Jaisalmer 24th-30th November 2010

Ended up getting a private bus to Jaisalmer from Jodhpur. Not a great idea, the private bus stand cost more to get to, and when I went to buy a ticket the guy working there was doing opium behind the counter….not confidence inspiring, The bus itself was crowded and my seat was above the wheel arch meaning a lack of leg room. Once we were out of the city the countryside became more and more sparse until we were in semi desert. After 5 hours we got to Jaisalmer and I met a man about a hotel that I had organised to look at back in Jodhpur, so as to get a free ride into town from the bus station.

Ended up in the back of a jeep with an English girl who was going to the same place. The rooms themselves were nice and the owner offered me a cheap price for the room…said I would think about it and had a drink in the roof restaurant with the English girl…It didn’t take long for the owner to start hassling us about a camel safari….I made it pretty clear that I was planning to stay in town for a few days before booking anything…he seemed put out, then he started coming on to the girl very aggressively and seemed to get annoyed when I talked to her…..she wasn’t having any of his advances and when she was out of the room for a minute the guy told me that he had another room I could look at next door , I agreed to have a look but as soon as I was out of the building I was handed my luggage and basically told to fuck off….”what about the room you showed me for 150 rupees?” I asked….what room?” came the reply, “this is impossible the room doesn’t exist!”

I got pissed off at this, not so much for being kicked out of the hotel ( I had pretty much decided I didn’t want to stay there more than a night by this point) but because they had wasted half an hour of my time. Ended up shouting at the luggage lackey who show me out….In fairness he did apologise straight away. ( I ran into the English girl the next day and said it was pretty clear why the dude had got rid of me, she had ended up staying elsewhere too). This dude was one of the sleaziest people I had me so far in India…however I was soon to meet the coolest hotel manager in India at the rather strangely titled “Hotel Swastika” down the road…… ( historical note the Swastika is originally an Indian symbol meaning peace and representing the universe, The mirror image of the Indian Swastika was adopted by Hitler as the Nazi party symbol in the 1930’s and the image has since got a bad wrap , its really common to see Swastikas on signs all over India)

After checking a few places who had cheap rooms but seemed just as likely to try pressure me into their Camel safari I met an middle age guy called Adi who ran the hotel swastika, instantly seemed like a trust worthy character as he was chilled and didn’t mention camel safaris. Ended up paying a bit extra to get a clean and quiet room there, the perfect place to recover fully from whatever had been making me ill in Jodhpur.

That night I went up into town and found a restaurant to eat in, when the food came it was exceptional. Had an egg curry and a dhal fry that were easily as good as those in the “cinnamon tree” ( Cardiff curry house ) for a fraction of the price about 3 pounds in total. Seeing that I was running out of Jappatis the waiter asked if I wanted some more, I told him I had no more money on me and he insisted on throwing in a couple for free…when my bill came they had also given me a 20 percent discount ( I guess they thought I must be really struggling for money ) …awesome really kind of them, would go back again on many occasions to eat over the next week and every time they would give me a further discount to get me to come back….No complaints there the food was awesome….like the way this “backshish” thing works…..That evening I would spend some time exploring the city fort ( a quarter of the city population still lives inside) and then go to the government Bhang Lassie shop for a pre bed drink….slept like a log that night for the first time in 2 weeks…

Next day I went back up to the fort to do some more exploring, was chilling by a pretty impressive viewpoint and recording some local musicians, when I heard someone call my name…it was Tom the guitarist I had met In jodhpur who was sitting in a rooftop restaurant across the way. Joined him for a bit and ended up hanging out for the rest of the week and booking a camel safari together through the hotel swastika….

The next couple of days were very relaxed spent the daytime wandering in the fort and by the chilled lake ( see photos), and the evenings eating out before hitting the lassie shop. All the hotels in town locked up at 11pm so spent most of the nights messing around with the music apps on my I-pod. Jaisalmer is a really cool town, quiet and picturesque after a few days of chilling out made a full recovery to health.

The day before the camel safari met another English guy in the hotel called Steve and went on a tour of some local Jain temples along with Tom ( who was now also staying in the Swastika). The temples were pretty cool always think the design on Jain temples is the more interesting than Hindu or Moslem ones ( See wiki under Jainism if you don’t know who Jain was ). That evening ate and then went to a place called the artists lodge to see some local Rajiput musicians playing, was pretty cool but felt a bit awkward when I was pulled up onto the dance floor by the locals to join in some dancing…hmm haven’t got the Hindi dance style down at all….., gonna have to improve if im gonna make it big in Bollywood!

The camel safari was booked over 2 days, with an evening sleeping under the stars in between at the Sam sand dunes. The original party consisted of myself and the other 2 brits from the swastika. We were later joined by an Australian couple….After hearing so much about the camel treks and then seeing how many tourists there were in Jaisalmer doing them I had mixed anticipations on the trek. Had heard some pretty bad reviews in town. ….

We got a jeep for about half an hour and then met our guide and 3 camels by the road side…..strapped the equipment onto the back of the saddles ( including Toms guitar for proper campfire sing-along) and then mounted up….Camels truly are strange creatures… they walk with an real up and down motion causing much irritation to the inexperienced rider in the leg/thigh/groin area…..we walked for about 2 hours through the desert scrub and then stopped for lunch…by this time my groin was feeling pretty painful… ate a meal prepared by our guides and then sat around for another 2 hours until the heat of the day had subsided….after another hour of trekking we reached the sand dunes where we would camp for the night….fairplay there weren’t too many other tourists around, but there were plenty of tourist hustlers there even though….we ended up buying a cold beer off a “Kingfisher Walla” ( felt a really British thing to do, and it kind of ruined the illusion of the dunes, but hell it was hot out ) . Also paid a family of locals a small fee to record them playing and singing a traditional song….was beginning to build up a fairly decent audio scrapbook by this point.

After sunset we ate and sat round the campfire for the evening drinking whisky and playing guitar…the local guides only wanted to hear Bob Marley esp. Buffalo Soldier……luckily I remembered a few Marley songs from my revision session in Turkey earlier in the year, and managed to work out a makeshift version of Buffalo soldier on the spot that seemed to go down well with the audience….

By 9pm all of our party were in bed apart from me. I was determined to keep the fire going and play music under the stars ( that were impressive btw but no better than those you can see in rural Britain in summer). After gathering some wood ( dry bits of bush ) and trying to coax the fire back to life with no success ( really hard to get air into a fire built on sand ) I gave up and went to bed on a set of blankets laid on the sand. After a few minutes our camp was over run by a herd of goats…hilarious… I was asleep by the time they left…

Next thing I knew it was 4am and really cold….the moon had risen and the dunes were silent and illuminated brightly in moonlight giving them a real lunar feel. Got up to use the toilet and then wandered around for a bit on the moonlit sand A very surreal feeling possibly the highlight of the whole trek for me. The next morning we warmed up and rode for another 2 hours through landscape similar to southern Spain. At 11.30 stopped for lunch and then got a jeep back to town not long after, as the other guys had a train to catch to Delhi.

