Homeward Bound...

After a very long wait, a few creepy people and a few shopping bags later I boarded my final plane before I would be in South Africa, the rainbow nation.  It was amazing getting on the airplane, I meet quite a few South Africans on their way to see family they had been separated from. They each had some garment of clothing on representing our country. They were also so friendly and helpful. As I have mentioned before as a 5’3’’ girl it’s sometimes hard to reach the over hard bin on the plane, without even asking for help the guys offered to help and shelved my carryon luggage.

Homeward Bound (with amazing memories)

Once seated I was ready to get going. Shannon was meeting me at the airport again and I was super excited to see her after 2 months of life changing experiences I wanted to share my stories with someone I knew. Another exciting thing was I was going to meet Lee’s parents for the first time.

My "sister" Lee and I

After a lovely night at Shannon’s (we went to a fire circle where we met other fire and belly dancers) I got my stuff together…again, and waited to meet Lee’s parents. Duncan and Beverly are the kind of people that would do anything of anybody, they are people that you feel blessed to have in your life…and I knew that from the first moment I meet them. Lee’s brother Nathan and his girlfriend (now fiancé Kelly) were also there. I have to admit I was a little intimidated, but I fitted in really well and enjoyed relaying stories of our crazy times in Mumbai, Patnem, Port Blair and in between.

Beverly and Duncan (in the front) Nathan with Kelly (on his Right) and Lee and I together

After arriving in Pietermaritzburg (we dropped everyone off before Duncan drove me down to Durban to my dad’s house) I showed everyone pictures of our time aboard Katrine…and crazy coincidence, we figured out that Duncan shared a mutual friendship with a guy my grandparents were close to.  Then we realized that when my grandparents had been building Katrine (in a squash court, in Pietermaritzburg) Duncan had been to their farm with Ian and had seen the boat being built…the same boat his daughter would sail in almost 7 years later…something’s are just meant to be, I guess J

Lee and I abroad Katrine

Creepy men at the airport...

I boarded my plane back to South Africa knowing I had a layover in Dubai, which was totally fine by me…until I realized I must have been delirious when I booked my flight as I had a 16 hour wait at the airport?! WHAT?! Who does that?! I went straight to the ticket counter to find out if they could change my fight and give me an earlier connection…which they could…for $500! After deciding it was not worth it and that I would prefer to hang out the airport like a hobo for the full time I decided to do what I do best, have fun.

Dubai airport

After walking around the airport numerous times, and greeting just about every security guard I saw (you never know when they might come in handy) I decided that I had had enough shopping and should maybe sit down for a while.  While having one of my (now) favourite huge mug hot chocolate, I was asked by an elder man if he could join me at my table, figuring that we were in a public place (in the middle of the airport) I agreed. He ended up being a good source of conversation and a nice family orientated man.  Although he did tell me he thought I looked like the princess from whatever country he was from…which was a little strange. Shortly after that his plane was ready to board, so he paid for our beverages and left. Cue the guys at the table behind me asking curiously as to how I knew that man…Was I his daughter? Or his young, sexy wife? (to which I just laughed) So after another (free) huge mug of coffee and a little more good conversation until their plane had to board.

The ridiculously HUGE mug of hot chocolate served at  Dubai airport

The airport has a few computers in the middle of the airport that were freely available for sending emails or checking your facebook.  So I spent a few minutes (possibly hours) checking on everyone back home and updating a few things before the man next to started to talk to me. Then he told me he was from Nigeria (at this point I making sure I can see security guards and exit strategies…just in case) then he started telling me about his family in Japan (that is where he is/was based) and his family in Nigeria (girlfriend kids and all) and about his dad’s funeral (by now I am feeling in my bag to make sure I know where my taser is…) then he starts to show me pictures of his home town in Nigeria, his family, the funeral and the goat killing ritual (*puke*) and then the icing on the cake the last picture is of the airport with lots of people in the frame, but in the center…me. I said I had a plane to catch and didn’t want to be late apologized and walked as fast as possible away!

More of Dubai airport

Then I passed by an Emirates lounge which serves dinner to passengers with a layover of more than 5 hours. SCORE! So I walked in there…and holy cow… longest, yummiest buffet ever! DOUBLE SCORE! I loaded up my plate and sat down to eat, and a Korean? Japanese? Man joined me at my table, not willing to talk to another creepy man I was seriously happy when I realized English was not going to be something we had in common, so our meal consisted of smiles and nodding of heads. Perfect.

Pretty walls at the airport (that I had LOTS of time to look at)

All India has to offer...

