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Our Second Wonder of the World

9 February 2020 / Juliet Stratton

Saturday morning, up early, train to catch, you know – the one that took 2 hours to get a ticket for! Tuktuk to the station, ignoring the hassle from porters, went to go through a luggage scanner , “where’s your tickets please?” David looks at me, I look at him. Don’t you have it? No, don’t you? So backtracking to 24 hours ago, I do remember putting the printed ticket “safely” inside a zipped pocket so we search two rucksacks, in plain sight of 20 people queueing behind us, no ticket. FFS, (David mutters) I’m gonna have to empty the suitcases to find it…..10 minutes later, still no ticket, we learn that our train has been delayed by 6 hours anyway! The security man recommends a travel agency not so far away, it’s the only one open as today is a bank holiday, and he chucks us into another tuktuk, telling us to buy a ticket for the next train out, in 2 hours, maybe…. we just about manage to wedge 2 big suitcases, 2 rucksacks and 2 bodies into a tuktuk, my legs are hanging out the side, and off we go.

So the Official Government Travel Agency is blessed with a friendly man called Iffy ?. After listening to David bemoaning his secretary whilst trying to rifle through the suitcase again , spilling toiletries all over the office floor, Iffy offers us a cup of coffee, bottle of water and a seat and says “let me help you.”
Two hours later, after confirming that he cannot reprint our tickets (office closed) and the day’s next 4 trains are full, and we are MAD to try to “wing it” with our travel bookings, we plot out an itinerary with him that involves hiring a driver and guides in Rajasthan (the busiest and most complicated area) then trains and flights down the west coast, we pay him and are bundled into a car with Raj and begin our 3 hour journey to Agra.

David struggled with this plan but it proved that we are wet behind the ears simple tourists in a manic foreign country who know nothing, yet! Iffy is convinced that after 6 weeks with Raj we will be much wiser, ha ha ha…….

Short roadside break to watch goats and herons.

Our planned itinerary is for 12 weeks where we end up in Goa in time to meet with some friends Carol and Steve, who we met in Jamaica a few years ago! It was our original plan to head south to Goa and Iffy gently suggested a few more stops en route.

Raj dropped us at our hotel about 5pm and said to our horror, “see you at 6.30am, best time to visit the Taj Mahal!!” That evening, after unpacking our bags, guess what we find in an actual handbag, zipped internal pocket, our train ticket!!! It’s been assigned to the “lets not mention this” pocket of our suitcase!!

As you may have gathered, we are not morning people but understood the importance of avoiding the crowds so at 6.45am we were in the queue, purchasing entry tickets to the most beautiful and famous building in the world. The mist was rising from the River, the full moon was still out as the sun was rising, the monkeys were out playing and the birds were whistling around us. No noisy street vendors, just loud Americans and pushy Japanese, but our guide Yogi was great at noting where we were in the queue for the photographic “hot spots” and made sure that we had plenty of poses taken!

The building is stunning, there is no doubt about that. Perfectly symmetrical, pristine marble with inlaid colour of ebony, ruby, amethyst and amber, every carving is symmetrical, every stone in the footpaths and walls cut by hand. As the sun rose, the colours shone and the marble becomes almost translucent. You can understand why the Emperor Shah Jehan created such a beautiful building in memory of his wife, married at 17, who died giving birth to their 14th child, he must have loved her very much to honour her wish (to be buried in a beautiful shrine) and then eventually be buried there himself. It wasn’t all easy going for him, one of his own sons imprisoned him for 8 years in his own Fort nearby, whilst the finishing touches were made to the building so he could only watch it being completed. A grateful daughter ensured he was buried next to his wife and 18 years after the wife’s death, they were finally moved to a mausoleum within the main building and laid to rest. The gardens and buildings are simply stunning, there are no other words to describe it. Peaceful and calm, even the sound of the train nearby resembled a Buddhist chant, calming and warming.

We left the Taj Mahal 3 hours later for a much needed breakfast!

WARNING – WE ARE NOT AT OUR BEST PHOTOGENICALLY, AT 7AM. ?