I think about a day and a half was enough time to spend on a camel and about all the chaffing and groin stretching I was up for…the dunes themselves weren’t that impressive and the stars weren’t as mind blowing as I had heard ( probably needed to be further from civilisation and on a moonless night to really get the best view)…however it was great to get into the countryside for a few days and cheap enough for the trip. My lasting feeling about the camel trek though was that I should have done one when I was in Sinai in the proper desert…

That afternoon said goodbye to my travelling companions for the week ( after copying all the e-book lonely planets I would need for the rest of the trip from Steve’s computer…thanks man !). This was actually the longest I had hung out with anyone since I started travelling in May so felt a bit strange afterwards, although I was looking forward to meeting some new faces ( hopefully female ) in the coming days. That night did the regular Jaislamer evening routine. ( fort view till sunset, then food and lassie shop before hotel lock in at 11pm) Had an early night as was starting to get a cold……. oh well at least I felt healthy for more than a day in a row this time………

Overall loved being in Jaisalmer even if the camel trek didn’t live up to expectations, was an awesome place to hangout for a week with some interesting company and helpful locals, and the best hotel I’ve ever stayed in in India!, Despite the somewhat off putting name the staff at Hotel Swastika were totally straight with you and non invasive, but happy to be of service upon request, would totally recommend anyone on a budget to stay there ( also check out Monica restaurant the place with the great curry)…… Was also cool to have access to a guitar again, need to pick up my own soon ,……... Next and final stop in Rajasthan, the lake city of Udaipur………

Pushkar / Jodhpur 19-23rd November 2010

Pushkar Photos









The queue at Ajmer rail station







Jodhpur Photos







The deluxe bus to Pushkar was smooth enough, apart from the guy across the isle from me constantly spitting on the floor. When I got to Ajmer seemed like there wasn’t much to do so jumped straight onto the local bus to Pushkar. Got chatting to a local guy who worked at a hotel in town and arranged to look at a cheap room when we got there. The Pushkar camel fair was about to reach its climax and I had been warned to expect hugely inflated accommodation prices. The room itself was better than the one in Jaipur so I booked it for a couple of nights. On first impression Pushkar seemed like a pretty chilled out place, from what I could make out in the dark it was in a nice location, built around a lake with a few temple mounted hills surrounding.


Being a holy city alcohol was meant to be banned but the guy who sorted me out with the room instantly offered to get me a beer, I gave him some money and he came back 20minutes later with a large bottle of strong strength larger and some whisky for himself ( I think the money I passed over was paying for both of us to drink ). We drank on the roof terrace for a while and then I went down to the festival site or “Mela”. It was pretty much like Glastonbury after the bands finish, lots of people, loud music from sound systems + stalls selling overpriced goods and food. Only there was no booze and all the music was Hindi. I walked by a Ferris wheel that looked like possibly the most dangerous thing I would see in India. Absolutely no safety precautions looked like one rusty bolt was holding the whole thing together….not for me thanks.

After a hour or so of walking around and talking to the locals ( every one wants to know your name + where your from ) went back to the hotel and crashed out around 2am.
The next morning the drawbacks of my room became painfully obvious….the windows had no glass meaning that all the noise of motorcycles and people talking ( shouting by Uk standards) in the street woke me up. Also there was a pungent smell of burning garbage filling the room, think someone was warming their chai stove below my room. I haven’t had a proper nights sleep since I got to Rajasthan. There is usually noise of the hotel staff talking/shouting loudly until the early morning in the corridors, and then again early in the morning + traffic sound if your near the front of the building. Not sure if the Rajasthani population are generally loud, but don’t remember it being this noisily last time I was in India.

After a while got up, the sun was out and the streets were fairly busy with people, decided to head straight up to the Mela ground to have a look at the camels that had enticed me to the festival. After getting to the area the camels were kept it was pretty obvious that most of the livestock was already gone….turns out most of the camel trading was at the beginning of the week…still saw some pretty impressive beasts though. Like most festivals the Pushkar fair had attracted all manner of traders and scam artists from outside of town. Was approached by many a gypsy woman trying to entice me into a private dancing session via asking me to take their picture and buy them a cup of chai in exchange. I bought the first one a tea for free and had a chat while constantly declining her offers of a free henna tattoo. Still was interesting talk to people from a totally different background.

After getting tired of offers for a camel ride ( worse than at the Pyramids ) decided to climb to the top of one of the nearby hills to visit a Hindu temple and get a view of the town from above. After a few wrong turns eventually made it to the base of the path up the hill….got chatting to a couple of local cops about cricket on the way up, a common conversation when talking to Indians who don’t speak great English. ( as football is in most other countries) I managed to bluff my minimal knowledge about test cricket into a decent enough conversation then continued up….passed a lot of pilgrims on the way everyone was super friendly. At the top the view was spectacular on one side the town and the lake with surrounding hills, and on the other the Rajasthani desert stretching out to the horizon. Stayed up there for a hour or so talking to people and watching a monkey trying to steal food from a families picnic.

Afterwards had a quick look at the Ghats ( Hindu devotional platforms) surrounding the lake in town( quick as it is quite common to be approached by an unscrupulous priest offing to do a blessing or “puja” and then demanding extortionate rates for the service after ).

Then I wandered into town and got some street food on a plate made of dried leaves. After finishing looked round for a bin ( a rare sight in India) and not finding one decided I would do as in Rome and litter. Unfortunately the place next to a tree I decided to put my used plate down to turned out to be a mini shrine to Shiva. I was instantly under extreme verbal attack from an old woman. Did my best to apologise and ease the situation, but ended up having to leave the scene post haste…typical that my first act of littering would insult a religion…from now on I’ll find a ready formed garbage pile in the streets to add to.

Spent the rest of the day walking the streets to the point of exhaustion, there seemed to be more and more people arriving at the fair, until by late afternoon the streets with choka block full. Its estimated that at its height 200,000 people are at the festival, one and a half times the amount at Glastonbury in a smaller area. Went up to the temple on the hill opposite the one I had gone up earlier to watch the sunset ….chatted with some other travellers who were up there….a really spectacular view again. That night watched an impressive fireworks display from the hotel roof and then wandered the streets again. The town was now at bursting point with party going Indians…got the impression I wasn’t the only one in town sneaking a drink in…..got lost for about an hour on the way home and finally made it back to the hotel at midnight….by the sound coming from outside of my room all night at that point the party had just started …..

Next morning got the bus back to Ajmer to catch a train to Jodhpur (the city the riding trousers are name after). The streets were still packed with people as even more came to town for the final day of the fair. Had to walk about 2km with my pack while refusing many an offer to have it carried on a baggage cart. I got to the bus stop to find a few busses that were already jammed packed full and a few empty ones…..Went to a empty one to try and avoid the crowd…..I asked the driver loudly if the bus was going to Ajmer and as soon as he replied “yes” I was instantly engulfed in a crowd of locals who pushed me out of the way of the door and then began pushing each other. It was every man for himself, women and children being pushed out of the way while the men tried to get their own families on. A bunch of people simply bypassed the Queue ( for lack of a better term) and climbed in through the windows…eventually got on and was offered a seat…the funny thing is after all the commotion there were enough seats for nearly everyone to sit down. Ended up giving mine to an old woman and standing for the 25minutes ride anyway…..at the station in Ajmer the rush to get off the bus was just as intense….crazy but good fun!.

