Temple & Iceberg Trails: A Journey Through Asperger's

Out and about again… It is four in the morning and I cant sleep.

In the last 24 hours we have went from sunny Cape Town, currently in the grips of a heat wave to -5 degrees C in Oslo to 4 degrees in Bergen. 

We felt really out of place with our warm jackets at the airport, but it was a godsend waiting for the busdriver to arrive at the busterminal last night. Driving rain and piles of snow and more rain for the rest of the day. Apparently they have umbrella vending machines on the streets in Bergen – will take a picture if we encounter one .

The flight to Istanbul was uneventful – the sweetest thing was the greetings to passengers – Ladies and Gentlemen and dear children…. We continued the “tradition” of coffee at Starbucks in the Istanbul transit lounge. Saw our other Turkish favourite – Pistacio Magnum at one of the shops just before boarding – something to look forward to on the way home. I’ve never seen them outside Turkey.

There was no space for any shopping – backpacks stuffed to capacity with spare clothing, should our luggage not arrive with us in Bergen. Alas, cases also stuffed to capacity with winter gear we think we may need. Time will tell if we overpacked. Have to admit we were impressed with the jackets that dried completely in the 20 minute busride to the hotel, I was sitting there wondering if they would dry during the night.

Also had to wear snow hiking shoes on the trip because my luggage would not allow me to wear sneakers. Colin looked at my dilemma and said… typical woman – shoes take up most of your luggage. In this case a pair of Sorel Snow boots I ordered from Amazon. You just do not get that stuff in Cape Town – go figure! So, although not the most comfortable air-travel companions my feet were warm and my footing sure on the icy roadway last night.

Apologies to my friends who is used to winter snows – this is new for us and probably one of the reasons we have made this trip. As much as others are drawn to the “african safari”, I am drawn to the “winter wonderland” picture postcard. Although not quite the “white xmas” – still on the bucket list – this is very close. The landscape approaching Oslo was breathtaking – houses with roofs covered in snow. Rivers with ice floating in it. Ground temperature in Oslo according to the pilot -5 degrees, which you only felt when they opened the doors to let passengers board the busses to their planes.

Oslo local flight was self-check in – which we are used to – to obtain boarding passes. This one gives your luggage tags too – you print them out, attach them accordingly and then go to a self-service bag drop station. Scan your luggage – weigh it in and presto – there it goes on the belt. We decided the second step was a little risky and opted for manual luggage drop – with human intervention. Cannot afford at this point to “divert” our luggage, maybe en-route home.

Our initial flight was cancelled and we were booked on a later flight out, which then was further delayed – the aircraft apparently got delayed in Iceland. With only eight rows of seats to choose from (of which 5 was already filled up at check-in) we were worried that it might be a really small aircraft – hello adventure… It was’nt – our ‘class’ ticket was restricted to the first few rows… the rest of the passengers had to ‘pay’ for their snacks, but tea/coffee was free.

It was the best chocolate muffin I’ve  ever had – death by dark chocolate brownie –  the size of a ‘Mugg & Bean’ muffin. Pleasantly surprised – thank you SAS air. Rhodene – you will love that muffin.

With all the delays we had an hour to kill at Bergen airport – the Hurtigruten bus transfer we booked runs on a schedule.  I was a little worried that some driver might be searching for us – given the delays. However – the busdriver works pretty much on the schedule we saw in Capri – If you’re not on the bus by the set time – then there is always tomorrow.

A proof of payment voucher gets you a seat and with a shrug – a minute past 18:45 we departed – last trip for the day. I thought given its an (expensive) pre-paid transfer, he would have some kind of passenger list. There is also the option to purchase tickets on the bus for walk-ins. There were no list and no walk-ins, just another gentleman and us – waiting in the rain. He seemed to be searching for passengers from London, but had no prior knowlegde of the three of us. 

We drove through possibly the longest road tunnel I have ever been in (besides the Dover/Calais tunnel – but that was in the Eurostar yeaaaaars ago) There were two ‘off ramps’ inside the tunnel – turn left where the tunnel forks… really? We kept straight and dropped the gentleman off at the Hurtigruten terminal – he was boarding last nights cruise.