Nice having someone to take photos of both of us and knows the best spots to stand for them 🙂

And….it was cold at 7am, about 10c, hence the scarf and jumper.

New Delhi Delights

8 February 2020 / Juliet Stratton

It seems “extra people” want to travel with us, first in the trailer from Bilbao, then on a BA flight from Heathrow, when an “extra” passenger was discovered! Turns out it was an inconsiderate woman who had moved seats and was counted twice!! Surprised she could move seats as the plane was full to bursting. We departed an hour late but still arrived at New Delhi airport on time, to an hour long immigration queue and very hot swollen feet!

We took a taxi from the Airport to our hotel and found we needed to sleep for a few hours, our body clock was saying “you should be asleep, its 5am” but local time was nearly midday! We slept well despite the noise outside and ventured down to Reception late afternoon.

“Where are you going” the Manager asked us, “oh, just outside to explore and get some fresh air”. “I will send a boy with you, he will help you cross the roads, and help you do whatever you need”. We thought this was a bit over protective until we stepped outside into the dusty, chaotic, nose to tail traffic where cars, lorries, busses, rickshaws, tuk tuks, scooters, bikes, ox carts, pedestrians and cows all vie for space and an extra few feet trying to move forward whilst honking their horns at every movement! Wow, were we pleased we had a “boy” with us, despite the boy being over 65 and shuffling with old age!! He guided us over the pot holes, avoiding the bikes and scooters that were travelling against the traffic, on the so called pavement, to a zebra crossing, that was totally ignored by drivers until you stepped in front of them. Even then rickshaws and tuk tuks didn’t necessarily stop, they just drove round us!!

Welcome to India, thrown into the deep end of New Delhi!!!

30 hours in and we have had 2 Indian meals and one Italian. A thali is very common, its a selection of small dishes, rice and bread, one meat dish, usually chicken, one vegetable curry, one salad or raita dish and one dish of lentils or dumplings in a sauce. You have the choice of vegetable or non vegetable! All the dishes are served together for the princely sum of £3.00. That was dinner last night and lunch today, so dinner tonight was in a very British area called Connaught Place (named after George V’s uncle and built to resemble Bath), an Italian restaurant, chicken lasagne and salad, and lamb stew and grilled veg for David, no curry spices! A shared meze starter, mains, dessert, water, coffee and service charge came to £25, our tuk tuk from the hotel to the restaurant and back was another £2, so a very cheap night out!

We won’t include the larger amount spent in a bazaar – David practised the art of haggling whilst I bought the odd silk scarf and cashmere sweater!!!

For our first day exploring, we hired a driver for the day (Peter cost £12), who took us on a tour of some of the monuments and sights in Delhi, mainly India Gate (an Arc de Triomphe style memorial building carved with names of 90,000 Indian soldiers who died in WW1), the Prime Minister’s houses (huge and impressive), government buildings (you can tell they were built by the British), the Lotus temple (modern and ugly) and the Qutb Minar (mosque remains dating back to 1190) as well as a temple built by a very rich city man, back in the 1800s.

We spent some time at Mahatma Ghandi’s house and saw the spot where he was assassinated, now a shrine. We visited the family home of Indira Ghandi, ex Prime Minister, where the gardens have a crystal path showing her final walk before she was also assassinated, the spot is marked by a glass area. Both properties were spotlessly calm and well preserved and artefacts and belongings were on display as they used to be when in use, quite spooky.

So far, apart from the noise and general run down feel, everywhere is bustling with activity, garages repairing vehicles on the side of the pavement, street vendors cooking food, vendors selling tourist paraphernalia and people just going about their daily lives, calmly, slowly and happily. People stop and talk, offer advice or some, offer to take us on a “special ride”, those we have steered clear of!!!

It’s been a very hectic day 1 but very enjoyable and amusing.