I walked the 2km from the bus station to train station surrounded by another entourage of local youths who had been on the bus from the camel fair . They all had replica bow staffs from the festival and declared themselves my personal body guard…hilarious we marched the streets at pace in formation as was running late for the train…. fairplay they got me to the station and showed me where the ticket office was……….my heart sank to see the ticket office itself was rammed full of people ( see photo)…had to queue for 40 minutes to get my ticket and only got it with 5minutes to spare before the only train to Jodhpur left. Seeing a tourist at the front of the queue about 3 people behind me tried to jump in front when I started buying my ticket, I got pissed off and shouted at one of them to back off and the ticket seller started going mental at them drawing the attention of club wielding policeman who were supervising the queue…was left in peace to make my purchase… my ticket was second class no seat reservation……5.5 hours on a train for less than a pound …cheap even by Indian standards British rail take note……well having said that did spent the first hour of the journey standing near the toilet block surrounded by other people but at least I had leg room…... After a few stops someone who was lying on a luggage shelf offered me to share half the space so I spent the next 4 hours sat next to my pack on the edge of the shelf above a packed bench of locals with my head ducked under the ceiling…..not the most comfortable but still better than next to the toilet and “that” smell. The dude who gave me the seat didn’t speak good English but insisted on feeding me. I shared dinner with him and his friend…and talked about test cricket……For every person in the country that is trying to befriend you for your spending power there seem to be ten who are completely genuine like this guy……wish I could have made better conversation, will have to work on my Indian language skills (and cricket knowledge for that matter )


Got to Jodhpur station at 8pm and met a guy from England called Tom who was travelling round with a guitar. We were both on a similar budget so got a rickshaw into the old city and found a cheap room after doing an hour or so of bargaining around various guest houses. Was cool to meet another guitarist ( and have access to a guitar after a few weeks,) and Fairplay the guy could play some awesome alt tuning blues slide stuff… gave me some good ideas to try develop my style. Ate on the roof top and had a couple of beers. The fort in Jodhpur was massive and dominated the hill above the hotel. On first impression the city seemed way more chilled that Jaipour.

The next morning sorted myself a single room out for a couple of nights in the same hotel then went up to the fort. It was raining by the time we got there and not cheap to enter , 300hundered rupees ( still only £4.50 mind , ) but the view from the battlements was awesome. Jodhpur is called the “blue city” as most of the buildings in the old city are painted blue.( See photo for image that doesn’t do view justice ) Afterwards checked out a bit more of the city by exploring the winding streets but the rain was heavy enough by this point to give them that special “Download festival feel” so spent most of the afternoon in the guest house patio using the free wifi ( a real rarity in India).

That evening got chatting to a kiwi and Irish guy over dinner and then retired fairly early…..not long after getting to my room began to feel really ill. Nausea and stomach pains…..had been wondering how long I could last with out getting sick…..my guess was around a week and a half before I came and proved to be bang on…..had a rough night but felt a lot better in the morning.

Decided to have a recovery/admin day as it was still raining and I would have another chance to see the city on the way back from the desert. Spent most of the afternoon sorting out bits and bobs online for the south Asia leg of the journey in the new year. That evening decided to go to a nice restaurant and spent double my usual dinner budget in hopes it would help my stomach. ( still came to less than a fiver ) Never thought I would get tired of cheaply priced curry, but the lack of anything else on the menu ( apart from Chinese or badly prepared pizza/spaghetti) was starting to bring me down…still the food in the Nirvana restaurant tasted fresh and the dinning area was clean…after dinner wandered the streets for a bit and then came back to the hotel to rehydrate myself . (Incidentally I highly recommend dissolvable rehydration salts as a hangover cure, you can get them from most chemists/pharmacists. Trust me they will work miracles if you drink before bed or first thing in the morning after a heavy session )

Decided to have an early night, get a bus to Jaisalmer in northern Rajasthan the following morning and then try and find a decent camel trek once the weather had improved.

Jaipur 16-19th November 2010

The train ride during the day was uncomfortable at best after a night of broken sleep on the sleeper berth ( see photo) . The shout of “Chai..chai ….CHAI “ from the tea sellers at every given opportunity hadn’t helped + weird gangs of transvestite train dwellers that clapped their hand loudly at people who didn’t give them money, didn’t make for a peaceful nights sleep…..creepy!. There was an English couple in the berths next to me to talk to and plenty of Indian kids wanted to practice their English so managed to pass the time. Finally got into town at 7.30pm. Managed to find a cheap room in the banipark area of the city after looking at a few different options with my tout provided rickshaw driver. The room was pretty dirty but had an en-suite bathroom and a TV. Ordered a curry through room service for about 80p and spent the evening watching bollywood movies and cricket highlights.

Next morning awoke at 10am to the sound of heavy rain to find the room in darkness, turned out the my window only lead onto a large ventilation shaft, oh well you win some you lose some. Not long after turning on the lights there was a power cut that left me in total darkness again. Got my stuff together using the light of my mobile and went to reception to see what was occurring.

The rain was heavy…chucking it down, after trying to wait it out for an hour to no avail decided to walk towards the old city to do some soggy sight seeing. Jaipur is the capital of the state of Rajasthan . A busy, bustling Indian city, the entire walled old city area was painted pink in the 18 hundreds giving the nickname of “the pink city”. After a few minutes of walking in the rain along streets that looked like the final day of Glastonbury 2007, a car pulled up. Got chatting to the Indian driver who had lived in England. He offered me a lift to the old city gates, seemed honest enough so I jumped in. Turned out I had been going in the wrong direction and the old city was way further away than it looked on the map. So it was good fortune to get a lift from a well meaning stranger, and something that happens very rarely in the UK. Got dropped just down the road from the walls of the old city….it was still raining hard..

Within 2 minutes of walking through the gates I was invited for chai by a very pushy dude who said he just wanted to practice his English.. Went for a tea and then there was an invite for dinner to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid…I politely declined this, was probably a genuine offer but I wanted to explore the city on my own terms during the day without having to accommodate for any one else.

I walked towards the city palace and got chatting to an older guy called Shankar who was a musician. He invited me to his house for chai and a chillum. Seemed like a trustworthy guy so went along and had a good chat about music of all kinds, listened to him playing the flute and then went to the local Hindu temple to hear some devotional music. I loved India classical and religious music and the music in the Govind temple was awesome. Later on did some more exploring of the city and had more Chai with Shankar ( by this point I got the impression he was angling towards me marrying his 16 year old daughter, I made it pretty clear I was planning to stay single for the time being ) .Later I went with him to a Hindu offering ceremony where I was handed 51 rupees by the priest ( a bit awkward but I took the money so as not to offend, usually you get asked to pay money a these kinds of things and often priests will scam tourists by doing a puja or blessing and then asking for extortionate rates of money for the service. For good Karma I would disperse the 51 rupees over the next couple of days to the needy round the city ) .

