First days in India: Delhi and Haridwar

3/05
We leave Colombo and after a short flight arrive in Delhi. We get an airport pickup and the driving feels mad, loads of people walking everywhere. It feels busy already, intense. We arrive in Pahar Ganj, the Delhi seedy area full of bacpackers and cheap hotels. We settle down in the Hotel Cottage Yes Please, fairly recent and clean. I go for a quick look around, many cars, rickshaws, cows, many people and then we have some food in the restaurant across the street. Quick walk in the bazar to have our first impressions. We feel tense, anxious, it is so different...A realy dirty and dirt road (the street is in really bad state) but it is late and the street is not too busy. Few cloth and souvenir shops around and apart from a couple of guys, not many people seem to care about us too much. Bed time and we find it hard to rest.

4/05
Wake up. We then have breafast across the street, we can already feel the heat and the dust. We go for a walk in the area, Pahar Ganj, trying to walk in the middle of rickshaws, cars, cows, many people, managing our ways in the dust inside the bazaar and side alleys. Val starts getting oppressed by the men looking at her in her 'chest eyes'. She feels vulnerable and rather disturbed by it. We have been warned, Indian men stare and stare and never stop staring..We will find some more Indian clothes for her as many female travellers advise her to protect herself that way....We then take the metro to Connaught Place. So different again, a certain order here, in the middle of the chaos. We go to a travel agent for some info and he is trying to sell us a package holiday with driver and all the bling...We walk around, oberving the masses, the people around. We take the tube back and it is amazing to see some endless lines of people queueing in a way never seen before!! So organised and quiet!!!Not indian at all!!! Londoners could only be ashamed in comparison of the calm and order of the users here. Each door has two waiting lines, each composed of no less than 50 people...okay it was our mistake, it's rush hour!!! Stormy weather, the rain starts, lightnings. We walk in the streets back to the hotel, the dust blown by strong wind...Dinner at a corner eatery (local). We are the only foreigners in that one, the kids stare at us. Feels strange as they look but with an empty glaze. Is this curiosity, challenge, arrogance? They don't look down...we smile, they smile back...The area is not brilliant but we could get used ot it, even the dirt, if it wasn't for the constant mad noise, the horns, the shouts, the real assault on our sense is through our ears here...

5/05
Today is sightseeing day. We have booked a car with a driver to take us around Delhi as there are many areas to visit and under 45 degres, it seems mad to struggle and walk around. Our driver, Gail, a devout sikh, is going to take around all day. Old Delhi first, to see Jama Masjid, the mosque very sobre, we walk through the market, and through an extremely poor area, it feels weird to walk through this. No bad feeling about security, more...disgusted! We are now dealing with a real indian street, crowded, poors, beggars, cows, dust, rubbish everywhere, bad smells...amazing how people don't seem to be affected by it!!! We see the Red Fort from outside (the one in Agra is apparently similar but more beautiful), a lovely red stone fortress built by a Moghol emperor in the 17th century. We also see a Jain temple and its bird hospital on the way. We then visit Taj Ghat, the Gandhi memorial, in a beautiful garden, with only a black stone with a burning flame. The place is peaceful and many Indian come here to pay their respect to the Nation founder. We have food in a very posh restaurant, our driver refuses to let us eat in small cheapies!! We then visit New Delhi in the afternoon, it is more airy, big avenues, we see the India Gate, Humayun's tomb, the Parliament and government House, Gandhi's killing place and then our driver takes us to a big Sikh Temple. It is the second temple in the country (18-20,000 devotes a day). We get in, covered, walk around, observe the devouts, see the rituals, it is nice and feels intimate and quiet despite of the crowd. After a short break, we go to the train station to book some tickets. An adventure in itself, crossing the station, the many many people, the crowd, finding the right place, getting our tickets...a struggle..like many things here, so many contrasts, such plurality in everything, religiosity everyhwere, business like mad, uncoherent mixes... We realise it will take time to adjust...We go to a nice cafe for meal, we have some chai across the road from the hotel, then bedtime.

06/05
We take it easy this morning. A quick shopping session to try and find more appropriate clothing for Val. We stroll in the main bazar and stop for lunch in the small canteen around the corner. We have our thali and the very good chai from the old man across the street before heading off to the station. We hire a cyclo-rickshaw and climb on the small seat with the bags behind us. It is a bit of an epic, we're obviously so heavy, the guy sweats like mad, it is hot. The driver smiles to us, a smile on which we can read the pain. Val feels so guilty, but I sort of don't. He's a proud guys and I respect him for that. He works hard and we pay him a price probably relevant to the effort. We're trying to adjust our good-thinking European mentalities to the indian way. It is hard, believe me. But a man who works will be able to afford some food and some kind of accomodation. I prefer hiring this rickshaw-wallah rather than the tuk-tuk guy. The last one charges more for the same journey (same duration also), but without any effort. The road is bumpy and full of potholes, there is not much left of the tarmac, the ride is not comfortable but we get to the station. We load our backpacks on our backs and start crossing the station grounds, scattered with litters, beggars, entire homeless families, other families waiting for their unprobable train, the queues are so long for the cheap second class or unreserved seats, that some of them will maybe wait for a day or two to get on one of the trains. We make our way around them, slowly progressing through the station, smiling at people smiling at us, being stared at by others we stare at back, smiling again. This is crazy, nice, mad, demential, interesting, infuriating, entertaining, confusing, annoying, amusing, irritating, funny, strange, weird and god knows what. Hence the warning from everybody and the stressful constant announces from the rail company for watching belongings, suspicious passengers, potential terrorists, pickpockets, street kids...where the f*** are we!!!!!??? I acknowledge that I freak out a bit, but there is nothing threatening around here...If you ever buy a guide book to visit India, please start by ripping the danger and annoyance pages...It is mad but somehow manageable!
We find our train and talk a bit with a guy from Austria. We board our conditioned coach (it's about 40 degrees inside!!) and soon set off to the North in direction of Haridwar. The train is packed with indian tourists, all of them middle and upper middle class. We will not have much of an experience here as we are not in the popular carriages but didn't feel adventurous for our first trip in train!! We slowly leave the megacity of Delhi, going through the suburbs, some clean, some nearly like slums, with kids running naked on the piles of garbage, some digging in the hope of an item they'll be able to exchange for a few rupees, rubbish in the water, waterfalls of garbage in the fields. We then pass the dry landscapes of the countryside and finally reach our destination just after sunset. The near entire carriages unloads here. The hussle and bustle carries on when we thought it would become easier!!!Loud noise, horns, shoutings. The dark helps, but hundreds of people walk around us, rickshaws and auto-rickshaws (tuk-tuks), horns, buses, cows, dogs, beggars...Wow...we walk along the dark and murky road to end up in our hotel. Not nice, but we don't want to walk around at night so heavily loaded...We were expecting something quite nice, but the rooms are tired, not really dirty (a bit though), bear...It is far from the luxury of our Sri Lanka Palaces...We are desperate to go somewhere else nicer but what will we find at this time? After a long chat, we decide to take the room and go for a walk around the small streets of the bazar and check some other place on the way for tomorrow. The city is busy with pilgrims, we are the only Westerners around, but it feels fine. There are many small streets, alleyways, tons of ashram all around the place, some ghats, a busy markets, some bridges with many sadhus (spiritual local wise men), a strange and very religious atmosphere.

