India | Had we but world enough and time…

Monday 16th June 2008

Hello again!

Ok, so I made it safely back to Chennai from Singapore, and took an overnight train to Ernakulam, where I got the ferry across to Fort Cochin. I met two lovely girls while I was there, and we all ended up sharing a room in a gorgeous old Portuguese house, where apparently Vasco de Gama died (he’s some famous Portuguese dude who discovered India or something).

Cochin is a beautiful, relaxed and laid-back little town, and lovely to wander around in. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to go on a houseboat to tour the backwaters as I’d planned, because it being the monsoon/low season there wasn’t anyone else to go with. The two girls I was sharing with wanted to go but they wanted to stay the night on the boat and I didn’t have enough time before my next train north.
However I liked Cochin a lot and would love to come back and do the backwater tours another time. Continue reading →

Thursday 29th May 2008

Wow, ok, it’s been a crazy few days/nights, and I’m struggling to keep track of the dates already!

In brief (who am I kidding?) – I travelled by night bus from Pokhara to Sunauli on Sunday, arriving at the Indian border on Monday morning. Crossing over was a bit bizarre, it was just a dusty road, rammed with traffic, and as I walked I kept passing signs that said “Welcome to India”. I tentatively asked several guards along the way if I shouldn’t get my passport stamped somewhere, but they just kept on waving me through!
I eventually found the immigration office off to one side of the road, but no one was paying them any attention, and hundreds of people were just walking past, so they clearly aren’t too fussed (and after all that drama getting a bloody visa too!).

However I decided I really should try to enter the country legally, to avoid any further hassles encroaching on my beach-time. I asked them to stamp me in, but the guard informed me I had to first go back and get stamped out of Nepal!
It turns out the Nepali immigration office is even harder to find, tucked in a tiny building off the main road, it was quite a search to find it!
But eventually, I did find it, and a rather put-out looking guard grudgingly stamped my passport, and back I went again, All highly amusing! Continue reading →