The driver dropped us off close to our hotel and we dodged the rain – eager for a shower and a bed. I saw some landmarks on the square in front of the Hotel that I hope to investigate today – in daylight (but in the rain – it seems). You could see the  Fenicular going up the mountain from our hotel room – I dont think we will be doing that today.

Apparently we have to be out of our room by 12:00 – the hotel is fully booked. We can store our luggage until the bus picks us up at 17:30 to take us to the terminal for the cruise.  Maybe I’ll keep my bathing costume out and try the indoor pool later – I hope it is heated – I love heated pools.

Biggest mission for today – find some way of getting local data. Choices for local pre-paid data is rather limited and the best option is tricky to register initially if you are not a citizen. Apparently quite easy if you are in Oslo, more difficult if you cannot get to their flagship store. Let’s see what the day brings…

We might also visit the Bryggen and Fish Market – walking distance from the Hotel.

Food is really expensive here – A burger and Chips 189 NOK ( x 1.9 to get to South African Rand). A cooldrink 46 NOK.  A latte at the airport was 41 NOK, filter coffee 32 NOK. Will see what shop prices are during exploration today (after a GOOD pre-paid hotel breakfast). Luckily our breakfasts are all included and the 6 days on the cruise includes food and a wine package. The wine package (1 x bottle per night) was a bonus added to the offer after we booked earlier the year – yay!
The Coke Zero in the mini-bar is calling me, but I will be strong – stick to complimentary coffee (there are back-up cuppuchino sachets from home) and the room has some expresso machine with four capsules. Maybe I’ll attempt to work that one out – you live you learn.

It is almost six am here and I’m going to see if I can catch another hour of sleep before tackling the day.

Not all in one day……

I’ve been experiencing some issues with apple wordpress app latest version and the long days , climbing temples and heat have not helped. Sooo, bottom line – the blogging is a few days behind.

Sunday I spent a lovely day with Elliot from Peace of Angkor walking around some of the lesser visited temples in the Angkor Park. They were temples that were recommended by various sources, but not included in my two day itinary with Charming Asia. It included a visit to Pre-Angkorian Roulos group and sunrise at Angkor Wat. Elliot, an excellent photographer helped me with the more technical aspects like iso and F-settings. He also knew the best spots to take pictures from and how to dodge the crowds – neccessary, even at the lesser visited temples. It was an awesome day and highly recommended.

Monday we set off to the Thai border to the mountain temple of Preah Vihear. En route we stopped at the home of one of the high ranking Khmer Rouge officials. He lived on an island surrounded by a poison-laced moat. Many soldiers lost their life trying to cross it and capture him. He was captured and killed in this stronghold and the property is now a museum. Not much is left besides the structure of the buildings and his awesome wall paintings of rural landscapes and angkor wat. He was a very good artist.

Preah Vihear is a sprawling complex on top of much disputed territory, the presence of Cambodian and UN soldiers being a testament to this. It is built on several levels with long paved causeways between levels… this runs over 1km. The holiest sanctuary is intact and there was a buddist ceremony going on when we passed. Outside the sanctuary is a cliff that offers views all the way to the sea on a clear day… which it wasn’t due to many illegal fires. Villagers are not allowed to cut off live trees, so they burn the area down as they then can cut the ‘dead, burned trees’.

I slipped and grased my hand walking back to the 4×4.  It is healing well and luckily my camera did not sustain any damage. The evening was room service and early night for me.

The next morning we were on the road again, this time to the Jungle temples of Beng Mealea and the Koh Ker complex.

En route we took a stroll through the village market and Khempet showed me the various fruits, fish and streetfood the locals purchase here.

We visited Koh Ker first as Beng Mealea is crowded in the morning. We visited some smaller outlaying temples of this complex – having been an Ankorian Capital for 28 years. Most of the temple towers to Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma has been looted of their linga, used as stone quarries or prised apart by tree-roots. The single temple tower of the “dark lady” , which was possibly a tomb of a high placed official has been burned severely.

We then moved on to the main complex with its moat, still used by locals as watersource today. The outer buildings reminds of Beng Mealea, grey sandstone overgrown with trees. The main tower is a very very high “stepped pyramid” which you can climb via wooden staircases. It is very steep and with my fear of heights I was happy to gawk, take a few pics and go for lunch.

