recent piccies

Observatory in Jaipur - worlds biggest sundial.

Snake charmer at the Amber fort

Enjoying the view at the amber fort

The girls on an elephant!

Me Laura snd Michele in the Jeep to the fort

Elephannnnnnnts

Traffic coming back towards us on the indian motorway

Jiminy cricket posing!!

Jaipur

Its been another good day today.
We are in the nice hotels garden in Jaipur. Today we went to visit a few of the local tourist attractions including the Amber Palace, another palace where the Maharajah lives and finally the Observatory.
We started towards the Amber palace were introduced to our guide for the day - Duke. He told us about the driving in India and the fact that you need 3 things - good horn, good brakes and good luck!! He also explained about the cows in India that sleep in the road and why - Its because the flies and mossies are disturbed by the traffic, so if they sleep in the road they can sleep without flicking their tails. We reached the Amber palace, where a few of the group decided to ride up on elephants - which was nice - the rest of us were going to walk up the hill, but were told that it was too far to walk back down and so would have to ride back down in a jeep - this would cost the same as riding up and down in a jeep, so it was a no brainer - We all jumped in the back of the jeeps and headed up the hill, whilst still being hassled by the hawkers who were selling the usual shite - they even jumped onto the back of the jeeps and tried to sell us stuff while we were on our way.
The amber fort is quite spectacular and has great views over the city of Jaipur itself, as well as a lot to look around itself. We met up with the rest of the group who had travelled up on the elephants and then we had a good tour around it before heading back down the hill in the jeeps. It was really hot so we wandered around a bit with the guide, and I was prevented from walking into a wall - thanks Vicky! On the way out we saw a monkey messing about and also a snake charmer - with real snake. We took a few photos, but were surprised when the snake charmerthen started shouting - money, money, give me money! It was quite rude, so we just wandered off claiming stupidity! We were all glad to get back into the coach and head into town to the other palace and the observatory.
The observatory itself has lots of different devices that can be used to read the stars, the sun and their positions - the worlds largest sun dial is also there which is 80- feet high.
The guys seemed to find it a lot more interesting than the girls, so spent a lot of time looking at the various things, whilst the girls relaxed in the shade.

It was then off to the palace next door to see where the Maharajah lives and does his work.
Some of the group even saw him walk past at one point, but I missed him myself! On the way out of the palace there was another snake charmer - we had kearnt from the last one we saw not to take photos, but this one also surprised Lisa, when the snake had a bit of a go at the charmer - suddenly rearing up and having a right go at him - this surporised Lisa who was quite close and gave her a bit of a fright.

Duke had also arranged a lunch for us all, so back on the bus and into town to a big hotels restaurant, where a mix of meat and vegetarian sandwiches were available. For some reason, my nose decided at this point to start bleeding - again!! I managed to get to the toilets before it made too much of a mess of my clothes, but was surprised when the toilet attendant decided to get on his knees and help get the blood stains off my trousers!!

It had been a long day, even though it was only 2pm, so some of us headed back to the hotel, whilst a few went to look around the bazaar.

Having broken both my sunglasses in the last few days, I then took a tuk tuk with Lana, to do some shopping and pick up a cake as its Matts 27th birthday today.
We had a really nice hour or so, checking out all the sunny-g's in the proper shops, rather than the market stalls - We both got ourselves 2 new pairs and the total cost was less than £12 each(total for 2 pairs) Lana also managed to get herself some cool new sandals, that feel like you have really soft rubber on your feet (Yes, I did try them on)
We then found 'The Venus Bakery', where they do decent cakes. A cake was bought for Matt and they even wrote his name and age on in for nowt.

After this we headed back to the hotel for a rest. Lana had arranged for a Henna Tattoo artist to visit the hotel at 5pm and most of the girls sat in the garden and had some really cool henna tattoos done. Most had their hands or feet done, but Laura had her back done, which looks great. I also went online and managed to book 10 tickets for the commonwealth games so that we can go and see the athletics on Friday night!! Lets hope I can find 9 people who want to come with me.
Tonight we are heading out for a meal for Matt's birthday and hopefully a few beers.

Huh!?

OK, its day 30 and half of us are going to Jodhpur, to see the fort and then go down-town. The other half of the group are having a lie in and then doing their own thing later.

I got up and hand-washed my stuff, after cleaning up from my shampoo spillage yesterday. Then after a good breakfast we got on the local tourist bus and went to Jodhpur. The fort is perched atop a rocky hill and overlooks the city. It is really spectacular and we spent a good couple of hours looking around the rooms and enjoying the views. We were due to go down-town and look around the market too, but it was too hot for some of us, so only me, Vicky and Mils ended up going down.

The market (bazaar) is a really colourful place and is very busy, but was very hot. We spent an hour wandering around and getting constant hassle of the locals to follow them to their stalls. I was told that I have a nice moustache and looked like John Cleese!! Everyone there boasted of working for big fashion designers and had all met Richard Gere – He must be really busy travelling around India!!We even saw our first elephant of there trip, just walking down the main road. After a while the hassling got too much so we grabbed a tuk tuk and travelled the 12km back to the Guest-house! The roads are shite here, but it was good fun travelling so far in the tuk tuk.

When we arrived back, I managed to get some new shampoo, before settling down for an afternoon in the shade in the garden. I wanted to mellow out on the swing-bed, but there was already someone on it, so I used the internet for a while, before going back and seeing it empty -It was mine!! I lay down on it just about half past 3. I started to swing it using my foot against the chain and that was me for the next 4 hours. People came and went, having chats and then going off to do their own thing. I had a couple of beers and drifted off to sleep a couple of times – waking up when my foot slipped off the chain. Even Pepsi, Whisky and Happy – the dogs who live in the garden came over to see me. Becky, Frankie and Laura came back from their afternoon out with Awal and Matta and chatted about their day, before we sat down in the garden about 8 for dinner. But not before I had checked the internet for the score from The Ryder Cup. Dinner was as good as yesterdays and when everyone had full belly’s we sat back down at the swing until bedtime, just chatting and relaxing and getting bitten by all the mossies. I had a well nice chat with Becky after having a shave for the first time in 2 ½ weeks and headed off to bed. I was sharing with Kenneth for the 2^nd night running and last night we had the air-con on full and were freezing, so tonight we turned it down to keep it warmer. I still didn’t sleep to well though.

Breakfast today was good and after everyone had paid their bar and food bills, we headed off once again for a day on the bus – Destination Jaipur.

I managed to nab the back seat again and this time only Laura shared it with me so we had a lot of room to spread about. Frankie and Becky sat in front, flicking through a celebrity magazine and discussing the celebrities, their dress sense and the who/what/whys of what they are doing!