Got totally lost on the way back home later that evening but eventually managed to find my hotel by blind luck after a 2 hour walk marathon through mud containing good knows how many germs and chemicals, ah well at least it had stopped raining…. The sight and smells of the city, both good and bad, had been and assault on my senses. Crashed out early, it had been a long but fulfilling day.

Next day went back to Shankar’s place and was introduced to his “student” who worked in The Jewel import/export business ( hmm suspicious….was well aware of how travellers have been ripped of by Indian jewellers, saw it first hand on my last trip here…)

Was then offered a free ride on a motorcycle to see the Hanuman ( monkey God ) temple on the far side of town. In India there is usually some kind of catch for any offer but I decided to accept the ride on good faith and see what happened after.

The dude who was driving me there was nice enough and the motorcycle ride through the backstreet of the town at pace was good fun. The temple itself was on a hill overlooking the city and the view from the top was incredible…..When your inside the city amongst the dirt and traffic its hard to see what the attraction of Jaipur is, ..but viewed from above in context of its setting ( a dry lake bed surrounded by mountains) it has a magical quality…..

After touring the temple complex and drinking more chai…I asked about going to the hill fort on the other side of town was told I needed to go back to town to talk to the boss and then we could get a car up to the fort. Had the impression I was going to end up in a jewellery store and I wasn’t wrong….20 minutes later I found myself sat opposite Mr Shankar’s “student” in a small office at the back of a jewel merchants.

Being aware that I was going to be made a proposal of some kind, (e.g. getting jewels sent to me to avoid export tax, buying travellers cheques for money laundering etc) I decided to move first, and casually brought up in conversation over tea that last time I was in India one of my friends had been ripped off by jewellers, also mentioned I had worked in Finance and said I wasn’t interested in getting involved in exporting as it was too much hassle…..the guy seemed to get the impression I knew what the meeting was really going to lead to and after tea I was told I could hire my own rickshaw to get to the fort, the offer of free transport having now been subtly revoked. Was happy enough with this and thanked them for providing me with a free ride to the temple….with a bit of foresight had managed to work the situation to my advantage and get a free tour……..

The walk to the fort was cool, through winding backstreets then up a steep zigzagging path to the top of the hill. Ended up with an entourage of local kids following me up Rockey style, eventually they started to get really annoying though, managed to lose them at the fort gates….another impressive view of the city was to be seen from inside, stayed until sunset and then hitched a ride back into town on a motorcycle with some more well meaning locals. Spent the rest of the evening wandering the town and eating curry.

The next afternoon got a deluxe bus to Ajmer on the way to the last 2 days of the famous Pushkar camel festival.

Jaipur was a good experience and a lesson that, despite finding yourself in the odd jewellery shop now and then, its good to engage with the locals in order to see the Indian culture first hand. Think two days there was enough though the busy streets were starting to do my head in like in Cairo…hopefully Pushkar would offer something different.

Mumbai 12-15th November 2010 ( the story of my Bollywood acting debut)

The difference between easy jet and British Airways is as vast as the difference between Owen Phillips and the Pope. With free wine and in seat movies the 9 hour flight flew by. Took me about 1.5 hours to get through immigration at Mumbai Airport . The local time was 2am by that point. Not wanting to piss around trying to find a cheap hotel at that time, I booked a room for about 20quid ( as cheap as I could barter them down ) through the airport information office. The weather was nothing like London. The humidity in India is killer, it isn’t as hot as the middle east, but much more uncomfortable because of the constant film of moisture that clings to your skin.

Once I got to the hotel it was obvious it wasn’t worth 20quid a night, but having been to India before I was expecting to get ripped off for the first few days before I found my feet, I gave a 10 rupee tip to the bell boy about 20p) which he seemed really happy about, later on he would help me to get in touch with room service, when I didn’t tip him again he gave me a look like I just assaulted his mother until I eventually had to shut the door in his face ….no more pleasantries….yep back in India again alright…remember It took me a while to get used to the cultural differences last time I was here , at least I had a running start this time…..

Next morning got a taxi to the centre of the city and then tried to get straight onto a train to Rajasthan an area in the north west of the country ( Mumbai is expensive relative to other parts India). I was told that the next train wasn’t until Monday ( 2days away). I booked a ticket on the night train at around 5 pounds for a 22 hour journey and then begrudgingly went into the city to try find a cheap room,….

It was getting hot by this point and the streets were busy ( though not as bad as Cairo ) I walked for about 30mins with my pack on to get to a tourist office that was shut on Saturday afternoons…curses!!**@@!!….. I then walked back to the train station again only to find that the area I was looking for was back near the tourist office that I had just come from… jetlag and maps aren’t a good combination…..drank some water and then headed back again towards the Colaba area of the city…was feeling weak and tired by now…..

I eventually ended up getting a dorm room in a hostel after looking at a few singles around Colaba that weren’t worth the extra money. While I was walking around I was stopped in the street by a casting agent from a Bollywood soap who was looking to cast foreigners as extras for an episode set in England…A friend from Canada had done it a few years back and said it was a laugh + the pay was 500 rupees and free food all day …

“where do I sign up fella?!!!”

That night went out for dinner +drinks with some other travellers in the hostel ….All super cool people with good advise for India…..the food was cheap and really good, about £1.50 for your fill of curry. Afterwards we went to the five star hotel The Taj Gateway to see if we could get a drink… the bar was a bit shit so we ended up just hanging out in the air conditioned lobby ( see photo) and using the restrooms. Barak Obama had stayed there 5 days beforehand and there seemed to be a few millionaires wandering around. Eventually security asked us to leave. There was a heavy security presence around the hotel, bag scans on way in etc…this wasn’t surprising, the Taj was one of the hotels that was attacked by Moslem extremists in 2008 resulting in a 2 day siege….was really surreal thinking about what had happened there……

Went to bed at 1am and then got up at 6.30 for my 7am-7pm shift on the film set…..time to shine! The meeting point was just up the road…was met by an Indian guy in fashionable clothing who asked me if I was going to Bollywood…in all there were about 17 of us as extras…..we all piled into cars to take us to the set….Imagining I was going to a huge film lot with a shining “BOLLYWOOD” sign above the gates, I was a bit disappointed when we pulled up 2 minutes later at the local university buildings…..

The first 3 hours involved sitting around in an AC cabin and chatting to other travellers…had free food and drinks and exchanged travel stories ..the group consisted of me an English guy an Italian, 3 fins, 2 Danes, 5 Aussies, 3 Chinese girls, a French girl and a Dutch girl and 2 Germans.

After a while we were told that the soap was called “Kismet” or “Destiny” and story was of an Indian guy called Aditerage who was studying in England in 1966...he was in Love with an English girl called “Catherine Bennett “ and had to defeat the local hard man “Tommy (TJ) Jones” in a boxing match to win her love…..the script was hilariously bad and it soon became clear that some of us would have speaking lines in it too….