Day 2 started with us trying to book train tickets to Agra, not a simple task as it is in the UK or Europe. We had to visit the Foreign Visitors Travel Request Office, fill out a form, produce our passport and Visa, sit for an hour waiting to be served, then supply our documents again before confirming our request verbally, paying the £11 for tickets and eventually exiting another hour later! Hope all train ticket purchases are not as lengthy!!

We then took life into our own hands and ventured out on a tuktuk to Humayuns Tomb, a 16th century group of tombs built for the Emperor Humayun, surrounded by very ornate gardens. Lunch was even more adventurous, chicken kebab wraps and tandoori chicken cooked on a fire in a street market, where we were the main attraction! Two meals and a bottle of sprite came to £3.

Waiting for a train…
…2 very long hours..

Another tuktuk ride took us to the Red Fort, a huge red sandstone building with impressive marble pavilions and colonial buildings inside the walls.

Delhi is cleaning up its act, public toilets are everywhere, rubbish is limited to rough areas of town, monuments and palaces are neat and clean, western toilets are common and tourism is embraced and encouraged with only the major tourist attractions charging nominal amounts. Yesterday we spent nothing, today’s two attractions cost approx £6 each. Bizarrely if you pay cash it costs £6.50, card payments are cheaper!!
We have felt very safe here, not seen any accidents despite the manic driving and busy roads. There are military police everywhere but it is the capital and it will be election day tomorrow.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we get the train to Agra, where we will visit the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, as well as an national park that’s famous for its tigers!

Samson’s Final Journey

3 February 2020 / Juliet Stratton

We left Southern Spain and spent 2 days in Zaragoza, a beautiful old Moorish city with a huge cathedral in the city centre. We spent several hours wandering around the town, soaking up the Spanish Sunday atmosphere, a laid back, casual and chilled ambience. The beautiful buildings had a cool look to them in the late afternoon sun despite it being cold and windy.

We drove cross country to the north, passing fields full of snow from the previous week’s heavy storm and snow fall. Outside the temperature dipped to 6c, we didn’t hang around long at the services!

We got up to Bilbao ferry car park the night before our ferry was due to leave, to park “safely” overnight, or so we thought. We were disturbed about 11.30pm by the Guardia (police), checking our truck. A visual inspection seemed fine. David happened to open one of our lockers only to find we had a lodger, who the Guardia very quickly removed by the scruff of the neck and escorted to a “secure location” far away from our lockers ?. We had another inspection at 6am with the Guardia present after we heard our lockers opening again at 4am, luckily no additional lodgers! We then had the trailer scanned before loading onto the ferry for a horrendously rough crossing to Southampton, delayed by 4 hours due to gale force 8 winds!! I have never before been so sick – and no alcohol was involved!!

Eventually we arrived at a camp site in Bicester, hunkered down and waited for a local repair company to take a look at an electrical issue we had developed. Back in the UK for a few days, it’s cold and windy, raining that horribly miserable light drizzle, and daylight ends at 4.30pm!!! This is not what we are used to….so roll on the warmer climes of India!!!

Whilst in Bicester, David struck a deal with the company that serviced and repaired Samson in the past so suddenly, he has a new home and we are homeless! We frantically packed our contents into the truck and a hire van and put everything into storage. Our son Robin, kindly dropped everything, sprung into action and drove down to Bicester in a hired van, helping us all day to put everything into storage, for which we are very grateful.

Samson has been a fabulous home, he got people talking and looking, looked stunning beside the lakes in Lake Garda and the sea in Croatia and Venice, and would have earned us a fortune if we had charged for every photo that was taken of him ?

However, storage and being unused for months in the UK winter would not have been good for him, and we want a smaller mode of travel for Europe, one that doesn’t require a football pitch sized area to park in to relieve David of the stresses of parking such a beast, so a good move all round.

Sad to see him go, have loved living in him for 5 years, but time for a change ??????

October 2013, trading in our old truck and caravan for Samson!

Samson through the years and locations, in all his glory!!! ❤❤❤❤

January Jaunts

3 February 2020 / Juliet Stratton

We took a day trip to some caves 700m above El Campello, called El Canelobre, which translates to The Candelabra. We enjoyed the view of the whole bay of Alicante and the Monnegre river valley from the viewpoint at the entrance. The caves are said to be Spain’s largest and deepest cave system, only opened to the public in the middle of the 20th Century.