The afternoon it was time for magical Beng Mealea… wooden walkways and stairs allow the visitor relativly easy access instead of stumbling over the ruins and risk further damage or injury. It is beaufitul, almost frozen in time.

The evening I took a tuk-tuk into Siem Reap for supper in the famous Pub-Street and some shopping. It was a hive of activity. The curry I had at Speak Easy was very good. Bonus -draft Angkor beer for 50c US.

Today was my rest day, slept late with breakfast at 8:30. I had a 90 minute massage which was wonderful, as long as you keep in mind that this is different than the western swedish massage. It was more like visiting a chiropractor with that really strong little lady more on the table than beside it, streching and pulling and taking my tense muscles as a very personal affront.

At 14:00 I transferred to the Pacific hotel where I am supposed to meet my guide and the rest of the group tomorrow at 8 to visit Angkor Tom. As there is little knowlegde of a european english group booked for the same period at reception I’m wondering what to expect tomorrow. Best show up and see what happens…

A group of very noisy asians just checked into the passage… and there is a houseband playing at the pool, very much bringing to mind kareoke nights…. say you say me… hero… superstar. Yes, there goes superstar again… this one is better than the previous…. nope false alarm, just as bad. Each to his own I guess. “yesterday”… wonder if “hey jude” is on the list or is it still too early at 20:45? Well its my is  own little “noot vir noot” – guess the song in least number of notes :p

Room service (Egg-fried noodles with beef and veg) was good and the heated and cold water jaccuzi is heavenly.

I’m off to read a book and rest up for a big temple day tomorrow…

Good night and stay safe xxx

This morning we said our good byes to the Heritage Line crew and took on the 210km journey to Siem Reap by coach. Although technically a highway the 2 lane tarmac road is under re-construction following severe monsoon damage.

Accounting for a 30 minute comfort stop (and some shopping) we departed at 8:45 and arrived in Siem Reap at 13:15.

My driver was waiting for me and after a quick atm stop we went to the hotel. He will also be our driver for the photography tour in Angkor complex tomorrow. To catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat we are leaving the Hotel at 5am. My breakfast- pack is already in the minibar.

The rep from tomorrow’s tour met with me to handle payment and confirm arrangements and then it was off to Wat Bo via tuk-tuk for a water-blessing. My guide and the driver from this afternoon will also accompany me on Monday and Tuesday’s day-trips. Bonus!

The water blessing was quite extensive…. I was thoroughly doused in cold water for around ten minutes. As for not getting water in your mouth there were a few close calls… It was an awesome experience and quite refreshing in the tropical heat.

After changing into dry clothes I presented the monk with offerings of incense and milk and he tied a red string around my right wrist as a symbol of having received the blessing.

An elderly lady, a gentleman and his tuk-tuk and a SUV about to take a long journey also received blessings.

We stopped at Beyond Unique Experiences’ office to pay for my tours Monday and Tuesday and confirmed arrangements. They also arranged the blessing from transfer to offering goodies to clean towel to sarong. Everything taken care of 🙂

Back at the hotel I had a cold drink on the veranda and moved inside to arrange the breakfast-box. I ended up fast asleep until almost 8pm. Luckily after the breakfast call to reception.

Supper at the restaurant was very good and I had a Skype IM chat with Colin to catch up on life at home. The cats have not driven him insane yet.

Everything is packed for tomorrow, second battery charging and alarm set.

Now to get some rest… tomorrow is a big, but long day,

Tonight’s blog may be short due to the old adage, don’t drink and blog…

It’s 11:13 pm and tomorrow it’s breakfast at 7am, cases out at 8 and on the bus to Siem Reap at 8:30. So the cruise is at it’s end, we’re moored at Kampong Cham and the engines are quiet. This is the closest we’ll get to Siem Reap in the dry season and the balance of the journey will be via coach tomorrow.

We visited Wat Hanchey early this morning – steep climb up the hill. Those who chose to took a lift on the motorcycles, remembering to get up/ down on the left to avoid getting burned by the exhaust.

