Hong Kong

Originally, we chose to start our china adventure in Hong Kong as felt it would be a good way to dip our toe in without the full culture shock. Hong Kong was amazing for this; a melting pot of Chinese, Western and Indian culture all coming together in a busy hive of business, leisure and food.

Hong Kong was majorly expensive, so we opted to stay at  ‘The Mansions’ which had received some very interesting reviews.

However, upon arriving we found it easy enough to get in and the room, while literally only big enough for the bed and a child sized bath/shower, was actually comfy and felt like your own little pod where the craziness of Hong Kong couldn’t reach you.

The first day we really just took our time and orientated ourselves to our new surroundings. We found everywhere was exceptionally expensive for food, so we chose to just suck it up and head for bagels and coffee at N1 Coffee co despite the 30+ bill that we incurred for it. The bagels where really good, with an array of toppings bound to suit anyone and the coffee was amazing.

Breakfast done, I had wanted to go and hunt down the cheap shopping as I had heard Hong Kong was famous for as I was desperate for some shoes that weren’t flip flops, and all my clothes were pretty much ruined from the hard water and hand washing they had endured in the last 3 months so a few new things wouldn’t hurt.

We wandered around to where a few blogs and google maps suggested were the main shopping areas. Unfortunately though, the cheapest thing we found was HnM and we were left completely confused as to what these blogs were talking about, to me HnM isn’t cheap, its just standard.

Never a quite moment in central Hong Kong.

We looked around for a few hours, but the hustle and bustle got to be too much. Eventually decided to head home to get a sim card sorted, get some washing done and figure out where the Temple street food market was so we could head out for a few beers and some good, relatively cheap food.

The market is full of many weird and wonderful foods, but as it does get tourists you are able to find some places with english which helps greatly. Stu and I grabbed two big beers and two spicy noodle dishes and it all come to just under 20aud which we thought was great. Hoping to sightsee and shop the next day, we then opted for a quick walk around the streets before heading home.

The next morning saw us grabbing some fruit and a cheap coffee from the local shops. After our small breakfast we set off to the warf to take in the Hong Kong Skyline. The views were pretty impressive – High-rises of all shapes and sizes jutting out against the mountains in the distance. After taking this in I took a deep breath and agreed that the time had come to once again try and find what felt by now like the mythical shooting malls that made Hong Kong famous.

It took another half day of searching, but at the point where I wanted to cry and give up for good I saw it – a sign pointing to the second floor – a sign for a mall.

New Town mall. While the sign was clear, the next problem was how to enter. This mall didn’t start on the first floor, and none of the shops below had a way in. 20 minutes so searching however, turned up a small door that led up narrow, grimy steps. We decided to try it. Bingo! the stairs opened up into a rabbit warren of small clothing shops spread over 5 stories! I felt a wave of relief – and also stupidity as a realised this is probably how all these cheap malls are set up. I just hadn’t thought to look for something like this.

Shops galore. Cheap. Stylish. I was super excited. While I’m not a good shopper (I normally walk into a place, if I don’t immediately see what I want I’m out again. I don’t like hunting for things etc.) with Stu’s help I was soon finding many bits and pieces that I liked. By the end of two hours (I cannot shop longer then that without melting down) I had a haul of: Boots (7aud), Denim Jacket (12aud), jeans (10aud) and a couple of new t-shirts (5aud max.) If I was more inclined to like shopping I could have easily spent a whole day there and found a whole new, amazing wardrobe for less then 100. Definitely worth the search hours.

That night we had food from the cheapish stalls on the third floor of the market, before buying a few drinks and making our way back to the harbour to watch the light show of the Hong Kong Skyline.

While the show itself was a little lack lustre, but hey, its free and just seeing the skyline all lit up afterwards was a treat. Well worth the hour if you have the time. Pretty tired from another day of non stop being on our feet, we finished our drinks and headed home to bed in preparation for the dreaded travel day the next day.

 

What we wish we knew before: Vietnam.

Costs:

Food: Unless you’re eating at super fancy places, meals will cost between 2 – 7 AUD. (45,000 and 140,000)

Drinks: Water should always be around .25cents, or 5,000 dong. Soft drinks etc are around the same and beers 15,00 to 30,000 with cocktails around 50,000. Some places like Hoi An are a little more expensive then this.

Accommodation: Really depends on where you are. We never really paid over 20aud and in some places like Dong Hoi it was maybe 10aud for a private room per night.

Sightseeing: average cost is between 50,000 and 300,000 depending on how popular a sight is, how many people you are with (many with boat rides have a cost per boat, not per person, so prices can be steep if solo). For example the Phong Nha cave is one of the more expensive tickets at 150,000 (7 aud). You then also need to pay for a 14 person boat (360,000 or 20 aud). If alone, you pay that whole cost: if you can grab some strangers not already in a group and join forces, it drastically reduces your entry fee.

Transport:

Night buses: approximately 15 aud for the Sapa to Hanoi trip each way. We took no other buses.

Sleeper class trains: can be expensive, depending on distance. Look at prices for sleeper trains and normal hard seat and day trains at https://vietnam-railway.com

PT: Local buses are cheap and usually comfortable. Prices once again very on distance, but the only two buses we took were for journeys under 4 hours, and the cost was less the 10 aud.

Scooters: Hiring scooters is easy and dirt cheap, with prices around 3 aud a day. Fuel is also cheap here. Push bike hire is usually 1-2 aud.

Cabs: Get places to call them for you so you get a legit, metered cab. Journeys in town never added up to more then 5 aud for us.

Average spend daily: 60 aud for two people. The train journeys, entrance fees and rooms do add up in Vietnam, bringing our average up.

1. Scooters are the best.

   

As mentioned above, scooters are cheap, readily available and provide freedom to see Vietnam at your own pace. We chose to hire scooters as we went, taking trains between towns and using scooters for day trips. We met people who bought bikes for cheap and were riding between each destination and this seemed cheap and easy to do, but with me never having ridden, all our luggage and some rainy days we felt our way worked best for us and our travelling situation Cat Ba Island vs Ha Long Bay

2. Cat Ba is a handy base.

If coming from Ninh Bihn as we were, finding a Ha long bay tour is hard. We ended up heading to Cat Ba and while our experience wasn’t so great (read the Cat Ba post to see why), for those not on a tour this seemed like a great little hub in which to base yourself for Ha Long bay and surrounding day trips.

