Day 267 - Hong Kong to Cape Town - 30th April, 2005

After a mamoth flight from Hong Kong to Jo'berg (they gave us 3 meals on the way - all in the middle of the night) we arrived at around 8:30 am. By the time we had collected our luggage and been through customs and immigration it was time to get on the connecting flight to Cape Town.

We were very surprised by the weather here and in Cape Town. Everyone seems to be going around with almost no clothes on but it was only 7 deg C this morning. In the sun it felt warmer but the wind was chilling. Our taxi driver told us that it was 28 deg C last week which is more like it.

I think that from door to door we were nearly 24 hours en route. We are exhausted but very glad to be here. Again it's so different. The first thing I noticed (even on the plane) is how macho the men are and how girlie the girls are here. The men are all at least 6 and half feet tall and built like bulldozers. They must have a US style diet, meat, meat and some more meat. You don't grow men that big for any other reason. Or is it the rugby?

The women are all massive amounts of voluptuous cleavage. Something I haven't seen in a long time (especially in Asia) but even since the days when I used to go to night clubs. Not that I would notice things like that of course but they are so flouncy bouncy over here.

We saw shanti towns as we came out of the airport but by comparison to India they were first class and even had corrugated rooves not the plastic sheeting.

First impressions were very favourable and thanks to some good advice, we are staying in some really great "backpackers" accommodation in Cape Town which is both cheap and comfortable.

We have been around the shops and hung out in the backpackers bar connected to the internet with the laptop. All boys are in 7th heaven.

I met up with my old boss Richard Gomme and his wife Iche at the Intercontinental Hotel in Hong Kong. We spent a good couple of hours going over our itinerary for South Africa and showing him photos of where we had been so far. 

This is Hong Kong from Victoria Peak. It was a bit cloudy. 

Day 265 - Hong Kong - 28th April, 2005

We have a Hong Kong breakthrough! I went down to the Cathy Pacific office in the Peninsula Office Tower this morning with Sammy, who really only came along to check out all the mobile phone shops. I was very calm and I had a most understanding assistant. She immediately saw that we hadn't missed any of our flights and that where I had changed a flight date they must have failed to cancel the old ticket, therefore when we didn't show for the cancelled flight they cancelled the rest of the schedule.

She spent 15 minutes with her supervisor and they gave us our seats back for the 29th. She even gave us our seats numbers. I don't know how they did this as I know the flight is severely overbooked. Anyway we are back in business and flying tomorrow.

I am hoping to catch my old boss (RG) in Hong Kong tomorrow afternoon as he is over here and in China for the trade shows.

Today, after the tickets were sorted out, we went to the Jumbo floating restaurant for lunch and then up the peak tram to the top of Victoria Peak. It ended up being an excellent day.

After lunch we took the Peak Tram funicular railway to the Victoria Peak. The peak was shrouded in mist and the outlook was cloudy and humid. We took pictures at the top and there was a tourist who was so enamored with Sammy's blond hair, he asked us to take a picture with him.

As part of this day out, we hired a chinese junk taxi to explore the harbour. These rickety boats have female owners who live on board.

The Hong Kong Story

The situation here has not improved. We discovered that there is the added complication of Chinese New Year. Why is this a problem? The hotel we have just moved into (which is OK and alot cheaper than where we were) can only accommodate us until April 30th. The New Year celebrations and holiday are May 1st, 2nd and 3rd. All hotels in Hong Kong are booked - predominantly by chinese coming down from the north. We might find a room but at an exhorbitant price.

At the moment we are not scheduled to leave here until May 4th although our original booking was for 29th April.

We spent a good hour and half in the British Airways office on the island yesterday. They gave us some insight into the possible cause of our problems but it does not provide a solution.

It seems that on one our journeys we changed one of our flight dates (actually I have changed quite a few) and the operator put us on a new flight and forgot to cancel the old flight. With the kind of ticket that we have, if we miss one of our flights all remaining bookings with that carrier are cancelled. They think we missed a flight when in fact it should have been cancelled or moved. They keep telling us here that we missed a flight on 27th February, despite the fact that we have never missed any flight and have no record of any flight ever having being booked for 27th February. So the other flights by Cathay were cancelled. Hence arriving at New Delhi 2 days ago to find we had no flight.