But it’s hard to be sad for long when you think about what amazing friends you have been blessed with. Upon hearing that I had one night in India alone, Beverly (Lee’s amazing mother) spoke to a co-worker of hers, whose sister lives in Mumbai, she arranged with this kind women that she would  fetch me from the airport and would look after me for the night and then drop me off the airport the next day.  Unfortunately she had to work during the time my train arrived, but she arranged for a friend of her (so by this time it was starting to sound like something from a star wars script … my ‘sister’s’, mother’s, co-worker’s, sister’s best friend…)

Transport in India

Anyway she was a really sweet lady, who picked me up right on time and drove me back to her place. By now you should have realized hot water is a precious commodity in most Indian homes, and so I truly felt blessed because this lady offered me her bathroom to shower and change in, then added…and you can use as much hot water as you need. (Remember I am a stranger that this lady has never meet before, and she was doing a friend a favour) After changing and getting all cleaned up, she made me a little snack. After driving to pick up her kids she then drove me to my final destination, where again I realized how thoughtful and giving the Indian culture is.

Outside an Indian shopping center

I arrived at these people’s house and they immediately looked after me making sure I was comfortable and taking a big interest in me as well as my country.  The ‘granddad’ of the house had previous been to South Africa (Cape Town and if memory serves me correct, Johannesburg too) so we had a great discussion about it. Then food started to be prepared and everyone was eager for me to taste their favourite dishes and to hear my opinion on each one, it was crazy…in such a short space of time that kitchen produce a ridiculous amount of awesome food!

Some Indian food

Bedtime consisted of 3 of us younger girls piling into a room, watching some random ghost show on tv, one of the girls getting totally freaked out and me begging for some real sleep in a real bed. After some girl chit chat we eventually turned out the light and I fell asleep on my last night of my Indian adventure.

Ah, India...

Early the next morning, I got up and got my stuff together for my flight home, the ‘granddad’ came to me and gave me a plastic bag for things he thought I might need…some light reading in case I got bored (a magazine from his work which was all about petrol, he works for BP) and some snacks (in case I got hungry on the flight, cos it’s a pretty long one) It was incredibly sweet of this elderly man and it just made me remember all the great people I have met on this crazy adventure. 

Some friends I made on my wonderful adventure

The longest 25 hours of my life…

So after a wonderful night and a lovely dinner, we settled in for our last sleep (for now) aboard Katrine.  The last morning was spent collecting the last of our belongings, sad good byes and finally a trip back to the airport. After our pretty uneventful flight back to Chennai, we had to go back to the train station and reclaim our big luggage; thankfully it was untouched and intact. After boarding the train we figured out that we had another 25 hours ‘til we would finally arrive in Mumbai…

One of our last days in Port Blair

Lee and I by this time have become totally accustom to being the center of attention and an endless source of entertainment for the locals. We spent our time painting our nails, singing songs and reading books. The books entailed “A prayer for Owen Meany” (which Debbie had given me to read) as well as a few I wasn’t to say joke books which we had purchased on the train, but we were laughing at the grammar more than the actual jokes, but anyway it helped to pass by a few of those many hours on the train.

The train...

After finally arriving in Mumbai, Lee had to get all her stuff sorted out as her flight to the UK was the day we arrived, mine was the next day. Saying goodbye to someone how had essentially become my sister was really hard, although it never quite hit me ‘til I realized the next 24+ hours of my Indian adventure were to be spent alone, without my ’sister’…then it got sad…

Lee and I with one of the girls that was signing on the train

Sharing is Caring…the Indian Way…

Many adventures happened in those 10 memorable days of the Andaman’s, but all good things must come to an end, unfortunately we had to go back to Port Blair as Lee and I had a train booked for the next day. Our last night in the Andaman’s was spent having dinner with Debbie, my grandparents, Ravi and his friend. Ravi and my grandparents have tradition where he will come aboard on the last night and bring a friend and genuine home cooked Indian meal. It was a real experience! We all sat around the table and served ourselves a little of each dish, then mid meal Ravi would dish out a little extra piece of meal or an extra vegetable. This is not because he is a food Nazi but rather because in his tradition this is their way of showing they care. This reminded me of my first night in India…

Katrine

We had decided to go out to eat at a little restaurant down the road from our hotel. I ordered noodle something, pretty excited to find that most of the menu was in English and I could understand it. The server came and placed an empty dish in front of me, which confused me a little. Then he brought over a dish with the noodle something in it and proceeded to serve from his bowl into my empty one. So I told him it was okay and that he could just leave the bowl and I would serve myself…apparently that offended him because he stormed off to the manager and told him something in Hindi, or Tamil. The manager then came and asked if everything was okay, after much explanation we let him know we were very happy with the service and the food but were just not used to Indian customs. Awkward!