The temple is richly decorated and the view spectacular… worth the hike up and the more than 300 steps down.

Following the visit three monks visited the ship to perform blessing ceremony for some crew members and the guests. After lunch some children of a local NGO supported by the cruise line gave us a singing.dance show and showed off their english by telling us about themselves, their families and their future professions. It was truly inspiring…

Then we joined a coach for a 3km journey to Wat Nokor, a modern temple built within the ruins of a temple from Ankorian times. Our first taste of what’s to come at Siem Reap.

We stopped at the Ko Paen Bamboo bridge that connects an island and the mainland. This bridge is rebuilt every year. It is weird, feels like walking on a trampoline. Small cars, motorcycles and pedestrians cross this bridge for a fee. It cannot accommodate larger vehicles.

We strolled along the shoreline to the ship and freshened up before the crew presentation and dancing. A special fare-well dinner was presented, ending with deep fried rum&raisin ice cream.

We gathered in the lobby lounge to see slide show set to music – these were highlights of the tour captured on camera by crew members during the tour. We each a copy of this as keepsake.

i’m 80% packed, only last minute PJ’s and toiletries to go tomorrow.

All bets are on as to wether we’ll make the 13:30 collection in Siem Reap… watch this space…

Have an awesome evening….

Today was marked on our cruise schedule as ‘serenity day’

We left Phnom Penh for the island of Okna Tey to see how the village cooperative produce and weave silk artifacts.

We drove through the village in what can only be described as a 14 tuk tuk caravan… you could follow our progress from the hello hello hello’s of our welcoming party of kids along the way.

We stopped at one of the biggest temples in Cambodia to see the prayer hall, school, monks living quarters (only the outside) and multi-story dining hall before traveling past extensive farmlands to the cooperative.

Sam explained the various stages of the silk worm life cycle and the ladies were busy spinning the silk tread – one the outer “raw” silk (stage 1) and the other the inner layers of the cocoon, the finer,softer “fine” silk. These golden treads are then used as is or dyed different colours.

Looms are set up around the site and various women spend their days weaving scarves and skirts that are either sold in the shop on site or sold to vendors of the various markets.

Back on the ship we had a short lecture on the history of Khmer language, basic Khmer – they count to 5 and then start over with 6 being 5 +1…. and sixteen being 10 + 5 + 1…. Their alphabet has something like 76 letters…

We also had a discussion and demo of traditional dress and the extensive use of the traditional checked scarf (Krama).

The boat travelled up the Mekong to Angkor Ban where the afternoon excursion included a walk through the village and attendance of an English class for the local kids. The feedback from fellow travellers were very positive, I decided to stay onboard as tomorrow required extensive walking, up/down a flight of more than 300 steps and a bamboo bridge and I wanted to see if I could eliminate as much of the lower leg swelling I could before then.

Following dinner (ended with Khmer surprise dessert – streamed pumpkin slices with some form of creme caramel, met with mixed reaction and reviews) we watched an interesting documentary on Angkor Wat.

It provided some interesting insight into the language barrier issue. The documentary was narrated in english by a native english speaking gentleman. There were english subtitles, but it was typed by a non-native english speaker and gave me some idea on how the locals experienced English. Almost like asking someone to write down the lyrics of a song they have listened to and thought they understood and then comparing it to the actual lyrics… a lightbulb moment. Like my brother’s preschool teacher taught them a song about hills and valleys “op berge en in dale” and the first time they sang it without her… they proudly sang about the uncle wearing sandals “oom bertus dra sandale” – not even a hint of hills or valleys in sight.

Tomorrow two temples, monks visiting the boat and the bamboo bridge. The evening – farewell dinner and a slide show presentation of the photos taken by the crew during the cruise – available on dvd, of course.

Good night….

This morning we visited Kok Chen 35km North of PP on the Tonle Sap River. This village is famous in Cambodia for its silver smith skills, having provided the Khmer royalty with their silver ware.

Silver is moulded into bowls with rubber moulds and then the detail etching is done by hand. These items are then sold to the markets in cities like PP.

We took a walk through the village on stilts, looked at the unique ‘island-like’ temple, the monks dining hall and their local long boats – used to represent the village in the yearly Water Festival boat race in PP.