Me and Mark spotted The Indian Desert Corps headquarters and smiled at their entrance decoration – They have what appears to be the tail of a shot down Pakistan fighter jet adorning the main entrance to the camp. The roads are particularly bumpy today, so I am quite pleased to be able to type on the bus like this, but I think its time to stop.

4pm – Its been a reasonably quiet day on the bus. Most people have slept listened to music and just vegged out. The most exciting thing was having a nosebleed during one of the stops and spotting and taking pictures pof a grasshopper/cricket that seemed to be tame. Its now 66km to Jaipur and as its an all day optional trip tomorrow, most people are planning on a quiet night in the hotel restaurant/bar/internet room - if it has any of them!!

As we reached Jaipur, we had to stop on the motorway as the traffic started to come towards us....There must have been a crash or incident of some kind, so we joined in, reversing backwards down the road towards a gap in the crash barrier that everyone was driving through. Then just as we were about to leave the road, the traffic ahead of us cleared and we continued on towards the city, not knowing what the problem had been. Its a strange place this India!

We are now in a pretty nice Hotel in Jaipur – It has wifi, which is reasonably cheap, so I have enough for a few hours tonight and tomorrow.

Back to good times

We got aboard the fun bus and headed off towards Jodhpur just after 9am. I had already taped the cover of cosmopolitan over the dodgy air con that keep the cold seat really cold. It was a nice atmosphere on the bus today and so I decided to make a global traveller credit card for Becky so that she can join my and Laura’s global traveller club. I also managed to fix Frankie's wind up torch. It was a reasonably quiet start to the journey, apart from seeing a shy/naughty camel, who sat facing a wall, a motorbike ridden by an entire family, but it appeared that the 5 year old son was actually steering his older sister and mum and dad – perhaps they take it in turns!! I also discovered it is quite difficult to put in eye drops whilst travelling on a dodgy bus on the Indian roads!! At the moment I’m listening to Frankie Boyle live, on the mp3 player!! Its all good so far and we have a few 2 night stops in the next week, so there’s plenty of time for rest and for washing!

At about 10am, we turned off the main road and appeared to be lost as we passed down the dodgy back-streets, but we stopped by what appeared to be a small temple. Lana announced that it was The Temple of Rats! Some people, like myself were quite interested, others were disgusted, but most of us decided to leave the bus for a look around. It was quite weird inside, with loads of rats running about, drinking milk and sleeping on the railings. They were obviously used to people though and it was quite cool. We had a good look around and were hustled by some local kids who asked for money for doing nothing at all. It was all made even weirder by the fact that we had to enter barefoot, so we were all walking through rat-shit and bird shit in bare feet. After a look around we got back to the bus after being asked for pencils by some more kids -Becky didn't want to give away her only pen!! Back on the bus, Becky broke out the anti bacterial wet wipes, so we could all wipe our dirty feet, it was then back on the road again.

It was a bit of strange journey today, I have been feeling a little left out since I got back from the boat trip. But after today, when I had a good chat with the girls about how I was feeling, I felt a lot happier. Lana also helped by coming and chatting when I was feeling a bit low – Anyway, enough of being a soft shite – Life is good again and today, particularly this evening has been absolutely fantastic,. We arrived at today’s and tomorrows accommodation. We were expecting a guest-house, but it turned out to be 15 or 16 small huts circumnavigating a lovely little garden. The huts are air conditioned little havens of peace and the garden is beautiful. There is even a family of monkeys living in one of the trees, but the are stopped from invading our peace by a couple of mean looking dogs!! After arriving and moving into our huts, I decided to wander into the local town for a bit of fruit. I asked the the girls if they wanted anything and got an order of bananas and apples! Then me, Mark and Barry wandered into town. We were surprised to see the entrance to a park and so took a walk............ around a corner we came across a beautiful temple – It was amazing to find something so unexpected in what we thought was a dead end town – It turns out that this was a series of tombs dedicated to the dead, but each one was built to be better than the previous one. It was great to wander round and we saw lots of squirrels and also a bloody big monkey that just sat and stared as we passed!!!

I remembered about the shopping and on the way back found a stall doing fruit – The old man who owned it didn’t understand but his 5 year old grandson (or son!!) spoke English and gave us some lovely fruit. On the way back to the guest-house we were followed by some local kids, so I played a game with them, turning around and chasing them for a laugh, they loved it and happily posed for photos before waving us goodbye when we reached home.

I sat on the garden swing with Frankie, Becky and Laura and had a good chat before dinner... The family who runs the guest-house invited everyone to join in and help cook dinner, so a few of the group went into the hot kitchen to make Bombay potatoes and chapatis. About 8pm we were sat at a table in the garden and were called over to another table where dinner was served. Without doubt it was the best meal of the trip so far and I think we would be lucky to get better. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was great. It reminded me of a retreat where people go to relax and find themselves. I looked around during the meal and am doing so again as I type this and all I see is happy faces. Its so cool. Everyone really enjoyed the food and the hospitality of the family. It s by far the best Indian food I have ever had.

Now, after the meal we are all sat around on small mattress type pillows, I hear laughter and a guitar with singing, the sound of crickets and the odd police siren, but its all good. There is a frog, so obviously Kenneth wants to put it in a sock. Its a long story, but so is this trip. Hey ya! Fook, it, that’s enough of the blog. I wanted to write this while it was all fresh, but now, as Lana has just reminded me, its time to be social!! G'night. :-)

Bruce Willis.....

My admin afternoon ended up being an hour on my bed, in the dark, feeling sorry for myself!! I managed to break my adaptor for loading photos from my camera onto the computer, but luckily I’m a switched on Fothermucker, so I have 2 spare cards and another adaptor, plus a cable, so it didn’t bother me too much!! I did manage to make it up onto the roof to have a look around, but its just too hot at this time of day, so after a few minutes I went back inside. I had a slight bellyache, no reason why as I’m not ill, but just a little off colour, so I lay in the dark, with the air-con on until Becky knocked for me just before 5.30.

We met up downstairs with Awal, Matt, Laura and Frankie and went for a wander around the local area. After a few hundred metres one of the locals, started to walk with us, chatting and telling us about the area. This sort of thing doesn’t happen at home. If you say hello to a stranger in UK, they will probably look at you like you are some kind of mugger or murderer! Here, everyone seems friendly and really pleased to see us – a few white strangers, kind enough to come and visit them.