If you want to do a Ha Long bay only thing, with nights spent on boats and an all inclusive feel, from what we have spoken about with others, it is key to head to Hanoi and book there. There’s a lot of competition there, so trips are cheaper and you have far more choice in what you get for what money you want to spend.

3. Street food is delicious!

Best meal for the trip had to be our street hot pot. We also had many skewers, Bahn Mi, noodles and more from stalls and each was dirt cheap and delicious.

4. Do a homestay.

All the homestay we did were great. You really get a better sense of the culture and the deep love and generosity the people of Vietnam foster. They really are some of the kindest souls I’ve met, and homestay mean you get to really understand this.

Overall, Vietnam is cheap, cheerful and easy to navigate, so really I don’t have a whole lot of advice I feel I need to give! So get out there and enjoy this amazing country!

Cat Ba Island.

After finishing our time in Ninh Binh we found ourselves with a dilemma; we wanted to go straight to Ha Long bay but from Ninh Binh it seemed that this was difficult to impossible, especially if you wanted to do a two day sail package as these all left from Hanoi. We looked up many companies online trying to get an idea of how to do a package if starting in Ninh Binh but really found nothing.

Our hotel owner saw us looking and suggested we go with a local company that did tours starting from Ninh Binh. Feeling unsure on what else we could do we took up the offer. As it turns out, this was our biggest mistake for Vietnam so far…

At first everything went smoothly: we paid for the 3 days at our hotel, and the price seemed very similar to offers we had seen online. The morning the tour started we were picked up promptly and taken on a bus with others who we assumed were on tour with us. We smiled and chatted and secretly thought to ourselves it was lucky we had chosen to go this way.

The bus dropped us off at the boats that would take us out to Cat Ba, our base for Ha Long bay. There was some confusion with the boats, but eventually we got tickets given to us and were able to board. Once off the boats, buses loaded us on and took us the rest of the way onto the main part of the island. So far, so good.

When we got off the buses, everyone else was greeted by people running their tours, or wandered off to their hostels, as they had been smart and not pre booked anything and simply made their way to the island. We stood there for 20 minutes and then realised no one was coming for us.

I went and found a tourist info centre and asked her to ring our tour company to see what was happening. She did, and our tour company said she would call our hostel now and get us a lift. 20 minutes later and thankfully someone came to get us, however they seemed completely confused as to what was happening; at this point, so were we.

We arrived at the hostel and were greeted by the owner, he checked us in and offered us a meal. We checked in and ate, thankful it seemed to be working out. After lunch I asked about our Ha Long boat ride that we were meant to have and if the rest of the group was here yet. He looked at me funnily, and I had to explain yet again we had bought a package and were meant to be doing the following itinerary etc. He looked a little panicked, then asked us to wait a few minutes while he made some calls.

Half an hour passed and he came back to let us know our boat was ready. I looked around expecting others to be here for it also, but it was just us. We were driven down to the boating dock, where we were introduced to a nice middle aged man with little to no english, who smiled and took us over to his mates and gave us a beer.

Soon, through broken conversation we gathered he was our boat captain and he asked us if he could take his mates out with us. We figured why not, as we were the only two on the trip.

In the brochure our tour company gave us it had said we would be on a ‘sail boat’ with others from our group. I’ll let you decide if this was what we got…

Stu, myself and the four rather intoxicated locals we had just met loaded onto the small fishing boat and soon we were all sat comfortably with beer in hand. It was not what we had expected, but the guys seemed fun and like they really wanted us to have a good time, so we smiled and figured ‘lets just go with it and see what happens’.

We sat and chatted in broken english as we sailed through the bay. The captain pointed out where each of the boys lived amongst the floating houses that make up the small fishing village. The boys kept handing us more and more beer while getting increasingly giddy themselves, even our captain was a little worse for wear by the time we had cruised to the other side of the bay, confessing he may have also had a smoke of something that was making him giggle.

Once across, the boys docked the boat at the floating house, where we were able to grab a canoe and head out in the bay for an hour paddle or so.

The paddle was good fun, but once again not what was promised. On the brochure the large sail boat would have had the canoes with it, and dropped us at certain locations so that we could paddle through caves etc to little secluded beaches. Where we were we could do none of this, so we paddled around one island and poked around to see if we could find some caves, but overall found nothing of particular interest.

Paddle done, we returned to the floating hose to find our guides even more drunk then before. They handed us another beer and soon we were back on the boat, laughing as the guys sang and joked in drunken frivolity.

Our next stop was an island where you could climb a small mountain to watch the sunset. The boys dropped us off and settled back onto the boat for a few more drinks while we explored. While on the island we met a french couple who were looking for a lift off the island. We chatted and shared our beer and then as the sunset we took them with us to the boat and asked to take them with us.

Our guide seemed excited by the prospect of more people to drink with, so he agreed and soon we were all drinking, playing music and heading back towards Cat Ba.

The local boys loved the cy-trance on the steel drum.

The ride home was fun, and while we had not done what we had expected we had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. On getting back to the dock our captain begged his wife to let us come for dinner, but seeing him and his mates drunk seemed to make her feel less inclined towards guests, so we excused ourselves and went back to the hostel.

At the hostel we were greeted by a pre arranged meal, but the food was so bad we ate hardly any of it. We checked with the owner about what would be happening tomorrow and he assured us it was all arranged. Tired, and knowing we had an early start we headed to bed.

The next day we woke early and had a light breakfast, then we jumped into a car that took us to the Cat Ba National park where we were to do a hike. We met our guide there, and soon we were off, hiking through the forest as our guide pointed out different plants and animals.

The hike was good, but what was sold to us as a ‘jungle adventure’ was more an hour walk up to a view point and back down. Sweaty and puffed, we bundled back into our car and headed for town.

Lunch was again pre arranged and was some of the most foul seafood I have had; either undercooked or so overcooked it was like leather. We ate what we could and then checked what we were meant to do next. The owner shrugged and said he though it was free time this afternoon, so we could do our own thing. We decided to head for the beach, but the weather soon turned and cold rain poured down, so we spent most of the afternoon at the hostel reading.

Dinner time came and once again the food was terrible. We decided that even though it would cost us, we would head into town and try some food elsewhere. We ended up at a small restaurant in town, chowing down on a spicy mango curry and ice cold beer.

While in town we checked around to see what prices were for the activities we had been doing; this is when we realised how over priced our trip was. Even with food and accomodation included, it was a good 50 – 100 american dollars cheaper to have simply come to Cat Ba ourselves and then arrange everything on the spot. Especially as we had not really got what we had expected, it felt a little like salt in the wounds.

