Ok, so here's the long overdue update for those particularly bored at work...
I signed off from Raleigh on 10th December, but spent an extra night in Kota Kinablu for a hard night of drinking with other participants and some staff members. This was really welcome after abstaining for the previous 10weeks! Then on the 11th a caught a flight to Kuala Lumpar, and then straight on to Auckland. I spent the next few days in Auckland just getting my life back together after being in Borneo.
On the first Saturday I took a bus to Whangare, right up in the North of the island to go diving at a site called the Poor Knights Islands. This was a really great dive site, but it was incredibly cold, even in a 7mm full length wetsuit. The highlight was seeing a giant white stingray 'fly' past. Then it was back to Auckland on Sunday checking back into ACB with the last chance to sort anything that needed it.
The next week turned into a bit of an epic mission. It was 7days until Christmas Eve, and I was determined to spend Christmas in Queenstown, the party capital, which is right at the far end of the other Island. So the task was to cover Auckland to Queenstown, and everything in between in just 7days. What followed was a pretty hectic schedule that looked like this:
Monday - bus to Waitoma, Black water rafting trip through glow worm caves. Then a bus to Rotorua. Spent the evening at a Maori cultural night, and then had a hangi feast. Then back into town for drinking. Spent the night at Hot Rocks.
Tuesday - up early to go Zorbing (this is climbing inside a giant inflatable ball, then hurling yourself down a massive hill. Then a sky dive simulator (a huge fun lifts you up so you can hover in mid air). Then a bus to Taupo. I went on a high wire assault course called 'Rock n Ropes'. Then back into town to check into Tiki lodge and a hard core night of drinking. I was having an argument with a giant maori fella about who was the best fly half in the world. Strangely, he was arguing for Jonny Wilkinson, and me for Dan Carter. We decided to settle things over a triple tequila. I ran out the bar clutching my mouth. It turns out Jonny is the best...
Wednesday - woke up with a stinking hang over and caught a bus to Wellington. Then took a ferry across the ditch to the South Island. I spendtthe night in Picton.
Thursday - went for a nice walk along the coast waiting for the bus to Kaikoura. I had a trip arranged to go whale watching, but regretfully this was cancelled due to poor weather, so I re-arranged for the following morning. I hoped to go swimming with dolphins the next morning aswell, but this was fully booked so I arranged to go seal swimming instead. A gorgeous fish and chip dinner that eveing.
Friday - I woke up early and went out in a boat and saw 3 or 4 huge sperm whales. Seeing their giant tails as they dived was amazing. The seal swimming was cancelled due to poor weather. Then I took a bus to Christchurch. I spent the evening with Danny, who I would be sailing with at the 12ft skiff interdominions in a couple of weeks.
Saturday - caught a bus to Greymouth on the other side of the South Island. Went for a lovely walk up a hill with views over the town, and then for a walk along the docks. Then caught a bus to Franz Josef, via Hokitoka. I checked into a hostel in Franz Josef.
Sunday - Spent the day walking up and down the Franz Josef glacier, then spent the evening playing pool in a pub.
Monday - travelled to Queenstown just in time for Christmas Eve!! Went for dinner at the Famous Ferg Burger, then for drinks at World Bar, where they serve cocktails in tea pots!! I had quite a few drinks and ended up buying a Bungy Jump in a charity auction.
Tuesday - Christmas Day!!! Went for the "Orpahn's Christmas Dinner" at world bar, carrying on late into the night.
Wednesday - Did a sky dive. This was amazing!! Then called home when I landed knowing everybody would be relaxing after a big lunch, washing up and a few bottles of wine. Then I went to the bungy jump I won. I can honestly tell you this is one of the most horrible things ever. It's such a massive barrier of fear to break through. But atleast that 'life box' is well and truly ticked! Then I went drinking with a really cool American fireman dude.
Thursday - I flew to Christchurch and then from there to Wellington. This may seem extravagant to fly, but it was only about $50 more than the bus, and wouild take 3hrs rather than 24! So seemed justified. Then I took a taxi to Worser Bay Boat Club for the 12foot Skiff Interdominions.
The next 10days were spent sailing 12foot skiffs. This was such an experience sailing these extreme machines and meeting some complete legends. I learned so much!!! I got involved with the drinking scene in a big way, especially on New Years Eve, and on the last night I was initiated into the skiff society, known as "The Order of the Lard". Then I went back to New Zealand with a great guy I met called Billy Wright who sails with his son. I spent a few days with him and his family before flying back to Kuala Lumpar. I spent a night in Kuala Lumpar, and met a Malaysian friend from Raleigh. Then I flew to Mumbai in India.
I arrived in Mumbai at midnight on the 10th, expecting to catch a connecting flight at 2am. As I blindly followed directions for "International Transfers" I was loaded onto a bus and whisked round to the Domestic Terminal. It was one of those situations where I didn't really know what was going on, or where I was going but it just seemed to end up being the right thing...