7/05
Short night. Wake up late today for Val's birthday, a bit tired and apprehensive. We have recovered and try to think pink for this special day. After breakfast we go for a walk in the bazar in direction of Har-Ki-Pairi, a very holy ghat on the pilgrimage route to the Ganges sources. We were aware of the fact that Haridwar is full of Indian tourists and that the summer holidays are taking place now, but the city is buyant, a continuous flow of people arriving from the entire country but it feels that we weren't fully prepared. Not scared or anything bad but during the past four months we haven't encountered this intensity...
We arrive at the ghat surrounded by Sadhus and Holy Saints of hindhuism and beggars and poor pilgrims and middle class pilgrims, bathing, taking pictures, I get a street guys to show me a King Cobra straight under his nose (but alive and not to be eaten this one, spine shivers...), the place is definitely holy but there is some kind of paradox that it is more a spa but also an asylum...it is very strange. It is so disturbing and confusing. Poverty is overwhelming, noise is omnipresent, motorbikes, auto-rickshaws, cars, lorries are honking constantly, even close to your face, swerving in front of your nose in such a normality that is so unsettling. I don't think we've ever felt in danger anywhere because of the traffic but there is this 'so be it' attitude here from everyone that makes my heart pump sometimes.
Because we feel slightly overstimulated we decide to go and hide in the only 'nice' restaurant of the town. It's air conditioned, but overlooking the street behing thick glass. At least we can enjoy watching the stream of people and avoid the shouting loudspeakers, honks reving engines and bells. All our senses are overloaded, and we feel a bit lost...We catch ourselves spotting westerners. There aren't many of them...far from it!!!
We want something special today...but it is a bit in its own way. India way. We have no reference here, everything is different and we sort of look around trying to find something. There is some sort of vertigo, a whirling that takes us. We have a quick walk to check the buses to Rishikesh after lunch, feeling a bit more relaxed and ready to confront our surrounding but 20 metres later we feel tense again. India will be a complete and unique experience, we have to learn new skills to be able to cope with the singularity and forget about plans, as it seems it is always changing here. We rest again and then go for a walk in the market, I buy Val some small pink bracelets for her birthday, we then go to see the ceremony at Har Ki Pairi, it is a fascinating fire ceremony but a bit scary as the ghat is really crowded by thousand of pilgrims, offering flowers and candles in some small boats to the Ganges, mother of river. Flowers, powder, incense, flames, gurus, pilgrims, a fabulous mix! Amazing to see such a mass of humanity: the pilgrims with long hairs, bright saris, some smells: shit and burning onions, incense and urine, sandalwood and spices...We try to reduce the sensory overload from time to time by closing our eyes but you can still feel the buzz. Spirituality everywhere here. We then go for dinner in the nice restaurant again. We manage to find an internet cafe, in the middle of the street and Val checks her birthday emails, she needs it, we both have to feel strong and it will be an education this raw humanity around us!!

The Villa!

27/04
We leave the hotel around 10 am and leaving Colombo is not easy, many military checkpoints, policemen everywhere, guns in their hands, we suddenly feel we are in a country devastated by conflict in a state of emergency, after 4 hours of coach, driving along the coast, looking at villages and seeing the blue sea, we reach our destination the Villa Victoria in Talpe, a true magical place!!The villa is breathtaking, two aisles with wood everywhere, old shutters, 5 bedrooms (we will be ten this week) old genuine antique Indian furniture, paradise garden with coconut trees, a swimming pool and a fabulous view over the beach! It has been created to be a home away from home and it feels magical!! We even have some staff members, a cook and a house dog Billie!! We all feel enthusiastic, a really luxurious amazing house!!!We spend the rest of the day swimming, resting and looking at the indian ocean, a tranquil atmosphere, a really restful house! We watch the sunset on the beach, it feels like we have entered paradise!!!

28/04
The day is spent lazing around in the villa, observing the waves, the sea, the coconut trees, the frangipani trees, swimming, talking together, sleeping, reading in the pool, a paradise!!
So cool to have our lunch and dinner prepared by the villa's chef and to laze around, we both feel we need that time to feel on holidays to recharge our batteries before the next BIG challenge: India! We relax, rest in a magical environment! It feels so secluded and protected, we are so not in touch with the conflict that is devastating the country up north. We hear the violence has escalated and that the LTTE is still encircling people in the north. So sad but so weird to be in a paradise and so close to a violent conflict.

29/04
After a little swim in the pool, Fab and I decide to go for a walk,to discover the beach and explore the coast, it is wonderful, lovely beaches, wild, white and black sand, active sea, lots of waves, the water is green, turquoise, and the places are delightfully unexploited by mainstream tourism. It is beautiful, fishermen on their stilts, nice villas and villages, again very clean. We observe the people, the natural wonders and it is great!! The waves are too big to swim but I manage to dip myself in the water. So nice to stroll gently with my man and the dog Billie who comes with us all the time, a great walking companion!! After so much sport, we have to rest!!The afternoon is spent chilling out, lazing around, swimming, reading in the pool and then it is time to celebrate our birthdays in advance!!! A BBQ has been organised, lobsters, gigantic shrimps, some champagne and creme caramel!!So nice to feel loved and surrounded, thanks to our friends!!! A really lovely eve!