Our new friend -His name was Mothen, walked with us and showed the veterinary college where he studies until we came across some of his friends playing a game of basketball. Awal and Matt wanted to join in, so went over to the court and played a game of 2 v 2 against the local lads. We watched for a while and then Mothen, continued to walk with us and showed us an The Lallgarh palace, that has now been turned into a luxury hotel. The grounds and building were really nice and the security guard – a 200 year old man with a stick, didn’t mind us walking round to have a look.

It started to get dark, so Methon walked us back towards our Hotel, but invited us to his friends house for a cup of local tea, to look at his friends vintage car and to see a picture of Richard Gere!! Unfortunately, we needed to get back to our Hotel for dinner, so we had to decline his kind offer.

We got back to the Hotel and were going to meet downstairs for dinner, but when I turned on the TV, I was lucky enough to find live coverage of Man United V Sunderland on ESPN, so I ran back down to tell Becky and Frankie to enjoy their dinner as I had something far more important to do!! I’m now sat again on my bed watching the footy!! Its going to be a quiet night!!!

Just a quick update – I had a shower at half-time and was surprised to see just how special this hotel is- I have never seen a hotel room before that has 2 showers!! One underneath the other!! I used both because I am just greedy – haaha!

After the footy we had a quiet night - I manageed to get all the movies working on Debbies netbook, while also uploading a load of films to Lisas - Then we spent a while on the roof chucking the fat.

Its still hot though, so I went to bed about midnight.

Its now 7am the next day, the internet is working better - probably because no one is on it now!!

Another bus day today, off to Jodhpur!! Bruce Willis is not too good!! Its all in the water.....

Camels from the hotel roof

Hotel in Bikaner

Girls meet the locals

With our new mate Mophen

The Old palace

2 Showers!!

Fookin post you barstard!!

After an afternoons kip and a play on the internet, we all got together and drove towards the Wagah border ceremony. This is where the Indian and Pakistan border guards put on a show for the gathering tourists. They march up and down either side of the border in a coordinated show of who is the tallest, can get their legs highest and shout the longest. Its a bit like the funny walking from Monty Python, but all done as a friendly contest between the sides. On the Indian side where we were, there must have been3000-4000 people, mostly Indians, but with a large gathering of tourists like us, who were all let into the VIP section. Before the show the crowd is led in cheering and dancing, all directed towards winding up the crowd in the Pakistani side – but the Pakistanis weren’t even there yet! People were picked from the crowd and give Indian flags – they then ran, to a loud hail of cheers, right up to the gates of the border so the Pakistanis could see. Then loud Pop music was played and everyone gathered onto the road and danced along.

The ceremony it self takes about 40 minutes and starts with one guard shouting as long and as loud as possible the first command – Then the guards start their marching and gesturing towards the guards over the border. All the guards are as tall as possible and wear large headdress with a fan atop, to make them as intimidating as possible – Then they march to the gates and stare down their opponents whilst gesturing disdain towards them. Its all done for show though and looks like it takes a lot of practice. Eventually the flags are lowered and everyone goes home like they have left a football match after a 6-6 draw!

We got back onto the bus but as the traffic was so busy I decided to get myself a drink and some crisps from a stall, after sharing the crisps with Laura, we headed back towards the Hotel.

It was about 8pm by the time we got back, so after a quick turn around, me, Laura, Becky and Frankie headed to the golden temple with Allen and Matt. After my 4^th Tuk tuk ride in just over a day we arrived near the Temple and walked inside. I was the only one who had been there before, so it was nice to see the reactions of the others, who like me this morning, thought it was awesome.

After the temple it was Tuk tuk 5 and a walk down to the Hotel where we ate last night for dinner. When we got there however the boys, changed their minds, so I went in for a beer whilst everyone else went for scoff. A few minutes later though Becky came in to join me in the bar. We had a nice chat and were joined by the others after they had eaten.

It was getting late so after a couple of beers we all headed back to the hotel. The boys decided with the girls that they wanted to build a fort in their room and sleep in it, however as I am 40 and not 4, plus I am still getting over my journey from Turkey I played the boring old tosser card and went to bed, leaving the kids to enjoy their sleepover. I did get a few minutes on the internet before though and a head massage from Liv, which helped me to get a really good nights kip.

I woke up just after 6 and after packing I really couldn’t be bothered doing much socialising this morning, so I got onto the bus and chatted with Laura whilst waiting for everyone else to get aboard. Then we headed off for our first day on the bus in India. Becky is very happy that she finally made it to the back of the bus – she thought she would be travel sick, but is coping fine with the roads and the seats!!. The roads here are damn awful and just sitting comfortably is hard, never mind sleeping or typing on the bus, like I am doing now! I had a banana from Laura for breakfast and it was really tasty!Then, I gave the girls the papers and gossip magazines that I bought for them in Fethiye and they spent a good hour chatting about celebrities, their marriages and pother gossip from home. Then we did the easiest crossword ever in OK magazine, before deciding to settle in for the journey.

At the moment we are swapping between seats – one of us is sleeping across the back seat, using my emirates blanket, two sit in front reading or staring out of the window, the 4^th person sits beside the sleeper. Between us we have a blanket, two pillows and a cardigan -This is used by the person in the cold seat – the one under the air-con, which we cannot turn off! Its 35 degrees outside and like a fridge in the wrong seat!

We also managed to pull open the old windows of the bus, so that the warm air mixes with the cold, to make it a little warmer inside. There were a few stops this morning – two for toilet breaks and one when there was a massive traffic jam. We sat there a while and watched as traffic was passing so far on the wrong side of the road ,the people walking alongside the road had to get out of the way. One local dude came up to the windows that me and Laura were hanging out of and chatted for a short while with us, then it was clear and we headed on. We spotted wild parrots at one rest stop as well as a camel that passed by pulling a trailer – Barry was heard to exclaim ' Bastard', as he saw it -turns out he got thrown off on once~!

Its now 12noon and its Frankie s turn under the blanket, Becky is listening to tunes on her Ipod, whilst Laura is kipping next to Frankie. I am struggling to type – still!! haahaa.

After finishing that last part of the blog. We just vegged out and chatted for the afternoon, we even got to the point of discussing what would we do for £1million. There is nothing that I could possibly repeat on this blog!