So I got to the check in counter for my flight, only to learn it had been cancelled, and I'd have to catch the next flight, 6hrs later. This wasn't what I needed to hear when I'd already been travelling for well over 24hrs. The time was spent surfing websites and in the "lovely" Jet Airways lounge, trying to catch some "zeds" sprawled across two seats.
I checked into my homestay, began to settle into Indian life, and started to work at my project. I’m working as a Sports and Adventure Leader for a Charity called Dream a Dream. Dream a Dream works with specific partner charities, which provide the basic needs of the children (food, clothing, shelter and education), and Dream a Dream runs extra-curricular activities to develop the life skills of the children. My job is to organize sports sessions for the children. So on Mon, Tues and Wed evenings it’s Table Tennis, Wed, Sat and Sun mornings we play Hockey, and on Wed and Fri evenings there is Football.
After being in Bangalore less than a week the whole Dream a Dream office was going to Mumbai for the marathon. So I flew back to Mumbai. I spent a couple of days seeing the sights of Bombay, and then on Sunday I ran the 6km fun marathon. I thought being a sports leader here I ought to show some willing and so completed the 6km in 45mins. Before flying back to Bangalore I had a guided tour of the biggest slum in Asia. This was a real insight and not at all like I expected. The inhabitants weren’t in despair, and were actually thriving on the various industries that run inside the slum. The recycling culture here is incredible, and certainly something the West could take a lot from.
Back to Bangalore Monday night, and I wake up Tuesday morning feeling pretty rough. I made it through a morning at work and an afternoon at the Foreigners Registry Office. But by Tuesday evening it was clear I was going to need to see a doctor. So I went to see the doctor on Wednesday. He sent me for millions of tests, blood tests, urine tests, UV scan and x-rays. He thought this was the sensible thing to do when I had been in areas with endemic tropical diseases. It turned out I’d had a dose of mild salmonella. A course of Anti-biotic soon cleared that up.
We planned a trip to a historical place called Hampi for a weekend. We’d booked overnight train tickets, and were already to go. Then we heard that the President had also planned to go to Hampi that weekend, he must have heard we were going. We have a mole! So all the hotels in Hampi were banned from having any guests for 3days before the President’s visit. So we had to cancel the trip, and we re-arranged to go to a place called Coorg. Eight of us hired a car, and a cottage in the middle of a vast coffee plantation. It was so peaceful in comparison to the city, and we enjoyed some lovely walks in the area before returning to Bangalore.
Two other gapers and I went to Goa for a long weekend. We spent the first two nights at Palolem beach. This is probably the most chilled out place in the world, it’s like time stands still here. We spent the first night at a party with free beer, and then on the second night we went to a “Silent Rave”. This is where all the partygoers have a pair of wireless headphones, and there’s a DJ who plays music through everyone’s headphones. When you take the headphones off it’s really surreal because everyone is dancing to complete silence. On Sunday we went to another beach called Baga. This was totally different, it was really westernized and full of people on package holidays, as appose to the close knit backpacker community on Palolem. It did however give me the opportunity to eat a roast beef dinner, complete with Yorkshire puddings and horseradish sauce. It wasn’t the best roast dinner ever, but it was very welcome after missing my mum’s roast dinners for so long. On the Monday I went diving throughout the day, and then we caught a bus back to Bangalore.
On another trip, 20 of us went on safari in the Navarhoe Reserve. I saw Indian elephants, Bisons, some beautiful deer, monkies, and one group even saw a leopard with a kill. That evening a tribe had trekked many kilometers through the forest to show us their tibal dance. Everyone got involved and all had fun. The next day we were supposed to be going onto a lake for a session to learn rafting skills. But no one was very interested and we just went swimming. On the way back we stopped in Mysore to see the palace. We were fortunate enough to be their on a Sunday evening, when they illuminate the whole palace with millions of light bulbs, quite a spectacle.
Dream a Dream had been nominate for the Indian NGO of the Year 2008, so I went to Delhi for the awards ceremony. I got their a day early, and sp spent some time experiencing Delhi. The awards ceremony was fantastic, lots of networking and free alcohol. We even won the South Indian (Small) NGO of the year, amazing! So we partied into the night. The day after I met all the gapers who live and work in Delhi, what a great bunch of girls! I partied into the night with them. Waking up Friday morning with a sore head, I flew to Goa to meet up with all the other gapers from Bangalore. We spent 5days in Goa partying and eating way too much.
Then I was back in Bangalore for a few days before flying back to Delhi to go on a site seeing trip of Rajasthan. We saw the Taj Mahal, which is amazingly photogenic, but so frustrating that it’s so busy and you can’t take a picture because so many people are in the way. We also saw about 5forts, and various temples of different religions. I also went on a tour through the desert on the back of a camel. Those things stink!
So what’s next? Well, I’ve had the opportunity to go and meet a great friend in Thailand for two weeks. So I’m going to leave India a little earlier than expected. And then I’m due in Africa on 12th April. Still so many experiences to be had!
Stu
