Warning: this is about two weeks of writing in one post so it is very long!

Gorakhpur to Delhi
Everybody was right about Gorakhpur being a (for lack of better words) shithole! It was filthy, it stunk and we were hoping that this was not a true representation of the India we were about to encounter. However, we had a massive meal from the station canteen and it cost the equivalent of just under £1.00 each! So one thing we were happy about was the price of the food and drink at train stations (and later, the price of food in general)

After waiting around for something gruesome like three hours and meeting a curious medical student who insisted on adding us to Facebook (but we don't think he will find us as we gave him vague info) and giving us hugs and kisses, we headed to our platform. We thought there was some sort of riot going on as a massive crowd was formed around one area of the train and a policeman was threatening everybody with a baton. We soon found out that it was not a riot, but a scrum for the "Sleeper" class passengers. Wow were we happy that we did not choose to cheap out too much on the trains. Perry would like to add: "anyone going to India, I can not stress enough how much you should avoid Sleeper class!"

Basically, "Sleeper" class is all unreserved seating, not air conditioned and it has bars on the windows which makes it look like a prison. It is basically a "sit wherever you find a surface" situation. We were lucky enough that our first train was the "2AC" class which is one below first class and air conditioned. There are 6 people in each compartment, each having their own bed (three top bunks, three bottom). There was a lovely couple from Hyderabad in our compartment which made us feel 100% better about India after what we had seen up to that point. The train ride was generally quite pleasant and we even managed to get some shut eye.

Delhi
We arrived in Delhi at 6am on Monday (February 25th) and made it to our Couchsurfer Vidhi's place. We freshened up and then Vidhi took us, along with another "surfer" named Elizabeth from Austria to try some local street food. The street food scene here is pretty amazing and CHEAP. We never really seem to know what we are eating apart from the fact that it is vegetarian (we hope) and it always seems to taste delicious! The merchants never seem to really speak too much English, especially in non touristy areas so we just point and receive a surprise.

On Mondays, most attractions are closed so most of the items on our to-do list were undoable but we managed to get a lot in anyways. We started at Qutab Minar which was a beautiful complex. We were shocked at how many people wanted to take photos of Perry and I. It's like they had never seen a "white" person. We then went to Tughlaqabad Fort which provided a juxtaposition of old and new and after lunch we visited Lodhi Garden. Perry, Elizabeth and I decided to try and see a Bollywood film so we headed to a busy area and found a theatre playing one. At the Box office, the cashier and the other theatre goers seemed to all laugh at us and confirm multiple times that it is in Hindi and not English. In the cinema itself we received even more laughs and chuckles as we sat down. We really enjoyed the film (especially Perry as it had a "cricket" theme) and managed to understand a majority of it even though there was no English (except for a word here and a word there). At times we got so into it that we forgot it wasn't in English. We are hoping to catch some more films in our remaining time in India.

One thing that surprised us about Delhi is how modern it is and that it was not as "crazy" as everyone was warning us. That is, until we got to Old Delhi. Now that was very crazy. Tons of people, tons of rickshaws, tons of merchants, tons of honking, tons of street food, and not much space. It was a great experience but we could only handle so much of the chaos before moving on. We visited the Red Fort (which is also where Perry's great grandfather was stationed for the British Army) and then the markets and decided to get out!

We decided to head to Gandhi Smrti which is the residence that Gandhi lived in and was assassinated in. What a difference from Old Delhi. This was such a peaceful and serene sight and they have done a fantastic job with converting it into a museum and educating the public on every aspect of Gandhi and his life. It was very interesting and we were very satisfied and happy with visiting it. Oh, it was also free to enter (bonus!). This was one of the highlights of Delhi for us.

We then got some street food (mmmm) and headed to something completely unusual: Swaminarayan Akshardam. This is a very new site which was completed in 2005. It is referred to as a "Hindu temple complex" but the best way we like to describe it is: a Hindu Disneyland. Basically there is this beautifully constructed ground with a massive Hindu temple in the middle of it. It is very intricate and ornate. Now, in addition to this temple, they have an Imax show on India (available on DVD), a water and light/music show in the evening (like the Bellagio in Vegas but not as good), food courts AND a ride! Yes, a ride! We were told that our ticket included a boat ride on the river and when we got to it, we were surprised to be led indoors and onto a wooden/log boat that was attached to rails. So basically like a theme park ride. This "boat ride" was a ride through 10,000 years of Indian history in 10 minutes. It was very well done and felt like the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride at Disneyland. The whole thing just seemed so strange to us as it was so modern and incorporated religion with entertainment but in a wide scope. Even getting into the place was strange and added to the theme park feeling. There was a massive cue where we had to go through metal detecters and be searched. Absolutely nothing was allowed in, not even phones or cameras (so we have no photos of this place) and everything had to be checked in. There was a form to fill out (it seemed like a "customs" form) with personal contact details and then a photo was taken of each person with the belongings they were checking in, so it was very secure. It was just quite strange why they allowed nothing to enter since it was such a modern place.

On our third day in Delhi, we began at India Gate and Rajpath which is the area of the presidents residence. It looks very "British" with what looked like Victorian style buildings. Perry's great grandfather worked in this area for the last Viceroy of India so it was neat to imagine him walking the same streets back in the day.

We then decided to make the trek to the "Sulabh international Museum of Toilets". Now, sadly enough, this was one of the musts on our Delhi to-do list as it just sounded so quirky and has amazing reviews on TripAdviser. We were warned that is quite a journey to get there but we didn't think that meant a 3 hour round trip!!! It was absolutely worth it though!! Sulabh is a sanitation organization and the curator of the toilet museum is so passionate about the subject of toilets and waste that he gave us possibly one of the best tours we have been on. He was such a delightful character and we wanted to pack him in our suitcase. We saw very intricate toilets, very practical toilets, some very modern advances in toilet and water conservation technology AND we saw cement made from human excrement (and we touched it!!). It was definitely another highlight of Delhi! Definitely worth the long journey!

Since it took so long to get to the museum, we were in a hurry back to catch our train to Agra. Vidhi wanted to take us somewhere special for lunch and we submitted to his control even though we had only one hour til our train departed! You can probably all imagine how panicked we were but we attempted to just go with the flow.

We arrived in a building and followed some "canteen" signs and ended up in what seemed like an auction! We had no idea what was going on but it seemed pretty chaotic! There was a man calling out numbers and then it all began to make sense. All these people that were crowded at the entrance were waiting for a table...or should we say seats at a shared table. The man in charge was calling out ticket numbers but priority seemed to go to any party who required the number of seats available. If you were a foreign girl this also seemed to hold sway so Vidhi pushed me to the front and we had seats within minutes! We were still not prepared for what our 100 rupee tickets had in store for us. We received a tray with a little rice, some sort of desert and a cup with yoghurt. Then suddenly we were surrounded by servers who offered us various curry dishes, rice and naan breads. When we had finished eating the food, more came, and when we finished eating that, even more came. It was all you can eat without leaving your seat, and the service was so quick we never had an empty tray. What at first seemed like chaos was actually one of the best organized eateries we have been to. The man who was calling out ticket numbers was also directing the servers wherever there was a need. If we were low on rice, he would call for the rice guy and so on. Now that's multi-tasking!! We soon found out that was the canteen at the embassy for the Andrah Pradesh province and that each Indian provincial embassy has a canteen like this that offers the cuisine of that province...and the one we went to was apparently one of the more expensive ones! 100 rupees?? That is the equivalent to £1.20 or less than $2.00 for delicious, amazing, effortless Indian food! Such a great place to discover and we wouldn't have experienced it without our awesome host...the best thing is, we were in and out in less than half an hour which meant that we were hopeful of catching our train! Funny enough, when we arrived at the station, we found out our train was 1:20 delayed. This was a sign as Vidhi was shocked that we had not visited the most important sight in Delhi: Humayun's Tomb which just so happened to be around the corner from the station. So off we went to explore one more sight in Delhi before heading to Agra. This was a great ending as it is one of the inspirations for the Taj Mahal so it seemed fitting that it would be the last thing to see before heading to Agra.

Again, we thought we would miss our now delayed train but we made it with about 7 minutes to spare. This time we had booked the "3AC" class which is similar to "2AC" but has 8 people in a compartment instead of 6 (with middle bunks between the upper and lower). We met a law student named Naman that we conversed with for the entire three hour journey. He gave us heaps of information about Jaipur as that is where he is from (and where we are headed after Agra). We look forward to keeping in touch with him as he will be a great source of information for future visits to India as he has travelled to most parts.