“hmmmm, I don’t remember discussing this with my agent when the fee was set”

Next step was costumes, a very pushy Indian girl in charge of wardrobe proceeded to give us the most horrendously bad fitting and non 60’s looking outfits ever…the girls weren’t happy at all with their dress selections, while the guys were finding it hilarious….initially I was given an extremely tight shirt and waistcoat and a pair of trousers that didn’t fit…bearing in mind that I would be wearing this in the heat all day I told the wardrobe girls half jokingly that we needed a “radical rethink on my image“…thankfully they went along with me, and I ended up with a loose fitting pair of slacks and a polo shirt that was too small for me…looked more like someone from “this is England 86” than a sixties college student……

Others weren’t so fortunate…al lot of people had heavy sweaters and some even winter coats on…the first scene involved standing around in the background of the building gardens while a few lines were read…It was hot as hell already but then a huge reflective screen was set up to reflect the sunlight onto the actors….poor bastard must have been sweltering, luckily I was moved into the shade halfway through the scene..

After lunch I was handed a script and told that I would be reading lines with a Finish guy alongside an Indian extra and one of the regular actors on the soap….

Hilarious the Finish guys English wasn’t the best , but they insisted on using him even though he tried to point out on many occasions that lots of other extras could speak better English….

The Scene went like this.

Guy 1: ( in heavy finish accent ) Did you hear who Aditerage is up against in the boxing?…..its TJ!”

Guy 2 : ( Indian extra/wannabe star in Indian/American accent) “Tommy Jones!”

Guy 3 : (ME ) “ then he’s had it,….. TJ will kill him”

We all then laugh unconvincingly….

Mamood ( regular actor on soap delivered in typical over dramatised style)

“its not funny guys ( pause for effect then serious face) ..it could be dangerous”

The whole thing felt like something right out of Dark Place, I tried to deliver my line in the style of Sanchez…the director really didn’t seem to care how bad the acting was although the difference between us and the professional actor was blatantly obvious…..after 4 takes we were done

Next I had to walk up and down a path in the back of another scene with a Dutch girl over and over and over again…by this time I was shattered….. I thought we were through for the day when I was handed another script and given more lines to say alongside the light skinned and very attractive Indian girl Playing “Catherine Bennett “ .By this point in the script the hero of the story had developed a gambling habit after being rejected by said Ms. Bennett

My line was “ I don’t know about that, but he won over one hundred pounds”

This scene also involved an Italian whose English was worse than the Fins and German guy who sounded so much like Arnold Swartzeneger when he delivered his line ( “ he’s become a gambler”) that I had to fight hard not to burst into laughter and ruin the take…

The Indian girl who played Catherine got 2000 rupees ( 40 pounds) for saying 1 line over 2 takes and then left the set as fast as she had arrived in a mood …2000 rupees for that????…. I need to fire my agent!!

At the end of the day we all had to record our lines again vocally with the sound recordist so they could overdub them in the final edit…… (no idea why, but during the overdubbing a flock of crows were making a huge racket in the trees so maybe they wanted to drown out the traffic noises in the background …)

I have to see this show now!, will be so weird hearing my voice overdubbed on my own face…apparently the programme will be out in December, hopefully before I leave India.

After collecting my wages went out for a few beers with some of the other extras, ended up on a really cool little bar that had the best music selection I have ever heard in a pub. Had a good chat about Spurs, bands and the Big Lebowski with the English dude and a good discussion about Anthropology with some of the girls who were studying for a semester in Mumbai…so far the other travellers I have met in India have all been really chilled and likeminded people….

Went to bed rather drunk after banging on the locked door of the hostel for a few minutes…Check out next morning was at 9am……felt pretty rotten, checked my bag in the luggage room and spent a couple of hours down by the Gateway to India (over rated monument from colonial times ) trying to avoid touts and shake off a headache…after a few hours the sun came out and I was feeling better. I wandered the streets of Mumbai quite happily…was really enjoying being in India…went to the book sellers corner on Mahatma Gandhi road. A really cool little book market right on the sidewalk, .

I’m not sure if its just cause the US president had been there the week before, but the city seemed a lot cleaner and developed than last time I was there…communications technology has definitely changed things too, nearly everyone has a mobile phone.

That evening I got the local train to Bandra terminus, an hour north of the city centre ( but still in Mumbai ), to get my night train to Jaipour in Rajasthan . The local train gave me a chance to see the slums of Mumbai…certainly dirty and ram shackle but they looked permanent and seemed to be thriving in many ways .Apparently there are millionaires living in some of the slums who have got rich through the localised cottage industries that service the slum dwellers…India seems to be pulling itself up by its bootlaces…….

Got on the train at 8pm, it had started raining outside and I was desperate to sleep…luckily had a top berth so climbed straight up and went to sleep…22 hours later I would reach Jaipour….

After not wanting to stay in Mumbai for longer than necessary, I ended up having a great time. Met some really cool people, and the day on the television set was one of the funest and funniest things I have done in ages…may try and pick up a couple more days work when I head back south towards Goa at the end of the month …you can easily live off 500 rupees a day in Mumbai…..but first its time to explore Rajasthan and hopefully find a camel trek into the dessert to see the stars at night …..

Haifa 7-9th November 2010

The bus from Tel Aviv to Haifa was only an hour and a half but in that time the scenery had become much greener. I got to the bus station and after more security and bag checks I jumped on the local bus to try and get to the train station that a hostel was nearby. When asking where I needed to get off it became apparent that less people speak English in the north than in Tel Aviv. I was told by one girl that the last stop was the train station. And the driver said he would let me know when we got there. After 20 minutes or so the bus stopped outside the port building the driver looked up mumbled something in Hebrew and then after a few seconds closed the doors and drove on….after another 20minutes it became obvious something was wrong as we seemed to be going out of town. We then reached the last stop that turned out to be another bus station. Seemed the girl who gave me instructions had substituted train for bus and the driver had been mumbling to me in Hebrew 10 minutes earlier in Hebrew that I was at my stop…..thanks drive!!! Another 6 sheckle bus ticket saw me get off in the right general area of town and find my hostel.


The “Port Inn” was a proper hostel infinitely better than “Petra hostel” in Jerusalem. Got a dorm room and then went for a wander in town. My first impression of Haifa was that there wasn’t much there just construction sights and office buildings. The whole town is built on the side of a hill so most of the walking was up hill through winding streets….After 2 hours of trying to find a decent looking place to eat I decided out of frustration I would eat at the next place I saw….I was in for a treat.