Anyway, we finally reached the destination for the day – Sriganagar. As we drove through the town itself, we kept an eye out for good fruit and veg stalls, in case breakfast the next day wasn’t up to much, but we were disappointed when we continued through and out of the town. We kept going for another couple of miles, but were very pleasantly surprised when we arrived at our hotel – The Pagoda Resorts. It looks quite a new resort (I just looked in the visitor book and it was opened in April 2009). It is modern and the rooms are lovely – air-con, flat screen TV, wet room/toilet, fridge and large comfortable beds. We all spotted a nice looking swimming pool as we drove down the entrance road, so decided we would al be there as soon as we dropped off our kit. Lana decided to spoil our fun however, by asking for payment for the upcoming trip options first. So, as usual, I got a plan into my head, went to my room, which I’m sharing with Kenneth, chucked in my kit and went straight downstairs. It was perfect timing as Lana had just finished dealing with the admin of the hotel and I was the first down to pay my dues. It was then back upstairs and a quick change before I jumped into the warm pool. It was a good 15minutes before anyone else managed to get down there, so I had it all to myself for a while. Everyone started top make their way in and we played around with a water-polo ball for a good half hour, before the sun started to drop behind the trees. I saw David start to go for a run, decided it was a good idea and went to get changed. I then spent a good 25minutes beasting myself up and down the road leading to the hotel. It was really hot still and was the hardest I have trained so far on the trip, but after I had finished I was invited by Awal, Hicky and Michele for a game of football on the grass. We played for a good 40 minutes and I showed them the rules and how to play '3 and your in'. It would have been a good way to cool down after my run, but turned out to be a lot harder than normal and we were al dripping in sweet not long after we started. The game finished not long after we kicked the ball over the wall into the field next door

After the football, I headed for a shower and then we all met outside where the staff had set up tables for dinner and a puppet show for entertainment. The puppet show wasn’t up to much – a traditional show with 4 or 5 puppets dancing along to the Indian drums. I didn’t understand what was going on, but it was really nice of the staff to do it for us. Some people took the piss a little, but most of us appreciated it and watched for a few minutes before sitting down for dinner. Dinner 'alfresco', was very good – I had chicken sizzler – which did actually sizzle and was lovely, while most other people had curries of varying hotness – everyone enjoyed it though and all the food went down well. Becky and and Laura agreed it was the best meal that they have had in India so far and possible the best meal of the trip so far. After dinner me Becky and Laura sat and chatted a bit more about Laura and her acting and about films, TV and lots of other stuff. Frankie and the dudes played a bit of table tennis and also learned some Indian game which was a mix between shove ha-penny and pool. It was a really nice night but was over too quickly when the staff started to turn off the spotlights and started clearing up the tables. We took their hint and headed off to bed. Up in the room, Kenneth and Lana were sat watching Transformers 2 and having a quiet drink, so I joined in with them until the film finished. As usual, it ended up in a play-fight, but I took things a little far by twisting Lana’s arm behind her back – I didn’t know she had a bad shoulder and she squealed out in pain! Bugar – I’ve injured the tour leader!! I decided to make up for it by giving her shoulder a nice massage , which I hope she appreciated. It was then off to bed.

This morning we al got up and ordered our breakfast, which took an age to arrive. But eventually we were all ready. We got onto the bus after loading our bags. The gang managed to grab most of the back seat again, so we can do what we did yesterday – swapping around so one of us can lie down on the back seat under the Emirates blanket and get some decent bus sleep. We are now waiting to leave as some people are still having breakfast. The bus has its air-con on, which we cant turn off, so we are all freezing cold – but it will warm up later on we hope!! Today we head towards Bikaner.

The journey today was OK – except for the deteriorating roads and the driver deciding to overtake around blind bends and blind hills – there was traffic everywhere as we passed by camels, cows and even a dead cow by the roadside. A few of the roads were particularly bad and we all took the breaks when they came. Outside it was getting really hot, which made the first toilet stop quite bad as the smell from the small room, where someone had quite obviously not been taught how to correctly clean up after themselves was really bad. I decided to use the field and wall next to the stop instead, but the girls had to suffer.

The next stop at about 12.30 was much better – nice clean modern style toilets and a kiddies playground that Lana, Lisa, me and Liv took full advantage of – trying out the slide, swings and the roundabout. We didn’t have a lunch stop today – firstly because we were not far from our destination and secondly because there was no food to buy!! Its also Mahatmam Ghandis birthday today, so we are expecting a lot of shops to be closed and may have problems getting alcohol – luckily I’m good friends with Lana - she has Rum!! I’m sure to be able to get some coke to mix it with – I hope!!

Well, its two hours later and we have arrived in Bikaner. There is a trip out from here later to see a temple, but I don’t think it can compare with the Golden Temple, or the Taj Mahal and some of the other places we are going – Plus it is to hot outside to wander about, plus I have found live coverage of The Ryder Cup on telly in our hotel. We also have tennis and cricket, I'm hoping for football later too – Me and Becky (Both sport nuts) are really happy to watch a bit of it live!! So I’m going to have an admin afternoon – doing very little but resting and watching telly. The hotel is really nice – comfortable beds, air-con, TV and a fridge. There isn’t a pool this time though, but it does promise internet so hopefully I will be able to get online later – If you are reading this post and it is still today or even tomorrow in UK (Saturday and Sunday) then I got online. If you aren’t reading this, then I didn’t get online and you wont even know about it!!

Pics update

Heres are some pictures form the Istanbul to India journey, plus a few of the days we had in Amritsar, visiting the golden temple and the Wagah border ceremony.
They are all in reverse order though - Bugar!!

Wagah ceremony Indian/Pakistan Gates

The Pakistan Side


The Indian Guards


The crowd at Wagah

Becky and Laura in the Tuk tuk in Amritsar

Me in Delhi!!

Me at sunrise in The Golden Temple - Amritsar


Lisa and Awal with the dirty Lime juice!!

Me arriving in Dubai

Sleep when you are dead

Internet access here is a bit dodgy - we have found a poor, but free internet feed in the back of the hotel - so for now I will jusy fill you in on a bloody great day so far - It is still only 11am!! I know there are a few spelling and grammar mistakes in this post, but I just dont care!!

We got onto our last flight from Delhi to Amritsar and were given a cool lime drink which was a mix between swimming pool water and the sea! I downed mine whilst Lisa and Awal left theirs – it was minging.

After an uneventful flight we landed in Amritsar and after getting our bags we were happy to see a local dude holding our names on a sign – We loaded our bags and then were driven into town to the hotel. This being our first ever drive in India, we couldn’t help but laugh out loud as the driver beeped his horn every 3 seconds and the chaos around us as motorbikes, cars and tuk tuks were all over the place, seemingly doing whatever they liked. Strangely thought it all worked out fine and we made it to the hotel OK. The hotel is OK -Its got the most dangerous electrics I have ever seen, but the TV has loads of channels and the air-con works. It even has a fridge in the room, but I’m not going to drink the water that was left in their, as the bottles weren’t sealed.