From there it was on to a visit to the local primary school, just about to take a 10 minute break. Chaos ensued as we were overwhelmed by little people with friendly hallo’s,smiles and vigorous ‘high fives’.

We returned to the boat for a rest and lunch and sailed to Andaung Russey Village that specializes in Khmer style pottery. Mrs To gave us a demonstration of making a cooking pot of clay. The clay is put on a little table and the potter walks around the item forming it in this way – quite unique. She also showed us how rice is cleared from the husks in the traditional way.

An adapted version of a foot-driven pottery wheel is used to make knick-nacks to sell as souveniers. Yup, I’m going home with (yet another) pottery candleholder.

From there we visited the ‘production plant’ for Palm Sugar. They showed us what the ‘flower’ looks like and how they climb up the very high trees and cut the flowers to harvest the palm sugar juice. The morning’s harvest is used to create Palm Sugar – an almost caramel-like paste. The afternoon harvest is perfect for Palm Sugar beer. And then there were these perfectly innocent looking 500ml water-bottles filled with clear liquid – nope, not water… Moonshine – Palm Sugar ‘Whisky’ – 48% proof. At 2US for 500ml a steal! Actually not bad neat… and I don’t even like whisky as a rule.

From there they showed us the production of new types of coal barbecue type portable stoves… made from cement, clay and covered in Zinc. The traditional version is clay pottery. It uses less coal and produces less smoke emmitions. An NGO has taught the locals how to produce these and sell them to the rest of the country. Quite a nifty little contraption, not much bigger than a 10L bucket.

Our young guide has some trouble pronouncing the “T” at the end of cement. One of the group kindly explained to him in private why for an english native speaking group that T is quite important 😛 He was ‘horrified’…

We returned to the riverbank and took a motorboat cruise around the floating village with it’s ‘in-house’ fish farms and even a local pub.

Just as the sun set we returned to the boat for tea and a lecture around ‘life on the mekong’ before sitting down to a four-course meal. Dieting on this cruise is not an option… not if you do not want to miss out.

Tomorrow – Silk weaving and attending an english lesson at a school. Best be on our best behavior.

My feet are still swollen, but less than yesterday. All and all it was a great day and we are looking forward to tomorrow’s adventure.

I’m sitting on my bed watching the houses and fishing boats with their flickering lights as we chug along the river. Feeling deeply blessed to be fortunate enough to be able to experience this paradise.

We heard tonight that this way of life is in danger due to plans to build numerous hydro-electric dams upstream in the Mekong. These will threaten this way of life, the fish population (disrupt breeding migrations) and agriculture (less silt coming downstream, less fertile soil).

One can only hope that ‘progress’ can be balanced with the social and environmental consequences for all involved.

After an early breakfast and tuk-tuk ride to the boat pier I joined the cuise party. We almost immediately left for a city tour.

We got the Killing Fields site out of the way first and then went on to the torture location in town – what was once a middle school. I feel for the victims and their families and cannot begin to understand how a person can do this to their fellow man.

We had a great lunch with multiple courses including a sour fish soup, a meze of small dishes for mains and mango flavoured creme caramel with fresh fruit for dessert.

Next was the expansive Royal Palace with its gold decoration, silver floor tiles (silver pagoda) and Jade and gold/diamond budda statues. The mind boggles.

The National Museum completed the tour – filled with statues rescued from various sites across the nation. The pond-filled courtyard is peaceful in the mid-afternoon heat.

A harrowing cyclo ride brought us back to the pier. The traffic is quite daunting if your are sitting on the front of a bicycle with nothing between you and the oncoming vehicles. RESPECT!

An interesting lecture on the checkered history of this small country followed. The guest speaker was quite entertaining.

A dance performance by students from the school of fine arts completed a sundeck bbq-buffet.

I am now on my balcony with a cup of coffee. It is lovely with a slight breeze over the water.

The group is very friendly and consists of a group of Canadian Dentists and their partners on a working holiday, some people from the UK and Australia – I’ve chatted to so far. It is their fourth day so they are in the cruise rhythm already.

My ankles are extremely swollen tonight – felt it at the Royal Palace. I think it is the heat and some delayed effect from the flight? I’m always a little behind the times. Definitely feet up for the rest of the night.