30/04
We spend the morning chilling out in the villa, swimming, chatting, reading under the sun then after a fish soup the 4 of us decide to go visit Galle which used to be a very important port until the 19th century. We take the local bus, noisy but fun, and arrive in town, after looking around the new city, we make our way to the old part of town, the Fort, with its remparts and fortifications. It is hot and sunny and we are strolling gently, slowly, stopping to eat rotis and looking at shops, dreaming of buying old derelict hospitals or colonial houses to renovate! The fort is really interesting to visit, many small Dutch houses, narrow streets, boddhi trees, mosque, churches, greek temples, remparts, old gates, all those buildings were protected from the Tsunami thanks to the fortifications. So nice to walk in a town full of history, it is a really good well preserved colonial era city, it feels very Dutch and very colonial, so interesting and lovely too, watching the sun, walking on the fortifications, observing life, people around us. After a bit more shopping in the new town, we have to meet with Marie and Xavier (friends and guests at the wedding) who are in town for one night, we bargain hard to get a tuk tuk to take the 4 of us to their hotel! A mad fun drive, the tuk tuk is too heavy and I am on top of Fab, lying on Bertrand and the driver is struggling to keep the tuk tuk straight, we then arrive at the hotel to find out that our friends left this morning: complete mix up with dates and mobile phones messages arriving too late!!! What a shame!!We have a drink the 4 of us there, thinking of them, then decide to stay out for dinner, baby Timeo is looked after by his grannies so the parents can stay out late! We find a little local cafe and stuff our faces (literally) with parathas, kuthis and rotis, so good, we are the local attraction, people come to watch us eat, again we find the Sri Lankan very nice, very chatty, very friendly people. After this cheap feast, we decide to take the local bus home, and start to wait for 25 minutes at a corner of a street, buses go past us and never stop!!!Then somebody tells us, after having watched us for half an hour that it is not the place to stop bus and that there is a bus stop nearby!!! What a laugh!! We then go and wait, wait, wait at the bus stop, a tuk tuk driver is waiting for us to be fed up and do business with him, but we wait despite buses going again and never stopping too full or not going to our place!! Then suddenly what seems to be a big red bus stops, as we waive for it and we go and jump in it, it is NOT a bus but a big lorry, looking like a bus but the two drivers agree to take us home, we have a fun ride, laughing in the noisy lorry, imagining the tuk tuk driver seeing us jump in the lorry, so much fun!!! The noise is mad in the driver cabin and we all try to recognise the sights close to our village, hop we are home, thanks for a great hitch-hiking moment! The end of the eve is a bit dampened by finding out that baby Timeo has been ill again, many guests here have been affected by belly issues. Sandra and Bertrand will call a doctor tomorrow to check it is OK. I struggle with a big migraine and managed to fall asleep in pain...

01/05
We both wake up late, Fab goes into town with Sandra and Bertrand, I stay in the villa with the rest of the group, they are leaving tonight, we are leaving tomorrow, I want to read, rest, write, enjoy the view of the sea. Fab is going to book the Delhi hotel and do some shopping. Baby Timeo is still weak, and the doctor has been called in, a bad gastro, contagious so he needs to rest and be rehydrated today! Later after dinner, the group is reducing in number, Bertrand's family is heading back to France. Only 6 of us left tonight including baby!

02/05
Sandra, Fab and I wake up in the morning and visit a sea turtle hatchery. Endangered species eggs are being artificially hatched in order to try and maintain the population of the beautiful animals. We learn a little bit about the process, the charity buiyng the eggs from the local fishermen and burried in sand in a protected compound. When the turles hatch, they are being released in the sea under tight supervision so a maximum number of babies survive. Nature still does the selection after all, but more babies make it to the water. We see Green Turtles, Hawksbill, Loggerhead which head looks a little bit like a dog...Sandra and I pick some babies up (Leatherbacks), the tiny animal holding in the palm of our hand. It is funny to think that they will grow so big a few decades on...
We come back to the villa enjoying another fun bus ride before our lunch, we mange to spend few hours in the pool before going back to Colombo. A few hours later, we're back in the heavily policed and militarised city. We walk to get some dinner in a local, and stop on the way to the Cinnamon Grand Hotel (a palace) to have an ice-cream. The place is hosting one of those impressive wedding in the main atrium. Women in colourful saris, men in elegant suits, gigantic bunch of flowers. We watch the show...and return to the hotel to sleep through our last night in pamperland!!! A bit anxious as we are leaving for Delhi tomorrow and have so many expectations and fears about India!How will it be? Will we struggle? It will feel strange to get back on our bacpaking adventure, after having been pampered and in a group...but it is time to start the journey alone again.

03/05
We wake up and meet up with Sandra, Noelle, Timeo and Bertrand to enjoy a last breakfast. We've had a fantastic holiday, we've spent some time with dear friends. In a few hours we'll be in Delhi but the story will be different. We're looking forward to it but we're also a bit apprehensive. Fab especially. The holiday did him loads of good, the comfort, the good food, going back to a familiar surrounding, settling down in one place for while...and not having to deal with the bags...We're excited because we will go back to a more normal and real life, closer to the roots and to the people also. Luxury is fantastic but the drawback being that one tends to live cut off the realities of a place. But for a holiday it is priceless!!

Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Colombo

22/04
We leave in the morning for Kandy. En route we stop to visit a spice garden in Matale then drive through geometric fields of rice paddies, forests, wild flowers and amazing vegetation, very lush. We arrive at the end of the afternoon at our next palace, the Amaya Hills in the mountains around Kandy, a charming hill capital, 465 metres above sea level. The city is nice, with valleys, hills, temples, shrines. After a good rest, we set off to visit some gem stone shops, in which we finally decide not to go. A little later we visit the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. The tooth relic was brought to SL and became the most sacred object of worship in the country. It's a public worship, with the ceremony starting with trumpets and heavy drum beats, an unforgettable spectacle. It's a very beautiful temple, comprising wood and stone carving, wood painted walls, stone friezes, frescoes depicting the story of the Tooth, and its miracles. The temple is quite impressive. We attend a ceremony where devotees pay their respect to the Tooth, some sort of beautifully carved stone box containing the remains of the Buddha. But the process is quite ruled and we do not have too much time to look at any of the main relics, but we do get a gist of the importance of the pilgrimage. The place is very holy and any room it contains is very well maintained and decorated. The people present here in large number are patiently waiting for their turn and everybody is impressively well dressed up. Then we visit the grounds of the temple and slowly make our way back to the hotel, nice dinner, chat and bed time already.