We decided on walking into town, but didn’t know where we were going so wandered down the road towards what we thought was the town centre. For a few minutes it was just bedlam and madness, with tuk tuks everywhere, locals staring at us, some smiling, others just staring and just chaos everywhere. But quickly we got used to it. However our first attempt at crossing the road was just bloody scary!! We didn’t know when to go or when to stop and whilst pushing each other or stopping each other from running, we managed to cause a little chaos of our own!

We saw a tourist info centre and were beckoned in wit smiles from the staff. After a few questions they gave us a map if India (Useful!!) and directed us towards a chopping centre that was 2.5km away. We didn’t want to walk, so had our first ride in a tuk tuk – haahaaa!! Fooking hell, it was great!! We couldn’t stop smiling as we weaved through traffic and made it to the shops without a scrape., There’s no describing it, its just mad!

The shopping centre turned out to be OK – a couple of internet cafés and one large modern store, whilst the rest were local stores, with normal types of goods, from chemists to computer stores, but like everything here, it was hot, sweaty, dirty and chaos. Its just weird seeing all the western types of signs and adverts surrounded by the Indian way of life. Dirty is the wrong way to describe it, but as its 2am I cant think of another way. Ill try again later.

After picking up water and deodorant we wandered back down the streets, now used to just doing our own thing and not worrying about anyone else – and the method works! Everyone just looks after themselves and now we were part of it all.

We saw a big hotel advertising 2 drinks for 1 and went inside to see if they also did food – After the security guard saluted us, we were directed towards the bar and were surprised to find a modern 'James Bond#, themed hotel bar, doing food too!! After a kingfisher beer we ordered some chicken and veg Chinese meals (It was al they really had). It was bloody lovely- Hot, spicy but lovely. We were all surprised how spicy it was though – perhaps a sign of things to come in the next few weeks. Awal needed more beer to cool his mouth!

After dinner we wandered back to the hotel and were now quite at home crossing the road, not bothering to worry about the madness. We picked up some beers to cool down for the rest of the bussers as they are due to arrive later that night.

Then we got home and had a few hours kip before getting up at about 1am. We were expecting the group any minute, so sat on the roof awaiting their arrival. Lisa described our feelings perfectly – it was waiting for a second date!! haahaa! Its now 2.25am and we have watched three episodes of The Inbetweeners and still no sign of the bus. We met our driver earlier and saw the new bus, which looks cool. Sometime soon, the group will be all back together again.

Finally, after a long wait we saw the headlights of the bus pull into the hotel just about 3am.

I ran upstairs for the beer and made it back to reception in time to meet everyone. It was like long lost family arriving after years away. Everybody – and I do mean everybody, hugged and kissed us as they came into the hotel. It was great and made me feel part of the group again immediately. It was so good to hear everyones stories from Iran and tell them our tales of the boat and our travels..It was so lovely to see my family again, Becky, Frankie and Laura were great and even though they were knackered we had a really good catch up. Becky's hair looked fabulous and I asked if she had had it done, but it was because it had been covered in Oran for the last week. It looked like she had had a professional hair do!! It was so, good to see them all again!! We stood, sat and drank the beers that we had bought until people drifted off to bed and it was just me and Lana left downstairs. I said I was off to bed myself, but Lana told me there was a few people up on the roof, where we had waited for the bus, so I went up there and continued chatting and drinking till nearly 5am.

Olivia, had been told to visit the 'Golden Temple', for sunrise and asked who else wanted to go. It turned out that 6 people didn’t need sleep., so me, Olivia, Michele, Kenneth, Isabelle and Lana decided to go straight away. Sometimes in life you regret your decisions – this was NOT one of those times. After travelling in a Tuk-tuk to the temple and taking off shoes and flip-flops, we put on head scarves and entered the temple. I’m not going to go on about it, there is no need. This is just an amazing place. Michele was the person who described it best – 'There are just no words'. Is what he said. He is right – The combination of the building, the people, the atmosphere and the time of day, combined this to rate as one of those rare times of your life that you will never ever forget. It was just amazing. The beautiful golden temple, in the middle of a square lake of water, surrounded by the stunning white buildings. People quietly walking around, praying, smiling and immersing themselves in the warm waters, doing the traditional water ceremony to give their all to their god. It made us all kind of jealous and slightly embarrassed, that we were there as tourists while these people had come from far and wide to visit this place. But what made it even better was their attitude to us. They loved us – they shook our hands and took photos of us as they passed, we offered to talk pictures of them, but they insisted that we were in the pictures with them It was like us, the white strangers, were celebrities. Even mums and dads brought their children to see us and touch us, shake our hands and say hello. We really loved this place. It wasn’t even the old people it was everyone. A group of lads aged about 20, who in the UK, you would avoid, sat near us taking photos and laughing and smiling at us as we had photos taken with everyone else. They really made us feel part of something and I will never forget the feeling. As Michele said – 'There are just no words'.

Eventually we left and headed back to the Hotel in another Tuk-tuk. It was then off to bed and a deserved rest, with possibly the biggest smile and the most content feeling I have ever had in my entire life. Dont take the piss - you havent been here. :-))))))

Istanbul to India

After we had showered and ate, we all piled back to the Indigo Travel office, to re pack our bags again and then board the shuttle bus to the airport. Unbelievably the shuttle bus turned up early! So we threw our bags on board and then Lisa had to run off to get her laptop which was charging in the office. We then set off and within 200metres had stopped dead. There was traffic everywhere and not much to do – However our minibus driver decided to reverse back up the steepest hill in Istanbul and then tried to drive away up another...It didn’t work first time so he reversed and got a run up, then just made it up the hill. We started to chat to a fellow passenger who has been travelling for 18 months. His name is Gustavo and he is a tennis player from Argentina – He travels around earning a bit of money from tennis to pay for his travels. He showed us a video of when he was in Amritsar – our destination tomorrow and we laughed at how mad it looked – Istanbul is mad, but its going to be nothing compared to India – I cant wait!!

We eventually managed to get through the worst of the traffic, only to realise that we were back at the Indigo office, 20 minutes after we had left it!!

It wasn’t too bad now though, so we got to the airport fairly quickly.

We unloaded the bus and looked for our entrance whilst Lisa took a cigarette break with Gustavo.

He then got a trolley and pushed his own and Lisas bags all the way through the security, which is unusually, on the entrance to the airport and then he continued to push her bags all the way to our check in, even though his check in was all the way at the other end of the airport.