Agra
We arrived in Agra at around 8pm. Unfortunately we missed the sunset over the Taj Mahal. Our hotel had a view of it from the rooftop restaurant so we went up there to see what we could see. To our surprise, there were no floodlights or any fancy light work to illuminate it. All you could see was a black outline of it in the distance but this was perfect as it added to the mysteriousness of it and allowed us to see it for the first time at sunrise.

We were out the door by 6am and joined the tourists for the sunrise view of the Taj Mahal. It is very well designed in that you can't see the actual Taj Mahal until you are through the ornate entrance gates so the first glimpse you see of the actual Taj Mahal makes your hair stand up. It really is a true work of art. We couldn't believe we were there. We spent about 2.5 hours wandering around and taking a million photos. We could have spent all day there but unfortunately we had booked a tuk tuk driver to take us on a tour. Big mistake!

We had read and heard plenty of stories of taxi drivers and rickshaw drivers and the various ways they try and scam you. For example, you ask them to take you somewhere and then they stop somewhere "along the way" such as a friend's shop and try to get you to buy things as they earn commission. So we completely expected this but we thought we would just add it to the experience as he offered a good price to take us around for the day. He first took us to the "Baby Taj" which was also a very nice sight and we even thought the gardens of the Baby Taj were much more impressive than the actual Taj Mahal. We were then taken to the opposite side of the river from the Taj Mahal so we could get another look at it from a different angle. Then all the commission work began as we were taken to a few merchants to try and spend money. We felt quite uncomfortable at times but stuck to our guns and refused to buy anything (except one top for me at a textile shop). Even the restaurant experience was horrible. We said we wanted street food yet the driver took us to a restaurant and when we looked at the menu with astronomical prices and began to walk out as it was more than a fine dining restaurant that we went to just a couple days before (and this was anything but fine dining), the waiter brought us the "Indian menu" (ie non tourist menu) where the prices were less than half. We should have walked out there and then just at the fact that they try and scam the tourists so badly but we didn't feel like arguing so just ordered the cheapest thing on the menu so we could get the heck out of there.

After lunch, we told the driver that we now wanted to see something special that we came to Agra for. Perry's great grandmother grew up in Agra and eventually married and had children there as well so we wanted to see some buildings that had some family history behind them. One of them was the school/convent that his great grandmother and some of her children attended. We had agreed with the driver the night before that he would take us there and when we told him to take us there, he ended up taking us to one of Mother Theresa's charity homes. We weren't stupid. We told him that this is not where we asked to go and after conversing with other rickshaw drivers and finding out where the place we wanted to go actually was, he told us that he couldn't take us there because rickshaws weren't allowed there. After some arguing, we told him to take us back to the hotel, which he did and it was nice to be in control in the sense that we paid him less than half of what we said we would pay him for the day. We tried not to let it get us down as we sort of expected this to happen. Luckily the hotel agent found us a nice taxi driver to take us to the school. The caretaker of the school offered to give us a tour and it was a very impressive school complete with a massive football pitch and even a skateboard park. It was quite neat thinking of Perry's great grandmother and great uncles walking through the courtyards and playing in the playground so long ago.

After we visited the school, we got dropped off at the train station where we had a couple of hours to kill until our train arrived. It seemed like the quietest station in India but it wasn't the main station in Agra, just a small one with two platforms. We people watched people watching us (they really like to stare at us) and watched the world go by.

Jaipur
Our train was nearly an hour delayed so we arrived in Jaipur around midnight. We took a rickshaw to the hotel and again, the driver tried to offer us a day tour for the following day. We weren't falling for that again so we refused.

We found a tour the next day that is operated it by the tourism department and went to most of the places we wanted to see in Jaipur. We only had one full day so it seemed like a decent tour to do. The sights were quite impressive but our absolute favorite was the one that everyone goes to Jaipur for: the Amber Fort/Amer Fort. It was a great way to end the tour. Unfortunately, we didnt get to go to the Nahargarh Fort as a truck broke down on the road leading to it meaning that our bus couldn't squeeze through. This fort is supposed to provide a fantastic view of Jaipur so we were a bit annoyed to miss it but it wasn't the end of the world! Just another reason to return!

I managed to screw up when booking our train from Jaipur to Jodhpur. I had it booked for midnight but silly me booked it for the day before (I guess the midnight thing confused me when searching for trains) so we managed to find a bus instead which was actually air conditioned with a massive amount of leg room so it was fine.

Jodhpur
Jodhpur was truly amazing. Perry and I had been saying that India didn't seem to have the "magical" quality that we were expecting but we found that in Jodhpur and later on in Jaisalmer. Jodhpur has a very busy street market scene and it was just as you see in the movies. Lots of colorful saris, tons of cows roaming around, merchants trying to sell various goods. We could have walked through the markets for days. We booked a cooking class that had amazing reviews online and this was such an amazing experience. The class lasted about 5 hours and the husband and wife (Anil and Rykka) that run it are absolutely delightful and so deserving of their success. Anil's father was an Ayurvedic doctor and has passed on his secrets to Anil, who specializes in spices. We learned all about the benefits of Ayurvedic spices, herbs and seeds and used plenty of them in the cooking. The food we cooked was so delicious and we also received a recipe book with it so are looking forward to recreating many of the dishes in the future.

Jaisalmer
After Jodhpur, we headed to Jaisalamer where we were booked in to do a 1.5 day/1 night camel safari in the Thar Desert. This is one experience we were really looking forward to but it ended up being a bit disappointing. The camel ride was not comfortable at all. Our thighs and stomach muscles were aching. The novelty only lasted so long. When we got to the dunes though, it was a pretty spectacular sunset and sleeping under the stars was pretty amazing. But in the middle of the night, I awoke with some terrible food poisoning and it was not pleasant, especially in the middle of the desert. I just wanted to go back into the city but after about an hour of cleaning out my system, I felt a bit better and went to sleep, where the bugs insisted on crawling all over us and biting us. We had about an hour and a half of riding the following day to get us back to where the jeep would pick us up to return us to Jaislamer. We walked for a portion of it as we were really sore. An evening of this experience would have been enough. During the day it felt as it was about 40 degrees Celsius and just really uncomfortable (which may have added to me being sick) so we would recommend just an evening safari to the dunes to watch the sunset and that's it!

When we returned to Jaisalmer from the safari, we headed towards the fort which was really neat as it is a living fort with many shops, restaurant and hotels operating within it. Unfortunately, I was still feeling quite ill so had to sit for a while. When I felt a bit better we explored more of the fort and then headed towards the lake where we sat and relaxed for a bit. We were going to take a boat ride at sunset but when we saw someone feeding the fish, we realized how filthy the water was and decided against it.

We wandered around some more and found a rooftop restaurant with a view of the fort where we decided to relax before heading on the night train back to Jodhpur.

Back to Jodhpur
We returned to Jodhpur as our train to Allahabad departed from here so we had almost another full day which we were happy about as we really like Jodhpur.

We decided to go up to the fort and partake in a zip line tour of the fort. I was really excited as I've never zip lined before but when we got strapped up and I saw that we would be hanging by just a caribiner clip, I got very scared! The course had 6 lines plus one practice one. The setting was absolutely beautiful and we learned a lot about the fort along the way. It was also where they filmed a scene for The Dark Knight Rises. I managed to be the only screamer and I was amazed at how Perry and the two others on our tour could not scream when zipping across the fort! By about the third zip line, I felt a lot calmer and started to really enjoy it. The longest one was 320metres which seemed very long. It was a great thrill and we both loved the experience. Just wish it lasted longer!!

We then wandered around the market where we bargained for bangles and some more shoes and eventually ended up at Spice Paradise where we did our cooking class a few days before and stocked up on some spices. Jaisalmer and Jodhpur were definitely 2 of my favorite places thus far.

Allahabad
Allahabad is known for Sangam which is the confluence of three holy rivers (Ganges, Yamuna and the invisible Sarasvati) and is a really spiritual location for Hindus. It is also the sight of the Kumbh Mela which is a mass Hindu pilgrimage that occurs once every twelve years. And this year happened to be one of the years that it was running. Unfortunately for us, we didn't look into this before pre booking our trains so we missed it by about a week! There was still about 10% of the camps and attractions left but it wasn't really anything to boast about. I believe it is the world's largest gathering having 30 million recorded visitors (but was probably more like 50 million). This is in a 40 square km space. The population of Canada is 30 million, the population of England is 60 million! So imagine nearly this vast amount of people in a 40 sq. km space!!! We really wished we had planned it better to allow us to experience this. Maybe we will have to return in 12 years!