Since our onward flights from Hong Kong were cancelled and they are now all booked up, we are stuck. The earliest flight possible is the 4th of May which we are now booked on but at the same time we are "wait listed" for 29th and 30th April and 1st May. No one can tell me what the chances are of getting on a wait listed flight.

The count down in on. Do we get out of here before our hotel chucks us out (April 30th) or do we go live in the airport for 3 days?

Today we are going off to Ocean Park on the island. It is an aquarium/theme park type of place to try to forget it all for a moment. I will also try to get into the Cathay Pacific office and raise a little hell.

Day 263 - Travel to Hong Kong (only just) - 26th April, 2005

We set off for Hong Kong today, leaving our New Delhi home at 5:00am. We were sad about leaving Suzanne, Rob and the family but excited about getting on the road again. Well at least I was.

We get to New Delhi airport and go to check in. "Sorry sir, no record of your reservation. Looks like it has been cancelled". I had checked with American Airlines in London about a week ago to confirm this reservation so there must be some mistake. There certainly was some mistake. All our onward flights with Cathy Pacific had also been cancelled.

After much sweat, pleading, cajoling, steaming (Julie) they found us 4 seats on the flight we were supposed to go out on even though it was already overbooked. It still don't know how they did it.

The 4 hour flight was uneventful enough. I had a laugh though (we were split up in the aircraft) when I saw an old Indian woman come up to the front of economy class and start opening all the lockers in the galley. At first I thought she was looking for a glass of water or something to eat. Then I realised that she was looking for the toilet. Why she thought there might be one in a 2 foot by 3 foot locker I do not know.

But it led me to think. Many of the people on the plane looked like they really came from a remote village somewhere in the wilds. The toilet seats had footprints all over them. They could speak neither English or Chinese so they could not converse or understand the air hostesses. If she could not find a toilet in an airplane how would she understand about flushing it, where to put a used towel, what to do in an emergency? I had mean thoughts about how air travel really ought to be reserved for educated western folk like me but only for a moment mind. I think it was the moment I used the toilet on the plane and found it looking much like a lot of toilets I had come across in India.

There were quite a few amusing cross cultural conversations too. One very plump proper sort of English lady really gave a big Punjabi Sikh man a dressing down. He had the misfortune to sit next to her on the flight. He then proceeded to make a mobile phone call at the top of his Punjabi voice (very intense and aggressive sounding). She took great exception to this and shouted at him to shut up and keep his conversations to himself. There was some exchange of words but I am not sure if either party really understood what the other was saying. The next 4 hours must have been quite uncomfortable for both of them.

We got to Hong Kong International airport without too much trouble. Getting through all the formalities this time around seemed much smoother (it is our 3rd visit to Hong Kong airport on this trip). We decided that whilst we were here we should sort out our ticket problems so we could be sure of our onward journey to Cape Town.

Oh dear what a disaster. All our onwards flights seemed to have been cancelled somehow. Not just the New Delhi to Hong Kong which we had overcome but our flight out of Hong Kong to Jo'berg and onto Capetown. OK so lets not get to excited about this. We haven't got to get back to work or anything. Except that we have made accommodation bookings in Cape Town and we have friends waiting for us in Nairobi.

Our original itinerary had us booked into Hong Kong on the 26th. A quick 3 day lay over here to have a look see and then onto South Africa on the 29th. Not any more. The earliest they can get us out of here is May 4th. That's 5 days longer than we planned. The immediate concern about this is the cost. We are here during trade fair season and the cheapest of the cheapest rooms are about £70 per night. Along with that, this place rates as the most expensive place after Japan that we have been to so far. It's going to cost a fortune to sit this out.

Worse was to come. The Cathay Pacific assistant said he could see no records of the onward flight by British Airways to Nairobi. We should go and check with them the status of this flight. Cathay put us on stand-by for 29th and 30th April and May the 1st and confirmed a booking for the 4th May. We will get one of these in the end. So we have to keep checking now to see how early we can get out. A real pain as we don't want to waste time going to airline offices and ringing them us.