23/04
After a good night we set off to visit the botanic gardens of Peradeniya, spread over 50 hectares, and containing many species of trees and plants. Along the walk we discover trees onto which thousands of giant bats hang head down in an eery and screekie scream. Some of them fly in order to cool down. It is rather special... Beautiful plants and flowers, some with an incredible flashy turquoise-blue tint, giant fig trees. It is a very relaxing start of the day. We spend the afternoon at an elephant orphanage, see the massive baby elephant milk bottle feeding (each is around 5 litres and each elephant needs a good half dozen of them). We then cross the road and head for lunch over the river. Just as the food is arriving, so is a herd of hundreds of elephants, going to the river for their daily bath. The moment is magical and each one of us really gets hysterical... The experience is absolutely magical, some elephants dip in the water completely with only their trunk (or their bum!) sticking out of the water. The little baby elephants are also present, the young ones playing or even wrestling in (giant) splashes of water. The rain starts to fall and the colour of the sky and the river change to a golden colour. What a background, what an experience...we're delighted, we take our fruit plates and go feed the big animal. They come and pick the fruit with the end of their long trunk, funnily terminated by some sort of finger that allow them to literally grab the smallest edible things. The enormous and imposing animals are however very delicate and gently pick the pieces of delicacy we hand them out...we love it...Such a nice moment! Us, adults feel like children again in this magicval setting!
At the end of this lovely afternoon we return to Kandy to attend a traditional dance performance. The show is split in different parts and scenes, alternatively showing aspara dances, warriors, musicians etc. The entire show is accompanied by drums and the dances slowly become acrobates, jugglers and stuntmen. The dresses and costums are colourful and the show is quite spectacular. Back at the hotel we meet up with Marie and Xavier for drinks after a massage for Fab and Bertrand and a reflexology session for Val. It feels nice to relax, visit and not worry about anything!!

24/04
Today will be another beautiful day. We leave Kandy for Nuwara Eliya, not in the tour bus, but by train. This journey is one of the most beautiful route and way to explore Sri Lanka. The track climbs up the hill to the mountain town in the middle of tea plantations and overlooking the valleys, rivers and waterfalls. Lanscapes are breathtaking and superb. Men and women working in the plantations hand picking tea leaves, in a sublime combination of tendre green leaves and colourful saris... On the train, locals play music, sing, watch the rolling lanscape, take pictures and films, interact with us. All eyes keep looking outside, and all of us spend time switching between our sits and the train steps, sticking our head or our entire bodies out of the open door and windows. Kids smile to us, play with us, the train officer literally falling in love with Timeo and plays with him the entire length of the trip. Station after stations we progress, stopping here and there, watching the ancient tradition of the toll ring catching. After this very scenic and spectacular train ride, we reach the Nuwara Eliya Grand Hotel. The hotel is one of the relics of the British empire, a very beautiful colonial building, very exclusive, but quite old. All the rooms and corridor and made of dark wood, in a Victorian style. We feel like going back in time, a suspended time. We team up with Sandra, Bertrand and Timeo for a walk to the town centre and visit bazaars and old market. We leave them for further explorations but the town is quite small and does not offer much to see. We all have dinner together and some of us go to the old bar for a snooker lesson we've arranged with the bar tender, stuck in his mid 1800's all white costume!! The snooker tables (3 of them) are enormous and sometimes receive Sri Lankan and international tournaments. It is a real honour and experience to play on a 120 year old snooker table, brought here by the first colons on the back of elephants from Colombo!

25/04
Today we take our bus to Colombo, through the beautiful tea plantations again. Pretty much same route as the train but closer to everything. We also make a couple of stops for lunch and tea. The road is quite challenging and bends are numerous. Late afternoon we arrive at our next palace, another British empire heritage splendour, the Galle Face Hotel, on the sea front in the middle of Colombo. Once again, a stunning colonial influence building with a great swimming pool, in which we all have a swim after a straining day on the bus. We watch a beautiful sunset under the American embassy mirradors and machine guns and coastguard boats patrols...weird!We feel the city is under alert and that the war is not so far, many police patrols, military men in the streets but the hotel feels like a secluded palace...while outside there is a certain tension.

26/04
Today is shopping day and we trek aboard tuk-tuk to the fashion malls and shops of Colombo. We have lunch in a local eatery with Bertrand and Olivier. More military presence and few stops at police checkpoints but not much more than that...again so strange for a country in conflict! We spend some more time in the swimming pool and do absolutely nothing else at all...Little note on this; we both start feeling something is missing a bit and slowly realise that we did not have to organise anything for our stay. This is a holiday, pure and simple. The buzz of looking for an accommodation for the night has disappeared. How did we get to and from any place? Where is the dodgy hotel, the grubby room, the badly wired electricity, the shabby backpackers, the disfunctional air-con (forget this last one, we found it!), where is the bloody heavy bag (21.5kg!!) that has been killing Fab's back for too long?????? Where are we?? What's happening??? Which planet is this??? Is this normal?????? Well, yes, in the world of luxury travel and four or five stars hotel, all of this is normal...We are being pampered. It feels REALLY good. Nothing to worry about, we're being taken care of! For a while...but we also long to get back to our backpacking experience. For the moment we are enjoying the friends, the lovely palaces, the safety and luxury feeling.

The Wedding!

21/04

The morning is busy for Fab who goes to visit one of the finest caves temples, in Dambulla while I decide to chill out and spend some time with the bride to be and friends at the swimming pool, we chat and do manicures and pedicures under the sun! Sandra is very relaxed for somebody who is getting married in a few hours, I am impressed!
Fab enjoyed his morning, he thought the temples, in 5 caves, full of sitting and standing buddhas were inspiring and outstanding. He loved the mural paintings of scenes from the buddha's life and the solemnity of the place. We all meet around 12ish and go for lunch, a nice moment. Fab is Bertrand's best man so he gets ready with him in our villa while I stay with Sandra and her cousin to prepare the bride, make up, hair, dress, hard with the heat!!Sandra looks amazing, we all feel quite emotional but it is already time for them to meet to do their wedding piccies. A bit of a rushed time for Fab as he is also the wedding photographer!!!
All the guests gather around 4pm, we are then taken to an idyllic spot near the lake by dancers to wait for ther couple. They arrived led by an elephant, on a buffalo carriage, impressive!!!
The ceremony is a mix of traditional Sri Lankan rituals (prayer, tieing the fingers together, cutting a coconut shell) and more Western elements (readings, flute, music). After this special moment, we all share some drinks, looking at the lake and the sunset, such a wonderful location!!
The diner is then served in a fantastic wooden house, with hundred of lanterns, multicolored lihting the path, very magical. It reminds me of Hoi An, it feels surreal and so beautiful. The evening is nice, diner is traditional Sri Lankan food, we dance on 80s music and some even finish in the pool fairly late!! So nice to be with our friends to share their special moment here, in a superb and wonderful place.A truly unique experience and a memorable wedding!