We did get to see an amazing sunset over the Sangam and people taking holy baths in the rivers which was quite neat! Allahabad was also very memorable as we had a lovely host. We were there for only one evening but would love to return to visit Nitin and his family again!

Varanasi
Where do we begin with Varanasi. It is one of the world's oldest cities and quite chaotic. The streets are very narrow so the traffic jams allow for an over abundance of car horns to be heard at all times of day. The honking got me very annoyed as a lot of the times it is unnecessary and exaggerated in the sense that people don't just tap the horn and release, they literally slam their hand into it and hold it there for what seems like 20 minutes!

The main attraction for us was the Ganges and seeing the various ghats in which Hindus prepare themselves for bathing in the Ganges. The water is quite filthy as many people spread ashes in this water and bodies are also burnt at two different ghats in which the remains are then placed in the same water so Perry and I were not keen on bathing in it. We walked up and down the ghats (over 200 of them), some more interesting than others. As mentioned, a couple of them are meant for burning bodies and many old people go to Varanasi to die so there are constantly bodies being burnt. We stumbled upon the burning ghats and it was quite a shocking sight. It felt as though after seeing bodies burning, nothing could shock us now. Some were well into being turned into ashes, others freshly placed in the flames and some just arriving from a procession to the river and being prepared for the ritual. I won't get into details but it was quite graphic.

In the evenings, some ghats have "entertainment" in the form of an Aarti which is like a religious offering. The one we saw was quite large scale and we heard it is done like that to attract the tourists, both Indian and non-Indian. Our host Ashish (a Varanasi local) mentioned that it seems a lot of what happens at the ghats is put on for show and to attract tourists. He said it is nothing like it used to be and so filthy now. There was also an older man that we spoke with who had been there something like 30 years ago and revisiting it now he said he just wanted to leave and that it was not as it used to be.

It was quite busy also because the Kumb Mela just ended not too long ago and many of the "Naga Babas" have relocated to the ghats. Naga Babas are basically "holy" or "enlightened" beings. Many of them are naked with dreadlocks and have ashes and mud covered all over their body. Perry and I are not too fond of them as from our experience, they seem to constantly try and get money from the tourists and not in a nice way either. Not all, but we've seen many in this fashion. We encountered many tourists talking to them and many of the Naga Babas tried to lure us into their tents but we were not interested.

Being in India, we have become quite cynical, which perhaps is not a good thing. It is hard not to become cynical as it seems most of the time, people are trying to rip us off. It is really unfortunate because we have also met so many lovely people which are the complete opposite. We have started playing games. Like when people are trying to sell us stuff and they ask what country we are from, we say one that they've probably never heard of. Perry's favorite is: the Democratic Republic of Congo! its funny cause the salesmen then has no reply and is unable to try and sweet talk us into spending our rupees on something that we are being ripped off on anyways.

The spectrum of educated vs non educated and of rich and poor is wide ranging and very difficult to adapt to. Seeing so many people peeing on the streets and the constant smell of fesces and urine, the constant horking and spitting of chewing tobacco and the spit patches all over the roads and sidewalks is completely unpleasant.

Waiting for our train to Kolkata in Varanasi, we could not wait for the journey to be over. It was our last train in India and we were so thankful for that but it seemed to be off to a bad start. It was 2 hours delayed. We encountered large rats and mice scampering through the platform (at one point we saw at least six), then a cow roaming through (with no idea how it even got onto the platform), and then monkeys climbing through the steel girders and as we were about to board the train, a Naga Baba was squatting on the platform, a stream of urine building up around him. He wasn't even being discreet about it, he was just squatting in the path of the passengers. We were overly disgusted at this sight and could not understand how these people find it okay to pollute their country like this and are not even embarrassed to do something that seems so uncivilized (to a westerner anyways). The entire scene at the train station was like a circus. This is a whole other culture and a whole other world and the trains and train stations is the one place to experience the wide range of social classes present in India and also the huge difference between "educated" and "uneducated" people in India. The opposites between them really are extreme.

Kolkata
By the time we reached Kolkata, we were not so much interested in ticking anymore sights off our to-do list. It was getting really hot so we were happy enough to relax a bit before the journey to Thailand. What made Kolkata a really memorable stop was our fantastic hosts that we spent two days with sharing stories, eating local foods, seeing sights, eating, watching Bollywood movies, eating, having great conversations and some more eating. If we had stayed in a hotel, we are pretty sure we would not have enjoyed Kolkata. Dwaita and Tito introduced us to an authentic Biryani, kochuri, some local sweets, and Dark Fantasy chocolate biscuits which are so delicious! We learned that the Bengalis are real foodies and this was very obvious when driving through the city and observing the masses of restaurants, food courts and street food. We were happy enough to spend two days eating. Sadly enough, the only major sight we saw was the South Park Street Cemetery which had many interesting tombs and epitaphs. It reminded us of Pere Lachaise in Paris. We literally only spent about an hour seeing sights as it was about 35 degrees and uncomfortable.

We also crossed Howrah Bridge, which is the world's busiest bridge. We also passed by Eden Gardens and the cricket stadium which, at 100,000 seats is one of the world's largest. One thing we found really amusing were the billboards by the Kolkata traffic police that promoted crossing the street safely (ie not j-walking). It was a picture of the Beatles' Abbey Road album cover of them crossing the road at a crosswalk with the caption saying "if they can do it, so can you!" Unfortunately, I didn't get to take a photo of it!

We were also introduced to our first Rajni Khanth film. We have heard lots about this legend of an Indian film actor and the film we saw ("Robot") was so cheesy but awesome at the same time that we definitely want to see more of this guy! He is an absolute legend and there are even websites a la Chuck Norris jokes dedicated to him We definitely want to return to Kolkata and during the Durga Puja festival which looks like one of a kind. Returning for the food wouldn't be a bad idea either! We found many differences between West Bengal and other parts of India but primarily the lack of vegetarians which was surprising considering how vegetarian the rest of the country is. Our host ordered a vegetarian Biryani for me and its like the whole room went silent and stared at him as anything vegetarian seems rare. Kolkata was a great last stop in India and we look forward to returning one day and to explore more of the West Bengal province as well...but for now: it's time for Bangkok!!

Last Thoughts on India
Many people scolded us for having only two weeks in India, but to us, it is definitely enough to get a taste and as much as we can handle on a first visit. I would definitely like to return one day and visit other parts of the country (especially the south) and maybe some smaller villages rather than cities as I am sure it is not all urine infested and I did enjoy a lot of our experiences but we are looking forward to a bit more of a "relaxing" environment on the beaches in Southeast Asia (although there is no doubt that the unusual sights are far from over). We appreciate that it is a whole other culture, non-western and it is definitely eye-opening. We definitely recommend it but just be aware that you will see plenty of things that you are not used to seeing and it may seem VERY chaotic at times so come with an open mind. Even with an open mind though, there are only so many urine sights and scents you can handle so beware! Hah!

Some more observations about India:
1. there is an abundance of men's toilets/urinals and a big lack of women's. So then why do the men insist on whipping it out on any street or alleyway or train platform and going pee?? There is nothing discreet about it. The stench of pee that fills the cities and the sight of men going pee in the streets is a sight that happens far too often for our liking. We are very careful not to step in any liquid on the street as it is most likely not something we want to be stepping on.
2. The spitting. Oh the spitting. And not just the spitting, but the horking that goes along with it. Not just the men but the women too! This seems to be quite a problem cause even in the Delhi metro and other parts of India there are signs everywhere that say "no spitting" and threaten to fine if you are caught. It is really an unpleasant sight and sound and makes us cringe every time we encounter it. I think a lot of it is because they use a lot of chewing tobacco so sometimes you get all sorts of different colored spits flying by you. Lovely! We even saw a man washing up dishes and he spat in a bowl and continued washing it without soap....the worst part is that it was a public eatery! Even more unpleasant is someone talking to you with a packet of chewing tobacco in their mouth. This is primarily the taxi and rickshaw drivers that we have encountered it with but it makes us cringe as we can see and smell the brown or red liquid in their mouth which in turn gives them brown teeth. Cringe!
3. We constantly see men holding hands with other men. I think it is just a friendship thing but seems so backwards in the sense that public displays of affection are usually frowned upon and we are assuming homosexuality is frowned upon as well so it's interesting that we constantly see men holding hands and that they see it as a friendship thing rather than intimate.
4. It seems as a lot of young babies and toddlers have makeup on! We asked one of our hosts and she said it is because of superstition and that black eyeliner is meant to improve sight.
5. We also constantly see little boys dressed in girls clothing. We see this a lot and found out from a host that it is because of the obsession with the "boy" or male in India. Everybody wants a boy and some are so obsessed, that they kidnap other people's boys so some disguise their boys by dressing them as girls to prevent them from being kidnapped.
6. People are really curious about us. The staring is constant and people are always asking to take photos of us. We are guessing its because of the obvious reason: we are white. It's really funny though because we will be walking down the street and see people's camera phones pointed in our directions. Sometimes it is obvious they are videotaping us as they follow us with their cameras. The thing is, you would think they've never seen a white person before but with the amounts of tourists in some places, they must come across them often. At first we didn't mind having our photos taken and even thought it would be funny to offer them our autographs, but now it seems a bit pervy at times. Perry has started playing a game and if they stare, he stares back. One incident was hilarious! There was a young man staring so Perry stared, following his eyes and even shifting his body to hold the stare. The young man then said "why are you staring" at which we cracked up and replied "YOU'RE staring at US". It's like they don't even realize they're doing it, which is similar to something else in India:
7. The HONKING! First the apparent obsession with honking horns was amusing but after about a week it became REALLY annoying. When we've walked up some side streets with not many cars, one or two will go by and honk for absolutely no reason which made us wonder if they even realize that they are honking. We asked one of our hosts about it and he said that one time his neighbor was driving into their street and honking and our host made him stop and roll down his window and he asked "why are you honking??" In which his neighbor replied "I'm not honking!" So that concludes that, no, they do not realize they are honking their horns because of an apparent overuse so you can just imagine how immense the honking is!
7. They use bamboo tied together with rope for scaffolding! It's crazy seeing construction work being done with bamboo poles leaning against buildings!

