It was friendship day in Goa on Monday and we made a new friend called Shawn.
He gave us bracelets that he made himself out of bottle caps. In return we gave him one of our postcards and wrote him a message :)
He also taught us that when you order a Budwiser in India you say Budwa because it means pimp haha! And so we did for the rest of that night.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Where did we leave it at last time?
This picture is for you murphys folks :).
Hello, how are you guys? We are brilliant. In Goa atm with sand in our bums and the rain in our faces.
So continuing from the last blog left off we have to go back 2 weeks...
After the wedding Tom and Jaison got their taxi friend to take us around and it was brilliant. His name was Aji, really good guy with very limited english skills, so we were in for an interesting trip. Every morning we got into this car not knowing where we would turn up, good start to our next adventure. Our first stop was way up in the mountains in a place called Munnar. Munnar is a major manufacture area of spices and tea. When you drive on the narrow/bumpy/steep cliff side roads you are surrounded by tea fields it was unreal. Every time you turn a corner you have to honk as an indicator for cars, cows, people, motorbikes or elephants coming your way on the cliff side to stay left. We stayed in Munnar for 2 nights, did some sightseeing and had an interesting car ride with Tom into a tiger jungle! He was positive that the animals would all come out when the sun went down and then he shot down a bit more wiskey. Haha, we ended up seeing 2 wild pigs and a deer but turned out to be a good day.
Next morning we got in the car not having a clue where we were off to again and turned up in the middle of a tiger wild park in a place called Tekkary. Our hotel was in the middle of the park where a bunch of monkeys welcomed us.
Later that day we hired some bicycles and went for a ride. It sounded like a good idea at the time but when we saw signs saying "please do not use your horns as there are wild tigers about" it didnt seem so smart anymore.
So we cycled back, quite quickly and saw some buffalos on the way. :)
The next morning we had booked onto a boat safari into the heart of the jungle. Into the jungle we went but I think all the animals were still sleeping because we didn't see any. But it was fun anyway.
In the car off again. This time we went to a place called Aleppy (south of Cochin) famous for its backwaters. Three men welcomed us, took our bags and told them to follow them.. so we said bye to Aji and did as they said. We went along a small path and then before us was a beautiful houseboat that we were to spend the night on. It was something you don't get up to on a day to day basis so we enjoyed it so much. The food was so nice we got fed very well. For dinner they took us to a fresh fish market and we chose some prawns that had been caught that same day. The local kids came up to our boat and asked us for pens along with Australian coins for their coin collection at school. We gave them what we had and got a picture in return. Sailing through the villages you could see the people washing their clothes in the river, collecting water and kids running around with sticks having a ball. They basically live off the water and use it to do all their cooking and cleaning.We gave the crew some beers and had a really fun evening on the waters surrounded by rice fields. Unreal.
From Aleppy we made our way back to Jaisons house where we spent a couple of days before we came to Goa. During those days we celebrated Lincys birthday and were introduced to the traditional feast (literally we were sweating). Served on a Banana leaf were millions of curry's, pickles, rice, poppardons etc and of course eaten with your hands. That is one of the best things about eating here, you can use your hands (mum you wouldn't like it).
Jackson took us for a ride into the forest where we saw 5 wild elephants and took a bath in the river (nicest bath i ever had). Did you guys know that elephants can run up to 80 km/hr, crazy. Because they were in a group they didn't attack us but if we would have come across a single elephant we would have been in some trouble.
The following days we visited all of Jaisons friends and family. It is a tradition that after a wedding the groom must bring the bride to all the family houses and vise versa. It was lovely everyone was very welcoming and we got fed like turkeys before Christmas. (5 families, 1 day, 6 meals, waaa)
In between visits we managed to visit a temple. This was no ordinary temple as there were 69 elephants that had been given to the temple and they lived there, ate and got bathed. It was a massive elephant spa. We got up and close with the creatures and said ga'day.
Jaison, Lincy, Jackson, Alice, Tom, Simon, Sabu if you guys are reading this thank you again for everything. You are the best.
From Cochin we flew to Goa, a beach state on the west coast where we have been beach bumming for a while. Mostly in the rain but we had 3 sunny days :) We have had some food poison which was yeah nice. Its pretty chilled up here compared to places we have been to and sunny can wear shorts again! So for now we are just going to hang out, have a cold beer and then we hit the airport on Sunday for the UK!
This trip has been amazing.
Until next time :)
sunny and mickey and the travelling pants
Hello, how are you guys? We are brilliant. In Goa atm with sand in our bums and the rain in our faces.
So continuing from the last blog left off we have to go back 2 weeks...
