Hong Kong in a nutshell

Jeesh were we tired when we got to HK, we had done about 40 hours without sleep so when we got to James and Weenies'aparment it was time to crash. No so, James came home early from work to meet us so a little bit of conversation was in order. Celia neatly excused herself and slipped out the room for 40 million winks.

Weenie made us a fabulous dinner and we cracked open one of many bottles of Meerlust Rubicon that James had very generously bought. The evenings we had there were generally spent at the Hoing Kong Football Club (where james and Weenie are members) munching on burgers or tasting Weenies interesting cooking (joking).

Days just flew by as we were so shattered we tended to wake up around noon and get our the house a 1:30, only to return again at 6. All our attempts to go sightseeing in HK were severely thwarted by the sandman. We did manage to catch the peak tram to get a view of the city and harbour which is very impressive from up there, the ferry to Kowloon at sunset allows you geat views like this one, Wan chai wet market was something else too. To prove the fish are fresh they slice them half open at the spine and leave all the organs intact so the heart is still pumping and the head is wondering what the hell.. its is really unbelievable to see.

Weenies dad was also there at the time and we wen out with him for lunch on the Sunday to Cococabana near the Marina Park yacht club and SA embassy. It was a fantasic meal and one of my top 5 of our tip so far. We had another ice ceam for desert as this seems to be the thing we now do on our trip. Not sure why but after were were intoduced o XTC ice cream in HK we never looked back. We were very tired on this day as James had inoduced me to another whole world of partying Hong Kong style. Fliday and Saturday night involved dinner, and many drinks in the university town atmosphere that is generated my the sports club dinners and drinks. On the Saturday night 5 of us ended up in Wan Chai dancing on bar counters till the early hours. What a night! Thank you James!!

Last day blues

We were both sad on our last day in Goa, but it had to come sooner or later. Our growing waistlines were very thankful though.

That morning i went as per usual to put my towel on the sunlounger in true German style, but the full blooded ones had already beaten me to it. Gutted, I laid it our nicely on the sand.

There was still time for plenty suntanning as well as purchasing a couple of trinkets for friends and family. I tried to capture any moments that i had missed thus far and continued suntanning. Attempting to pay for our stay was always fun and games as those nice people in the fraud department at Natwest in the UK seem to block our cards every time we attempt to use them in a new country abroad, no matter how many times we call them to say we are going here, here and here, they still leave us hanging at bill time. Many phone calls later in my polite aggravated voice we managed to check out and pay, relax on the beach some more and fit in a good lunch with our new Austrian friend Anna. Little did i know that this ongoing bank saga was the last of our worries for the day.

Over lunch Anna kindly offered us all her unused medication she had with her. No she is not a dealer or addict, she's a doctor. So Celia and I gladly took them when offered, now we carry everything you could possibly want for aches and pains in the winter, malaria, dunshiss, flu, you name it. We were sorted so no longer worried about eating scraps off the floor or drinking tap water.

We had booked a train trip back in 3AC to Cochin but were on the waiting list as it was full, the ticket office had assured us that there would be cancellations so no to worry. Well there weren't and that evening we had to take the 15 hour trip back to Cochin in general class. We were scared i think is he word. Fiortunately we met some nice indian fellows on the platfom that kept us 2 seats on the already overcrowded hard wooden bench. I can exclusively tell you tha this now 6 seater bench is only meant for 3 and to say it was a squash is an understatement.

Now already an hour into this trip and this Indian opposite me is violently coughing and spitting. All that is going through my head is the nurse back in London saying you don't need your TB shot unless you are going so sit next to someone that has TB for more than 3 hours". I was screwed. When tiredness finally set in we were rudely awoken at about 3am by some guys having a punch up in the carriage, it was pretty hectic and i never went to look in fear of being involved. Then came the moment on the trip thsat made i completely worth it. The guy sitting opposite me pipes up "there seems to be some confusion over the seating", the understatement of the century. The rest of the trip we saw policemen with hancuffed criminals beside us and many more things to make you laugh and simultaneously feel sick. Ecstatic to be back in Cochin, all that is left is a flight back to Singapore and then onwards to Hong Kong.

Same again

So day 4 started went pretty much according to plan. Woke up with the noise of the staff at about 7:30am, put on my running pant and ran the 1.5 km from our end of the beach to the other side and back. Its a fantastic way to start the day. Everyone small beach resort is just starting to stir and the farmers have just led the cows onto the beach.