We managed to book in OK and said our goodbyes to Gustavo, before going through passport control and into the departure lounge, which is where we are sat now. Lisa is trying to resist the urge to buy more clag from Duty Free and Awal is eating an ice cream that he got cheap from Burger King, as he didn’t have enough money! We like Istanbul airport – Its funny watching the babies crawl around everywhere and its a nice atmosphere.

So, now its a few hours later and we are in Dubai!~! The flight with Emirates from Istanbul was ace. The best food I have ever seen on a plane and free wine!!I watched a movie whilst Lisa slept and Awal watched tv and played a bit of Tetris. You can see the class in a different airline when compared to Sleazyjet or Boneair. Emirates if so classy and we have another flight with them to Delhi in just under 4 hours.

We are now lying on the floor in what is described as the biggest building in the world (By cubic capacity) and it is impressive. Everything oozes money including the waterfall and jungle that we just walked past. Its a shame that we cant leave the airport and see more of the place, but as we are just transitting its impossible to do so. Anyway, its nearly 2am here so its time for a kip before the 2^nd of 3 flights tonight.

We woke up an hour or so later after sleeping on the plush carpet next to gate 119, where our flight is due to go from. We woke up surrounded by the Scottish commonwealth team on their way to Delhi!

We got on the plane and managed to swap seats so that we were all next to each other. I was dissapointed that I was on the wrong side of the plane to see 'The World', or the city of Dubai itself.

After another good emirates flight we landed in Delhi, to a warm warm day and a bit of teh famous indian confusion. The airport we landed in is the international one and we have a domestic flight to Amritsar - So after getting directions to one red bus and then getting off because we had no Indian money, we then got more directions to a bus stop, which turned out to be on the wrong level - Finally we got on the right GSM bus and drove th short 10km route to the domestic terminal. Outside the window are tuktuks, and loads of workers preparing for the commonwealth games for next week. My first impression of India is ace - Its a bit mad, but everyone is really friendly and helpful and its fookin hot hot hot!! There is free wifi in eth airport where we are now -everything sems to be cheap in the airport so would be really cheap in the real world.

We had better get off now anyway, as the flight to amritsar loads in a few minutes - Tonight we meet back up with the Ozbus family!! Coooooool!!! Photos later or tomorrow!!!

More boat photos

Heres a few last photos from the boat trip

Another shit view from the boat!!

Melon surprise!!

The infamous pancake making boat

Swell El and Awal chatting at the back of the boat

Me posing with my white pale untanned skin!!! haahaa!

Banana hammocks as worn by Andre the Italian Stallion

Bus to Istanbul - and old friends

After a long wait yesterday, we were finally picked up just after 8.30pm and taken into the bus station at Fethiye for the overnighter to Istanbul.

After a little confusion over tickets – Awal had been given all three tickets but didn’t realise, neither did me and Lisa!! We got on the bus and headed off. Awal didn’t want to share, and managed to have two seats to himself. Jammy bugar.

It was a quiet journey – Lisa and Awal sleeping most of it and me watching a movie on the TV screen in the seat back – It has a usb port so I could watch a movie off my hard drive. The bus also has wifi, so we could check up on the net and stuff!

After a couple of stops and new flavours of menthos, we are now just crossing the bridge into Europe again at Istanbul. We have a long wait here, till we are taken to the airport this afternoon.

That’s it for today, not much to say about the day itself, so here’s a few things I have learnt from the last 3 weeks -

Mentos are cool and come in lots of flavours.

If you fart, burp, cough, sneeze, scratch your arse or go to the toilet on a Turkish gulet – everyone else on the boat knows about it in 5 seconds!!

I can swim better with flippers.

Always check you have your power cables (See day 2)

Everyone snores – including me!

Girls like to spoon and cuddle more when on a trip!

Bus travel is cool

I can sleep anywhere (I knew that already!!)

Parts of Bulgaria are still in 1975.

Latvian bus drivers are cool!!

Balloons don’t need to go high to scare people.

Dont jump in hotel pools with trainers on.

Turkish people are normally late, but get annoyed when their bus gets delayed!

Hungarian waiters can be knobs.

Hungarian bands in restaurants are cool!

One sausage dumpling is enough.

Getting a chest wax doesn’t hurt as much as I thought.

I don’t miss Coronation street!

Blogging takes a lot of time.

I am definitely quite strange!!

Older people are cool!

Cameras that do panorama pics are cool!!

40 is not old

Europe is not that big.

Wasps like clean water but not salt water.

Boat captains do not understand AC and DC power.

The call to prayer is cool!!

Istanbul is very busy – but very cool!!

A garden shed with a bed inside is now called a 'Tree house'.

Bus drivers in Turkey are very strange.

It costs 2 lira to take a picture of a camel (Unless you have a zoom lens)

Three weeks on a bus is easy!!

Hi to everyone who is following this to keep in touch with friends on the bus – We will be back off our holibobs and back on a new bus in India in two days!! Cant wait to see the family!!

Later dudes!!

Just to finish off – we are now sat, once again in the Hostel bar in Istanbul – We didnt have a bus to pick us up at the bus station, so after a few discussions, we decided to get the metro and after a while, we got off near the blue mosque and found Indigo travel. After a quick drink of water we got our shower kit and made our way back to the Orient – After mentioning that we are part of Ozbus, we got the internet connection, power to charge phones and are allowed to use the showers!! A couple of hours here and its then off to the airport and India!!

Im just posting this and now Rochelle and Boris Johnson, from the treehouses, we met last week are here! So its the first of the old - backpackers meeting up all over the world!!

Backpacking is cool!!

Wait wait wait

Ok, Its getting on towards quarter past 6 and we only have another two hours till we get picked up for the bus to Istanbul. Its been a quiet day, spent by the pool.
We thought it was going to be a big disappointment this morning as it was cloudy and looked like a storm was coming, but just after 11.30 the clouds cleared and we managed to get a few hours rest by the pool, swimming, having a cold drink and sleeping in the shade.

I have a slighty sore chest this morning too, as I decided to let Lisa wax it for me today! Haahaa! It did hurt a little, but as I have such strong hairs, she couldnt pull them all out with the wax strips, so I ended up shaving the rest of my chest in the shower before we started swimming.

This afternoon Tristan, who we met on the boat trip, left to continue his solo journey. He is now heading towards Bodrum and then Egypt -Have a good one mate - hope to catch up with you in Sydney in the new year! Hope you manage to meet a few brits instead of all the aussies!!