Regardless, the next day we woke up, ready early to go the the gunnery and be taken around the island. The owner explained they had forgotten to organise this, so instead gave us a scooter to drive around the island on for the morning.

From the gunnery there were good views of the bay and we hiked around the area, making our own fun by playing with the statues and taking a tonne of photos. We the took the scooter around the island for a few hours, but soon tired of this and headed back to the hostel a little before lunch.

Lunch was served and once again it was not the greatest, so we ate what we could and washed it down with a beer. After lunch it came time to check out so that we could catch a boat/bus to Hanoi and this was when our next shock came.

I went up to thank the owner and pay for our beer (as alcohol was not included) when he  asked me for over 200 American! I looked at him dumbfounded, and again pointed out we were doing a package and all of it, minus the few beers we had was included. He shook his head and asked again, but I said that if he wanted that money it was with our tour company and he best ring them. A heated 10 minute phone call between the owner and our tour company and he finally accepted that we were not to pay anything to him.

We jumped on the bus, half glad to get away from Cat Ba.

Overall, the experience was not bad, but the knowledge that for a far cheaper price we could have more fun lingered over our heads for a few days. It seemed like the tour we landed on was not really a tour at all, and that it was last minute thrust upon our poor hostel owner to organise, so in no way do I blame him. However, if you are heading to Cat Ba from Ninh Binh, don’t take an organised tour; buy tickets to Cat Ba and arrange the rest yourself, your wallet and experience will thank you.

Dong Hoi

While the plan had been to wake up fresh and early to catch a bus, we found our rather late night had caught up with us. There was instead a train a little later so we took our time, went into town for breakfast and left made our way to the train early afternoon. The train took a little over 3 hours, much the same as the bus, and was once again comfortable and pain free. Around 630pm we got off the train in Dong Hoi and were soon in a short taxi to our accomodation.

Our accomodation here was another homestay at Tung Homestay, and it was the best homestay of the trip! Upon arrival we were met by board smiles, broken but enthusiastic English and amazing coffees. Our hosts Tung and Candy wanted to know all about us and to learn english through conversation. We sat with them for an hour joking and chatting about our travels before even going into the room! They took our luggage up despite Candy hardly being able to lift it and us protesting, made sure everything was perfect and left us to settle in. The room was clean and cool, the beds more comfortable than most in Vietnam and they had really tried to think of every small detail to make the room feel homely. Now pretty hungry we quickly changed into some warmer clothes as the nights in Dong Hoi are sometimes a little crisp and went downstairs again. There we found our hosts now with friends drinking coffee, so we asked for a recommendation for dinner. They suggested the hostel down the road, the Buffalo Pub and Hostel or the pho shop next door. We were a little too hungry for soup, so headed to the hostel.

The food at the hostel was a little pricey by Vietnamese standards, but it was well worth it. Massive portions of food the were delicious were served quickly, and the bar/restaurant area was buzzing nicely with chatter and music. We practically inhaled our food and a beer and then sat watching people play pool as our dinner settled. We wanted to be up early the next day as we were planning to head to the Phong Na and Paradise Caves and didn’t want to be rusty for what was meant to be some of the best caves in Vietnam.

We slept well, with full bellies and on what for Vietnam was a luxurious bed. We rose at 7and were greeted with warm smiles and hot coffee. Candy then made us her breakfast version of Bahn Mi, which was delicious. Food and coffee done, they made sure we knew where we were going, gave us ponchos and wished us farewell for the day.

Outside Phong Na caves.

The ride to Phong Na was a little wet, and therefore a little cold. I had expected Vietnam to be hot, but i was soon wiping for even more layers then my singlet, t-shirt, jacket combo could provide. We got to Phong Na and found a place to park the bike, then went to the ticket booth thinking you could just buy a ticket for yourself and jump in a boat. As we approached though we saw that you had to hire the whole boat, and pay an individual entrance fee. For the two of us this was looking like 70+ usd, so we waited around and recruited people for our boat and after half an hour we had enough people together that it was an almost full boat and down to 15 per person.

Farmers working on the river – Phong Na.

The boat was a row boat that sat 10, and our two rowers seemed very adept at the activity. They navigated us down the river with speed and ease, and soon we were at the mouth of the cave.

Enter a caption

The inside of the cave was stunning – stalagmites in various colours and shapes jutted out from every side. In the dimly lit space it felt other worldly to me, especially as my only other experience in caves was wriggling through claustrophobic holes underground in Budapest a year before. This in contrast was a lovely, open cave with great natural colours and shapes to every surface you glanced upon.

We were taken around 20 minutes into the cave, before we turned around and came back towards the entrance. Near the entrance we were able to disembark and wander around on the shore and look more closely at the stalagmites.

Once out of the caves we were paddled back down the river to where we began, and Stu and I stopped in one of the local cafes where we parked the bike and had a massive bowl of Pho to warm us up before the next bike leg of our journey.

looking glamorous in the cold.

I was still cold, but Stu was as usually not feeling it, so he gave me his extra flannel before we left which I used as a beanie/ scarf combo in the hope of keeping the wind at bay. Thankfully it worked quite well. The next leg of the day took us through beautiful countryside with winding roads, small villages and more mountains. After an hour or so of driving we came to our second cave system for the day, Paradise Cave.

Parking the bike at the entrance, it was then a 30 minute walk uphill to the mouth of the cave. As we first entered, I was let down – the cave was vast and you walked down quite a way, but from the entrance there where no colours, no exciting formations and compared to the last cave I wasn’t sure why people recommended it. But, as we got to the bottom of the cave and went through to the next chamber I was blown away. The next chamber looked like something out of the little mermaid. Brightly colour stalagmites and other rock formations as tall as city buildings were all around you and the way they had chosen to light up each of the key features of the cave added greatly to the drama of the space. Stu and I spent of an hour wandering around and marvelling at caves features before reluctantly leaving in the hope of making it home before sun fall.

On the ride home we made a few stops to take in the life of the villagers and the beautiful scenery of the area. Darkness fell an hour before home and Stu rode as quickly as was safe as it became cold and uncomfortable on our scooter. Arriving home we had coffees with our host family before showering, changing into warmer clothes and heading back to the hostel again for burgers and beers.