The internal temperature of the cave is a steady 17c, which after the early morning breeze outside, seemed very warm. The cave is just one cavern, containing one of the highest vaults in all of Spain, with a height of 70 meters. The internal space is more than 80,000m2 which is often used for musical concerts, and is full of impressive shapes such as stalactites, stalagmites, columns and jellyfish, among many others.

During the Civil War, the cave was used as a repair shop for aircraft by the Republican army, and it was at that time that the current tunnel of access to the cavity was drilled, before then access was through a narrow crack in the rocks. Sadly there was no visible record of the military activity.

The caves were formed many millions of years ago, but they are still very slowly changing at a rate of just 1cm every 100 years!

In El Campello, we came across a wine merchant extraordinaire! If it wasn’t “dry January”, we could have and would have spent a fortune!! 47,000 bottles, 7106 different wines, dating from 1730 to 2019, valued from €2 to €10,000.00.

The 1973 Rothschild at the top of the rack is priced at €2970.00 PER BOTTLE!

We also, finally, got to meet some very old friends of my parents. Jim and Veronica Eadsforth have been friends with my parents since before I was born, Jim and my Dad were in the army together! I had met them when I was a teenager, but don’t certainly don’t remember, so we headed to their local town on a wet windy Sunday morning and stopped in a cafe for a coffee, lunch and catch up. It was lovely to finally meet them 🙂

As a final farewell before we left Spain, we went into Alicante for an evening, checked into a hotel and went out to dinner with Mum and Dad, before heading to an intimate flamenco show. It was a lovely evening, the highlight was staggering back to the hotel just before midnight nursing hangovers! Dad managed to eat a full cooked breakfast the next day, so he couldn’t have been that bad!!

We left Alicante, Benidorm and Southern Spain to head inland for 2 nights in Zaragoza.

Winter Update

12 January 2020 / Juliet Stratton

December was an interesting month, we settled into a small campsite in Vilajoyosa, just outside Benidorm, with Mum and Dad in another site in the same town. We are in a small secluded bay, with a beautiful beach, surrounded by small hillocks, giving us amazing views of the campsite, the cove and the fishing farm out at sea. We have climbed the hill several times, we make a special trip up there on Christmas morning before early lunch time tapas, then enjoyed a late afternoon traditional English Christmas dinner at Mum and Dad’s campsite.

Christmas & New Year pictures

Boxing day was spent relaxing before a Chinese buffet dinner, then a show at the Benidorm Palace. Never having been before, we didn’t know what to expect, but we had a wonderful evening, entertainment was great, varied and professional and we had amazing seats in the balcony area.

New year’s eve was a quiet affair, David cooked a meal and we relaxed until venturing out just before Spanish midnight, onto the beach with a bottle of fizz. Our local restaurant put on a few fireworks, nothing spectacular, but we toasted in the new year with a few other couples before returning to the warmth of our trailer.

Day trip to Denia

One afternoon we drove to Denia and Altea and stopped off at a beautiful Buddist type building which turned out to be a 20 year old Russian Greek orthodox church, complete with friendly stray cat. Sadly I had no biscuits in my pocket that day.

We have explored the coastline on cloudy and windy days and witnessed the debris left by the seas. We climbed one hill nearby to watch and record the sun set on a fabulous calm sea, only to find we were the subject of scrutiny by several single men scouring the car park. Turns out we had missed the signs in the hurry to get the perfect picture at the right time, signs telling us were in the local “nudist bay and dogging spot”! We laughed, but chose not to hang around 🙂

Alicante Visit

We recently had a lovely day out in Alicante, a traditional low rise Spanish port town just down the coast, with an old Castle and Fort on the hilltop, some 180 metres above the town, giving us amazing views. Thankfully there was a lift to the top, although ‘one’ can walk up to the top via a steep winding pathway. No Health & Safety at the top!!