It is a super interesting country. Many things we loved and many things we hated but we will definitely return one day to explore more as there is so much more to it. If you plan on visiting you better go soon as there is talks of the Taj Mahal not being accessible to tourists as they are planning on restoring it and this is one sight you do not want to miss!!

It's Saturday morning just past 7am and Kathmandu is busier than ever. We are on a bus driving through Kathmandu on our way to Pokhara. The fruit merchants are all out on their bikes and some set up on the sidewalks, the horns are honking non stop, the burning piles of rubbish adding to the haze of smog are building up, children are playing football at the local park, or playing with the stray dogs on the sides of the street, women are pointlessly sweeping the dust from their store fronts (which we are sure will return in no time), butchers are chopping up the raw meat on the sidewalks in front of their shops (great place to allow the fumes and dust to catch onto the meat), and the locals are all running around a dirt track getting their morning exercise. As the bus stops to fuel up, children come on the bus to try and sell the passengers chips, another man comes on to try and sell newspapers, other men knock on our windows to try and sell us other goods through it. All this at 7:30am on a Saturday- the local day off. Well you never would have guessed it with so much going on!

As we depart the Kathmandu Valley, the smog is beginning to thin out, the mountains are becoming more visible, and I am looking forward to not having to constantly clean black muck from the inside of my nose.

Despite the almost intolerable pollution (to the westerner anyways), Kathmandu is definitely a city I recommend visiting just because it seems like a whole other world. Everywhere we look, there is something to see, something to capture a photo of, something to make your jaw drop, something that seems completely uncivilized to us but is the norm to the locals. No wonder I went through THREE camera batteries in just one day! If you are looking for a culture shock, this is definitely a place to be.

Another bus just overtook our bus when going around a bend. "Is this a one way road?" I ask Perry. The answer is no. Oh boy, we've got a long ride ahead of us! But as we drive on the windy mountains out of the Kathmandu Valley, it's already starting to look like a beautiful ride to Pokhara. Although with the swaying from side to side it feels more like a boat ride on choppy waters rather than a bus ride. I don't know what is louder: the frequent honking of the cars and buses that are overtaking us, or the constant loud screeching of our buses' breaks? The honking is not just a "beep beep" sound either. The horns have a somewhat musical sound which makes it quite comical rather than annoying. Each one is unique as well so they do not all sound the same. Even with the comical horns, this is still one of the scariest rides I have been on, but also one of the most beautiful.

We reach the Gorkha province and drive along the Tishuli River. As exhausted as I am, I don't want to fall asleep (Perry is already there) because there is so much to see. Farmers cultivating land, tons of cafe and fruit shacks on the side of the road, little villages with children running around, some playing a Nepali version of pool and others playing football (right next to the highway which is very narrow) or washing clothes or running across the road itself as buses, cars and motorcycles whizz by, women walking along the highway (some with large baskets on their backs), men carrying logs the Nepalese way (with a rope attached to their heads and taking some of the weight), clothes hanging on rooftops and on barbed wire along the road and basically from anywhere a rope can be tied to, a man running with a cow, rapids on the river with kayakers attempting to ride them, men loading logs onto an inflatable raft, people crossing the river via a suspension bridge, goats and dogs simultaneously roaming around the shacks and homes, a man making dust brooms out of straw, and just the stunning scenery itself is hard to take my eyes off of. I just want to ask the bus driver to stop so I can snap some photos! Don't think the rest of the passengers would be too impressed though. Perry is already unimpressed with me reaching over and snapping a photo every 5 seconds! I should have chosen the window seat! At least he is awake now and can witness this amazing setting.

Suddenly we come to a traffic jam. Bus loads of followers of the Hindu religion are being dropped off. There is a cable car that takes passengers up to the top of a mountain to a Hindu temple. This is a pilgrimage for them. As we wait for a cop to direct our bus, some men knock on the windows of the buses, including ours, in an attempt to sell us cucumbers and papadom style crisp bread. Very tempting but we have already eaten.

This area marks the halfway point on our journey from Kathmandu to Pokhara.

I find it difficult to resist turning my camera off and putting it away. We pass plenty of rice and wheat fields that look very beautiful with the mountains in the background. I see a bus ahead with passengers on TOP of it! I quickly stumble to the back of the bus to snap a photo from the window. There are four young Tibetan monks sitting back there. One is wearing a Chicago Bulls hat, one is wearing red Vans, one has a dog on his lap, another has his headphones on, and they all seem to have smartphones. They are about 18-20 years old. One starts a conversation with me and asks me where I am from. I tell him Canada and he get his phone out and shows me photos of the monastery they live in which also houses a guest house. It is in Pokhara. Then he shows me a photo of him in his Canada shirt that a volunteer brought him. He seems very excited to show me this.

We see a lot of straw huts in the area which seem to provide a shelter for the cows, goats and other animals. The scent of campfire fills the bus as locals burn compost. We pass along the Madi river which flows from the Annapurna mountain. Women and children are bathing themselves and washing their clothes and hair in the water. We soon stop for lunch. All the restaurans have signs that say "highway restaurant" and there are plenty of them. It begins to lightly rain but it feels almost tropical as it is quite warm. Over lunch, we find out that our trekking guide, Bijay, is into football. Perry and him will get along just great!

Following lunch, we continue our journey to Pokhara with about an hour and fifteen minutes to go. We continue passing through many wheat fields with lots of men and women working, and even cows ploughing the fields. One of the men operating the cow plough whips the cows with a stick. Poor cows. We feel as if we have gone back in time. As we pass by the children that are playing along the highway, they wave at the bus. Perry waves back.

This whole journey has felt like we have been watching a film. Our window is the screen and it has captivated our attention. We cannot take our eyes off the screen. It is not a film though, it is 100% real and we feel so lucky that we are here experiencing it. We wish we could bring everyone we know along with us to experience this. If you do get the chance, one thing is for sure, and the nearly 300 photos I have just captured on this one bus journey alone will agree, this is one bus journey you definitely do NOT want to fall asleep on!

....
We have now reached Pokhara in a lovely guest house that is 1,000 times better than the one in Kathmandu...and the best part: the tap water comes out clean, not brown!

Unfortunately it has started raining quite heavily but we are hoping it stops soon so that we can go explore the lakeside. If not, then this may be an evening to upload the photos from our trip thus far and just have a relaxing evening before we set off for our trek tomorrow! We still cannot believe the bus journey we went on today. Perry says his neck hurts because he just couldn't take his eyes off of the window. It seems like it was all a dream. Completely surreal! This trip is just getting started and we can't wait for more experiences like this!

We arrived in Kathmandu last night just after 6pm local time. I take back what I said about Dubai Airport Terminal 2 being dingy..Kathmandu airport is much worse. .We felt like we had gone back to the 1970s.

As soon as we left customs, we had people trying to sell us tours or hotel rooms or cab rides. We were met by our trek guide that had hired a handicapped man to hold our name sign for us so he could have some employment. We thought it was very sweet. The handicapped man was so excited and wanted to carry our bags and was so happy that we had arrived. We were then put into a "taxi" which was like a small work van that allowed for every bump in the road to be felt...and lets just say the roads seem to be primarily dirt roads with plenty of bumps. The culture shock began immediately!