The next place I saw was a Kebab shop in the Hadar area of town……I don’t know what it was called but it was as moving an experience for me as anything I saw in Jerusalem…THE BEST KEBAB EVER by a country Mile….Israel is the undisputed king of the Kebab league now….I feel the need to devote some words to this:

A huge portion of meat donner in pita bread with humus, salad lumped on then and then more meat + curry and yogurt sauce on top ..this was exceptional by its self….., but If you ate in the restaurant you got a side plate of veg buffet for free and could help yourself to some amazing dishes to go with the Kebab….Mediterranean style aubergine, cauliflower..corriander with lemon, 5 different sauces ,chick peas salad and chillies + a bunch of stuff I had never seen or tasted the likes of before….I piled my plate high somewhat sheepishly hoping I wasn’t taking liberties, only to be handed another free side plate with falafels in a creamy sauce…… The combination of flavours was incredible… I was in Kebabylon for 15 minutes!!!…it was spicy too, at the end of the dish the seeds of one of the stewed peppers caught me out and were blowing my head off…. had to wait 5 minutes to recover feeling in my face …..ah man what a revelation! why aren’t end of night kebabs in Britain that good????…..I went to pay, feeling the whole experience was worth at least a tenner or even more, to be charged just 20 sheckles ( around 4 quid ) for the pleasure….outstanding….I will be highly surprised if I find another Kebab as good as this one anywhere in the world! Kudos mystery named Haifa Kebab restaurant…. Kudos to you!

That evening in the hostel I got chatting over a beer to a guy from DC who was on a bit of a religious pilgrimage round Israel by bike. A nice enough guy was interesting seeing how his experience of the holy land as a Christian differed from mine as an agnostic …

Next morning the previous nights chilli surprise was catching up with me and I was up early and in considerable pain…I don’t know why I have to “spice it up holmes!” all the time…..its hardly what the body needs after 2 weeks of digestive trouble…..ah who am I kidding I regret nothing!!

After some coffee in the hostel I set off to go on a free tour of Haifa centrepiece. The Baha’I gardens…Baha’I is the world youngest recognised religion and was started in the 19th century in Persia and the profit was known a “bob” (corruption of Arabic for gate) . The follows of Baha’I had built the gardens around the shrine of “bob” in the last 20 years to mark the place where he lived out his life in exile….The gardens themselves were on 18 terraces and looked a bit like a Chelsea flower show display meets Vegas mini golf course on steroids.

There was a free tour every day at 12pm so I set off in search of the entrance at the top pf the hill. Haifa streets seem to run from side to side up the hill with no clear cut through. After 30 minutes of hot uphill hiking I made it to the mid way point where I met a “helpful” taxi driver who told me the tour started at 1130 and I had 2 miles left to walk but he could help me out with a good price for a ride…..I knew this was bull shit and 15minutes later I was a t the gates with 15minutes to spare…what an asshole! You expect that kind of thing in Egypt and can even go someway to understanding it when people are really struggling for money …but this guy was obviously a con artist and could have potentially ruined someone’s day if they turned back because of his info…douchbag!!

Ah well rant over the garden themselves were impressive and got some good photos of the sea view around Haifa…….definitely worth the hike although bob’s shrine was under restoration so you couldn’t see it ….I seem to be having bad luck with that sort of thing ( see Berlin instalment)


After leaving the gardens I decided to try and find the beach for a swim…according to my map there were 2 beach areas, the closest of which took me about 45minutes to walk to… when I got there was no beach per say and swimming was prohibited.. My legs were killing me but I decided to start walking down the coast top see if the beach got any better… with no one else around on the trail and the sun shining down over the med I felt in splendid isolation and ended up walking about 5km down the shore to the next beach area…this involved an inadvertent trespass in some railway land…I decided to ignore what looked like warning signs as they were in Hebrew and feign ignorance if questioned….after about an hour or so I had to climb under a locked gate to reach the legal part of the beach…….it was worth the walk….when I did reach the bathing area (that seemed to be scattered only with the odd group of Russian pensioners ) my Dogs ( feet ) were barking ( sore ) so I dived right in . The water was crystal clear and the perfect temperature…so refreshing felt fantastic after putting in the effort to get there…after a couple of hours of sunning I got the bus ( same one I got the day before) back into town and then went back to Kebabylon to eat with the dude from DC ( on my wholeheartedly enthusiastic recommendation) … That evening had a few more beers in the hostel and got chatting to a couple of Canadians and a Mexican guy…..exchanged some good travel anecdotes and I have to say “the port inn” is one of the coolest hostel I’ve been to in a while. The travellers I met there were a different cut to the majority of partiers I had met in Europe over the summer ,most people had been or were going to India/SE Asia so I got some good advice for the next part of the trip.

With my budget in mind, I managed to call it a night around 11pm after declining an invite to the pub from the hostel staff …..Am I getting a bit more responsible ???? Hmm seems that way, its amazing how the urge to drink/party declines at the same rate as your budget…..

Next morning had a good conversation about anthropology + politics with the Canadian guys and then got the train back to Tel Aviv airport to await my flight…..


To get to India I had to fly back to London for a couple of days then get a flight from Heathrow to Mumbai ( long story but worked out cheaper to do that than fly direct from Israel)…..the security on the way out of Tel Aviv was tight…I had to unpack all of my stuff while the staff searched for traces of explosives in my bags, and asked me the same questions I had been answering all week at every train/bus station….after a 5 hour flight I was back in the UK and getting a night bus from Victoria to Crystal palace at 1am in the bitter cold. 2 days to sort everything out for the next 6 months now and then I’m off again…….next stop India …..watch this space



Middle East Summary

Well I’ve wanted to go to Egypt and Israel ( along with the rest of the middle east I didn’t get to ) for a long time and I have to say this trip was awesome. Was the perfect training exercise for the next extended leg…spend a week getting used to Egypt then a week of intense solo travelling on a budget in Luxor/Cairo/Alexandria then headed to Israel for a bit of a breather around the time I was hitting the first ( and worst )Fatigue wall of the trip Saw some amazing stuff +met some cool and interesting people.

The desert landscapes, and historical sites were obviously a highlight ,esp. pyramids at Giza and Sinai + Negev deserts, but also the trip was interesting from a modern cultural perspective. The experience of Egypt and Israel was vastly different ( bearing in mind I didn’t visit the West Bank properly in Israel). Egypt had the hectic third world vibe I had been wanting to experience while Israel in many ways was like being in a Hebrew speaking North Virginia in terms of the infrastructure, though the constant security checks and kids in uniform walking around with guns was a constant reminder that all was not well beneath the surface….

Would have loved to go to Petra but that will have to wait….maybe a trip to Syria/Lebanon/Jordan for a couple of weeks at some point in the future….overall I feel like this leg in the Middle East was a good taster of an area that’s is as politically complex as it is beautiful…………..

Tel Aviv 4-6th November 2010

Arrived in Tel Aviv around mid day and found my hostel pretty easily. The room was about 2 streets away from the beach. On first impression Tel Aviv reminded me of Vancouver minus the mountains ( so probably pretty similar to California coastal cities) Along the promenade were various muscle beaches, kite surfers, and parks that ran parallel to high rise office buildings and hotels on the edge of town. The sun seemed to be constantly shining above the sea.