We check with British Airways about the Nairobi flight and they informed us that this flight has now been withdrawn from their schedules. They no longer fly that route. Oh great. Book me on the flight then cancel it. How we get to Nairobi has yet to be decided and it looks like I will spend all tomorrow down at the British Airways office trying to work out flights based on a stand-by booking with Cathay. Ummmmm and it was a going so well.

We get to our cheap pre-booked dormitory hostel place and find that they have rented one of the beds in our 4 bed room to someone. Did we mind sharing? The only alternative is a newly refurbished 4 bed family room that costs an extra HK$250 (about £20) per night. So we take that. But because of this trade fair business the cost of this room goes from HK$900 per night to HK$1,200 per night from tomorrow. So now we have the possibility of having to stay here for 6 or 7 nights, I am beginning to panic.

On the way back from our supper at MacDonalds (yeah OK but the boys haven't had one in 3 months, the plane food was rubbish and we are not, after a long day travelling, going to start them on Chinese food today) we find a small hotel willing to offer us a room with a double bed and a single (in a room no bigger than 2 double beds) for HK$650 per night. Trouble is - no internet. This place has a decent 2mbs LAN link which I must say is half decent. So do we go for the "sleep 4 of us in beds made for 3" or stay put or ........?

Answers on an email please by no later than ...........

Monday, April 25, 2005

Day 261 - New Delhi, India

A day before we left India. We had always warned the boys that one day before we left India we would take them on a journey around New Delhi that would be a harsh and unforgettable experience. The idea was that we would visit the railway station and meet the children who live there, go and see the funeral pyres, which Julie and I had visited on our own and distribute some toys to children in the shanty towns. We decided to go on the Sunday before we left on the following Tuesday. I walked up to the taxi rank and found a taxi driver who wanted a job for the day. I told him I wanted him to take me to these various places and that we would be spending the day in and around the shanty towns. He seemed to grasp what I was talking about so I hopped in and drove with him back home to collect the family. He took us to church and waited for us outside. 

There’s something exceedingly decadent about having a cab wait for you, especially as we were going to be at least an hour and a half. But at a cost of £6 for 6 hours we felt it was worth sticking with the same man all day. At least he would know where we lived. After church we had a couple of doughnuts and a coffee and set off. We decided that we would not have lunch today (actually the boys were not included in this decision making process but were affected by it) just to get a sense of what it might be like to be hungry, like some of the people we were to meet. That was the idea anyway. 

We started off by driving to the crematorium. Our driver, who by now was fully into the idea of showing us some of the darker aspects of New Delhi, pointed out the drug dens and addicts who were lined up in the road leading up to the crematorium. The boys have been fully (reasonably fully) informed about the idea of drugs and the destruction they reek. Sammy was horrified for instance, to discover in Canada a chain of stores called “Shoppers Drug Mart”. “What sort of country IS this Daddy?” We entered the facility with the taxi driver who had decided to accompany us as our guide. There were 5 or 6 pyres already alight and several bodies being carried in on bamboo stretchers. We followed one and watched as they performed the ceremonial washing. They then took the body right down to the edge of the Yamuna river. This pyre was going to be right by the water’s edge. We sat in a shelter some 20 yards from the crowd whilst some of the pall bearers went off to buy some wood. Some minutes later the wood man appeared with a barrow of wood and they started to construct the pyre. The boys were transfixed by the whole operation which took an hour to complete. It was then doused in ghee (which is basically cooking oil) and the eldest son, with the aid of a large taper, went around the pyre and lit it. We sat for another 30 minutes watching the progress of the flames. Some of the relatives came and sat with us. One of them was curious enough to ask why we were interested in such things rather than visiting more conventional tourist sites. I wasn’t really sure what to say but I told him we were showing the boys what happens when you die. He seemed satisfied with this answer. It was quite a sobering moment for the boys who actually witnessed the body burning. Further down the river, another pyre had just about burnt out. One of the crematorium workers raked through the ashes and pulled out a bone which one of the relatives gingerly, as it was still hot, threw into the middle of the river. This was a traditional thing to do to make sure the body actually connected with the river. 

