Hello from India!
Our journey here was epic in length. We left Bangkok in the early morning, flying into Singapore, and then had an eight hour wait on our hands until our connecting flight. Luckily I found shoe shops, perfume (I haven't smelt any for 5 months, I was spritzing like a mad thing) and a cinema screening Twilight, and Danny found a rooftop bar and a wide screen sports TV, so we were happy as Larry. So Larry-esque in fact that we forgot all about our flight and had to run to the gate (which of course was the one 18 miles away from where we were) while it was closing. But we made it in time to fly out of Singapore and see the night sky lit up by hundreds of tiny weeny fireworks all over the city to celebrate Chinese New Year. It's the year of the Tiger now.
After a couple of hours of disturbed sleep we arrived in Mumbai at 3am, which for our body clocks was actually 5am, and as usual without an idea of where we would stay or what to expect (and arriving India is challenging enough when you're fresh). Still, we had a little nap in the airport until it started to get light and then caught a taxi to the Colaba area of the city where after a few tries we eventually found an overpriced twin room and collapsed, exhausted into the one bed in the room that had clean sheets.
We spent the next day exploring the city and getting used to the sights, smells and sounds of India. Read: Non-stop, relentless horns, out-of-control rickshaws and heady mix of exhaust fumes, urine, spices, incense, coconut oil, sweets, curry and jasmine. Despite it all I found exhilarated by the city; with its beautiful grand old British architecture, swaying palm trees and a balmy climate. We did the whole sightseeing circuit, checking out the huge Gateway of India, from where the British left the country in 1947, the Oval Maiden (where even on a Tuesday afternoon hundreds of Indians were playing their favourite sport, cricket, they are obsessive about it), Mumbai University, CST station and the sea front along Marine drive.
After lunch at the famous Leopold's cafe, we were walking along Colaba Causeway when we bumped into Imran Giles, a casting agent for Bollywood, who asked if we would like to be extras in a big Bollywood movie called Housefull film being made tomorrow. Being cynics (who know of far too many traveller scams) we were reluctant at first, and had plans to travel to Rajasthan the next day. But Imran was persuasive, and after checking him and the movie out on the web and reading about the experience in Lonely Planet we decided to give it a go.
At 7am the next morning we, and around 40 other western travellers (they like to include a few white faces in the movies to give them an international touch) were picked up from Colaba and driven to the film studios on the outskirts of the city near the airport. After a quick breakfast and some chai tea we dove straight into wardrobe. The first outfit I was given was a tiny scrap of a white lycra skirt what can only be described as a bondage-esque metallic blue bra top. Not quite the attire of a fashionista/Bollywood star, so I budged the Indian men (who were suggesting outfits and adjusting them to fit) out the way and selected a not-entirely-horrendous black and white dress and lace up heels. We were then lined up and looked over by the wardrobe girl who kept telling us scruffy travellers to 'Neaten your hair! No put on some heels, think SEXY, think GLAMOUR!' My pushiness paid off when she went down the line repeating 'fine, fine, change your top, fine, no, fine,' then got to me, paused (which made me panic) but then flashed me a massive smile and gave me a thumbs up. 'Perfect.' A Bollywood career beckons, methinks.
Soon it was time for us all to go on set, which was a lavish nightclub, with a 'bar' (Danny was the barman, in a black shirt and trousers with his hair slicked back), huge chandeliers, booths and a dancefloor. Unfortunately the bar props were filled with water rather than spirits (probably a good thing, my dancing may have got a little sloppy otherwise), and our 'glasses of wine' were in fact apple juice, but the kindly crew kept us hydrated with bottles of water and chai breaks.
From then on it was a case of being directed by the crew. Dancing, chatting or walking around in the background while the choreographers and professional dancers (many of whom were English or Australian girls our age who live in Mumbai working on Bollywood moves) danced their straight-out-of-an-MTV-music-video routines over and over again for the demanding, shouty, scary director. 'What is that girl doing? All I can see is her flicking her hair. Get rid of her!' More than a little mortifying in front of 200 people. The big stars, including Indian Miss World, the too-beautiful-to-look-directly-at-her Deepika Padukone and India's King of Comedy, did their thing with the help of their assistants... One of whom's job it was to put their jacket on, another to scurry after them holding their peanuts, another to immediately hold a mirror up for them the second the director yelled cut, while another sprayed oil in their hair and another coiffed their already gleaming barnets into perfection. Brilliant!
It was an incredibly long 16 hour day (for the meagre sum of 500 rupees each) but we got a great lunch, bucketfulls of chai and the most amazing insight into the Bollywood movie industry. House Full is out in about four months (May 2010), and I think we're in the trailer too, so keep your eyes peeled for our Bollywood debut.
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Vientiane, Vang Vieng & Luang Prabang, Laos...