The next day was meant to be a day for heading to the beach and chilling out around town. It started off well, with a delicious breakfast from 7th Heaven (amazing food, big portions and great teas and coffees for reasonable prices), but a few hours later my stomach bug was back and instead of the beach we spent the day hunting down a pharmacy and resting up. By the next morning my stomach was responding to the antibiotics and I had to laugh at myself for putting off taking them for so long. We had a train booked for 8am, so Candy made us breakfast again and an Iced coffee and sandwich to go and had us fed and ready in good time. Lots of hugs and thankyous later we were in a taxi to the train bound for our next stop, Nihn Bihn.

Hoi An

Getting off the train I didn’t feel well, so we checked in and watched a movie at our guest house before finally finding the courage to venture out.

It was almost sunset as we got into Hoi An and we instantly fell in love with the beauty and charm of it. The streets were all clean and lined with Tailors, small restaurants and leather good stores. The people greeted you with broad smiles and didn’t simply push past you on the street as they had in Ho Chi Minh. Added to this was the classical music that played gently in each street and the abundance of multi coloured lanterns and fairy lights that glittered above your head, creating a magically warm feeling.

We looked around until it grew fully dark and then ventured across the river towards the main hub of restaurants. I still felt unwell, so opted for a clear soup and Stu tried something more fun and traditional as his stomach woes were now pretty much over thanks to his antibiotics. The food was good, but nothing to write home about. The night was balmy but pleasant so we headed down the road a little and grabbed a drink and cake from a bar down the road. The drink seemed to tip my stomach over the edge, so we walked the 30 minute walk back to our guest house with me dragging my feet and poor Stu wishing he could have stayed in town a little longer.

The next morning the weather was warm but not too hot, so we figured we would use this day to head to the beach and later explore the town further.

What Stu gets up to when I’m not around.

Stu headed into the town early to get a coffee and look around, but I opted to stay in bed a little longer and meet him in town later when I felt better. I eventually caught up with Stu and we had another walk around the town as to take it in during the day. A few happy snaps and a look at a few shops and we were hot and ready to head for the beach.

The beach in Hoi An was a good 20 minute ride out of town, but a good road and the cooler weather made it not too bad. The beach itself was quite nice, white sand and clean but freezing water. As with many places in Asia, shops had claimed nearly every inch of the beach and put up umbrellas and deck chairs, so there was no chance of just finding a quiet spot for free unless you went a long way from the main beach. Still not feeling great, I was for once happy to buy a beach lounge so the I could curl up and read for the day. The chairs were only a few dollars each, or free with food, so it was a fair deal for a day of relaxation.

We spent the best part of the day on the chairs, sun baking or laying under the shade of the umbrellas playing cards or reading and every now and then jumping into the water to reset. As the day started to get late we jumped on our bikes and rode home for a quick shower before heading out to town for an early dinner and another round of exploring the town.

We explored all of the tailor shops, looking through all the fabrics and designs that Hoi An had to offer. The leather shops were my favourite, and with my little bag still leaving stains all over my clothes and starting to come apart it was hard to resist replacing it with a custom made one.  We wandered along the river banks and checked out the market stalls, trying different bits and pieces of street food as we went. The lantern stores at the entry to the markets were stunning, and one of them was even being used as a backdrop for a couples wedding shots as we got there. We spent a good half hour in the markets, but they were quite small and part from very touristy stuff for sale there wasn’t much to choose from.

 

I had been messaging my family all day and had received an order for a shirt for Dad, so we wandered back to the tailors to send him pics of materials before the stores closed. As we rode around looking for the best shop for the job we ran into two of the girls who we had travelled with in India. They were staying at a hostel in town and were about to head out for a big night. We were keen to join, as we hadn’t been too social in the last week or so, so we said we would meet them after dinner and went our seperate ways. Only problem was that dinner seemed to make me feel 100% worse and I knew drinking and dancing were no option for me. Stu wasn’t super keen to go out either, so instead of  social night we headed home to watch movies and get a good nights sleep.

As the sun rose on our last day in Hoi An I was feeling somewhat better, assuming the worst of it had hit me the night before. Finally feeling hungry and ready for a decent meal we headed for the Banh Mi queen. The Banh Mi queen had been recommended to Stu by a mate who is known to have a great love for all things delicious, so we jumped on our bikes and made our way to the Queens store. The food didn’t dissapoint; a creamy, spicy, meaty sandwich at a very reasonable price, what more could you want really? Stu ended up having two, such was his like for the sandwich. Food eaten and bellies full we headed down to the beach again for a morning swim and relax.

The beach was pretty much the same as the day before, swimming, reading and playing cards. We also met a lovely guy who was travelling the world now that his daughters had both finally moved out. His stories and travel tips were great, so we ended up staying at the beach and chatting until almost dark. Hungry and wanting to do one last lap around the town to take in the beauty of the lanterns and the charm of the place, and to pick up my Dads shirts and grab a few other trinkets and presents for people back home.

For dinner we headed to White rose restaurant, which was somewhat famous in Vietnam for its particular type of dumpling. The dumplings are called, as the name of the place suggests, white roses, and are named this way due to the way they are shaped. The experience of eating them is also enhanced by the fact that you can watch as the women make them while you wait for your order. We ordered a few plates worth, but kept some room for there food as we had a few more things we wanted to try back in the markets. The dumplings were delicious and I would recommend trying them if you’re every in Hoi An.

The ladies making the dumplings

We headed back through the lantern lit streets to the markets snapping photos and stopping in the shops where we had eyed off items for presents over the last few days. Shopping complete and food eaten, we went for a quick drink. The drink was, again, a bad idea. I was soon feeling worse then I had in any day so far and had to rush home.

That night it was my turn to be consistently sick and when the morning came and we were meant to catch a bus at 8 am I had to throw in the towel; there was no way I could leave the room, let alone take a bus. The family we were homesteading with were amazing. He said not to worry about checking out until 2pm, as his next guests were coming late, he then called the bus company for us and arranged for our ticket to be made good for the bus that afternoon. Stu headed out for the morning while a stayed in the room and tried to get a little sleep. The father at the homestay also found me some whiz bang Vietnamese pills (no idea what they were, but I didn’t care by this point) that saw me feeling almost back to my old self by the time the afternoon rolled around. By 2, I was feeling up to the bus, so we checked out and the family gave us a ride for free to the bus to save me walking. We thanked them and jumped on the bus bound for our next destination; Hue.

What we wish we knew before: India.