Dambulla

18/4
We leave Singapore, and after a short flight, we finally land in Sri Lanka, very excited to meet our friends soon!!In Colunbo, a driver meets us to drive us another three hours to the little resort in the North West of the country where the wedding will take place. It is hot and humid but the sky is red, warm and the first impressions are good, we feel surprised: the driver rides the car like a mad man, overtake badly, speeds, it feels mad but the villages we see are clean, nice, the forests lush and everyone wave at us from the cars around, we discover the country in the light beam of the car in a crazy way. The driving is even madder than in Vietnam!! Loads of people are walking on the road making things a little scarier (for them). Fab sleeps in the taxi as the driving makes him feel uncomfortable, I let go and trust the driver ability to manage the traffic, and his mad crazy drive takes us to the beautiful Amaya Lake hotel. As soon as we arrive, we met with Sandra, Timeo and Bertrand, we feel quite emotional to hug them, catch up, see them after 4 months on the road and for such a special occasion. Hugs, drinks then bed time!! We feel excited, exhausted and happy to be here with them in such a gorgeous hotel: nice swimming pool, a lake, forests, in a 4 stars palace!!! What a change for us!

19/04
Today is a free day, we are all relaxing before the wedding, the guests are slowly arriving, dealing with their jetlags and the heat! We relax, swim, eat a lot ( so nice to eat tons of food: I so enjoy the breakfast, with croissants and little cakes!!), we chat a lot with our friends, catch up with the group of friends and family: it will be a small wedding around 30 people, mainly from France and some Sri Lankan guests, how exciting!! Both of us are hapy to be in a nice setting, a gorgeous lake, a swimming pool and I even treat myself to a brilliant massage in the ayurvedic centre of the hotel: FAB!!! A nice day to ease in as it somehow feels weird to suddenly be in a group, even of people we know, in a different easier nicer environment, what a shock after nearly 4 months alone on the road!! The luxurious bungalow we are staying in is very posh in comparison with our $10 a night guesthouse and we have very different conversations to the ones we have been having for the last few months with travellers, we feel a bit outsiders, on a different planet but nothing bad, just very different!! This little time here is going to be a holiday within the trip, an easy fun moment for us.

20/04
We are in the cultural triangle of Sri Lanka and there are many sights to visit and our friends have planned some excursions so we can discover the area even before the wedding! Today is sightseeing day and we end up in a small bus with a guide, feels weird to discover the country that way but easier, so much easier!! The mood is really positive, everyone chats, laught, despite the tiredness and the heat!! During the drive, we see many ripe rice fields, lots of lakes around, they are actually artificial reservoirs (ancient ones)to hold rainwater! We arrive in Polonnaruwa, the ancient medieval capital of the country, we visit some large structure built of bricks and see lots of ruins. We then go and see some massive buddhas sculpted in stone, those statues are full of dignity, strenght, and it is beautiful, very inspiring!!
I like watching those colossal figures carved in the stone, the recumbent buddha and the seated buddha in meditation are particularly amazing. I find it a bit hard to focus on sightseeing as it is weird to be in a group, to see our friends, to be with people, we chat all the time, spend some time with baby Timeo who is so brave, coping with the heat and the changes with big smiles, there is so much to catch up on!!! But we are happy to go with the flow, to see this site, full of archeological importance (long ancient old civilisation here) but also of important religious significance!! We have lunch then it is now time to climb Sigiriya, the lion rock, the citadel which rises high above the flat plains!This place is really impressive: a massive rock fortress built in the 5th century AD, a mad man's vision, a king who transformed a rock into an almost impregnable fortress! There are great paintings in some rock pockets, some steep rock surface so highly polished that one can see its relflection in it, hence the name mirror wall. I love the paintings: beautiful women painted on the stone. It is hard to climb, so many steps and so steep!!!Above the courtyard are a number of hornets nests, quite scary!! We then reach the pathway in between the paws of the lion, it is a difficult climb, despite the railings, quite mad!!! The summit was used for the palace of the king, we all watch the remains of the foundations, like the pond filled with water and the crazy beautiful view. Fab and I keep being surpprised by this country, clean, beautiful, lush and with a great culture, so many ruins of very old civilisations, temples, monuments, buddhas everywhere (apparently Buddha visited Sri Lanka three times!) and 70% of the population is buddhist!We also feel the hindu influence a lot, in the architecture, in the way people act or dress. Weirdly enough, we are not very much informed of the conflict going on in the North of the country, yes we see many police and military check points (the bus is often stopped and there are military men everywhere) but it doesn't feel unsafe or too tensed. We feel secluded here, in the tourist oasis, we don't really hear about the humanitarian crisis or how the government is fighting the Tamil Tigers! The day has been so tiring with so much to do but we now both have to run around as soon as we reach the hotel, as it is the stag and hen parties tonight (we are both organisers!)
A quick shower, more running around to plan things, then men and women split to start the eve!! It has to be soft as the wedding is tomorrow...few silly games for both of them, reenactement of the proposal under water in the pool, some drinks,Sandra and Bertrand are a bit of a hit in the hotel tonight, him running around with a superman underwear, her with a mad pink t-shirt, looking for men to sign it!!!Some little presents, some drinks and we all meet again to finish the eve, quite cvilised!!