Well hello. Contrary to reports the journey from Siem Reap to the Thai border at Poipet was fine, which leads me to believe that they must have sealed the road at some point between now and when our guide book was written in 2008. (Full of fascinating facts aren't I). Anyway so we spent a week in Bangkok while we waited for our Indian visas to be processed, staying on Soi Rambutri just off the Khao San Road, first at My House which was great for film watching but our room looked like a prison cell, and then at the Green House, always a bonus to have BBC world news and see what's happening out there (it's the only television I've seen in months). When we picked up our visas at the embassy, where Danny and I met a fascinating Israeli woman who had just become a monk (well, I suppose technically she was a nun, but she had all the garb and the shaved head) and lives in a temple in Tibet, and she told lots about India which was really helpful.
The next day we caught a night train from Bangkok to Nong Khai, which is right on the border with Laos. We weren't certain we were going to go to Laos, but when we entered Thailand they had just changed the immigration rules so our passports were only stamped with 14 days so we needed to leave the country anyway, and it was a choice between Laos and Burma. Once we were at Nong Khai we took a tuk tuk to the Thai-Lao friendship bridge where you apply (and wait) for your Lao visa, and then a bus and a tuk tuk the 20km to Vientiane, the capital city which, handily is right on the border.
Delightfully laid back and with great weather Vientiane was a pretty, sleepy place to spend some time. We checked into Phonepaseuth hotel and wandered about for the day, ate a great Indian dinner at Nazim by the riverfront, and the next morning took the 5 hour bus north to Vang Vieng, a dusty little town in the north which is famous in Laos for its Tubing.
Tubing is basically sitting in a giant rubber ring (made from a huge tractor tyre's inner tube) and floating down the beautiful Nam Song river. On either side are tons of make shift bars that you paddle over too (or they kindly hook you in with ropes) where you can have a Lao beer (or ten) and play mud volleyball, wrestling, go on the zip slide, launch yourself from a terrifyingly steep slide etc etc etc. It's basically a big adults playground, and there are plenty of people who get so hooked they can't leave, clocking up 50 days or even 200 days worth of tubing. Being the sensible folk that we are (i.e. we forgot to bring enough money) we had a couple of beers each and then set about floating down the river past all the bars to the end of the tubing circuit, which was great at first but after a while the old arms begin to tire, especially when you see a sign that says '2km to go' and you're moving at a speed of approximately 3cm per hour. And also a little disconcerting when you realise the rocks you thought you saw in the water are actually a huge herd of water buffalos with giant horns that you're now floating perilously past. Or when actual rocks hit you in the bum during the rapidy bits. Still, the scenery is stunning, with huge limestone peaks covered in forest jutting up into the sky. We rested up that evening (well the part of it when they hadn't turned the electricity off in the town) in a bar watching 'Friends.' Weirdly enough the whole of Vang Vieng is completely obsessed with Friends, they play it non-stop, on loop, in every single bar and restaurant. But we haven't seen it since October so we didn't mind for one night.
The next day we took an extremely windy but picturesque 8 hour minibus up route 13 to Luang Prabang, passing through remote villages in the mountains dotted with little wooden houses with thatched roofs on stilts, and mothers working the land with their tiny babies strapped to their backs. Danny also noticed that there were a couple of guys carrying guns and I later read that the route has in the past been plagued by shootings, something to do with the Hmong tribespeople clashing with the government. You also have to be very careful when you get off the bus for a roadside toilet stop in Laos as the country is still covered with unexploded mines from the secret war between 1965-73 when the Americans bombed the hell out of it. Laos is actually the most bombed place on earth.
Lonely Planet calls Luang Prabang, 'perhaps the most sophisticated, photogenic city in all of South East Asia' and it didn't disappoint. Well, the city didn't. Something I had eaten certainly disappointed my insides, so I spent the first night vomiting from 7pm to 7am, after which Danny kindly moved us into a nicer hostel (putting the bags and then me on a tuk tuk for the five minute walk as I was completely incapacitated) where I spent another day and a half recovering before I could go and see the town. So on our third day, rattling about with a stomach full of antibiotics and anti malarial tablets we went and saw all the beautiful French shuttered buildings, glittering golden wats, temples and orange robed boy-monks who wander the immaculate, palm tree lined streets. It gets even more gorgeous as the sun sets along the Mekong river, the sky turns pink and the locals set up the fairy light and lantern laden night market selling Lao trinkets. It's such a relaxed, pretty place to while the evening away, with French restaurants left over from the occupation and great bars (we loved Hive in particular). Fortunately the town is also a Unesco World Heritage site so that means it should stay this way.