That makes typing hard, so I’m signing off for tonight. Also going in to avoid the mozzies.

Tomorrow crafting villages – Silver and pottery.

Catch ya flipside!

So the 15 day Cambodia adventure begins…

Arrived 8:35 this morning at PP International Airport on a full SilkAir flight from Singapore.

The formalities ran smoothly thanks to the eVisa obtained prior to arrival. If only my luggage arrived with me – the ground staff was very helpful and the CellCard booth had my tourist sim set up in minutes – very efficient.

Shame the poor driver was very worried and drove “me and my backpack” all the way to the hotel in the massive Toyota suv. It felt a little overkill next to the tuk-tuks. Traffic was hectic and he took all kinds of interesting alleys and criss-cross byways. Eventually I had to take out my camera, I was missing too many awesome shots. Having survived Cairo and India the driver was quite impressed that I took the chaos that is PP traffic in stride.

My hotel room is beautiful and spacious and the wrap-around french doors and balcony affords a view of the Tonle Sap River and Wat Ounalom. I took a quick shower, washed my T-shirt for tomorrow and set out to explore the wat ( only open to the public in the morning).

It is beautiful and peaceful, despite its sad history. The afternoon the monks chants awoke me from my little siesta.

Seeing the Royal Palace at the end of the street I took a stroll there past little shops and many tuk-tuks with drivers/ impromptu guides. The complex was closed for lunch and I had to explain to one of the “would be guides” that I am visiting tomorrow as part of a group.

On the way back I purchased some drinks – 4 cans coke light, 1 can Angkor lager and 1.5l water for 5 USD.

Time to put the feet up, charge the ipad and get a snooze in the aircon cocoon of my room. I hurt my foot earlier the week and am still on the mend. No use overdoing it and then being too injured to walk Angkor Wat next week. Plus my ankles were very swollen after the flight. The prayers woke me at around 16:00. Spent the balance of the afternoon people watching.

It is now 19:12 and I’m sitting in the KWest Restaurant having their signature cocktail – It’s happy hour. Morodok Khmer – Java palm spirit, Sombai ginger-red chili, kiwi puree, cucumber syrup, Lime and pineapple juice. It won a gold medal in the 2014 CAMFOOD competition.

It is very refreshing. “cucumber” and “cocktail” will raise quite a few eyebrows at home. Takes a little getting used to. I have to admit the cucumber is less prominent in the 2nd one… or maybe I’m adjusting.

Supper of sticky rice and stir fried beef with a pepper-lime dipping sauce was very filling. I was hoping for some space for coconut sorbet…. not gonna happen. Maybe the rooftop bar does the ice-cream too.

Apparently my luggage has arrived with the late afternoon flight and should be on its way to the hotel. Quite a relief, did not feel like going shopping tonight. Specially not after two cocktails :p

First impressions – I like Cambodia. The people are really friendly despite the language barrier, which is VERY pronounced.

I wonder what the tour-group on the cruise will be like, well time will tell tomorrow morning. Not looking forward to the Killing Fields visit tomorrow.

Here we go again back to Delhi to complete the circle one last time.

Just before leaving my room for check-out and breakfast I get a phone call. Surprising as I already answered the wake-up call some 10 minutes earlier. How they think they can do wake-up calls 30 minutes before departures is beyond my comprehension… I need at least an hour to shower, put all the last minute items (used for shower) in my case etc, but somehow all over the globe there is a tendency for hotels to ‘offer’ a wake-up call 30 minutes before the confirmed departure time – do they teach them that at some global hotel-conference or something?

Nope – It’s my favourite waiter calling me to tell me that he’s making my tea in the restaurant – Black tea with milk & masala omlette will be waiting for you – ok? I have to laugh and feel like a queen. I don’t know if it is the weirdness of a single woman traveling to hotels normally associated with groups or just me talking to everyone, but I felt really looked after during this trip. It is as if without the ‘safety’ of a group you are free to connect with the locals on a different level.

Yesterday after the wallet incident I got questioning looks from the staff when I went to the lobby for the safari – all I had to do was laugh and point at my backpack – It’s in there! Sometimes words are not required to share a joke.