Our driver then took us to New Delhi railway station and on the way we stopped to buy a couple of dozen bananas. We had heard, read and seen, that many of the kids living there were addicted to sniffing correction fluid thinner (or other stuff) and that if we offered them any money it would probably go straight on their addiction. So we bought the bananas instead. We entered the teaming infested station and started to look around. We saw some little boys walking around on the tracks further up the line. They were distinguished by their dirty tattered clothes, bare feet and matted hair. They are inevitably carrying sacks which they use to collect their re-cyclable and saleable rubbish. What they do is to wait for a train to arrive and terminate at the station. They immediately clamber aboard and gather as much valuable rubbish as possible. Mainly plastic water bottles and other plastic products. They get about 15 rupees per kilo of plastic. A couple of kilos would give them a bottle of fluid and perhaps a bite to eat as well. We saw a train coming in on platform 12. About 5 or 6 rubbish collectors ranging in age from about 6 to 13 or 14 jumped on the train and started to scavenge for rubbish. We managed to catch up to them on the platform and the boys offered bananas through the bars of the 3rd class carriages. The food was grabbed violently. One of the recipients ate the banana whole, without stopping to remove the skin. We walked further along the outside of the carriage to find a door so we could get in and meet the boys. We entered the carriage and 4 boys gathered around us. We gave them more bananas. Julian and Sammy were dishing them out as quickly as they were being eaten. We then made a bit of a mistake. I pulled out some money which I had prepared in very small notes and began to hand each boy a 10 rupee note. It caused a riot and I was immediately mobbed by all of them at once grabbing at the money. Their fingers grabbed so tightly that on several occasions my hand was in pain.

It was an uncomfortable moment. Some of the older boys managed to grab more than the little ones, so we jumped off the train to give us some more space and gave them a note as well. At least they had all eaten a couple of bananas today. We moved back along the platform and several of the boys followed us. We gave them a couple of extra bananas and went up the stairs of the platform connecting bridges. With a few bananas left, we were looking for a suitable recipient. We saw a couple of Rajasthani women sitting in a huddle on the bridge and when we looked at them they held their hands out towards us. The younger lady was nursing a very small child. We gave them the rest of our bananas and 10 rupees. As she stood up to receive the money a metal container and a bottle of medicine fell out from beneath her dress. Luckily it did not break. Clearly one of them was in need. 

We found our taxi driver again and set off from the station. The boys, especially Julian, were talking about the experience and how sad it was for those boys. They were both pleased that momentarily at least, the station boys had had a little bright spot in their otherwise miserable day. It was also clear to all of us that we were not able to change these children’s lives or to give them any real hope but at least there were 4 more people on the planet who had met and knew of them and the poverty they endure. There are certainly 2 more boys on the planet who have a clear picture of what it is like to not have anything at all. We asked the driver to take us to a shanty town where would could distribute some of the cricket bats and balls we had bought. We had about 10 bats and 15 balls of various sizes. Some of plastic and some real wood ones with real cricket balls. They were all bought for about 50 pence or a £1 each. He took us to his cab rank where he knew many of the rubbish collecting street kids assembled on a Sunday afternoon. A local church came every Sunday afternoon and taught the kids some English. 2 hours before the teacher was to arrive at the place 20 or 30 children had already assembled. We spotted some boys running around and waved them to come over. With the help of the taxi driver we asked them if they enjoyed cricket. A silly question really as we had in the past 6 weeks seen many shanty town boys playing cricket with a stick and a plastic bag tied up into a ball. We then asked if they would like a real cricket bat and ball and I went over to the boot of the car and found a nice wooden bat and a rubber cricket ball. I brought it out and the boys presented it to them. It was as if we had handed them a ticket to paradise. Their faces lit up and almost cried for joy. I came back 5 hours later to do some shopping and discovered that they were still playing with their new equipment. 