Kathmandu only has electricity running for 10 hours a day. For the remaining 14 hours, they use backup sources such as generators which sometimes only power a few low lights. So everything seemed quite dark and pedestrians were walking around with flashlights. We couldn't believe the traffic and the way people drove and how all the pedestrians were not getting run over. There were SO many people about and so much going on. Everywhere we looked was something unusual to us: a man fixing shoes on the side of the road with a flashlight in his mouth, meat being sold on wooden tables by the side of the road without any refrigeration (good thing we are going vegeterian!), people carrying LPG gas tanks on their bicycles.

We arrived at our guest house in the Thamel neighborhood which is the backpacker/tourist district and lets just it is not worth anymore than the £3 a night we paid for it. We put on our game faces and braved our first night there. In the morning we were very thankful that we packed washcloths and dry shampoo as the water was coming out brown and smelly. We were also thankful for the water we had purchased the night before which lasted for our teeth to be washed in addition to certain body parts.

We thought since we only had a day here that we should find a tour rather than wasting our time trying to find things ourselves. This was not easy as it seems there aren't really organized tours unless you book a package. Although we have booked a trekking tour, it did not include a Kathmandu tour so we went around to some tour agencies and they were all really expensive but private. We decided to just go for it and managed to knock 20% off. Our guide arrived and despite the tour agency saying he spoke English, this was not entirely true. We struggled a bit and him us but we managed to understand the main bits.

We began the tour at the Monkey Temple, locally known as Swayambhunath which is a religious complex consisting of a Buddhist stupa , and a hindu temple amongst other things. It was a special day because it is the first day of school for the children so they have a big festival there. There were school children everywhere and they were so excited. We even saw someone dressed as Mickey Mouse. The monkeys were so awesome to watch. They were roaming all through the complex. I've never seen monkeys outside of the zoo so I felt that they would jump on us at times.

Our next stop was the Baudha Stupa. It is a Buddhist stupa but it also caters for the Hindu religion as well. It seems as many of the locals practice both religions and each religion is tolerant of the other, often sharing customs and even worship spaces (such as at the Monkey Temple). The locals we have spoken with have also said they practice both when asked which one they follow. We walked around and watched people meditate and light insense and hang up memorial flags and then departed for stop 3.

Our third stop was the eye opening
Pashupatinath Temple which is apparently one of the most well known Hindu Temples in the world. This temple and the area surrounding was just unbelievable to westerners like ourselves. On the bank of the Bagmati river, there were families cremating their loved ones while on the other side of the grounds (this was a massive space), there were about 5-7 weddings going on at once. There were sacred cows, one even so massive and dangerous that it has killed people before (it was actually more like a bull than a cow) but because they consider it to be like a god, they do not harm the cows. There were tons of monkeys running around and even celebrating as they were being fed leftovers from the weddings and then there was an area with two different types of deer running around. There was a large park where all the locals hung out and there were people worshiping in the temple itself. Unfortunately, non Hindus are not allowed in the temple itself but we observed from the outside. We spent hours here and it just added to the culture shock.

We then went to Kathmandu Durbar Square which is the area surrounding the old royal palace. We went into the palace itself and one of the areas was nine stories high! We were glad to make it out of there without crashing through one of the many rickety wooden staircases, many of which had loose banisters and even loose steps. The architecture was so intricate and beautiful, a majority of it handcarved out of wood. The museum was quite amateur but did have some interesting artifacts that belonged to the various kings of Nepal. We then wandered around the square amongst the fruit and vegetable street merchants and some local neighborhoods before returning to Thamel for a nice dinner. We were absolutely exhausted as the tour lasted 7 hours.

One thing we have noticed is that many locals wear face masks when out and about and it's too bad we didn't pack any. The pollution is unbelievable. We have found ourselves feeling quite ill from the intensity of it. I even wore black trousers today and they are filthy from the dust that gusts around the city. I have been feeling quite nauseous at times and Perry has been having headaches. The smells of the city don't always help. One moment, the scent of incense fills every street and the next moment the scent of sewage, pee and dirty water overtake the incense scent. But hopefully when we depart for Pokhara tomorrow, we will be feeling better as Pokhara is meant to be a lot cleaner.

We have also encountered plenty of men and women horking and spitting today! It is quite unpleasant but I am sure we will get used to it as I believe this is a common occurrence in India as well.

So now it is time to pack and get a fairly early night's sleep as we have a journey to Pokhara tomorrow. The following day we will begin our 6 day trek. We are quite nervous about it because we are physically unfit and have not prepared ourselves but it seems fairly easy compared to other treks out there. Wish us luck! But first, we may need some luck getting to sleep as its Friday night and there seems to be a lot of crazyness going on outside our hotel room window!

We arrived in Dubai in the wee hours of the morning. Passport control took ages but we didn't mind because we didn't want to arrive at our host's too early. We couldn't believe how slack the passport control process was. They didn't ask any questions and didnt even make us scan our eyes. And luckily, all was good with my visa.

We hung around the airport because we didn't want to wake our host up. Luckily there was free wifi so it allowed some Skype time with my family in Canada. When it was time to make our way to our host's apartment, we got on the metro.

The metro is in the "top 10 attractions in Dubai" list as voted by travelers on tripadviser. We understood why. You can see a lot of Dubai's famous buildings from it (like the Burj Al Arab and the Burj Khalifa). It runs along a very long strip called Sheikh Zayed Road which many of the sights are located near. Because it is primarily above ground, it provides a lot to look at. It is also spectacularly clean. It was quite hazy out when we first got on it but cleared up after the morning.

We met a nice lady from Ottawa on the metro. And when we got of the metro at Internet City, this man started showing us the way to the exit and to the cabs. He was from India and has lived with his family in Dubai for the last 13 years. He flagged a cab for us but the driver said he didn't know where the address was and then he flagged another one and that driver said it was too close for him to drive. So we said we would walk it as we were not having luck with the cabs and (thought we) wanted the exercise . The nice man that led us to the cabs said that he works right across where we were headed so he led us in the right direction. It was so nice of him. So far it seems that everyone is super friendly- except the cab drivers!

One thing we noticed immediately about the newer part of Dubai is that everything is just MASSIVE! Dubai itself is massive and it takes a while to get from one point to another but everything within it is also massive. The roads sometimes have 6 lanes, the sidewalks are so wide and they seem even wider because no uses them so you feel like an ant when you have a huge space of sidewalk and surrounded by large buildings. It is definitely not a pedestrian friendly city but the metro is VERY efficient (and air conditioned). All the maps we have looked at are also very misleading because everything looks really close but it takes ages to walk to a place that looks like it is across the street on a map. We are sure getting our exercise and blisters on our feet to prove it!

Another thing we felt about the more modern part of Dubai is that this is quite a strange city. It is so modern and seems really artificial at times. You really can't tell if you are in Dubai or London or America. It seems like a combination of Las Vegas, Florida and London...but that is judging by the buildings and Dubai Mall as Dubai Mall has every UK and American chain imaginable (we've come across Boots, Waitrose, WHSmith, New Look, Debenhams, Forever21, Top Shop, you name it, it's there!). Also, they are just building and building and building. There is so much land being built up. I would love to come back in 20 years and see what it looks like then. We have passed through a ton of construction zones today.

We ended up at the mall as we wanted to visit Burj Khalifa- the world's tallest building- and this is located at Dubai Mall. Now, the world's tallest building is UNREAL! It hurts your eyes to look up at it (although that probably has something to do with looking right at the sun) and when you compare it to nearby buildings, it really makes you wonder how in the world they built something that tall. It does not look real. We booked a tour to go up to the observation deck on Wednesday so we are quite excited for that. I might need some vertigo pills though! In front of this building and The Dubai Mall are musical fountains designed by the same people that are responsible for the fountains at the Bellagio in Vegas. We watched one show to some Arabian music and it was so awesome. The water goes so high that we ended up getting some heavy mist from the fountains splash us. We will definitely go back for more shows though as it looks spectacular, especially with an amazing building like the Burj Khalifa in the background.

So Dubai Mall is quite a dangerous place when it comes to food!! There is a Tim Hortons, a Hummingbird Bakery, a Cold Stone Creamery amongst other guilty pleasure foods (although we haven't come across a Cheesecake Factory) but our favorite is a very swanky chocolate shop called Patchi. My friend Diana brought us some chocolates from this chain when she visited the UAE and we were hooked-especially because they make this amazing cheesecake chocolate variety!!! So we stepped foot in one and bought some cheesecake chocolates an also a pistachio cream one. Mmmmmmm so good!! There were also tons of chain restaurants that you can find in the UK and America like TGIFridays and Macaroni Grill and Rainforest Cafe...like I said, you would never guess you are in Dubai by being at this mall...oh EXCEPT that every single shop sign has its Arabic equivalent written next to it...even places like Subway and WH Smith have a logo written in Arabic. I would love to know if they are literal translations.