5 weeks is not enough

I suppose that this is a personal feeling, but India stole my heart and I was not ready to leave when the time came. We had chosen 5 weeks based on many things: friends who had done a month and felt that was enough, other blogs and reviews but mainly due to our desire to keep moving through south east asia before our set arrival date for China in April.

In 5 weeks we did get to see a vast majority of the well known areas of India at a relatively comfortable pace, however we left ourselves no time to head to the less touristy destinations further north and to the east and this is something we would love to return to do.

I suppose, just expect to fall in love with the place and be ready for a tearful farewell.

 

Goa is massive

Goa is not a place, its a province and as such it takes over four hours to get from the top to the bottom of Goa. Each area in Goa has its own vibe, so its well worth deciding whether you want to party, relax or have a blend of both and research before booking. Many people head to Anjuna for the music scene there, and for good reason. There is anything from cytrance to r’n’b and clubs have themed nights, world class DJ’s and good live music most nights. It’s also the place where the party never seems to stop, so staying in the heart of it may not be a relaxing beach getaway. Further south, the vibe seems to unwind a little and good live music, clean beaches and waterfront huts await. We chose Palolem as it had been recommended to us and it didn’t disappoint.

 

Street food is generally ok.

For the first week or so, Stu and I avoided the street food as we weren’t ready to risk it. But once we started eating it we didn’t want to stop! Some of the best dishes we had in our whole time in india were thanks to street food, but here are a few tips on how to get delicious street food that won’t end with you wrapped around the toilet!

1.Pick the stalls where you can see there prep area. If it’s clean, you’re on to a winner.

2. Vegetarian is always safer. Street vendors don’t have anyway of cooling their meats, so unless its early in the day, vegetarian is safest.

3. Know your spice level. Foods here are rich, and often people can also get sick as they get a spice overload. Most vendors speak some English, so you can ask to taste a sauce first if you’re a little worried.

 

Litter

If you are like me and find it hard to resist picking up others litter and launching into a lecture about the harm it can do, India is going to test your patience. It seems that due in parts to the engrained caste system (where it is the lowest classes job to clean up the rubbish) and relatively new nature of plastics being used for every food item that India looks like a rubbish dump.

Indian’s will not think twice before unwrapping their food and casually tossing the rubbish wherever they happen to be. I have had to pretend not to be furious as people lent over me on the train to throw out wrapper after wrapper from their food.

The cities seem to be getting better with their waste management, however anywhere else is still bad.

 

Embrace the Chai

Masala chai is the life blood of this place. Its spicy, sweet flavour will have you addicted in no time. Embrace it, you will end up drinking it at breakfast, everytime you are greeted at new accomodation, as dessert etc etc. It’s awesome, so go with it.

 

There are some beautiful beaches

Don’t just think of India as hot and dirty, it possesses beautiful beaches to rival any of those we have seen in our travels… white sands, palm trees and beach front huts for the fraction of a cost of Thailand or Bali. There’s also a pretty good night life if you want it. See our Palolem post.

 

Bargaining 

This was our first country where we really needed to barter. It took us a while to find our feet but what we found was they would start at a cost that was double what they would sell for, so we would either hear their price and think about what we thought was fair (usually a little more than the lowest price they would go) and state that number and not budge, or go for half what they quoted and be willing to move up from that number by a small margin.

Starting to walk away is also helpful, as we found that if we had tried bargaining and they would only move the price a little, walking away proved if they were just hoping we would buy it anyway, or if they wouldn’t budge because selling lower wasn’t worth it for them. Usually as we moved away one of two things occurred: they would relent and give a far better price closer to what you had asked, or shake their head sadly and let you go.

 

Trains v buses

We cannot objectively give you the best advice here as despite all our plans to take the train, we never got to take one! What we can say is that people we met who travelled via train said it was great because:

• you could lay down comfortably
• you were able to get up whenever you needed
• each ride is only around 4 – 10 dollars

Some things they found a little harder was:

• being able to get a sleeper ticket before date of travel was hard, you had to go to the station and buy a foreigner ticket (there is a certain number on each train dedicated to this) so sometimes (not often) you could be without a train.
• The trains don’t stop for long at each place, so you need to be ready to get off when the train stops or your riding it one stop further!

Buses:

We liked them because:

• The price was often the same or only a dollar more than the sleeper train.
• We could book them before our travel dates.
• Most sleepers had a single or double bed option, so you could lay down comfortably.

What we found challenging:

• The amount of sleep you get is very dependent on the quality of the roads. We did wake up as we were getting air a few times.
• You can only get up when the bus makes a stop. The bus usually stops 2 times during the ride, one time around 10pm for food and beverages, another in a early hours which is purely for a quick toilet break.

 

Taj tickets

Oh, how we wish we had known this one before we went. YOU DONT BUY YOUR TAJ TICKETS AT THE TAJ ENTRY GATES! Nope, instead, you have to line up at a small office, which, on the day we went was only manned by 1 person for foreign tickets. We had arrived at the Taj 10minutes before it opened at 6am, only to be told the tickets were 1km behind us on the road leading to the south gate. We ran back to the ticket office to find we were joining a line 100 people deep, as only 1 person was manning the foreign ticket line! Over 40 minutes later, we finally had tickets only to race back to find the lines at the gate were now 100 people long, with men and women separated for checking. This meant I took another hour, while poor Stu, who got in ages before me, had to wait half hour inside. All this meant we missed the sunrise, but thankfully we were still early enough that the sky had a misty quality and our photos came out looking alright.

To avoid this hassle, go and join the ticket queue the evening before (we have been told this is possible, but no guarantees), around 430 is probably best as not many people are buying ticket that late. Ask for a ticket for the next day, and head there before 6am to line up. That way you will pretty much have the Taj to yourself.

 

Holi stains

Holi stains, it’s part of the fun. However, when you’re blonde, or not a fan of your face being purple of green for a week afterwards, there are some ways to avoid the staining.

The main way to avoid the stains is through using coconut oil on both your hair and your skin. If you put enough of it on, you essentially create a barrier between yourself and the paint. Ask locals the best places to buy the Holiday colour too. Many places selling the very cheap holi use dyes that may hurt your eyes/skin, so go for a little pricier if you have sensitive skin and try not to let kids rub it into you, just throw it on you.

And overall remember it’s holi, you will not look good, you will get wet and anything your wearing will never be ok again! But in the end its an amazingly fun day where you get to see the joy of the Indian people in full force as they become naughty little kids regardless of age.