Breakfast was great, my waiter friend telling me about his family and his sightings of various animals in the park at night during his 15 minute bicycle ride home. He sees the elusive Sloth bear regularly – besides the tiger the one other animal I would have loved to see. I asked him about being afraid of the tigers alone on the bicycle. He laughs, noooooo I have torch! You see tiger you wave torch and jump (he demonstrates) and it goes away. Man.. that would be a sight in the dark, guess I would leave that too.. looks like indigestion waiting to happen – smart tiger.

Then with a wave to the staff we’re off on the jeep. If Varanasi is the city of cows, then this small town just outside Ranthambore is the city of pigs. Everywhere there are pigs, great and small in the road, next to the road, in alleyways. We have to stop for three in the middle of the road, they give the driver a dirty look before moving to the side. I had to stifle a giggle as he just shrugged and drove round them, just in case they change their mind about the direction.

On the station there was a dog that broke my heart. He had some serious skin disease that made him look a lot worse than he probably felt as he was otherwise well fed. A course of anti-biotics, a bath and some anti-flea treatment would do him wonders, no chance of that here.

I boarded the train with a group of French tourists – adding insult to the injury of my favorite sandal breaking just minutes earlier. Somehow all along I had the feeling those sandals were not going to see South Africa again. I’m still in two minds of taking them home and seeing what the local shoe magician can do for them or giving up on them and cutting my losses.

The train journey was without incident. To drown out the french I listened to music while staring out the window. So lost in my reverie that the smell of curry close by made me wonder who the crazy person was eating curry in the morning, only to realize I’m still in India and this was quite normal at 10am.

I arrived at the station and was collected by Mansingh and Vijay (company rep). While maneuvering the Delhi-afternoon traffic we confirmed the arrangements for tomorrow’s pick-up at 16:00 to avoid the after-work rush hour. I declined the offer for more site-seeing – I do not think my brain will take any more on board with this trip.

I checked into the hotel – this time getting a different room on the 2nd floor. After a cup of tea I did some reading before falling asleep. Colin (my husband) and I chatted on Skype IM until he left his office and I ordered chicken schnitzel for dinner – room service.

Watched a Nat Geo documentary on two tigers from Ranthambore being placed out to a different reserve to re-populate the area. I always have a very good feeling when I recognize a scene on TV. It is as if I am standing in the picture and my mind fills in the rest of the 360 degree scene from memory. That is why watching a documentary “after the fact” is one of my favourite experiences – it adds a level of richness I find hard to explain. As Colin said yesterday – I’m not crazy, just severely disturbed 😛

Fell asleep reading and with no Colin to put away the IPad, it was still open next to me this morning when I woke up. The lights were on the entire night. Ah well, best get the sleep while I can, this time tomorrow a bed will be a luxury craved by everyone in “cattle class” in the plane. C’est la vie!

This morning was chaos for me as for some reason they moved the safari time to 6:30 and failed to inform me.

I was dressed and getting ready to leave my room for a much anticipated cup of tea when the phone rang – Mrs Linda, your canter is here for safari. My answer – F… you’re early! My first thought, damn, no tea? As there is no safe in this room I hurriedly threw the items in my case and locked it.

At the canter it was filled to the brim with the noisy crowd that arrived last night. The safari guide told the gentleman in the front that he was sitting on my seat, he refused to move and guide motioned me to take a seat at the back in the middle of the group – He mouthed – we’ll sort out later.

As we left the group started clapping – I thought.. Oh my God, this is gonna be INTERESTING. He stopped the vehicle, looking exasperated and told them to be quiet, no yelling, no shouting, NO CLAPPING! Only when he mentioned the fact that disturbances are liable for a hefty fine did the crowd pipe down. Turns out they are from Iran, understand very little english, but is accompanied by a translator. I sat next to a young lady, probably around 16 – her parents in the group, but in anther canter.

The only tiger sighting that morning was of our friend Sultan enjoying a meal in the dense brush around 700m from his favourite water pool. The group was not too disappointed as they saw them yesterday on their way back from the Fort visit (Fort being a few km further on the same road as Park entrance). Words I got very familiar with since yesterday was “Two (fingers held up) tiger, TWO!” It was the mantra of all fortunate enough to see the boys yesterday.