We also stumbled across the Dubai Mall Aquarium. We didn't find it necessary to go in as there are huge observation areas scattered throughout the shops. We were there at a perfect time as we saw a bunch of scuba divers in there and what were they doing?? Window cleaning!!! Now that is an exciting job to have, scuba diving amongst sharks and exotic fish in order to clean the inside windows of tanks.

We also visited the older part of Dubai and this looked quite different from the newer part. It's the area where the gold souk and spice souk are. The buildings are quite old and crowded (much unlike the modern part) and there is evidently a large community of Indian residents. Tons of shops that cater to Indian goods and also tons of curry restaurants. This area got us excited for India!! The souks were pretty cool but its basically shop owners stopping you and asking you if you want a "pashmina, Ali baba shoes (which I actually really want but am waiting for India to purchase), purses, watches, perfume etc". Perry noticed that they always target the women even if he is standing right beside me. Some shop owners did try to get him in a traditional headdress though! No luck!! The gold souk had some beautiful jewelry. I especially loved the bangles but of course this place was not of much use to us at the moment as we are on a backpackers budget.

One thing that has surprised us about Dubai is that it is not as expensive as we thought it would be. Sure the hotels can be quite luxurious and some of the attractions like the water park at Atlantis and the aquarium are really overpriced but the food and transportation is ridiculously cheap! A day pass for the buses and metro is under £3/$5 and the water taxis that got us around the old part of Dubai were about 20 cents each way!! Crazy!! So now we think we completely overestimated how much to bring here which means we will probably have enough left over to spend an afternoon at the Atlantis waterpark (which has a slide that runs through the shark tanks!!!) or to go for a nice meal...or maybe to just convert to another currency for the rest of the trip.

Although it is quite a different city, we are still enjoying it and seeing the world's tallest building is worth it alone. Oh yeah and the heat is awesome too. Tomorrow we plan on visiting the waterfront area, but maybe we will splash about in our host's pool for a while. Our feet wouldn't mind some R&R!

Day 2 of Istanbul began with a ferry ride to the European side and a stop for some Burek. Burek is a pastry made with filo and with various fillings such as potato, cheese, spinach, or ground meat. Perry and I have come to love these and will definitely miss them! We then continued on towards Hagia Sophia. We walked through the grounds of Topkapi Palace but decided we weren't interested in going inside. It then started to POUR! My new umbrella lasted approximately 1.5 minutes before it was turned inside out and the metal bent like a super flexible yoga instructor! So we decided to go into the Hagia Sofia...with a stop for some extremely overpriced freshly squeezed pomegranate juice just prior...those that know me know how much I love pomegranates so I couldn't resist.

Into the Hagia Sofia we went. It's so crazy to think that the most recent version of this building was completed in 500something AD and it is still standing. They don't even make buildings nowadays that last 60 years before they need to be knocked down and rebuilt. The interior of this now museum is very beautiful and intricate and I really liked that we could go to the upper floor and view it from above. I of course could not stop taking photos!!

Upon exiting the museum, we heard another call to prayer but this was unreal because it was coming from the Blue Mosque and about three other surrounding mosques so the sounds were all echoing and mixing with each other. I find myself always recording these call to prayers as I just find them so fascinating and know I will want to listen back to them when we finish our trip.

Unfortunately the rain did not stop so we decided to head to the Grand Bazaar as it is covered. This place is definitely a labyrinth of Jewelers, souvenirs, trinkets, clothes, shoes and so on. Apparently there are sometimes 250,000-500,000 people that visit it daily! There were little tea stands throughout and an employee would carry trays of tea throughout the market to offer to the merchants. There were also the tiniest little food stalls that did the same- carry trays of food to all the merchants. We decided to sit at one of these as the food looked delicious and very homemade. We observed that all the patrons would sit, wolf their food down in two minutes and go. There must have been four waves of people that came and went while we ate. It was all locals and we really stood out sat amongst them (everybody shares the tables as there are only two!). One young man even put his arm around perry, patted him in the belly and said "I finish but you still eating!!" Because he arrived after us but finished before us. It was very comical.

We didn't buy anything at the bazaar but I was very close to buying some of the tiny glasses they use for tea here. As we left, we ended up on a shopping street that had tons of wedding shops amongst shoe stores and clothing stores, all catering to the locals. We couldn't believe how many people were on this street. I found a man selling the tea glasses that I love so much on the side of the road and they were a price I couldn't pass up on so I ended up buying a set. Can't wait to use them when we get back!

We then walked across the bridge with all the fisherman (mentioned in the previous post) and ended up in the area of Karikoy where we found a fish market and plenty of roosters roaming around. All the streets surrounding this area were filled with merchants selling tools and hardware type things. It seemed like 20 streets of Home Hardware/B &Q. Nothing interested us here so we climbed up some steep streets and ended up at Galata Tower. We decided not to climb up as it was not that high and the weather was not the greatest. This area had lots of cute shops and cafes but we decided to head back to our hosts and make him and his fiancé some dinner.

It was difficult to find ingredients that we needed so we made a simple dinner of potatoes and chicken with a salad (and grilled haloumi cheese...mmmm). We needed the evening with some nice conversations with Khalid and Burcu (pronounced Burju- the 'c' in Turkey is pronounced like a 'j' unless the c has a little squiggly under it then it sounds like a 'ch'). The next morning they made us a lovely breakfast and then we departed for the Sulthanamet area where we visited the Basilica Cistern.

The Basilica Cistern was built in the 6th century and was used to store water. It has 336 marble columns and looks really mysterious. It is very damp and we found water constantly dripping on our heads and clothes....it seemed like this was the case in all of Istanbul as it rained constantly (except for day one) so we decided to head back and call it an evening.

Today is our last day in Istanbul as our flight for Dubai leaves at around 10pm. Luckily, I've received my visa after some hassles from the agency I went through to obtain it. All the trouble we've gone through to obtain this visa makes us really negative about the UAE and we really just want to skip right over it and avoid contributing tourist dollars (or dirhams) to their economy BUT as I said, we've had three days of rain and I'm sure the sunshine will make us feel better about it once we are there. Plus our host seems really awesome and he's also got a pool so it shouldn't be all that bad!

Today we were meant to go to one of the Princess islands but the rain made us lazy and we just stayed at home and packed and started our journey to the airport. We tried to find a restaurant that had wifi so I could check up on my UAE visa and we found some of the waiters in the restaurants to be quite cold and unwelcoming. I don't know if this is because we had out backpacks or because they didnt speak English or we didn't speak Turkish but nonetheless we found a nice welcoming restaurant with wifi. Only problem is, they did not have a menu that we understood or any vegetarian options. I am quite surprised at the lack of vegetarian options in many restaurants in a country that is predominantly Muslim. This restaurant said they will make me something special. We ordered this weird frothy yogurt drink mixed with water that we keep seeing. My reaction when I tried it was "wow that is nasty" and Perry thought that as well but for some reason we kept sipping away at it as there was something about it and surprisingly we got through the whole thing! Perry ordered a kebab burger and they brought me a plate of potatoes in a sauce that evidently had meat in it once upon a time. It was still tasty. But I was still starving and we were getting ready to go pay when out comes two giant dishes of grilled vegetables, a giant plate of fries and two side plates of rice. I guess the potatoes in sauce was a starter?? It was lovely and so tasty and they treated us really well, bringing us tea on the house and a very tasty desert called Kunefe (no idea how that is spelled) which was syrupy and cheesy and just delicious. We were worried at what this would cost us as we didn't have too many lyras left but we were completely shocked at how inexpensive it was! We are now absolutely stuffed but this should tie us over until we get to Dubai.

All in all, Istanbul has been great. We had fantastic hosts, fantastic foods and plenty of culture to witness. It was a great first stop of this honeymoon adventure. We would like to return one day, but would prefer to do it in warmer months. What is nice to know is that this will be (err SHOULD be) the worst of the weather during this trip so it's all looking up from here.

Teshekular Istanbul and see you again sometime!

Well we arrived in Istanbul (with a shocking 10.8kg backpack on my back--how did I manage to pack so light??) and day one of our current adventure has come and gone...and what a day it was!