Ubon Ratchathani and Singapore

16/04

We wake up early to see the monks coming to the guesthouse and observe the family party for the new year before taking our bus for Thailand. A very effcient ride, but in a very hot bus, we cross the border easily: the bus stops, we walk to the border control, few stamps, then suddenly, we are in a very modern air con building:Welcome to Thailand!! what a shock, we drive for anothe two hours and we realise we are in another place, a modern clean country, big road signs, advertisements, clean fields and big houses...what a change!!We forgot that Thailand was so different!!
We reach Ubon Ratchathani then fight to get into town (why do bus stations always have to be miles from the city??), then check in a doddgy hotel...we both feel tired but after an hour, we realise it is really wrong: dirty place, a little bag with white powder on the table and Fab sees a man doing coke with his bedroom door open....bad place and it is Thailand; we do want to spend 15 years in a horrible jail!!So we move, after fighting wth the lady to get our money back, we lose a bit but end up in much nice hotel, a bit more expensive too, but it is only for one night and we are both quite stressed out....Lunch, shower, internet to find a hotel in expensive singapore for tomorrow, we don't manage much today....Fab is really travel sick today, fed up iof being on the road and not resting....a difficult moment for both of us. I guess it is also part of travelling, not always easy to be on the road, to be challenged and in unfamiliar territories. We go for a walk around town, easy Thailand, we stroll in the streets, find a big temple and a huge party with a gig for new year celebrations. We end up buying some foods in the stalls, after looking in people's plates (still not sure what we ate), but it feels good, sitting in the open air and watching the concert:Thai dance and music, cheesy at times but fun!!

17/04
Nice night then up early again to reach Bangkok and |Singapore, first flight is cheap so not much fun but manageable..We reach the capital and found out the city is now in a crisis state again because one of the opposition leader has been shot!! Great! But nothing is interrupted at the airport...Few hours later, we are in another plane, landing in Singapore, this dynamic modern city....first impressions are of a SUPER modern city, sleak, efficient, uber clean, full of technology...We reach our little hotel apprehensive as it is in the seedy red light distric, but seems clean enough and the view of the city skyline is impressive from our 5 th floor...the working ladies will probably be around tonight but now it seems to be a very hectic Chinese area of town,shops, cafes. I stay in the room to write, Fab goes in search of his camera lens as ours is in a bad state. Around 9pm, we go for a wander as we want to see the city, it is quite strange here. A very modern cosmpolit city, a mutliracial society, people from everywhere, all speaking English, trendy poeple, lots of shopping malls, old and new building, air con everywhere, the river, some massive skyscrapers...a weird mix but full of energy and vibrancy. We have dinner in a street foodstall, amongst the singaporeans , all well dressed, and trendy (we feel a bit weird with our backpackers clothes!!!!Here, it is a different Asia, aseptised, clean, modern, efficient!!A different soul too, fusion of modern and ancient and so many different people!! We go back to our seedy area around midnight but are disappointed, nothing much here, few prostitutes, clients lined up, and that is all!!!Still quiet and so warm, the humidity is a killer!!

18/04
We wakeiup early as we want to go for small boat tour to see a bit of the city before leaving Asia. A nice small boat trip, watvching the buildings, the harbour, the areas in the middle of Asian tourists who don't care about the views but want their piccies taken everywhere, a real cliche!!! Little walk then we feel too hot to walk with our big bags and decide to treat ourselves to a taxi tio the airpoort, it is already 33 degres and only 11am! Last moments in Asia, it feels strange, sadness and happiness at the same time, tiredness, a new chapter soon, a turning point in the trip, lots of mixed feelings!!

Pakse and the 4000 Islands

10/04The night was not too bad. The bus had double beds, still a bit short in length but we've managed to sleep, even without earplugs for Val!!! The Laotian man behind us doesn't like the trip and keeps being sick, just behind us, the road is not too bumpy but it seems many people again here are car sick!!! We arrive in Pakse very early and book straight a tour from our guesthouse to visit the Bolaven Plateau. It's 8am, quick shower, quick breakfast (even for Val!) and we jump in the van, we're only seven of us, two guys from Latvia, a young Italian woman and a nice French couple on a short holiday. We visit a tea plantation, and the Lao tea tastes good, a coffee plantation, and the Lao coffee tastes very good. The plateau has an average altitude of 600 metres, hilly, lush and very fertile terrain. The plantations were developed by the French during colonial times, but it is again very successful now.
We go to see some waterfalls, Tad Fane waterfalls, very high in the middle of a jungle, one of the highests in Laos. Then drive to some animist tribe villages. The first village Ban Kandone we visit is not spoiled with tourism yet and we meet some women weaving traditional skirts, children running around naked. On and off it will take them three months to complete one skirt. The village is composed of two tribes. the Katu and the Nge cohabiting very well in the same community. Only the ceremonial place, a community house on stilts, has two different stairs to get on the ceremony platform. One is a proper staircase made of different elements, the other one on the other side is a tree trunk where the steps have been carved in (the nge people). All the houses in the village present the same characteristics depending on the tribe. We reflect on old age existence and how people still live here.
The second village Ban Kokphoung, of the Alak people is much more used to tourists and the kids attitude doesn't lie. Children are insistingly saying 'Hello' and showing the palm of their hand muttering 'pen' or 'bonbons'. We give a kid one and she instantly frown her eyebrows, tilting her head to the side now asking for 'bonbon' with a very angry look. We feel a bit lost and puzzled...so much anger. Interesting place here, the tribe people make their coffins when they are alive and store it under their houses, we can see many under the wooden huts. People smoke tobbacco here from a very young age (small children too) and I try it in their bamboo water pipes! There is a party going on and we can see many men and women dancing, some seem drunk or merry, already celebrating new year!!
On the way back we stop at some waterfalls. Tad Lo where I have a swim. The current is very strong and it takes lots of effort before I manage to reach the foot of the waterfall before letting go, drifting back to where I came from. Amusing!
We drive back to Pakse, go to book our tickets for Si Phan Don, the 4000 islands, and, most importantly, to Ubon Ratchathani as next week is Pi Mai Lao, the Lao New Year and we're a bit concerned that, if we wait more, we won't have any seats in any buses to catch our flight to Singapore. Thailand is starting to have few political problems and tensions again...Hopefully we can cross the border! Pi Mai is also celebrated in the neighbouring countries, lasting for a week, everybody travels back to the families or simply for tourism. We come back after a short walk in the town and have dinner with Virginie, a French girl travelling alone, who stays at the same guesthouse we met briefly this morning. Val stays up late, talking about India, spirituality, life in France when I go to bed early as we're travelling early again tomorrow.