Now Lisa and Awal have nipped into town to get some scoff and I have taken over the tv and reception here in the VGO hotel. I have already emptied my bag and re-packed it - which surprised Rani from the boat trip as she though I was moving onto the sofa - Its now all ready to go.
Its going to be a long couple of days - 12 hours to Istanbul overnight, before 6 hours in the city, then to the airport about teatime tomorrow. Then we have a flight to Delhi, via Dubai -that takes 12 hours including a 4 hour stopover. Then after another 4 hour wait in Delhi, its then finally a 1 hour flight to Amritsar. We get to the hotel in about 2 days and then have a 12 hour wait till the Ozbus family gets back together again!! I hope they remember who we are!!

No photos today im afraid - Theres only so many pictures of me, Lisa and Awal vegging around that you want to see!!
If you aint seen all the pics yet, there are about 900 now, in the picasa link on the left - including some of Frankies and Beckys Pics -

I'll be back on here when I get the chance - Dont know when or where that will be!!

Boat updates part 2 of 2 - Snookie and Nookie

Heres the continued boat exploits......

Dinner last night was really good, fresh veg, chicken and the fish that had been caught earlier in the day. Even though we were all knackered we sat around for ages chatting about all sorts of shite and then going through the tunes on peoples Ipod. Most of the gang had gone to bed about 10 ish but me, Lisa, Awal, Tristan, Kim and El stayed up a bit longer and ended up sleeping on deck again, Tristan and Kim cuddling up, while I did the same with El. It was a windy night so we had to keep warm somehow!!

This morning we all had a lie in and we arrived in Butterfly Valley in time for breakfast. It was then off exploring the valley – We walked about a kilometre, to find a waterfall. It was hard going with climbs up rocks and at the end, a rope climb up the waterfall itself. Me, Tristan and Awal went up it for a look. However for a while only me and Tristan came down as Awal had gone exploring off the map! Eventually he came back down and we all made our way back to the bay and a swim before lunch. We also started climbing the rope holding the boat and I nearly managed to get in through the girls cabin window! Haaha! Three of the gang including Lisa got stung by wasps – Lisa squealed a bit loud when she was stung, but braved it up later when she admitted her mossie bites were worse than the wasp sting was. By now, Awal had realised that Kim looked like a TV character he knows, called Snookie, so the girls became known as Snookie 1 and Snookie 2. The themselves decided to join in and Awal became known as Nookie!! Kim, isn’t tallest of girls, but she has a loud voice -For the next 2 days all we kept hearing was Noooookie!!!

After lunch we set off for Olu Deniz. It wasn’t a long way, but I managed time for a hand wash of mine and Lisa s sunbathing stuff before we started to watch Zombieland on the net-book. We didn’t finish it by the time we arrived and everyone was straight off the boat and into the water again. Tristan was straight up the cliff to a ledge about 30feet up – He then took Awal (Nookie) and Kim (Snookie 1) up there too, to jump off into the sea. It was a good hour spent in the bay snorkelling and messing about – even the Ice cream man turned up in his little boat, unfortunately some of us were put off by his prices though. Too bloody expensive!

We set off a short while later an then anchored in a large bay a mile or so away. Its the busiest place we have been so far, with loads of geezers trying to sell us trips on a banana boats and jet-ski's. - The American contingency are really happy though, as a woman has just pulled up beside us selling pancakes and chocolate!! Bloody hell! At least there isn’t a McDonald’s boat!! I don’t want to sound an arse, but this is a bit annoying. We have had a great three days on the boat, being left alone to amuse ourselves and suddenly we are in a tourist trap with loads of other boats and people trying to make a quick buck. I suppose its not to bad and I know they all need to make a living – but personally Id prefer somewhere quiet.

After a while the traders left us alone and we all sat at the back of the boat playing daft games, with dice and cards. It got a bit frenetic but was fun and I even managed to win the first game of 1-100 or 3whatever it was called. Lisa sat at the front of the boat and did all the girls nails, which was good because at the start of the trip, she asked if she could do mine if no one else wanted them doing! I think now she is happy and might not want to do mine! You never know though, we still have 2 months of the bus trip left.

Tonight will be another 'quiet one'. Which may turn out to be a bit more. Depending if they have any wine left or not!! We shall see.

Here we go again!! That was 36 hours ago, so Ill fill you in on what has happened since – They did have wine left – so we (or more truthfully – me) drank it! I must admit, that I may have had a tiny little bit too much wine....haahaa! I have been told that I talk a lot when drunk and that’s what happened the other night. By all accounts it was a good night though and we all ended up kipping on deck again. That was really useful for curing a hangover though as all I had to do was roll over the side of the boat and into the sea to sober up.

It was then our final day on the boat, so we headed towards Fethiye, stopping for lunch on the way in yet another nice little bay. This one, though had a water-slide on the beach, so me and Awal put on flippers and swam the 500-600 metres to shore to have a go. It turned out that the slide had no water and was pretty slow – But Awal found a bucket and before long, we were at the top of the slide – throwing water down it, before jumping in and sliding down. The local kids also joined us and every time we went back up, they were right behind ready to slide down again. We left later and handed the bucket to the kids so they could carry on.

Back on the boat we had lunch and then docked in Fethiye harbour. Goodbyes were said and a few took photos and swapped email and facebook details. Lisa, Awal and me, were met by a bloke from the tour company and given bus tickets for our overnight bus to Istanbul, before being dropped at the Vgo hotel for the night.

Lisa and me wandered into town while Awal relaxed in the hotel. Its a nice little relaxed place and we liked it straight away, however Lisa did have a strange experience when she visited a beauty parlour – enough said about that!! We also picked up a News of The World andsome magazines for the Ozbussers to read in India.

We sat in the hotel bar catching up on stuff, when the two snookies and then Tristan turned up, so together we had a walk back to town and sat in a nice little street café, where we had some kebabs for dinner – a bargain at just 3 Turkish lira. It was then goodbye to the girls again as we and Tristan headed back to Vgo, for an early night.

It was hard to sleep though as the room was hot, the beds really hard and outside the window is the pool, which has a little water sprinkler system running permanently – That, and the noise of the water in the cistern in our bathroom, meant that all I could think about was going to the toilet all night! I wish I had got my earplugs out.

Today, we have most of the day here to relax, do our washing and then we get picked up at 8.30pm, to go to the bus station and a 12hour overnight bus back to Istanbul! Joy of joys!!

Photos from the boat

Me awal and Tristan after climbing the waterfall

Under the waterfall

Awal saving lisas snorkel!!

Me!

The orgy yacht!!

The chef off the boat with dinner!!

What we woke up to on day 3.

Swimming at pirates cave

Awal and Kim doing pirates in the pirates cave!!

First view of Sevi 5 our home for four days!

Heres a few pics from the boat - more to follow soon!!