The driver then took us to a leper colony on the edge of one of the shanty towns. It looked like a project that was run by one of the charities or NGOs that are in abundance around here. It was quite distressing for the boys to see people with many fingers and other body parts missing caused by a disease that has been curable for ages. One of the most distressing moments for us in India had been when a leper with severe affliction of the disease to his face had appeared at our car window one day. He looked like something out of a Friday the 13th movie. According to many of the locals, they use make up and other means to make their features as ugly as possible (we had seen quite a few young girls with obviously fake bandages on the “stumps” of their hands) but I failed to see how holes in his face could have been faked. Then we moved onto one of the biggest shanty towns in the area. By now it was getting onto 5:00pm and the boys were beginning to squirm with hunger as we had all been with out food for about 6 hours. They weren’t complaining too badly but you could see it was an uncomfortable experience. Our water was almost finished as well. We circled the town in the car and then made a bit of a mistake stopping the car on a stretch of road which was completely empty of any other vehicle. Of course any car stopping at this point would cause all the children in the shanty town and some of the adults to wonder why. Within seconds 20 children had surrounded the car quite rightly wondering why a taxi with 4 white folk inside had stopped in their part of town. We climbed out and I opened the boot. They knew that we must have something for them and by now the crowd had grown to around 40 and we could see children and adults running to see what was happening. I pulled out a cricket bat. The next bit happened in about 10 seconds. The boot was opened and immediately filled with hands and bodies grabbing at the remaining bats and balls. There was pushing and snatching as all the bats and balls were grabbed and fought over. It was like the riots you see when the UN hands out bags of grain to staving families. It really was each person for themselves. We however survived and were kicking ourselves for allowing the fracas in the first place. We should really have arranged it in a more organised fashion. We were just hoping that the adults, who seemed to be taking charge, would not keep all the equipment and sell it rather than let the children enjoy it. We shall never know. I think the day served its purpose for us. The boys now know something of what they did not know before. Time will tell if it makes any difference.

Day 255 - Mum and Dad go to Neemrana - 18th April 2005

After we got back from our trip to the foothills, Suzanne, my sister, suggested that Julie and I might take advantage of the fact that she and the servants were available to look after the boys and that we might take off for a few days to a place on our own.

Never one to look at gift horse in the mouth, I immediately took her up on this offer. We choose to go away for 2 nights to the Neemrana Fort Palace Hotel, about 3 hours away by car, for 2 nights. It's located at the edge of the dry and dusty deserts of Rajasthan. (See: Neemrana Hotel).

We were driven down by trusty Shashi and just being in the car on our own was bliss. After miles of flat dusty country you suddenly come across these hills and behind one of them is the Neemrana Fort Palace. Apparently it was purchased in 1988 for £80K and has been under renovation ever since. They have about 35 rooms there and tons of other spaces. Kate Winslett and Sarah Armstrong-Jones stayed there for their honeymoons, not that that had anything to do with us going there!

When we arrived (having driven through the awful and normal Indian town rubbish and sewage of Neemrana) we asked for a tour of the rooms to decide which one we prefered the most. We had, over the phone, plumbed for the top room with a roof terrace but when I saw it the fung shui was clearly all over the place. The head of the bed was facing down the mountain. So if you were in bed you would look up not down. Didn't work, although the roof terrace was cute.

We dismissed the Kate Winslet honeymoon room as it had no terrace and was clearly only for those with bad taste. Actually it was very nice but just too big for us to feel cosy. We chose instead a great room called the Mahat Mahal with a huge terrace looking for miles across the desert. A more ideal room could not be found anywhere and we were all alone. No kids to be seen anywhere.

We had a marvellous time. Dining out on one of the moonlit terraces, reading our books in bed in the morning, going for walks and soaking up the atmosphere. It is a truly magical place.

On the first evening we walked down to the Mogul step well, about 20 minutes outside of the village. This is a well which was 90 metres deep and was constructed with steps leading down to it. It was over 500 years old. There are similar ones all over India and we had visited one in Delhi but this one was twice as big. There were bats resting in the domed rooms and we were there when they all flew out en masse at dusk.