After the wedding Tom and Jaison got their taxi friend to take us around and it was brilliant. His name was Aji, really good guy with very limited english skills, so we were in for an interesting trip. Every morning we got into this car not knowing where we would turn up, good start to our next adventure. Our first stop was way up in the mountains in a place called Munnar. Munnar is a major manufacture area of spices and tea. When you drive on the narrow/bumpy/steep cliff side roads you are surrounded by tea fields it was unreal. Every time you turn a corner you have to honk as an indicator for cars, cows, people, motorbikes or elephants coming your way on the cliff side to stay left. We stayed in Munnar for 2 nights, did some sightseeing and had an interesting car ride with Tom into a tiger jungle! He was positive that the animals would all come out when the sun went down and then he shot down a bit more wiskey. Haha, we ended up seeing 2 wild pigs and a deer but turned out to be a good day.
Next morning we got in the car not having a clue where we were off to again and turned up in the middle of a tiger wild park in a place called Tekkary. Our hotel was in the middle of the park where a bunch of monkeys welcomed us.
Later that day we hired some bicycles and went for a ride. It sounded like a good idea at the time but when we saw signs saying "please do not use your horns as there are wild tigers about" it didnt seem so smart anymore.
So we cycled back, quite quickly and saw some buffalos on the way. :)
The next morning we had booked onto a boat safari into the heart of the jungle. Into the jungle we went but I think all the animals were still sleeping because we didn't see any. But it was fun anyway.
In the car off again. This time we went to a place called Aleppy (south of Cochin) famous for its backwaters. Three men welcomed us, took our bags and told them to follow them.. so we said bye to Aji and did as they said. We went along a small path and then before us was a beautiful houseboat that we were to spend the night on. It was something you don't get up to on a day to day basis so we enjoyed it so much. The food was so nice we got fed very well. For dinner they took us to a fresh fish market and we chose some prawns that had been caught that same day. The local kids came up to our boat and asked us for pens along with Australian coins for their coin collection at school. We gave them what we had and got a picture in return. Sailing through the villages you could see the people washing their clothes in the river, collecting water and kids running around with sticks having a ball. They basically live off the water and use it to do all their cooking and cleaning.We gave the crew some beers and had a really fun evening on the waters surrounded by rice fields. Unreal.
From Aleppy we made our way back to Jaisons house where we spent a couple of days before we came to Goa. During those days we celebrated Lincys birthday and were introduced to the traditional feast (literally we were sweating). Served on a Banana leaf were millions of curry's, pickles, rice, poppardons etc and of course eaten with your hands. That is one of the best things about eating here, you can use your hands (mum you wouldn't like it).
Jackson took us for a ride into the forest where we saw 5 wild elephants and took a bath in the river (nicest bath i ever had). Did you guys know that elephants can run up to 80 km/hr, crazy. Because they were in a group they didn't attack us but if we would have come across a single elephant we would have been in some trouble.
The following days we visited all of Jaisons friends and family. It is a tradition that after a wedding the groom must bring the bride to all the family houses and vise versa. It was lovely everyone was very welcoming and we got fed like turkeys before Christmas. (5 families, 1 day, 6 meals, waaa)
In between visits we managed to visit a temple. This was no ordinary temple as there were 69 elephants that had been given to the temple and they lived there, ate and got bathed. It was a massive elephant spa. We got up and close with the creatures and said ga'day.
Jaison, Lincy, Jackson, Alice, Tom, Simon, Sabu if you guys are reading this thank you again for everything. You are the best.
From Cochin we flew to Goa, a beach state on the west coast where we have been beach bumming for a while. Mostly in the rain but we had 3 sunny days :) We have had some food poison which was yeah nice. Its pretty chilled up here compared to places we have been to and sunny can wear shorts again! So for now we are just going to hang out, have a cold beer and then we hit the airport on Sunday for the UK!
This trip has been amazing.
Until next time :)
sunny and mickey and the travelling pants
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Kerala.. gods own country
Please keep your arms and legs inside at all times, if you are sitting in the back dont bother putting your seatbelt on because there isnt one. Have a shot of brandy because you are about to enter indian traffic......
We learned how to survive in the land of coconut trees. One morning after breakfast Jaison took us on an adventure to the top of the roof. From there we could reach the top of the coconut trees and Jaison picked a couple of good ones. Then Jaisons mum Alice showed us how to crack it open drink the coconut water and then carve the coconut out. Here in kerala they use coconut for everythin, it makes the food extra nice. Everythin of the coconut tree is used the leaves, bark, coconuts, even the husk (ourside of the coconut) is used for fire or to make welcome mats. They have fiured out pretty well how to live off the land, everytime we go for a drive Jaison or Jackson points out a new tree, bush or something that can be used for medicine or eating. Its cool.
to be continued in next blog... :)
Sorry for the lack of news, internet can sometimes be hard to find especially in places where there isnt even phone reception. We will try to summaries the last few days for you guys.
We arrived in Kerala on the 13th the day before Jaisons wedding. Jaisons brother, Jackson, and friend, Simon, welcomed us with a big sign at the airport saying Mickey and Sunny (from Australia). We rushed home as we were a bit late for a pre weddin ceremony. Everyone was waiting and we were welcomed so warmly by jaisons lovely family and the ceremony started. First there was a prair which was followed by with some coconut mixed with sugar which jaison ate. After this he received blessings from the elders and pictures were taken. This is done for the groom to wish him a sweet life and is one of the kristian wedding traditions. After the ceremony we introduced ourselfs to the rest of the family and ate some beautiful south indian food in good company.