11/4
We take a mini bus to the harbour to reach the 4000 islands. We meet up again with the French couple, Philippe and Elizabeth, we met during the bolaven trip, nice to see friendly faces. After two hours drive, and a great example of decerebrated babble from a retarded teenager who spent far too long drinking in Vang Vieng, we arrive in Hat Xai Khoun, the ferry harbour to Don Khong, our destination. They're not really ferries but more small narrow river boats crossing the 500m wide branch of the Mekong to Muang Khong, the village where we're going to stay. First impressions are great, many small islands and islets, the river, lush vegetation...We start walking around carrying our bags under high heat, looking for a guesthouse. It is very hot and the few hundreds metres we walk make us loose an amazing amount of water, so much sweat!! Our pick is finally a hotel to the north of the village, the Souksun Guesthouse, nice huge room with two beds, a nice balcony. We enjoy a short cold but welcome shower before having lunch over the Mekong River. The restaurant is not so good but the terrace is located above the water. We watch the river, rural life revolving around it, the fishermen, the little flooded forests, the banks. Here the Mekong concludes its journey through Laos, before going to Cambodia. There, we meet Beatrice and Oliver, a French-German couple who are cycling all over South-East Asia. They started their trip in August and are still going...brave and admirable people!!! We chat a lot, get on well as we share some similar issues, travelling, life, where to go, what to do...We then go for a walk on the Mekong river heading south, the views and the scenery are fabulous. We go back, rest for a while, go eat in a crappy restaurant, the village is small and we have very few options to eat, then bed time! The room is unbearable as it is so hot and the fan doesn't cool it at all. Maybe one of the hottest nights since we are in Asia, it is really excruciatingly hot as we have been told, before the rain comes.

12/4
It's an early morning for us as we are going cycling today to explore the South of the island. It's a 20km ride but we only have a short time to do it. By noon the heat and sun are such that cycling will become rather challenging, if not impossi­­ble. So we set off on our small bikes (it feels that I'm riding my younger sister's bike when she was eight)on a narrow path tucked between the Mekong River and the village houses. It is very scenic and a fantastic way to experience life on the island, passing traditional wooden houses on stilts to more modern houses, also on stilts, made of cement and concrete, but more or less preserving the local style. We visit Wat Thepasoulin temple, some parts dating back to 1883, teak-plank wall monk quarters, with terracota tile roof and a really pleasant sight added to the bright colours of the temple. A bit further away, we stop at Wat Silananthalangsi, with its derelict monk school house. Around 11am we make our way back on a tremendously hot road through the rice fields, the cultivated lands. But there is not one tree and it might be around 45 degres here and even the small breeze has turned hot. Eight kilometres of pain, making us feel like we're crossing some kind of saharian portion of desert. It's so hot that it takes us around 45 minutes and two litres of boiling water to reach our guesthouse. We run to the shop and buy some cold water to quench our thirst! After a quick lunch and a cold shower, we spend the afternoon in our room as the heat makes any activity impossible. We've been really hot in some places in other parts of the world, but this is uncommon. Early evening we try to book a boat with our guesthouse as a couple staying here is also planning to go tomorrow to visit the small islands around. It's a bit of an odd encounter but we go and speak to them to enquire about their plan. Ingrid and Wolfgang, both German, have finally booked their narrow boat somewhere else, cheaper, and Wolfgang offers straight away to come with me to speak to the man and try to negotiate a better price (more people on the boat), which we actually manage to obtain. Around a beer we agree to have dinner together. We talk about their life, our life. They lived in Nepal 30 years ago, went back to Germany to raise the kids and now that they are grown ups, they are travelling again. Ingrid is currently under contract with an NGO in northern Laos where her role is to improve the hill tribes quality of life (health but also agriculture). She works mainly with Akas. Wolfgang is an architect and an expert in buddhist architecture in Nepal, he has worked for many years in the preservation-protection of the Kathmandu buildings and temples. We exchange a lot about travels and experiences abroad, about Ingrid's difficult work and the harsh issues inherent to any developping countries work.
After an excellent dinner (honey chicken) and beautiful lightnings on the Mekong's horizon, we're back in our room when a violent thunderstorm breaks. Thunderbolts are tearing the dark skies in long and powerful strikes and the rain now pours down heavily, pounding on the building roof. There is half a metre of water in the coumpound. But the air cools down rapidily and we slowly fall asleep, listening to the falling rain...

13/4
The entire night has been very wet, rain flooding the garden. The thunder has been striking until this morning. Luckily enough it's not raining anymore even if the sky is overcast with threatening black clouds. We're up early to get the boat that will take us to see the waterfalls and the southern islands, Don Det and Don Khon. We go with Ingrid and Wolfgang. As we set off with the boat sailing down the Mekong, rays of sunshine pierce the big puffy clouds. Few local boats are sailing up and down the river, fishing, transporting goods, but not so many carrying tourist passengers. The Mekong River is quite wide here, sometimes shallow, and it takes all the ability of our young captain to avoid the submerged rocks, the flooded plants. After an hour and a half of beautiful sights and interesting conversations with our two companions, we reach Ban Nakasang where we take a tired van (it may explain why we paid our boat quite cheap!) to reach the Khon Phapheng waterfalls, the largest of South East Asia. They're only 15m high but nearly 1km wide at the largest point. This place is very busy with tourists, mainly Asian, lined up with small souvenir shops. We climb the rocks to get away from the crowd and after a couple of tree trunks or bamboo made passerelles, we sit down for a long moment to look at the falls. Impressive sight and the water is roaring loudly. We go back to get our boat and sail to Don Khon and its little harbour, Ban Khon, where we stop for lunch. It's a smaller island than where we stay but it's busy with cheap bungalows and youth arriving from Vang Vieng!! Quite the opposite to our little village. However the island looks nice and we could have also come here. The electricity has just arrived permanently last week, a change to the previous two hour time per day. We can already feel that the island is going to change in no time. We have a chatty lunch on the river and then walk through the inner island to try to see Irriwady dolphins. When we reach the boat departure area down river after the falls, we realise that we won't have enough time to see the dolphins. It's such a shame, as they're critically endangered. A wildlife organisation is trying to protect them, but the nets and even the dynamite of the Cambodian fishermen are a great threat. The only other part they can be seen is in the Irrawaddy River in Burma (Myanmar). We walk back, still talking with our friends about our lives. On the way, we first stop at the smaller Somphamit waterfalls that all of us like better. They are accesible and more diverse as the water escapes the falls through an interesting canyon. It is much quieter here and we can have a look and enjoy the view without the crowd running and shouting all around to take family pictures. We set off again as our conversations tend to slow down our rythm a lot. We admire some French vestiges, a school, the locomotive that used to run between Don khon and Don Det on a specially built railway and bridge by the French. At that time boats were unloaded from their goods at Don Khon southern harbour, goods were then put on the train to the northern point of Don Det over the bridge in order to go over the falls. Different boats would eventually transport the goods upriver to Vientiane or Luang Prabang. We get back on our boat an hour late, and we start a very slow return to Dong Khong, against the current. We enjoy the beautiful landscape, scenery and the evening activities of the Mekong River. Fishermen are gracefully throwing their circular nets high in the air. This is so graceful that I cannot get tired of seeing this and photographing it. Kids running naked, enjoing splashing ythemselves in the river, women washing in their sarongs, doing the family laundry, men washing the bikes, the boats, the Mekong is now a very sociable place, neigbhours washing and chatting, monks bathing too... At the same crowling pace as our boat the sun declines gently over the Mekong and the sky starts dressing up into its flaming robe. This is such an amazing and magical moment that discussions are now stopped and four pairs of eyes just look at the burning sky. We're only distracted by the young captain friend who falls asleep in an uncomfortable position at the front of the boat, but in great style: the sunglasses will stay on until the boat pier!!! As we come back it's dark. The day was full of various interests, in the nature but also in ourselves. We part with Ingrid and Wolfgang to meet up again with Oliver and Beatrice, our cyclists friends for dinner. We eat local fish hotpot and talk. These guys left everything for a trip of an unknown length through South East Asia on bicycle. They left Europe, France in August (starting their cycling trip around Europe for a month in July) and have been to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. They are not sure where to settle next...We're completely admirative, such a physical effort but they both seem relaxed about it! Impressive. We carry on our conversation until midnight, chat, laugh, think, reflect. We head back to our room in the complete darkness, the village is fast asleep, only the moon guides our steps...