We did see a ‘peacock dancing’, which to me was quite special. As a child we often visited the (now closed) zoo at the foot of table mountain close to the Rhodes memorial. The monkeys in the cages and the peacocks running around is one of my first memories. Then you do not realize that this experience is actually special and I was hoping to see that colour display at least once during this trip. Wish granted.

We once again took a different route and passed several of the lakes inside the park giving us a chance to see the water birds. The kids howled with delight as the ‘biscuit bird’ (I’m sure that is not its real name 😛 ) came and took pieces of biscuit from their hands. I never got round to asking the guide what it’s real name is – It is a beautiful black, cream and yellow bird.

We saw the old hunting palace on the shores of one of the lakes. The guide said that many times they have seen tigers laying in the arched windows watching the world go by. That would have been a total ‘kodak moment’.

Upon return I had my breakfast, enjoyed my second cup of tea in the garden at the smoker’s corner. There is an shaded alcove with built in benches and pillows that looks over the pool and the gift shop right next to the restaurant. It seems to be the smokers corner as every table has beautiful hand-painted ceramic ashtrays on them. My husband probably would have liked it there, but it’s not the South African required distance from a public entrance (restaurant) – funny that you get so conditioned that you notice stuff like that.

I realized I had lost my wallet. Checked my room to see if I left it on the counter – nope. The hotel staff called the canter guide to check in the vehicle and the hotel manager (Gordhan) helped me to break open the lock on my case (small padlock keeping zips together). Thank heavens in this morning’s chaos it ended up in my suitcase and all was ok. The lock is the least of my problems – I have spare lock for the journey home. Drama, drama drama.

The afternoon I was ready 30 minutes before the time, with my luck the canter was 30 minutes late and when it arrived we still waited another 20 minutes for the Iranian group to leave the pool and get with the proramme. I was not in the best frame of mind when they eventually pitched up and had little sympathy with the gentleman from this morning who wanted me to move from my seat so that he can swing his big-ass zoom lens around without hitting one of his fellow travellers. When his translator explained that he needed that seat because “He’s a photographer” I merely held up my little sony camera and shrugged. I saw the guide laugh and wink at me. If you want to take special photos either pay up and rent one of the four seater jeeps or get your backside at reception early and ensure your seat, buster! Needless to say I felt guilty as hell the rest of the trip…

There was no sign of the boys at their usual spot. However as we reached the entrance of the park there was a general buzz of activity and all the park officials were together chatting excitedly. The guide looked excited and we headed off with a mission – something was clearly up. The occupants of the two vehicles we encountered coming back from that direction looked smug and was admiring the pictures on their cameras – a GOOD sign.

I don’t really think the route we took was designed for the big canter and it took a bit of maneuvering to navigate some tight turns. We lost a mirror in the process, but man the reward… Sultan was on the move. He crossed the road right in front of our vehicle and then we followed him for around 45 minutes. At some point he laid on a cement platform – the remnant of some human occupancy in years gone by. Maybe he was hoping we’ll go away. I felt quite sorry for him as he walked this way and then that way to escape the clicking of the cameras. Eventually he moved into a area with dense trees where he collected a previous kill for early dinner, dragging it deeper into the forest, as if he knew that the vehicles could not follow him there.

The “photographer” urged the driver to move deeper (and off the road), the guide told him it was not allowed. He looked frustrated and the guide said – No, you are not allowed to get off the vehicle and walk closer… reading his mind. The guide explained that the “visual tiger fest” we had just experienced was a rarity and he should be elated at the encounter. Why do we as humans always want more?

We saw another dancing peacock on the way out and some monkeys with babies of various ages clinging to their mothers.

I could hardly wait to share the footage I got with my cellphone with my friends back home. My soup got cold while Gordhan and I discussed the afternoon’s sighting and I posted the video and images via my IPad Hotspot to Facebook and some what’s app users. He again re-posted them to his social media sites.

The next morning was breakfast at 06:00 to leave for the train at 06:20. I was way too exhausted to do the blog. The Indian heat is draining, It takes a special person to live here I guess.