If you time time it right you can see the local fishing boats coming in trying to sell their catch to the highest bidder. On this day i was in for a treat as they had dropped a huge net in the sea and were busy pulling it in on either side with the help of other fishermen who were hoping for a share of the catch.

I continued my run to the end of the beach quite briskly as i was going to go back and get the camera. The end of the beach was one of my favourite places on Palolem beach as there were no huts there where the river led into the ocean and i could do my training in peace. I looked forward to seeing the resident white-bellied sea eagle perched on the coconut palm over the river searching for prey, and on this day i was in for a treat. Not only was the eagle there but an Indian gentleman was perched on the bank of the river having a daga. Not pleasant.. I did a quick u-turn and headed back for my camera (no - not to take a pic of him).

By the time got back to the fishermen with my camera they had almost pulled in the net and had drawn quite a crowd. We all waited in anticipation to see these seasoned veterans full off Indias greatest catch. Could you believe it... the nets were completely retrieved and they managed to pull in about 5kg of fish. I felt really bad for them as i am sure many years ago such an exercise would have yielded many more fish. Dejected, they folded up the 100m long net and put it back in the boat. I had my pics so i went back for some coffee.

The late afternoons on Palolem bring about a most interesting scene on the beach. The tide practically races out to sea and does not return for hours, exposing a perfectly flat ocean floor brimming with sea life. The children search for starfish and crabs collecting them in buckets while some of the locals search for clams under the sand with forks and spoonsm seemingly collecting a potential meal. I'm just there for the cricket.

All along the beach, cricket matches are being played with intensity. The wickets are hard and flat and the rivalry between the local boys and the tourists could not be fiercer. Playing with them, i soon realised that whenever i went into bat they would set a perfect field in order to tempt me into a false stroke. A hook or pull shot here would result in the ball landing in someones lap or lunch, but a ball sent flying over the resort into the trees was seen as bad form and frowned upon. I loved every minute of it and the only thing stopping us form playing all evening was the returning tide which would wash away our stumps. I took great pride in being a South African in India as they do love our people, if only due to seeing our cricketers on tv, then so be it. But i got along with all of these young boys and they invited me back every day to pit our cricketing brains against eachother.

Goan adventure: Day 3

Woke Up; Ran; Swam; Coffee; Breakfast with Celia on beach; Tanned; Lunch on beach; Tanned; Swam; Played with the hermit crabs and starfish at low tide; Watched the sunset (clearly took photos); Had dinner on the beach; Slept;

Done

Goa here we come

The train journey to Goa was great fun, 12 hours in 3AC (which means 3 berths with A/C in the carriage). Was expecting worse but we both had a great rest and arrived in Goa ready for the hard slog of 5 days on the beach.

We got to Palolem and enjoyed a delicious meal. Celia once again had a bout of order envy as my coconut chicken was one of the best meals i have had on this trip. Got the tuk-tuk to the resort we had booked but were so disapointed by the cleanliness and state of the place that we thanked them for holding the room for us and left. We wanted someting closer to the beach anyway.

By this time it was raining againand the search for a room was proving fruitless. All the beach huts that we wanted to stay in were not yet ready for use. I later found out that the resort owners rent out the land (the beach) only for the tourist season. This translates to 6 months, so when everyone is gone in May, they dismantle all the beach huts and restaurants, pack them nicely under a canopy ready for them when they arrive mid October and start assembling everything in anticipation for the tourist trade. They arrive in hoardes from late November right through to Feb. Apparently Goa is a huge rave party town in Season, so beware, if you would like an idyllic time, skip Dec and Jan.

As first days go, this was not the greatest, but breakfast on the second and a beautiful beach hut to answer all our prayers was exactly the start we needed. We were very fortunate as this resort, "San Francisco" as it was called, had just opened for the season and had some available rooms at very reasonable rates. Being South African also seems to be advantageous, as often when you are mid haggle, they ask you where you are from and telling them you are from this proud nation usually gets you what you are after.

Allepey House boat

So the last and final stop on our Kerala round trip is Allepey. there you can rent these amazing bamboo crafted house boats for a night or two. They take you through the canals, backwaters and lakes in the area. Really relaxing, and a must do in the area.