 

Camels in Jaisalmer.

Don’t expect the Sahara desert. A camel ride here is essentially taking all tourists to the same set of sand dunes an hour camel ride from the highway. Is got its own charm, but it is not some big adventure into the wilderness. Also shop around, pretty much every hotel in town also has a branch doing camel rides. For us, the one we chose in the end was no where near what we expected. We had had another man that morning try to get us to do his camel ride, and all the reviews in his little book talked about the fun around the campfire, the delicious food and the home made whiskey that they all drank before bed. We had declined, as the place we were staying ran their own camel rides and we wanted to check that out first.

It sounded the same in the brochure our hostel showed us, so we went with his. We should have asked to see the review book… we rode for an hour on the camels before we stopped. We thought it was for a break only, but then saw our camel leaders unpacking the camels. Our leaders didn’t interact with us at all, there was no campfire and no drinks or stories from the camel riders about their lives in the desert. While sleeping on the dunes under the stars was impressive, we still left feeling a little underwhelmed. So shop around and make sure the package you buy suits you!

 

Bring pens

The desert kids don’t usually ask for money, but if they spot you they are hoping for some stationary for school. The kids we ran into were walking home from school and were super disappointed when we didn’t have pens or other stationary for them.

 

You’ll want to adopt so many kids and puppies.

Seeing so many kids unwashed, desperately trying to get money off you is sad, tragic really. But giving them money is also often not the answer, as if they make money for the family, the family is less likely to want to send them to school. I wish I could say there is a perfect solution to this where you can help them, but as yet there is not. Finding a local, Indian ran charity that is trusted in India and donating what you would want to give to the children you see is probably the best way to know your money is going towards helping them get better food and education.

If you’re an animal lover like me it will also be quite hard to turn away from all the stray animals. As dogs are also important in Hinduism, they normally are given food by families each day, however they often still look sick and the very people who feed them seem to feel nothing when they kick them or push them away as they walk. There are also charities doing good work with these animals, but it varies city to city, so if you want to help out or donate, ask around the town you are in at the time.

 

Always ask to see the room!

Pre booking in India can be a little dangerous. While nearly everywhere we stayed was to a pretty high standard and for a good price, the few times we pre booked and didn’t see the room first we were left paying a high price for very little.

 

Costs:

Food: anywhere between 50 rupees to 350 rupees per dish. on average we spent 10aud for two on each meal.

Drinks: water should always be 20 rupees. soft drinks etc are around 30 – 80 and beers 100 to 250.

Accommodation: really depends on where you are. We never really paid over 20aud and in some places like Jaipur it was maybe 3aud each per night.

Sightseeing: average of 5 – 15aud, though the Taj came in at about 20aud each.

Transport:

Night buses: 400 – 1000 (8 – 20aud)

Sleeper class trains: 200 – 1000 (4 – 20aud)

PT (around each town): 20 – 60

Tuk Tuk: 50rupees per km MAX. (try and get them to use their metre, remind them it is illegal not to or don’t get in until they agree on the price.)

Uber: In bigger towns this is the cheapest way to get around (ex. PT)

Average spend daily: 40 – 80aud (big difference depending on accomodation costs and food/drink pricing versus city to country.)

Agra and Dehli

Like everyone else who goes there, we were all headed to Agra for one thing: The Taj. Waking up around 8 and a little rusty, we showered and waited for the others to wake up so that we could head for breakfast and the bus together.

Finally everyone was ready, and after a quick breakfast and chai from the nearest open store we were on our way to the bus. The bus stop was like many in India, super confusing with people telling you any number of things about where to find your bus. We all kept asking and thankfully within 15 minutes we were able to find a bus yelling for passengers to Agra. We all piled on and were pleasantly surprised to find it cost less than we had been quoted, only 6 dollars per person for the whole way there.

The bus ride went smoothly, taking the most direct route possible and therefore not only proving to be cheaper than what we had been quoted, but also over 2 hours faster! While none of us were staying in the same hostels, we were all thankfully staying within 50metres of each other so we split into two Tuk Tuks upon arrival and headed swiftly to our accomodation.

Stu and I decided with Alex that we would all get up early and meet to to go the Taj at 5.45 the next morning, so Stu and I figured we would spend the afternoon just taking a look around the town and the surroundings of the Taj. On our way out we saw  Theo, so we changed our plans and joined him and the group he had just met at his hostel to go and take a boat to see the Taj from its east side.

When we got down to the ‘river’ it was quite a sight. One guy on a rickety wooden flat top boat amidst a sea of rubbish and sludge, so thick that the water looked as if you could walk over it and it would hold your weight.

Not the cleanest river…

Undeterred, we boarded the guys boat for 100 ruppees each to catch the Taj from its side as the sun set. It was well worth the two dollars to see it. The sun caught the Taj in a way that made it sparkle and seeing it from the water was just something different to what many others experience. The driver of the boat was also super chilled and he joked and laughter with us as he told us about his life in Agra and what he knew about the Taj.

After getting off the boat we headed into the town to hunt down a place for dinner. We had heard that ‘treat’ restaurant was really good and had a nice little rooftop that you could sit on which was perfect for people watching while you ate. We were met by a lovely middle aged man who took us up the stairs and gave us a few recommendations. We settled on the the two local specialty dishes and had a dessert of coconut pudding and chocolate pudding which we mixed together to create potentially the nicest dessert I’ve had to date. The food was great and the price was very reasonable. Full and with the knowledge that we needed to be up super early the next morning, we headed back to the hostel for a shower and some shut eye.

The night was an interesting one. Everyone in our dorm was planning an early morning like ours, so by 11 the dorm was quiet. We all managed to get to sleep relatively quickly and the cooling in the room made it easy to stay that way. The problem came around 230am when a hostel worker barged in, turned on all the lights, checked beds and left. 20mins later he was back, lights once again all on. Someone came to claim the free bed and too a good 20 to settle in. This same person then asked for a wake up call at 5am! Needless to say. sleep was relatively interrupted in those wee hours, making our 530am get up even harder.

Nevertheless we got up, dressed quietly and left the room as quickly as possible to leave others catch a little more shut eye. We got downstairs just as Alex did and soo we were headed towards the Taj.

We all smiled at each other as we jumped in line; only 10 people where in front of us. But then we spotted something… they all had tickets! I asked the guy in front of me where they had got those from, and to our horror he said the ticket office was actually down near where our hostel was; you couldn’t buy tickets on the door.