After that it was back on the road to Vientiane where we are now! We thought about catching the two day boat to Chiang Mai in Thailand, but met some girls who said after Luang Prabang Chiang Mai didn't impress them, so we decided to head straight back down to Bangkok (where we are going on a nightbus tonight). Once we're there we'll either be catching a flight out to Mumbai, India the day after tomorrow, or if we can get hold of STA travel who have been very elusive so far, we'll extend our stay here are go to the South of Thailand to see the islands of Ko Phi Phi and Ko Phangnan. So I'll let you know next time...
The next day we caught a night train from Bangkok to Nong Khai, which is right on the border with Laos. We weren't certain we were going to go to Laos, but when we entered Thailand they had just changed the immigration rules so our passports were only stamped with 14 days so we needed to leave the country anyway, and it was a choice between Laos and Burma. Once we were at Nong Khai we took a tuk tuk to the Thai-Lao friendship bridge where you apply (and wait) for your Lao visa, and then a bus and a tuk tuk the 20km to Vientiane, the capital city which, handily is right on the border.
Delightfully laid back and with great weather Vientiane was a pretty, sleepy place to spend some time. We checked into Phonepaseuth hotel and wandered about for the day, ate a great Indian dinner at Nazim by the riverfront, and the next morning took the 5 hour bus north to Vang Vieng, a dusty little town in the north which is famous in Laos for its Tubing.
Tubing is basically sitting in a giant rubber ring (made from a huge tractor tyre's inner tube) and floating down the beautiful Nam Song river. On either side are tons of make shift bars that you paddle over too (or they kindly hook you in with ropes) where you can have a Lao beer (or ten) and play mud volleyball, wrestling, go on the zip slide, launch yourself from a terrifyingly steep slide etc etc etc. It's basically a big adults playground, and there are plenty of people who get so hooked they can't leave, clocking up 50 days or even 200 days worth of tubing. Being the sensible folk that we are (i.e. we forgot to bring enough money) we had a couple of beers each and then set about floating down the river past all the bars to the end of the tubing circuit, which was great at first but after a while the old arms begin to tire, especially when you see a sign that says '2km to go' and you're moving at a speed of approximately 3cm per hour. And also a little disconcerting when you realise the rocks you thought you saw in the water are actually a huge herd of water buffalos with giant horns that you're now floating perilously past. Or when actual rocks hit you in the bum during the rapidy bits. Still, the scenery is stunning, with huge limestone peaks covered in forest jutting up into the sky. We rested up that evening (well the part of it when they hadn't turned the electricity off in the town) in a bar watching 'Friends.' Weirdly enough the whole of Vang Vieng is completely obsessed with Friends, they play it non-stop, on loop, in every single bar and restaurant. But we haven't seen it since October so we didn't mind for one night.
The next day we took an extremely windy but picturesque 8 hour minibus up route 13 to Luang Prabang, passing through remote villages in the mountains dotted with little wooden houses with thatched roofs on stilts, and mothers working the land with their tiny babies strapped to their backs. Danny also noticed that there were a couple of guys carrying guns and I later read that the route has in the past been plagued by shootings, something to do with the Hmong tribespeople clashing with the government. You also have to be very careful when you get off the bus for a roadside toilet stop in Laos as the country is still covered with unexploded mines from the secret war between 1965-73 when the Americans bombed the hell out of it. Laos is actually the most bombed place on earth.
Lonely Planet calls Luang Prabang, 'perhaps the most sophisticated, photogenic city in all of South East Asia' and it didn't disappoint. Well, the city didn't. Something I had eaten certainly disappointed my insides, so I spent the first night vomiting from 7pm to 7am, after which Danny kindly moved us into a nicer hostel (putting the bags and then me on a tuk tuk for the five minute walk as I was completely incapacitated) where I spent another day and a half recovering before I could go and see the town. So on our third day, rattling about with a stomach full of antibiotics and anti malarial tablets we went and saw all the beautiful French shuttered buildings, glittering golden wats, temples and orange robed boy-monks who wander the immaculate, palm tree lined streets. It gets even more gorgeous as the sun sets along the Mekong river, the sky turns pink and the locals set up the fairy light and lantern laden night market selling Lao trinkets. It's such a relaxed, pretty place to while the evening away, with French restaurants left over from the occupation and great bars (we loved Hive in particular). Fortunately the town is also a Unesco World Heritage site so that means it should stay this way.
After that it was back on the road to Vientiane where we are now! We thought about catching the two day boat to Chiang Mai in Thailand, but met some girls who said after Luang Prabang Chiang Mai didn't impress them, so we decided to head straight back down to Bangkok (where we are going on a nightbus tonight). Once we're there we'll either be catching a flight out to Mumbai, India the day after tomorrow, or if we can get hold of STA travel who have been very elusive so far, we'll extend our stay here are go to the South of Thailand to see the islands of Ko Phi Phi and Ko Phangnan. So I'll let you know next time...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)