We arrived in Istanbul just after 5am but because of the time difference, this only allowed us to sleep on the plane for about 3 hours so needless to say, we were pretty exhausted!! We made our way to the Kodakoy area (pronounced KodaCUEy--there is an accent above the "o" which I can't input) which is on the Asia side of Istanbul and we met with our host for some breakfast. We tried the traditional tea (called chai) which to me tastes like regular black tea (maybe a touch stronger) and is served in these lovely glasses that look like a large shot glass or mini tulip glass! I couldn't believe my eyes at the sight of this tea everywhere we went today. Believe it or not-it seems more of a tea culture than in England! But I will talk more about that later!

Following breakfast and tea we rode a little shuttle bus to our host's apartment. These shuttle busses are something else, very rickety and they pick you up and drop you off wherever you want along the route--no need for bus stops! You just flag it down when you see one and when you want to get off just tell or yell at the bus driver and he will pull over and let you off. They are very small, maybe with ten seats and some standing space. The drivers honk like crazy cause they try to get as many people as they can on these buses (apparently the name for them translates to something like "pack them in") because this means more money for them. So although the honking may give you a headache after a while, the advantage to these shuttles is that they wait for you even if you are a block or two away and running for it because it means more Turkish Lyra in their pocket! So that is nice to know that they won't drive away because they are not on schedule like the drivers do in some cities (ahemVancouver).

Our host Khalid's place is very nice! With a massive pool! But unfortunately the weather is not right for it at the moment. The thing Perry and I love most though is that it is in what seems like the least touristy place of Istanbul! There are NO tourists here. The neighborhood/area is called Unalan, in the municipality of Uskadar and when Perry and I took the shuttle back into Kodakoy after a power nap, the lack of tourists became very evident when all eyes were on us!

We came from below zero temperatures in the UK to around 15 degrees and sunny in Istanbul so it really felt like summer to us. We were HOT, so I wore sandals and a light cardigan! Well when we got on the bus I noticed all eyes on my light cardigan and sandals and I looked around and realized that every passenger had a winter coat on and many even boots!! The man sitting next to me said "As soon as you get on bus I think to myself 'she English, she English!" Everybody on the shuttle was smiling and/or laughing. I explained that it felt like summer to us and we were very warm. It seemed like every new passenger that climbed on the shuttle, he would point out my shoes to them! Needless to say, I felt like an Australian in Vancouver (you know, the ones that wear their thong sandals in December which always makes me ask if they are crazyyyy). I felt the stares all.day.looooong! I would catch people's eyes drift directly to my feet. I almost bought a new pair of shoes cause I was standing out so much. And no I wasn't being paranoid, Perry noticed it too!!! I asked some girls to take a photo of us and they were even pointing and laughing at my feet! I guess it's karma for thinking that Australians are crazy for wearing thong sandals in winter weather in Vancouver!!

We took a ferry to the European side and as soon as we got off (well actually even from the ferry ride), I was snap happy with my camera.

The area where the ferry dropped us off, I believe it is called Eminonu, had so much going on, and again, barely any tourists so it provided a glimpse into the life of the locals. There were these little boats along the waterfront and on each of these boats were 2-6 men making fish sandwiches and in front of the boats was ample seating space that had tons of people sitting and eating these fish sandwiches (called Balik Ekmek). There were also stands that were making these little donut balls and corn on the cob and chestnuts, and then there were these drinks that everybody had in their hands that had pickles and onions sticking out of them. The color of the liquid was a pinkish red and we had no idea what it was. I am determined to find out though and may even try one today. We loved seeing all the locals sitting on these very low stools (which looked like mini barrels) and eating their fish sandwiches and drinking their red drink with pickles. It seemed like a real local thing to do so we said we would give it a try later.

Right around the corner there was a bridge with all these men (we even saw a women) fishing. There must have been 30-50 of them on both sides of the bridge and they were catching anything from small smelt-like fishes to some bigger trout size ones. They all had a bucket or bowl with water that they were putting their catches in and a lot of the fishes were still alive and breathing and some even swimming around. The fisherman were all socializing, children running around, and there was an older woman with a garbage bag full of water that was going up and down the bridge selling it to the fisherman. It seemed like a real social thing for them as well as a money maker. Perry and I looked in the water and there seemed to be tons of jelly fish in there too!!

Just accross the street, there was a beautiful mosque right next to a spice bazaar. We wandered through the bazaar where we tried Turkish Delight and I snapped so many photos because the colors of the spices and teas were so beautiful! Some of the cafes in the market would carry trays of the traditional tea through the market and sell it to the merchants. Again, what I loved about this market is that we barely saw any tourists, unless they were Turkish tourists. I guess it is not high season but we really seemed to stand out. We then wandered through the neighboring streets and alleyways with merchants selling anything from pots and pans, to tobacco, to cheese, to scarves and linens...pretty much anything and everything. There were also tons of foodie stalls and all we wanted to do was try all the different foods but we managed to resist the delicacies as we weren't even hungry.

This area of Eminonu was such a great place to people watch and catch a glimpse of the rich culture of the local people. We could have walked around for hours but it was time to find some touristy attractions!

We made our way to what was evidently the tourist area: where Haghia Sophia and the Blue Mosque are. We only viewed the Haghia Sophia from the outside because it was half an hour til closing time (we will return though) but we were fortunate enough to go inside the Blue Mosque. Now let me tell you, this place is unbelievable. Such beautiful architecture and the designs on the walls inside are just something else. Again, I couldn't help but snap snap snap snap away! We were in there for quite some time and it was running into one of the call to prayers. One of the security guards welcomed us to sit down if we liked and to observe it. Of course we didn't pass up on this. It was such an amazing experience! The men are all at the front of the mosque and the women all at the back. It seemed like the worshippers came and went as they pleased and some mobile phones went off a few times! Luckily it wasn't any of ours, but it seemed quite informal in regards to the atmosphere of it (people talking, mobiles going off, kids running around, even the fact that they allowed tourists to sit and watch) but I guess its because it is such a famous mosque. I believe some mosques don't allow visitors at all during the call to prayer so those may seem a bit more formal/strict. But formal or informal, the chanting is just so hauntingly beautiful in each of the mosques. Perry and I even agreed that we would put something like that on our iPods!

When we left the Blue Mosque it was dark out and it was great to see this mosque all lit up. Stunning architecture as mentioned. We made our way back to the area where the ferry departs and treated ourselves to one of the fish sandwiches we observed all the locals eating earlier. Perry loved his but unfortunately mine was full of bones and some grissle and wasn't too pleasant to eat. I still managed to eat most of it but most of the time was spent picking the bones out of my mouth!

We then got back on the ferry towards Kadikoy. As soon as you get on the ferry, a waiter goes around with a tray of tea and offers it to the passengers. It seems like everybody, and I mean everybody that gets on the ferry buys one of these teas so we did as the locals do and bought us some tea. As mentioned, the tea culture seems really big here. We saw people drinking this tea everywhere, from the merchants in the bazaar and alleyways to the passengers in the ferry. And it is always served in what looks like a mini tulip style glass (or extra large shot glass). I would love a set of these to have in our future home but the downside is we are backpacking and can't fit trinkets like these in our luggage. I am still tempted to purchase some though and post them back.

Following the ferry, we had a shuttle ride back to Unalan to our host's apartment. As soon as we got off the shuttle by his building, there were locals having a celebration in the street with a sound system set up and lots of dancing going on. We watched for a bit, and thought about how lucky we are to have the opportunity to stay in a neighborhood with no tourists and be witnessing this rich culture.
We returned to Khalid's apartment, had a nice conversation with him, while observing fireworks from the area that the celebration was going on and then we retired to bed to get some rest and prepare ourselves for a day of sightseeing the following day.

And that brings us to now, day 2, on a ferry heading back to Eminonu and ready to witness some more of the rich culture and stunning architecture that is so prominent here in Istanbul. And ready to try some more delicacies! Maybe I will be lucky to find a fish sandwich without bones in it!

This is it!! We decided on this just over two months ago. We've been packed and ready to go for weeks and now the time has come. We are en route to Stansted airport..train from Oxford to London, tube to Baker Street station, shuttle to Stansted (with a cheeky pub stop along the way for some celebratory Strongbow cider).. Hopefully this journey of " hop on, hop off, drink cider, repeat" prior to even boarding the plane will exhaust us enough to make us pass out and get some rest so that we can be ready for a day of exploring Istanbul tomorrow. And with our packed itinerary (thanks to my obsessive planning) there will be no stopping!
;-). I am also using this trip as a way to lose the weight I have put on recently so I am motivated to be on the go go go...in fact, instead of taking the tube to Baker Street from Paddington, we decided to walk it, backpacks and all...and just our luck it decided to hail down (like PAINFULLY hail) and be really windy,( windy enough to blow metal cafe chairs down the street!!). We stood undercover with a bunch of businessmen because the hail was actually really hurting as it hit our faces and these chairs just blew along Wizard of Oz style...We were in hysterics! It is part of the adventure after all! We also stumbled upon a Beatles shop with some amazing merchandise and 22 Baker Street: Sherlock Holmes' residence, so although we haven't even departed yet, it feels like we are already traveling. But I guess London always feels like that as there is so much to do here!