We felt gutted.

Instead of panic, we walked at close to a jog back to the ticket office. When we got there it seemed ok from the outside… but inside was only one attendant and a line almost 100 deep. The boys lined up and i waited outside, watching as the sun started to rise on what was going to be a hot but beautiful day in Agra.

It took over half an hour, but finally the boys had tickets and we jumped in a Tuk Tuk in the hope of getting back faster. As we got back though we saw another sight set to gut us – the line was now a good 100 people deep and moving at snail pace. As with everything in India, men and women had to undergo seperate security checks and this meant that while Stu was in within half an hour, I took a full hour just to get inside the gate.

Feeling frustrated I got inside the walls of the complex around 830 – over two hours after our scheduled arrival. But if there is something that will be able to make you shake off any negative energy, its the Taj and as soon as I set eyes on it any issues from the morning dissolved into the background.

 

The place is genuinely breath taking. It lived up to all I had imagined plus some. There’s really not much I can say to really do this place justice. It is just the kid of place you need to go and be in the presence of to truly appreciate.

We took our time, wandering around and taking it in from every vantage point. Of course, we also took a tonne of photos. I’ll spare you the whole photo reel, but her is a few…

After taking in the Taj one last time, we headed for lunch and then to the bus stand to catch the next bus to Delhi.

Jaipur: Holi.

We arrived back at our hostel to a warm welcome from the manager, Dhruv. He was super excited about Holi and the event that he had got us all tickets for. We had a chat with some of the others in the hostel to suss out who was coming with us before heading out to find food and buy supplies for holi.

Holi fever was well and truly already in the air. People rushed about the city trying buy last minute supplies of Holiday paint and wood for the bonfire night that night, while the youth ran through the streets plastering people with colour and giggling manickly. I suppose the feeling it resonated most with me was the feeling I used to get on Christmas eve as a kid, when all the families in our town would get out and walk around with their kids to see the Christmas lights. It had that special mix of last minute bustle and sheer excitement and anticipation that makes the air electric.

After buying paints, a water gun and me getting a fist full of paint directly to the face thanks to a super cute 3year old, we made our way back to the hostel to find out more about where we could go to watch the bonfires that night.

Delicious street food before the Bonfires, after getting smashed by paints!

The Bonfires honour the Mythological story of King Hiranyakashyap. The King wanted immortality and had convinced the gods through his worship to grant him 5 powers that he thought made him invincible. Now full of arrogance, he made his people worship him as a God and killed those who refused. His son was one of those who refused, so Hiranyakashyap asked his sister, Holika, to take the boy trick him into being burnt to death. Holika had a magical cloak that stopped her from being burnt by fire, so the King told her to take the boy, place him in her lap and sit in a Bonfire. The next part of the story apparently changes depending on where in India you are, but the version we were told goes as follows: Holika took the boy onto the fire and before the flames could burn him the cloak flew from her onto him, burning her to death and saving the boy. Vishnu then appeared and killed the King, hence freeing the people of his terror.

We went to a small street near our hostel where a local bonfire was to be lit. People came and said prayers and caught the flame of the bonfire on sticks etc so that they could take them home to their families to light personal bonfires.

Locals walked around the fire praying, before lighting a fire from it to take home.

The bonfire festivities looked set to last for a long while that night, so we decided to head back to the hostel so that we could catch some sleep as the holy festivities were to kick off early the next day.

Arriving back at the hostel we were greeted by a sea of colour. The hostel both inside and out was covered with Holi paints. Apparently, Dhruv and the other staff hadn’t been able to wait for the next day to start the party. Running around like school girls, they giggled as they splattered guests with colour and encouraged them to join in and have a beer. We couldn’t say no so we joined the rest of them in a bit of pre partying before we all decided it was best to head to bed.

A 7am Chai run saw me coming home like this thanks to locals.

Sunrise the next day saw only a few of us stir. Stu, a lovely guy called Alex and myself were first up and decided a chai was needed. We donned our old clothes just incase the kids were already up ad ready and headed out to find Chai.

The kids (and adults alike really) were definitely up and were armed and ready and with glee in their eyes they set about launching colour from all directions at the three of us. By the time we got to the Chai shop we were covered and so were all the locals who were there for their daily dose. We all laughed at each other and banded together when passers by tried to get the Chai man. No Chai or its maker was getting coloured on our watch.

Full of Chai and now basically covered in colour we did the mad dash back to the hostel where the others were starting to stir. A few had been about to go for Chai and thought the best of it after seeing the state we were in.

As everyone awoke, we all had a drink and got ready for the day. By 10, Dhruv was navigating the difficult task of getting all 15 of us into 3 Tuk Tuks and getting us breakfast on the way there. This somehow all came together and we were soon at the house that hosted the Holi festivities Dhruv had organised for us.

At first we felt a bit unsure. The event was upmarket, and not a lot of Indians were there. Stu and I were worried, and considered bailing to go back and continue Holi with the locals and street kids, but decided to give it half an hour.

We are glad we did.

Half an hour later music was blasting, Indians were dancing up a storm and the party vibe was well and truly on. The day was filled with smashing people with colour, dancing and drinking and talking with locals.

While it was upmarket, it was still a blast but I am glad that we had spent the morning with locals as the smaller Holi festivities felt like the heart of such a day. Dhruv is a legend for organising such an event though and we are so thankful he was willing to take time out on a day he loves to help us enjoy Holi and feel at home.

 

Jodphur

We had been told not to expect much from this city, but we found we loved it. Blue from head to toe, Jodphur’s streets were alive with the lead up to Holi when we arrived and held immense charm.

Kids played outside their blue houses, practicing drums, trumpets and more. Women chatted in doorsteps and gave broad grins as you walked past and men talked and laughed as they made their way about the streets. Cows, goats, dogs and chickens roamed almost every part of this city and people seemed completely used to their presence.

For Jodphur we had not pre-booked a hotel, but we had looked up a new hotel called LG guesthouse and figured we would head there and check it out first. We had the usual issue of the bus dropping us nowhere near the centre of town, so after a Tuk Tuk in (during the ride this Tuk Tuk also took us the wrong way in the hopes of convincing us to stay at his hotel, not the one we asked to be taken to) we were finally dropped at our desired destination.