My first stop was Old Jaffa to the south of the city ( cakes names after ) This was the original Ottoman fortification that the city was built around after portioning in 1948.
I met up with my friend Yaara who I had met in Venice earlier in the year. She was on leave from the army so had offered to show me around. Spent the afternoon/evening touring the different areas of the town. Its always good to have some local knowledge and Yaara was a lovely person to spend time with.....

It was Friday afternoon and the beginnings of Shabbat the Jewish holiday ( some people refuse to bowl at this time …..) so there weren’t many people in the streets. Friday evening is traditionally when families get together to have meals. ( see Venice instalment for more Shabbat anecdotes….) The feeling around town was very chilled out until around 11pm when people started hitting the streets to party. Hung out in some trendy areas where the buildings were all in an art deco style and the street were lines with shops and bistros….the vibes couldn’t have been more different to Egypt. Later we hit a few local bars, drinks weren’t cheap, we managed to get lost a few times along the way and I struggled to stay awake in parts of the night, but all in all was a great evening……


The next day I was suffering from lack of sleep and stomach problems again so had a slow start to the day…was hitting a travel fatigue wall and spent most of the day chilling by the beach and trying to re-hydrate myself. In the evening I walked back to the Old Jaffa area and saw an amazing view of the city from a hilltop park that contained some Egyptian ruins…..I was back in the hostel by 7pm and exhausted…. had to pass on an offer to go out again that night as the suggested meeting time was 12am (Israelis really do start late when they go out…. this is something ive been unable to adjust to, or maybe my age is starting to show? ) Was asleep by around 9pm and slept for a full 12 hours…..

Next day felt infinitely better took my time getting ready in the morning and then got a bus north to Haifa where I would spend the next couple of days. Tel Aviv was a great city, although I spent probably half my time there sleeping …sometimes you have to just take a break and get better as soon as possible…..still it provided some great, if brief, memories and was the perfect place to recover from a few weeks on the road… Lets see if Haifa brings more detailed adventures to report….

Jerusalem 3-4th November 2010

The bus from Cairo to Tabat ( Israeli boarder) was among the worst I have been on lately…the seats were in various states of repair and the air conditioning, again, seemed to be stuck on full blast making for another cold nights travel. Got to Tabat at 5am and then walked across the boarder, the difference between the Egyptian and Israeli infrastructure was immediately obvious. After a thorough bag search and questioning I was in Eliat and Israel! Managed to get a lift to the bus stop with some Americans who had come from back from Cairo on a day trip on the night bus and had a rental car waiting…skills saved forty sheckles. At 7am I was on the bus to Jerusalem……..

The landscape on the way through the Negev desert was amazing we passed by the dead sea ( surrounded by resort style hotel complexes) and the ancient fortress of King David at Masada. Unfortunately due to time restrictions I wouldn’t be able to visit either properly this trip.

Once in Jerusalem, and some more bag scanning at the bus station, I made my way to the old city to find a hostel. After negotiating with a few different “sales reps” I booked a dorm room in “Petra Hostel“. While the location was ideal, right next to Jaffa gate, the conditions were far from it. The floors were covered in dust from a construction site across the road and the staff were far from helpful. As the guide book put it the place had been visited by Mark Twain in his lifetime and not cleaned since. It was the cheapest I was going to find in town though (and still pretty expensive). Proportionally accommodation is well expensive in Israel. .My crappy dorm room worked out around 15pounds a night….bobbins lah!

My first sightseeing stop was a tour of the Old City ramparts. Pretty awesome the fortifications were built by the Ottomans in the 13th century and the views of the city from the top were amazing. After this I explored the city saw the western wall ate falafel and wandered around the Bazaar for a few hours taking it all in.

That evening returned to the dorm room and the overbearing smell of bad feet originating from a new occupant who was asleep in the dorm. Fearing a repeat of the horrors of AZ hostel in Prague earlier in the year, I instantly asked to be transferred to another room.

The soul inhabitant of the new dorm was a Jewish guy from Oxford called Dan. Dan was a forty year old drug and alcohol addict who was in Jerusalem to try and sort himself out. A really nice guy but with obvious problems. I shared a drink with him a learnt that he drank a bottle of vodka a day, was on prescribed methadone, anti depressants and had to take sleeping pills each night to sleep. A dangerous diet, to look at you couldn’t see much wrong with the guy apart from a slightly crazed look in the eyes and the voice of the super roadie from Wayne’s world 2.

After a few drinks in the hostel was ready to sleep and realised the time was only 9pm. The days seem a lot longer in the middle east, it gets light around 6am and dark by 5pm like winter back home, but the fact that its T shirt weather at the same time seems to be throwing my body clock somehow.



The next morning I sorted my bus ticket to Tel Aviv out and then got stuck into some more sight seeing in the old city. On my way to the mount of olives outside the city walls I ran into a crazy polish dude who had been living in America. He was also looking for the mountain so we went together. After a couple of minutes talking to the guy it became apparent that he was bonkers. He told me he was walking across Israel and sleeping rough wherever he could find a good spot. He looked the part for this, but he also said he had been in the US military …maybe true, but he was obviously in way worse condition than me and was out of breath halfway up the mountain.

All the way to the top he talked intensely about conspiracy theories such as: the nights templar were a homosexual Satanist sect, people who wear black and white combinations of clothes are vessels for unrestful spirits that are channelling their energy through them, various hidden symbols of power on the dollar bill had in his pocket ( I almost shouted “red team go!…. red team go! “), and various other babblings. At no point in his sermon did he actually say what the significance of any of this was to anything. I must have had a crazy magnet on in Jerusalem….. although this guy made Dan the junkie seem like Jeremy Paxman. In fact I got the impression that there were a lot of crazies drawn to Jerusalem…I guess you could say they had been going there for 2000 years or so.

I said goodbye to the Polish Profit at the top of the hill ( he had actually grown on me a bit by this point although anymore time spent in “lectures” would have been overkill.). I went back to the city to try see the dome of the rock but the gates were locked with a sign saying it was to holy for tourists to visit. I found out later it was only open in the mornings…..damn it that would have been cool. Next was the church of the holy sepulchre, built on the supposed sight of Christ crucifixion. It was typically rammed with Russian pilgrims, but have to say it was one of the cooler churches ive been too. Built on various different levels it had chapels from all denominations of the faith. Like an Epcot centre of Christianity.

That evening I bought some Vodka with Dan and we basically had a carbon copy of our previous conversations, on account of his bad memory. He was a pretty interesting guy though had a good knowledge of Israeli history, We then went to a shisa bar and after went to the new town. On the way Dan , who had been to Jerusalem many times showed me the sight of a bomb blast he had witnessed some years ago. I felt perfectly safe in Israel and it seemed like a Hebrew version of America to me, but the graphic description of the aftermath of the blast served as a reminder that the situation in the country is always volatile.

Dan had to go back to the hostel to take his medication(s) before too long so I said my goodbyes and stayed on in town and went to a few bars. Spoke to lots of Israelis who were all really friendly. Later I saw the worst blues band ever in one pub…… A 20minute sound check followed by one poorly delivered going through the motions number, and then another 5min sound check for some reason….Man that ain’t the blues…if you don’t got it you don’t got it…….