14/4
The breakfast is quite busy this morning. We're all here, with Ingrid, Wolfgang, Oliver and Beatrice. Ingrid and Wolfgang are leaving this morning. It's been another very interesting and rich encounter. After breakfast we hire a motorbike and we're off to the northern part of the island which makes a 35km loop. Cycling would be far to difficult with the heat, we are not as brave as our friends here. We see the small villages, the North East town getting ready for celebrations of Pi mai, the Lao new year. Rice fields, shacks, villages, water buffalos. Heat. We go to see a temple in the middle of the countryside, with many black rock formations in the fields, nothing much but there are dogs barking that scare Val so much. Back to our village, we walk to try find the celebrations and to see people washing the buddhas, one of the ritual for new year. The village is sleepy, as dead, no adults around, everyone hidding from the heat!!! then an ambush in front of us, we get soaked on the way by the water thrown by the kids, squirting water guns and emptying buckets on people's heads. It is part of the Lao new year festive moment:throw water at people to wish them happy new year! Very joyful and fun! We retaliate to their surprise, I run around the little kids, throwing water at them! We laugh. Lunch at our guesthouse, relax. Around 4pm we leave the guesthouse to the nearby temple to see a very important ritual of the Pi Mai celebrations. Villagers gather around to take all the buddhas out of the temple and wash them with lotus leaves and rinsing them with plenty of water. We're invited to join in and Val lowers herself to the ground to help the girls wash a small buddha figure. So nice to join in, the be partb of the celebrations. We stand out as we are the only farang (westerners) in the temple, people look at us, kids smile, say hello, we sit with people in the shade. Today the women, girls and kids look after the statues and men are supporting them by bringing the water and carrying the heavy buddhas. The entire process goes on with laughter and a jolly mood of happiness and joy. Later there will be parties, huge amount of lao-lao (rice whisky) drank, games, music (blastying from stereos as they like it here), dancing...
The buddhas are then placed on a big table, some sort of temporary altar, where a head monk presides the prayer. He then blesses the buddhas with more holy water. Pi Mai is also thecelebration where all the kids and teenagers throw water at everything, or everyone should I say, that moves, big water battles start now. But this time we leave at the right moment and do not get soaked again...
We come back and get ready for dinner with Beatrice and Oliver who are still around. We chat until late at night and Val and I come back through the little alleyways, the night is pitch black, our path only lit up by tremendous thunderbolts...

15/04
A bit late for our breakfast, we miss our friends who left to go up north with their bikes, good luck guys!! Enjoy the cycling! We go for a last stroll around the banks of the river, a little stray dog comes along, we watch the village life, it is quiet today as it is the holiday, people with their family, we take some photos, relax before leaving the island. A truly scenic place, we both loved it, so much to see, a relaxing stunning place: wooden houses, small villages, riverbanks, lush forets, the magical river, a labyrinth of islets, rocks, beautiful tropical islands. After a short ride on the boat, we ait for a bus to come, we wait then we have to put up with a bad smell in the bus, a young traveller forgot to wash..for a very long time..I sit next to him, nice, Val hates the smell, but laughs about it, we are bohemian but not that hippish...Dirty clothes, sweat, dirt...We laugh and listen to some REALLY cheesy old 80s music (Europe: the final countdown, so appropriate right now!!)Only two and a half hours, could be much worse!!The German couple behind us hates it so much and she feels sick so they spray some deodorants in the van, even nicer!!! Another funny encounter: when we jump in the van, Val recognises a girl from a previous school Science Po, she is living in Vientiane and works in Laos since 2 years, amazing to meet here!! We agree to meet her and her partner for a coffee at the end of the day. We finally reach Pakse at 3pm, go for a shower, browse the net, we are off to thailand tomorrow and needs to sort out some admin stuff. The all town is celebrating, and we get soaked every 5 minutes, ambushed by kids and adults, nice to get soaked as it is so hot, water battles in every street, music blasting, people drinking and dancing! We meet with Elsa, the Scpo girl and her boyfriend for a drink, chat about life, development work, Europe, nice for Val to see her here, they then exchange emails and they have to leave to take their night bus. we have a quick Indian meal (preparing ourselves!), then back to our guesthouse...we want to get to bed as tomorrow we ae leaving the country for Thailand early and want to get up to celebrate at 7am with the family from the guesthouse, they are holding a family celebration and the guests are all invited!!Our last night in Laos, soon the chapter Asia will be closed.