The Money Shot

Namastee Readers i trust you are well. So in the last two weeks James and i have been busy getting some good solid tourism under our belts, and boy does it feel good. Theres nothing quite like indulging oneself in a bout of good solid tourism. Its like a full time job sometimes this tourism lark, except we dont do any work and generally sleep in until 11 but other than its tres hard work! Yes indeed. SOoo anyway after Pondicherry, we went to Varanassi via Chennai (Madrass) . We were forced to spend a few days in Chennai due to the trains being full but it was ok. Its a big city and used to be a stronghold of the British Raj, the frogs tried to take it a few times but we beat them back to their little retreat of Pondicherry so that was good (It was amazing how many french tourists there were in Pondicherry i think they secretly want their empire back too - lets face it imperialism is cool..........only joking) We checked out the museum in Fort St George and walked around the place. There is a massive beach which everyone plays cricket on, but other than that its just a standard Indian city. Yer so then 48 hours on the train to Varranassi the holy centre of the hindu world. It's an interesting place, religous people (the vast majority over here) travel to Varannasi to bathe their sins in the holy river gangees, or if they're old they go there to die (they believe that if you die there you will break the cycle of reincarnation - did you know that in the sixth phase of reincarnation we are all cows?) anyway once dead they are cremated in public, we watched a few cremations it was a bit weird to be honest. Yer so after Varranssi started to do our head in we went to Agra and saw the TAJ MAHAL!!!! yer where we took the TOURISM MONEY SHOT!! The picture everyone has been waiting for yes you guessed it! : Its a snap of ME standing in front of the TAAAAJ!!! to be fair its impressive and lived up to the hype (the building not the photo) it really is an impressive thing, although ive learned that the moghul emporer who built it was tres vain and did it for himself and not his wife. SO anyway After that we travelled to Delhi where we are now, New Delhi is western like and old delhi is normal indian. We hope to go on lash tonight (its friday). But we bought a stella yesterday and it cost 300 ruppeees!! Thats about $4.50 expensive whereever you are so we'll see. Oh and i bought a Domnioes pizza yesterday, i had some left and was sitting on a cycle rickshaw. This kid leaned out of a passing bus and asked for it. I tried to pass it to him but the bus swerved out of reach, so i threw it to him. Unfortunately the box flew open halfway to him and he got the pizza full in the face. The poor kid wasn't happy but i thought it was TRES funny!!
SOme PIX


James on the slightly european looking promenade in Pondicherry.








James on one of the quality bikes we hired to ride to the hippy village of auroville down south. I had to get another one because the brake broke on the first one. I had it covered but a local tried to help me fix it and ended up bursting the back tyre.







Varanassi on the river gangees. We hired one of those boats. The front is devided up into sections called Ghats. Different Castes and religions can use different Ghats. Muslims quite like varannasi too.








A street in India.










Me standing on a ghat with indians washing themselves in the septic water.








What an amazing structure.....the Taj Mahal isnt bad either!! (boom boom)














Brits abroad....i didnt realise the TAJ was the same from each side and that its a square. you probably knew that. I bought a tshirt.











The view from the Red Fort in Agra. Note the TAJ in the background....cool huh?








A day out with the extended family.








The Main Bazzar between New Delhi and Old Delhi. Lots of cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, mopeds, cycles and cows trying to run you over.











Me in an army equipment store trying on an officers hat. Note the extremely unamused look on shop keepers face.

Men in White (and a few pix)

(Pic: Me impressing the ladies on Varkala Beach)


Greetings fellow blogsters! well readers of blogs at any rate. Anyway since the last entry what have we done? ( i can hear you eagerly questioning!) Well readers let me fill you in on the gossip india side. Well after Hampi we went via Bangalore to Kochin in Kerela (had a look round Bangalore; quite nice, quite western its the silicon valley of india - (still lots of cows in street and lots of homeless everywhere though). So anyway Fort Kochin in Kochin was quite nice...not much there really just a few fish stalls where i bought a frankly dissapointing meal but there you go. We looked round Jew town too and generally relaxed which was nice, Jew Town has lots of spice markets and a Dutch Palace which the Dutch renovated when they were trying to cling onto their portion of india way back when...been reading a bit of history of late didnt realise that it wasnt just the english who had footholds in India; the Portugese, French, Dutch were all at it as they were all over the world at that time i guess......Oh I bought an East India Company 1/4 Anna coin from 1835 too!! Brittania rules the waves and all that.... After that we bought a pizza in pizza hut if memory serves before catching train to Apperley. In Apperley we arranged a boat ride to Kolam along the back waters. The back waters are a system of natural canals which villagers use for transport. Its quite tranquil, palm tree lined and wotnot. The weird part are the children who run along shouting "one pen! one pen!" So we threw pens at them much to their delight. Strange huh? Yer so anyway in south kerela we stayed a few days on a beach cove called Varkala. But like Goa but quieter and tres nice. Bought some nice scran had night on lash and effected some body surfing in the sea, im getting quite good at it now. Scraped my chest though on the sand which smart quite a bit. Yer so after the sunning it we caught train to Maduria got there at 6am we arranged a bus to Pondicherry for that evening and spent the morning looking at the great temple there is there. Got a bit bored of that after a while so got some scran and waited for bus. After a nightmare night journey on bus we have arrived in Pondicherry an ex french colony it looks a bit like an out of season french resort. But im just glad im not on that bus...the suspension was screwed i had bad guts and it was generally unpleasant. But there you go its all part of making your way round init!! Oh I almost forgot James and i have bought some tailored indian white suits. Its our friends Lindseys 30th birthday as soon as we get back so we're going to go to the party in them. They look rediculous as you can see from the pix and i doubt ill wear it again after the shindig but its got to be done!!!! (no way im wearing it over here either. Thats all for now take care.

Kean "the man in white" Silvester




James and I in our tailored white suits. Cool huh?











These next three are from Mumbai cos i realised i didnt upload much from there really due to the pants connection the connection here is not too bad. This one is the Gateway to India built by the Raj (the british).




The Victoria Railway Station in Mumbai built by the Raj. Nice on the outside...madness on the inside.








Me showing the indians how to bat. (yer right). This area in mumbai is called the Maidens...no football allowed.







Me by a statue in Hampi....most of the elephant statues (idols of the Elephant god Shima) have had their tusks broken off which is a bit of shame. Did see a few complete ones though. But the temples and statues have lasted well overall in Hampi.









The Central Temple in the middle of town in Hampi.











Another temple in Hampi (there are hundreds!)







I got a few more pix of the backwaters, temples in madurai and others if you're interested. Ill stick 'em on when im next online the bloke is about to chuck me out of the "internet browsing centre" as they are called over here.