The next day we arose very early as it was the day of the wedding. When we arrived at Jaisons house we were approached my lots of eager little ladys and excited men that wanted to dress us in the Indian traditional clothin for the wedding. So I waved goodbye to Mickey and was taken into a room where many hands worked together to make me a " kerala girl" draped in a Saree they succeeded very well :). When I came out mickey was wearin a Mundu which is a skirt that guys where with a shirt. He liked it rather well "it's very breezy sunny" haha.
All the family members looked so nice there were colours everywhere and happy faces. Jaison was so excited and was posing all morning like a movie star.The ceremony was nice, unfortunatelly we could not understand much but got the gist of it. Lincy looked so beautiful in her white traditional saree.
For the reception we watched Jaison, Lincy and their family liht candles as a simbol of the start of a new life. The cake was cut and photo sessions were everywhere. Again we had the nicest food and we ate with our hands (which we are awesome at now).
We met so many nice people at the wedding, everyone wanted to know where we were from and have a chat. The wedding was amazing defenatelly an experience you dont come across everyday so we will keep the memories somewhere safe. The next couple of days were Tourist days in the life of Mickey and Sunny. We drove for 30 minutes and came to a natural paradise. We spent the day walking around with Jaison and Lincy it was awesome :)
We learned how to survive in the land of coconut trees. One morning after breakfast Jaison took us on an adventure to the top of the roof. From there we could reach the top of the coconut trees and Jaison picked a couple of good ones. Then Jaisons mum Alice showed us how to crack it open drink the coconut water and then carve the coconut out. Here in kerala they use coconut for everythin, it makes the food extra nice. Everythin of the coconut tree is used the leaves, bark, coconuts, even the husk (ourside of the coconut) is used for fire or to make welcome mats. They have fiured out pretty well how to live off the land, everytime we go for a drive Jaison or Jackson points out a new tree, bush or something that can be used for medicine or eating. Its cool.
to be continued in next blog... :)
Monday, July 12, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Bangkok... an adventure alright
WOW haha
The last 2 days have been very interesting, enlightening, frightening, hilarious and just plain stupid.
Day 1: Michael boarded his first plane and stood the test with nothing but excellency.
Day 2: After a looong flight we arrived in Bangkok and did the following...
It has been an interesting day all right, we have visited temples
Wheeled around in a Tuk Tuk with a corrupt driver
Marketed around (and michael turned down an ipod for $30, must be jetlagged)
Raced through China town with Formula 1 driver Mr. Chong. Not to mention
the traffic that makes Melbourne and Sydney look splendid.
It is pretty hard to explain the athmosphere in Bangkok, its like something we have
not seen before. There are beautifully raised temples and mansions in between
old shaks and food huts lined accross the streets. There is no such thing as piece and quiet
as the overwhelming traffic squeeses its way through its natural course. In the background
there are 5 little men coming at you with : '' aaa cheap for you my friend.... tuk tuk? .... you like? I do special for you? ... hey where you from... ''. Yes I think there is only one word that can
really sum it up and that is total chaos. As overwhelming as it all is we managed to laugh our way through it... with only the slightest bit of help :)
The last 2 days have been very interesting, enlightening, frightening, hilarious and just plain stupid.
Day 1: Michael boarded his first plane and stood the test with nothing but excellency.
Day 2: After a looong flight we arrived in Bangkok and did the following...
It has been an interesting day all right, we have visited temples
Wheeled around in a Tuk Tuk with a corrupt driver
Marketed around (and michael turned down an ipod for $30, must be jetlagged)
Raced through China town with Formula 1 driver Mr. Chong. Not to mention
the traffic that makes Melbourne and Sydney look splendid.
It is pretty hard to explain the athmosphere in Bangkok, its like something we have
not seen before. There are beautifully raised temples and mansions in between
old shaks and food huts lined accross the streets. There is no such thing as piece and quiet
as the overwhelming traffic squeeses its way through its natural course. In the background
there are 5 little men coming at you with : '' aaa cheap for you my friend.... tuk tuk? .... you like? I do special for you? ... hey where you from... ''. Yes I think there is only one word that can
really sum it up and that is total chaos. As overwhelming as it all is we managed to laugh our way through it... with only the slightest bit of help :)
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Two fools and a pair of green travelling pants
Finally the day of our departure is closer than ever.
Sunny, Michael and the pants are set to leave Australia on Friday the 9th of July.
After a lot of waiting around for visas and the black hole to release us from its grasp we are going.
Now, as most of you know Michael has not yet left the grounds he was born on. So we picked a
travel friendly first destination. India.
We will travel around the country for 3-4 weeks and take on some serious adventures. With our backpacks on our backs, our noses deep in travel books and the travelling pants on we are set to take on this journey.
So stay tuned friends.
Much love and smiles
Sunny and Mickey
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)