coming.

River Taxi [Enlarge & More]

Even though the small bedroom had a ceiling fan, the humidity on the river was incredible at night. I did wake up a few times drenched in my own sweat, I’m sure by the morning you could have wrung out the pillow. The best thing would have been to open the windows but neither of us fancied that as we did not trust the nets on them to hold back the giant mossies.