The food at the Neemrana was excellent and the meals were all buffet style so you could get a good look at what was on offer before deciding what to have. The deserts were the best we have had on the trip. We even had the desert boy (chef) make us up some extra dishes of his fabulous strawberry moose so we could sample it again before we left. Amazing what a 100 rupee note will produce.

On the second day we braved the climb to the top of the hill behind us. There were 2 look out forts built up there and I wanted to get a look at the view and see the Fort Palace from above. We set off around 3:30pm (only mad dogs and Englishmen eh?) when the temperature was around 43 deg C (close enough to 109 deg F) and all we could see ahead of us was a steep path and a big hill (perhaps small mountain).

At about this time the afternoon wind started. Anyone who has experienced the Mistral in the South of France or any other seasonal hot wind, will know what it's like. If you don't, turn on the fan heater to max and put your face about 6 inches in front of it. The workmen who were doing some renovation work on the hotel (it will never be finished - like India really) and who had directed us up to the path we were to climb, were clearly concerned about our welfare and the fact that Julie had set off in a pair of open sandals to climb a very loosely chipped rock path with a 25 deg angle of inclination.

As you may have read from her previous climbing exploits, she is not one to give us easily. We were managing about 20 to 30 steps at a time before we needed to stop, rest and have a drink. We had brought with us an insulated bag with cold water and I was using this to pour into my cap and then splash it over my body. We were seriously overheating but kept going.

Graciously, the hill gave in first. If you have ever climbed you will know how frustrating it is to go over a brow and see another ahead of you. All my previous climbing experiences were like this. The top never seems to appear. Well this one was different. We were up it before we really knew it and walking along the ridge at the top between the 2 peaks.

We could see now why the 2 little look out fortresses had been built up here. To protect the fort palace below, the look outs would have been able to see for miles around. I estimated that in one 180 degree sweep of the horizon I could see for 100 miles from point to point. It was an exhilarating experience being at the top of those hills. It was so peaceful and the view was moving beyond any words I can generate.

Having survived the ascent, we had to get down, which was actually a trickier process than going up and we were running out of water. To the surprise of the workmen we did it and headed straight for the pool. Never did a pool feel this refreshing (I did shower before I went in if you need to know). We wallowed until the sun set. It was the most beautiful sunset and the moon was in the sky as well. We were sipping cokes by the pool whatching the world put itself to sleep.

These were the only 2 days we have spent apart from the boys since we set off. No school, no job - 24/7 boys. It was just the best.

We are coming to the end of our time with Rob and Suzanne. We have to move on. But before we do, there were a couple of last minute trips to be had. Our hosts had arranged for Julie and I to have some days away on our own to a real special and spectacular destination.

She had booked us into the Neemrana Fort-Palace Hotel, on the arid plains of Rajasthan, half way between New Dehli and Jaipur. Built in 1464 it was a Royal Palace until it was abandoned in 1947 because it was falling apart. It was restored in the 1990s and is now a luxury boutique hotel. And what a treat that was. We were taken there by our driver Sashi and it was an amazing visit and I have to say, great to be away on our own for a few days.

Close to the hotel is one of the most famous and impressive stepwells in India. These are structures built into the ground that allow people to access water by going down flights of steps. This one is about 9 stories deep and has the look of a palace built upside down in the ground. They were built many 100s of years ago in the drier parts of the country (Rajasthan is basically a desert) where water was scarce.

Most of them, including this one, are pretty much in ruin. They are dangerous places to go into and are infested with massive beehives, hoards of bats and in the water at the bottom, clouds of mosquitos. 

We set off from the hotel on foot, just before sunset, with our hotel guide. The idea was to experience the exodus of the bats when they fly out of the place en masse to go about their nighttime feed.

On another day we took a hike up the hill behind the hotel. At the top was an old lookout from the fort. You could see for miles over the plains. It was 45 deg C and we did it in the heat of the afternoon. Most of the water I took with me to drink, was poured over my head, just try try and keep from overheating. But the view was worth it.

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