After a while I was pretty drunk….. with crissy bado threatening to make an appearance and beer selling at 5 quid a pint I went home early at around midnight. Seemed like 3am to me I later found out that 12am is the time most Israelis start going out…..

The next day had a mild hangover, left the hostel at 10 after talking with a Mexican guy at breakfast and caught the bus to Tel Aviv.

Only had a short while in Jerusalem but the old city was one of the coolest places ive ever been…a highlight along with the pyramids for this trip don’t think my words have done it Justice but im a bit behind on my blogs at the moment and the details are slightly hazy ….Its interesting to see the pilgrims and holy sights of the three major Semitic faiths in such close proximity….. the views and points of interest around the city were quite literally of biblical proportions…..

Alexandria 31 October - 2nd November 2010

Got to Alexandria in the late afternoon and found a cheap hotel along the sea front by the time the sun had set. The room was clean enough if you didn’t mind the odd cockroach but the shared toilet down the hall was straight out of trainspoting. With my stomach still not fully mended, I would recreate the famous scene ( less search for suppositories) a few times during that evening…..bad times! I decided the best thing for it may be to have a proper meal for the first time in a few days and replace some nutrients…found a clean looking restaurant…not bad: starters ,soup and main course + drink for about £3.50. (uk)

At first glance I wasn’t too blown away by Alexandria…. seemed pretty much the same as much of Cairo apart from having a sea front. I wandered around town for a while looking for something to do but it was pretty quiet in the streets, so had an early night.( again )

Next day started with breakfast in the same place I ate the evening before….( kebabs were the only thing on the breakfast menu….. Bigdogitus ensued ). Next a trip to one of the local coffee houses to plan my day. The coffee here was amazing , black and incredibly flavoured, the bottom 3rd of the cup contained the grounds so also strong as you like. A couple of cups of this stuff was like rocket fuel, and I set of at speed to check out the Greco-Roman sites the city was famous for.

My first destination was the Roman Catacombs which I decided, to my folly, to try and find on foot using the incredibly imprecise map in my guide book. After 30 mins walking down a dirty main road in town I came to the canal that the map indicated the site was adjacent too. Following the map I walked around the canal for another 15 minutes until it was clear that the position of the Catacombs on the map was inaccurate.

I found myself walking through an industrial area along side a stream that was clogged with refuse. No one around seemed to speak great English and didn’t seem to know where or what the Catacombs were. Annoyed and now roasting in the mid day sun I begrudgingly retraced my steps all the way back to the train station to try and find directions at the tourist info point…Along the way I found myself in some strange sheep market part of town where I seemed to be annoying all of the Sheppard’s by asking for directions. Got a sick feeling the locals were about to turn on me on mass (probably totally unfounded) and got the hell out of there quick sharp.

Walking around the Egyptian side streets on your own in a state of semi lost observation seems safe enough, and I do get a kick out off it ,imagining myself sometimes as a mist moving through the chaos…in reality, with no local knowledge on the ground, its impossible to know whether your presence is more like an annoying odour that will only be tolerated for so long…..generally though, I have felt really safe everywhere in the country. ( although constantly aware of the length of my hair)

When I got back to the centre of town the tourist info point turned out to be marked incorrectly on the map so I ended up hiring a taxi to take me to the entrance. This could be a risky business in terms of value as you could easily be overcharged and dropped at the wrong location. After some price negotiations and my refusal to get out of the car at a different historical destination ( Pompey’s pillar, only half way to the catacombs) I made it into the site.

The catacombs themselves were awesome, a subterranean Roman burial complex from the 2nd century AD, they were like something straight out of the last crusade. Spent a while exploring them along with some Japanese tourists. Next I made my way up to Pompey’s Pillar which was another impressive Roman site.

I then decided to get a taxi back to the train station in order to make it the town museum before it closed .( the mornings hike to “garbage canal” had put me way behind schedule for the day)

The taxi driver was a happy dude called Ali…( if anyone from Cardiff remembers Tom the Barman from Hannah Evans’ birthday camping weekend a few years ago, Ali was the Egyptian equivalent )

However due to an unfortunate misunderstanding he took me to totally the wrong place. When I said as a destination “Main railway station” he had answered (with what I thought was understanding ) “ yes important Station”

20 minutes of rush hour side streets later we arrived at the City Port Gate……Turns out “important station” was actually “In The Port Station“….ah well shit like this happens….the traffic was so bad by this point there was no way I would make the museum so I jumped out close to my hotel after having a broken conversation about Egyptian footballers “ Zakki, Mido etc “ with my driver…was refreshing to have a decent conversation ( or attempt of one ) with a taxi driver without worrying about being ripped off for a change.

That night I ate at McDonalds again after deciding to stick to western food until my stomach had recovered. The traffic jam was just as solid as it had been in the afternoon and the constant fumes and horn beeping were beginning to get the better of me for the first time since I got to Egypt…another quiet night was had once I had reached breaking point after 30mins or so of trying to walk the streets through the gridlock.

The next morning I had to get the train back to Cairo to get a night bus to Taba and the Israeli border, all the way back in Sinai close to Dahab. I arrived back in Cairo to more gridlock and a hellish attempt to find the bus station I needed without attracting tourist touts, who would offer to help me to the station and offer to get my ticket for me, only to then tell me that the bus was full and then offer me a tour of Cairo’s Egyptian markets. One such offer came straight away but I made it clear to the guy that I was only interested in directions to the bus station and nothing more ….later gave him a tip for providing exactly that service….( tipping or “baksheesh “ is a way of life here and I had started handing out small bits of change when I felt it had been earned through service. For example in depth directions and services of porters etc …not because I was being hustled but because it was the expected thing to do)

I bought my ticket from the bus station, which had an air conditioned Western style shopping mall above it , around 2pm and then walked out into the impoverished streets to kill some time before the bus left at 10pm.

This instant transition from western style comfort to surrounding poverty is always a surreal and moving occurrence for me. The difference between have and have-nots in the developing world becomes strikingly obvious…crazy (I wish I had time to devote more words to the subject but that’s not the aim of this blog.) .

Spent the next few hours wandering around some areas of Cairo that I had missed earlier in the week. Before long the noise of gridlock was doing my head in again and I went back towards the centre of town via the metro at the busiest time of the day. Okay on first impression I thought the metro had seemed efficient ( must have been in a quiet spell) but during rush hour it was crazy busy….. like a massive rugby maul, people pushing hard in all directions to get on and off trains…just had to go with the flow and hope like hell that no one fell down and caused a mass trampling……having survived one such powerful heave I had to laugh out loud at the madness of it all……..

Eventually made it back to the bus station/shopping mall and spent a few hours in quiet solitude before the night bus….had to admit I was feeling a bit Egypt-ed out by this point. The people had on the whole been fantastic hosts, but the claustrophobic feel of the inner streets could be hard to endure at times and I hadn’t really met any other travels to share to ordeal with. Was looking forward to getting into Israel the following day and finding a change of pace………