The hotel was amazing. Fresh blue and white paints stood out against the mainly worn buildings in the street. Hand painted murals finished off the grand look and the hotel owner was one of the nicest we had met in our travels. The room was equivalent to 10aud a night, but well worth the extra couple of dollars for the amazingly hot, well pressurised shower and super comfortable bed.

Our guesthouse, right under the cities fort.

As we had arrived rather late, we quickly checked in, then headed across the road to a rooftop restaurant we could see from our accommodation. We tried some of the dishes traditional to Jodphur (names escape me now, I forgot to write them down!) and had a beer as we watched the sun set over this truly unique city.

The next day saw us head to the cities fort in the morning. While we readied ourselves for the morning and had a free chai, the guesthouse owners daughter saw me sketching and ran over to show me her henna designs. Soon I was sat getting Henna. I gave her 150 rupees for her work and she did a truly lovely job. Henna done, we headed to the fort.

Early morning henna

Overlooking the city from the highest point in town meant the fort cut an impressive figure. While we had seen many forts in the last few weeks, we decided it was worth a look. The fort was expensive, and without paying even more you couldn’t take photos, but with a museum inside as well as amazingly preserved rooms from some of the original northern Indian royalty, it was well worth a look.

Sneaky shots from inside the forts palace.

We finished our tour around the fort by midday, so we headed into town to grab a coffee and some food. We tried some samosas and other street food snacks from the various vendors near the clocktower and then settled in to the clock tower cafe for a coffee. The coffee here was good and it was nice to sit and watch the chaos of this very noisy, crowded city from a small distance. While drinking our coffees we spotted the couple from the camel tour so we waved them over, only to find out they were also staying at LG guesthouse. Two coffee later and we left them to their own exploring and we headed back into the chaos of the markets to look for present and other goodies for people back home.

The markets were a sea of colour, and after some clever bargaining we left with presents and a few personal items in hand for a price we felt very happy with. We once again had dinner at the rooftop restaurant before heading home early to get some shut eye before our very early 630am train back to Jaipur.

Jaisalmer

We headed to Jaisalmer with only one thing on our minds: A night of sleeping under the stars on a sand dune after a long Camel ride.

The bus rolled into town around 6am, and we were told that we got a ‘free’ lift to our accommodation. We didn’t believe it so started walking, but then the driver of the bus insisted this was correct and that we should take the offer. So we did… to a different hotel than ours.

The hotel owners said that they were wanting to show us their rooms and details on the camel tour they ran, so on the promise of free chai we headed upstairs, weary and a little annoyed to listen to what they had to sell. The owner showed us review of his camel ride and really tried to sell it. It actually sounded really good, but I was miffed at being tricked into doing business with him, so we declined and said we wanted to check with our accomodation first. Suddenly the chai wasn’t free and no lift to our hostel available, so we walked away and any chance of business for that man completely disappeared.

Arriving at our hostel we were greeted by a friendly young owner and shown to a clean, comfortable dorm room. We met a young American couple and got along quickly, and they talked to us about the camel ride offered by the hostel. It sounded good though no reviews were available unlike at the other hotel, so we were taking a little bit of a risk. However we felt it was a good option as at least we would be going with two people we clicked with so we signed on and that afternoon we all headed out for our ‘Safari’.

Be warned, the ride there is strange. The driver will stop at random villages on the way and tell you go get out and look around. Essentially you are walking through peoples backyards and peering in at their lifestyle, which makes you feel rather uneasy as you seem to be seeing them as an exhibit rather than people. After the first stop we all agreed we didn’t want to do anymore, so we asked the driver to just drive directly to the camels and thankfully he did. These stops are apparently something nearly all tour operators include so ask about these before you go.

Getting safari ready.

We got the the camels and two men dressed in traditional desert attire helped us onto our camels. No one seemed to speak a lot of English, so everything was done through gesture. It worried us a little, as the other hotels review had talked about how the guides sang songs, talked about their life and customs and sat up with you telling storied and having a few drinks around a campfire. It seemed this may not happen on ours.

riding into the dunes to find camp

The camel ride started, and while we all talked to joked, getting the guides involved was hard work. After about two hours of riding we stopped for what we thought was just a short break. Then we saw our guides starting to unpack the camels and make a fire and we realised that we were riding no further. They soon brought us some Chai and water, so we sat and chatted while they started dinner preparations. I went over and tried to indicate I wanted to help or watch, but that seemed to make them feel uncomfortable so I dropped it and the four of us decided to go explore the dunes instead.

chilling at camp

best dressed award…

rolling in the dunes like a little kid

it was more fun than it should be at 27!

Rolling around in the dunes and watching the sunset done, we headed back to camp to find that dinner was almost ready. As the sky darkened we sat down to a dinner of rice and a cabbage based dish. It had little flavour, but thankfully there was a pretty good chilly sauce handy to give it some life. As soon as we had eaten, the campfire was put out, so we figured that our chances of stories and sing-a-longs were slim to none. We sat and chatted for a few hours, then all of us decided to take our bedding and go and find ourselves a spot to sleep. It was only 8pm, so Stu and I chatted for a while longer before we finally drifted off.

The sleep on the dunes was suprisingly the most comfortable, quite sleep we had had so far in our whole trip. We slept without even drifting awake even once and woke feeling cosy and comfortable on the soft sand. As we heard others start to move around us we headed from our little sleep spot back to camp for a breakfast of boiled eggs, bread and bananas, before getting back on the camels for the two hour walk back to the awaiting car.

Overall, the trip was good, but we felt a little down about the lack of interaction we were able to have with our guides. I have since read reviews on many other companies and most of them have guides who speak some English and regularly engage, so check around town with different tour providers to find the one that suits you. Our probably would have been perfect if we were looking for romance or solitude, but it didn’t hit our mark of wanting to learn more about the culture. Choose wisely.

Trip over, we went to the hostel to shower and decided to stay another night so that we could explore the town that day/night before taking the lunchtime bus.

We spent the day looking through markets, having a late lunch/early dinner at Pleasant Haveli (great food, excellent service) and then sitting up with our hostel owner and having some very earnest conversations about customs and expectations for young men and women in India. Talking to our hostel owner, who was from the desert, was fascinating as it gave us an insight into how education and working with people of different beliefs has shaken his faith in the way things ‘just are’. He was already promised to a girl for marriage and was not looking forward to it and talked to us about how some of the customs in the desert are, in his opinion, 100 years behind the rest of the world. His enthusiasm for change and want to listen, critique and reflect gave me even more hope that India is moving forward for its young people.