We booked our houseboat through a connection of our homestay owner and sadly the coonnection did not deliver. The boat we wanted was booked but the one he had available was apparently "just as nice". Unfortunatly it was not, it was very run down, and the dissapointment on our faces could not be hidden. We decided to get over it as it was pointless to spoil our time sulking.

Well the trip turned out to be really special. We cruised around for the entire day, taking in all the fauna and flora that the lake had to offer. The area is really rich and abundant with birdlife and i have some award winning shots of the various species. Loving the different types of kingfishers we have encountered all over our travels. Don't only old people like birding.. better get out my Sasol book of birds. My dad would be proud.

All the food is served and cooked on the boat and is tasty as always, i am yet to have not had a bad meal in India. The only problem staying with people in homestays or having people cook for you is that you feel bad if you do not finish it, so you continue eating past the point of no return, this evening was no different. Most nights we groan at our stomoach pains post meal and hope that by morning we will feel better.

This sunset that greeted us on this day was very special, it might not have the romance of a beach sunset, but the scenery and colours were treemendous. We were exremely lucky as the previous evening they had monsoon rains (the monsoon rains have carried on for months after it's supposed departure here ). As usual, picures were in abundance.

A good nights sleep followed by a tasty Kerala breakfast on the boat, a short cruise along the backwaters and we were sadly back at the docks. We had long forgotten about our boat that had seen a season or two too many, just great moments and memories which everyone should try and do at some time if they are in Kerala. The locals bathing along the canals, fishing for dinner or going places in their hollowed out canoes are really special sights which i will never forget.

Periyar Tiger Reserve

With our time in the tea plantations done, our next stop was Periyar Tiger Reserve. We had been assured that seeing tigers in the wild is increasingly rare as in this 700 hectare reserve there are only 46 of the beasts. Still i prayed the entire way hoping for this rare sighting.

We booked in to stay the night in the tented camp, excited! Our 4x4 picked us up in Kumily and we headed towards the reserve. On the way we tried to fill up with diesel but because there was a strike the day before all the pumps were empty. Good thing we're in India because down the road there was some guy allowing people to siphon fuel from his bus, love it!!

The weather was not with us that evening and we had to cut our game drive down dramatically when the monsoon rains started again. Fortunately before that we had seen a large herd of Indian elephants grazing on the hillside. Elephants truly are amazing creatures, no matter if they're the real deal or from India. They still move around devouring the grass ahead of them without a care in the world. This herd had a really young baby and all the adults were guarding it so picture opportunities were at a minimum.

The landscape in this park is truly different to any park I have been to in South Africa. There are grass covered rolling hills and rivers that cut through their base bringing the natural spring water from the mountains. The animals that are found there in this park are Bison, Bears, Tigers, Leopards, elephants, Sambar deer and various others. Sadly we only got to see the Elephants, Bison and Deer but i really enjoyed being back in nature.

The staff in the camp prepared us our meal of curry (what else) and some chapatti, waited on us hand and foot while we were eating and made us a massive campfire to sit around after dinner.

We found out there were some varsity students on a nature camp nearby and went to explore. Bad idea... They were so excited by this that they placed us on the stage facing the group and prepped me for the 10 min speech i was about to blurt out. The speech went very well and opened up new possibilities for a career in public speaking. They were most interested in my views of cricket, nature, Eco-tourism and campus life. The round of applause i received was not dissimilar to that when John Smit lifted the RWC trophy. Best thing is we were asked to sing them a song.... only one i knew was Nkosi Sikeleli, so asking them to stand to attention i broke out into song. I think they underestimated how long the anthem was so they just humoured me to the end... lol, it was good fun though.

We retired to our tent, not before a thorough check for leeches, and got to sleep, only to be woken up at 2am by the locals who could hear 2 elephants in the camp. We spent about 10 min watching them feeding (from a good distance of course). When i crawled back into my sleeping bag i found i nice fat leech that had just fallen off my leg after a hearty meal... not pleasant. The rest of the night was pretty restless as every time i felt something anywhere i would wake up and shine the torch. What a girl!!!

The morning came and we went out trekking which was a lot of fun. We never trekked anywhere near the distance we were meant to as the path we had chosen was blocked by a herd of elephants, so we just sat there and merrily snapped away while they filled their bellies with grass.

So sadly no tiger or leopard, but we did see faeces from both of them full of Sambar Deer remains. Maybe next time.. Still dying to see that tiger!!