So the only uneasy feeling I have at the moment is to do with my visa for UAE. After a ton of conflicting information from a variety of sources, I have gone ahead and applied for a visa through a third party- a travel agency that was recommended by a member of Couchsurfing. I applied, transferred the excessive amount of AED and now I cross my fingers and wait. It's out of my hands now. I was told that it will be ready before we arrive in Dubai on Monday but I do have my doubts. I'm not going to let it worry me. I have to just be positive, enjoy Istanbul, and take each day as it comes. If I get the visa, then great, if not then I can think of a lot worse places to spend 3 nights than the Dubai airport! But all I have to say is Dubai, you have already broken the bank and we haven't even touched foot on UAE soil yet! You better be worth it!!! Well, the weather looks promising anyways so here's hoping that the visa comes through!

I spent about half an hour at a currency exchange counter before getting on the train. One thing that is NOT easy when traveling to ten different countries (which means ten different currencies) is trying to predict how much to bring in each currency, how much to bring in travelers checks (if any) and how much to leave in a bank account. The annoying thing about the bank is they only allow a very minimal amount to be withdrawn daily while abroad and they get you with the fees and poor exchange rates so we opted into getting travelers checks in order to avoid paying hundreds of £'s in transaction fees. I have never used travelers checks before but after some research, they seemed like a good option. This way they are insured as well so if the checks get lost or stolen then we can get them replaced. Also, some countries we are visiting, such as Laos and India, do not (legally) allow their currencies out of or into the country so this just complicated things even more but it will all be part of the adventure that is just beginning!

Istanbul, we are coming for you! Oh, and this will definitely be an experience as we are being hosted by a couple that just so happen to be naturists! Gotta love Couchsurfing and the interesting yet amazing people you meet because of it! Looking forward to it. And to escaping the miserable cold weather in the UK!

But for now, I leave you with something very appropriate (click here and enjoy the song as much as we are enjoying our Strongbow at the moment!)


Honeymoon adventure part 1, bring it on!

Perry and I are currently planning our 2 month and 3 week (so nearly 3 month) delayed honeymoon. We got married in July 2012 and never went on a honeymoon as we decided we wanted to visit with family and friends instead that had come all the way to Greece for our wedding, some of which we hadn't seen in three years. We were originally planning on going to South America but that proved to be quite expensive. We were looking at flights on Skyscanner (FYI: THE BEST search engine for flights) and found that flights to Asia were very reasonable. We discussed that this is an area we should travel to now as we will not be able to get there as easily when we have children (mainly because it is not the best of places to take young ones and by the time we are able to go could be another 10-15 years). Quite spontaneously, we ended up booking them and next thing you know we were planning to see 10 countries in 2 months and 3 weeks. We start in Istanbul, then Dubai, both of which were not in our plans but it was cheaper to fly through these places so we decided to allow a few days in each...why not?! We then go to Nepal, India, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and finally, Singapore. We booked 5 flights which in the end cost us £550 each (FOR FIVE FLIGHTS!). There was no way we could pass that up!!

So we basically booked these flights at the end of November with a departure set for February 6th, leaving us just over two months to prepare for this trip. No problem right?

This is my first trip to somewhere exotic. Sure, I've traveled tons through North America and Europe but I needed something new and exciting as I was getting bored of Europe. I can only go to so many cathedrals and museums before I don't have any care to see another piece of jewelry or a toenail or tooth that belonged to some person in 2000 BC. Sure that all fascinated me when I first started going to museums but now it doesn't (except for the mummies at the British museum..they always fascinate me).

Now I want something NEW. I want a culture shock. I want new architecture. New food (maybe without so much Delhi Belly...but I've already packed 4 packs of diarrhea tablets and an additional prescribed antibiotic in case it gets really bad so bring it on India!). New music and entertainment. New cultures. New modes of transportation (woohoo camels!). Just things that will make me go WOW (in both good and bad ways).

That being said, we are foolishly traveling to 10 countries in 2 months and 3 weeks. One of my friends traveled Southeast Asia in 6 months...our Southeast Asia portion is 6 weeks...and covering the same countries he did in 6 months! So it will not necessarily be a relaxing trip but we will be too excited to care that we are not getting much sleep!

I have had a lot of friends ask me why I am planning so meticulously and being so organized in regards to this trip. Besides the obvious of wanting to be sure we pack the right things and get the right vaccinations, the necessary visas, and so on, there are quite a few other reasons. We spent two years meticulously planning our big fat Greenglish wedding, so I think I am suffering from some sort of planning withdrawal and I don't know any better :-)

Here are some of my other reasons: Because we have such a limited time and want to see so much, I feel that it is very important to plan it. I don't want us to spend half a day in a city with our noses in a guide book or tourist information office planning what to do and where to go when we only have 2 days there. I want to research the sights before we go and note down the ones we want to see and cross off the ones we don't care to see.

Some sights we want to see fill up in advance or cost more if we don't book them in advance. For example, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (the world's tallest building) costs 100 AED (about £17) to take an elevator ride up to the observation deck. Now that is only if we book it in advance. If we turn up on the day of and want to go up...BAM! 400 AED (about £68)..so if I didn't research this, there would be no way that we would be paying £68 to get to the observation deck of the world's tallest building.

Another reason I like to plan: those damn trains in India sure do fill up fast! I wouldn't have known this had I not researched. You'd think it would be like Europe. Get to the station, pick a train, get on? Not quite. We went onto India's train booking system yesterday to look at the trains and some of the trains we wanted (at the end of February and early March - nearly 2 months away) are already full and have waitlists of 12-15 people! So we had to re-arrange our itinerary slightly in order to be certain we had confirmed tickets otherwise we could be waiting days for a seat or two to open up while we are there. I read a comment on a couchsurfing group that a girl was stuck in Gorakhpur for 3 days because she couldn't get a train to Delhi....from our research, Gorakhpur doesn't sound like a place we would like to spend more than 2 hours in so we'd rather be sure we can be in the places we want to be in and not waste time in places like Gorakhpur. We also can't afford to be waiting around for days for trains as we only have just over 2 weeks in India and want to take in as much as we can and visit some specific sights and cities so planning this was crucial. BUT...if something happens (knock on wood it doesn't) and it means we miss our camel safari in Jaisalmer or our zip-line in Jodhpur, or our stroll along the ghats of Varanasi, so be it..that is all part of the travel experience and as much as I have planned, I have come to accept that things may happen and plans may change. As long as we make our flight to Thailand from Kolkata then I will be a happy camper.

Another thing I have learned from all the planning is that when we get to Southeast Asia, there is more room for flexibility and it will (should) be more relaxing as there is so much competition and we do not need to book things in advance as we will have people flying at us to try and get us to book things (which will also happen in India but we will be prepared!). So this leg of the trip, we will leave quite open. We have planned a specific itinerary (where we are on which days, which train we take and at what time to get to the next city/town, what activities we would like to do etc) but if we stay a day extra in one city and a day less in another, that is alright...just as long as we make our flight back to London from Singapore on April 27th, then all is good (although if our flight is delayed by many days, that is also fine with us as well :) )

If you have been to any of the countries we are visiting and want to share any of your experiences, please contact us. We would love any recommendations on sights to see, sights to avoid, places to stay, places to not stay, foods to try, foods to avoid, places to capture a good heel click etc. Here is a list of places we are going to (although the Southeast Asia bit, we can add or remove cities but the first four countries are pretty set):

-Turkey (Istanbul)
-United Arab Emirates (Dubai and maybe Abu Dhabi if time allows)
-Nepal (Kathmandu, Pokhara and surroundings, Lumbini)
-India (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Allahabad, Varanasi, Kolkata/Calcutta)
-Thailand (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Krabi, Ko Samui, Ko Phi Phi)
- Laos (Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng)
- Vietnam (Hanoi, Halong Bay, Vinh, Hue, Danang/Hoi An, Nha Trang, Saigon/Hoi Chi Minh City)
- Cambodia (Siem Ream, maybe Phnom Penh)
- Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, maybe Penang, maybe somewhere else..suggestions??)
- Singapore

28 more sleeps :-)