Boat updates - part 1 of 2

Right boys and girls - Heres the first update from the boat - Ill finish off and do the next bit tomorrow when I have a day by the pool...... Here we go...

We had a good night in the bar having a few drinks and making new friends. We met a group of 2 blokes and a girl. Rochelle was from Australia and the guys were from NZ and South Africa. We sat for a few hours chatting a bit and Lisa made everyone laugh by commenting that one of the guys looked like Boris Johnson! It was a lovely mellow night, so the time went slowly and so did the beer. It got to about 10ish and after not sleeping much last night, we all went for an early night.

The next morning we were up about half 8. Got breakfast and a coffee eventually after Lisa showed me how to use the coffee machine. Awal even got his second round of scrambled eggs.

Just after 10am we went to the V-GO tour office and after a wait and a swing in the hammocks, we boarded a minibus with the other guys from the boat trip. On the way we had a stop for shopping and the 30 minute wait turned into an hour, but it gave us a chance to chat to the other guys and gals off the boat. Also we looked for sunglasses and sun cream, but it was outrageously expensive!!

Back in the bus we headed off along the coast road and eventually turned into a lovely little bay where there were lots of day charter boats and our boat and home for the next few days. We all boarded a small boat which took us out to our gulet

Its a lovely big gulet, called sevi-5, with 7 or 8 cabins, where you get changed, but we will sleep on the deck at nights. The lunch we were served was lovely – Chicken and potatoes with salad and rice. It also gave us a chance to chat to the rest of the boaters and tell them all about our trip so far and the bus family. For some reason unknown to us and probably everyone else on board, the two Aussie girls brought out some Fez hats that they had bought. It was decided that me and Awal, plus the two girls, Eleanor and Kim, would wear the Fez's for the duration of the trip – Well that's what the girls think – me and Awal decided we would wear them for a bit and then try to lose them as soon as possible!! As we sat chatting, Rani, who works on the boat pointed out a turtle swimming on the bay just by the boat. We all watched as another and then another appeared.

Then the engines started and we headed off along the coast – First to the sunken city, which was basically a few old walls by the edge of the sea and then to a castle on a hill. We were taxied ashore by the boat dude, but didn’t want to pay entry to the castle so we went back to the boat and swam around for half an hour, swimming to and climbing onto some rocks a hundred meters or so from the boat. It was then off to pirate cave where we all swam into a large cave and took photos inside.

There were rocks under the water and a few of us got cuts and scratches but it didn’t matter as it was really spooky and cool in there. We were called back to the boat and then went about a mile around into a lovely little cove where we are now tied up for the night by a few rocky cliffs Later we will get a water taxi and sample the delights of Smugglers inn – according to the handout we have been given you must stay there till 3am to have the most fun!! We shall see how long we last!!

After dinner we chatted for a while and then around 9pm ish the water taxi turned up and took us around the bay to The Smugglers Inn. Me and Awal left our Fez's behind – so they didn’t get nicked! Honest!! Smugglers Inn is a great little bar only accessible by boat. We were the only people there to begin with but after a while other people turned up off the yachts that shared the cove with us for the night. We all enjoyed a few drinks and I even got up to dance!! But after 2 or 3 hours it was getting late, so I took a sit down by the dock, chatting with Eleanor, one of the Australian girls off our boat, with my feet dangling in the clear warm water and watching the reflections of the water off the rocks on the opposite side of the bay. Everyone else off the boat decided to go home and so we jumped on the water taxi and went home. It was then just a few minutes till we were all tucked up on the deck of the boat, watching the full moon and then fell asleep.

I woke up early as normal and watched the sunrise over the bay and the boats around us. It was just stunning – the pics will be on here soon, if not already.

The boats engines started about 6.30 and we set of for the day. I went down below to brush my teeth , but was surprised to see a fish passing the window! When I went back up top, there were two fishing lines out on the sides of the boat – Fish for lunch? The crew and Paul and Heather are now involved in a fishing tournament – Its 2 fish all at the moment, but Rani just caught herself a biggun!!

We continued to motor for an hour or so until breakfast was ready – It was fresh cucumber, tomatoes, cheese, watermelon and bread along with boiled eggs. Everyone scoffed it, except for Eleanor and Kim who weren’t feeling too well. Then we continued on towards our first stop of the day – a little town called Kas. When we arrived we all got off the boat and me, Lisa, Awal, Kim, Eleanor and Tristan all wandered into town to get sun cream and water. Awal spent a while trying on all the sunglasses in the local market, before deciding on a nice pair (The rest were all too small as he has a really big head!) I bought myself a straw hat – I know I look like a dick wearing it, but it stops my ears and head burning! Lisa also bought a pink lilo from a local shop and then made me and Tristan blow it up for her – haahaa! It nearly blew away when Tristan threw it to me as I was swimming in the sea. It was then back to the boat and we spotted another turtle swimming in the harbour past the boats. Before long we were off again along the Turkish coast. We all sat sunbathing and chatting, watching the large villas on the rocky hills by the sea – we also saw a hotel with two water slides down the cliffs in to a pool.

The boats motors suddenly stopped – we all knew what this meant – We had more fish! At the back of the boat, the crew were reeling in the 5^th tuna of the day, caught again by Paul! It was then time for lunch.

Lunch was good again – salad, tzatziki, pasta and bread. If was quite difficult to eat though as we were docked up where it was quite windy and the waves kept rolling the boat while we were eating.

After lunch we motored for a couple of hours but most of us slept or sunbathed for a while. Eventually we pulled into a bay for the night. The first thing we saw was a pleasure boat, obviously privately owned – with skinny model chicks dancing on the deck to loud music, whilst the older (obviously richer) men sat watching them dance. Then then started to frolic -lap dancing the men and generally being complete tarts -We wondered how much the girls were earning for their time!!

We stared open mouthed, but before anything too dirty happened they left the bay and went somewhere else.

We decided to get in a bit of swimming and also got the snorkel gear out. I spent ages floating around just watching the fish and was joined by Lisa – but she managed to drop her snorkel and watched as it sank into the sea – I quickly dived down to about 12 feet and managed to grab it before it sank too far. However, a few minutes later she looked again and saw that she had dropped the same snorkel a second time. We looked around the sea floor and saw it staring back at us from the bottom. It was too deep for us to get this time, but Awal came to the rescue, grabbing a spare pair of flippers, he dived down to 20 or 25 feet to grab the snorkel – However when he came back up his head was exploding and his ears were burning from the water pressure down there. He is Lisa's new hero – she owes him at least one beer tonight.

Were now sat around again, waiting for dinner which will be served in half an hour or so – Then we think it will be an early night!