My first night in Mumbai

 After being invited to a New Years gig (that we danced for) at the Taj Mahal, I was on a mission to find some pretty shoes! We walked up and down a few main shopping streets til we found this one shoe shop that had the cutest shoes ever! I walked into the shop and was quickly drawn to a pair of silver heels. I looked around for an assistant, asked him for a size 6 (yes, now you know my shoe size…in the US it’s an 8, just in case you want to send me some cute heels, or whatever) he took and shoe and said ok…and then just stood there. Not sure whether or not he heard me I repeated “a size 6” to which he just I want to say nodded but it’s more like the Indian head wiggle (which means anything from yes to no, to maybe to I’m not sure what you just said but this seems like an appropriate response) and just stood there. A few minutes later a box of shoes were passed down, from the roof. Yes, there was a man in the attic that handed down the perfect shoe to an awaiting assistant who I kid you not…placed the shoes on my feet and asked me what I thought. That kind of service, seduces you to buy awesome silver heels…just by the way. 

Third from the Left...my silver heels :)

Catching fish…it’s dual effort...

Being on a boat we have been eating lots of seafood, such as fish…which is great! But somebody has to catch all this fish of course! The easiest and most time efficient way is to trawl, which is basically casting a line in while you sail, and waiting to see if you catch anything and hoping when you do…it won’t be a coral reef! When there is something on the line the reel makes a big noise as it is letting out the line, that’s when you grab a rod and reel it in. My granddad (Don) showed us how it all worked; I volunteered to be the first “fisherman” as I have done this before. 

Fisher (wo-)men

Not long after we started on our voyage the reel when crazy and I ran for what essentially was our dinner. Fish caught *cue happy faces, and reloading the line* (although I’m sure it’s probably NOT called reloading) Next volunteer was Debbie, I think my granddad was enjoying the helpful crew he had managed to recruit. Fish caught *cue happy faces and reel ‘reload’* next volunteer, Lee. The reel goes crazy and she ran to the rod..Picks it up and I see in a vision of the future – her going overboard! So I ran to her and helped her grab the rod, this was a big one! It was a group effort Lee reeling and me pulling the rod down and up, and occasionally reversing roles. Finally we pulled in the biggest Trevally I have ever seen! Finally fish caught *cue happy faces and two very tired girls!*

Lee and I with our catch (I'm 5'3" or 1.60cm, to put it into perspective)

We also snorkeled around the islands, which was an amazing sight to see. Shoals of Napoleon Wrasse, a turtle or two and even a shark (don’t ask me what kind because I was just happy that that WASN’T one of the sights I saw) 

Snorkeling in the Andamans (taken from http://www.yachtkatrine.com website)

One of the days after a particularity fun snorkel session, we were discussing all the fish we had seen and someone decided to tell me that they had seen a barracuda (after briefly hearing the famous song “barracuda” as the theme song of the moment … in my head)  everyone insisted on telling me stories about terrible experiences people had had that involved these funny looking fish (although I have to admit it took me a while to remember what they looked like (no worries, someone made a “finding Nemo” reference and then of course I knew exactly what they were talking about. The Barracuda is the one that eats Nemo’s mom and siblings) Well Mr. Barracuda must’ve heard all our talk about him because he showed up not long after that…unfortunately for him, it was on the end of a lure, attached to a fishing rod! He did have the last say though snapping my granddad’s (brand new) lure in half!!!

Mr Barracuda

Naked on a boat and an island...

Debbie being the European world traveler she is, had no problem tanning in the buff, me on the other hand…a little more prude. However, I was on a yacht in the middle of the Andaman Sea…so I figured why not give it a shot. With my sarong close by, I stripped down and lay on the trampoline on the front of the boat, what a weird feeling – the warm sun beating down on my butt and water sprays cooling down my front. I must say I achieved a pretty even tan, which for this pale skinned African, was pretty impressive!

Katrine "crew" relaxing on board

One of the nights we decided to have a braai (aka a BBQ to the rest of the world) on one of the Islands close to us. We invited the members aboard Tao (a couple from Cape Town, South Africa) as well as the crew of  another yacht. We took the dingy to the island and left it on the shore, found a open beach where we set up the braai.

Tao, chilling in the sunset

Lee, Debbie and I took advantage of the tranquility and privacy o the beach…we ventured aroud the island a little ‘til we found a secluded spot and continuing our naked streak, we stripped almost nude and took some artistic silhouette pics with the sun setting in the background. It was really fun and artistic...haha

 The night progressed with playing a game of “AND” which is probably not the real name of the game, but I feel it is the most descriptive. Basically you start by saying something like, “I went to the mall…AND…” then the next person adds a part of the story and ends with “…AND…” and the story continues…and let me tell you the story gets more and more ridiculous as you go along. I can’t remember the whole story but I do remember it involved giant rats and Francis (the man in the boat close to us…who wore a pink Speedo…) hmmm, and then of course on cue we started hearing noises in the bushes around us and the game ended! We carried on our little braai on the beach and was later joined by Francis (in his pink Speedo…) hmmm if that part of the story could come true…maybe there were giant rats close by?

Don (my grandad) King of the braai :)

After the braai ended we all headed back to the dingy, this was one of my favourite nights in India, due to the fact that I felt like a princess ...haha. As we rode back to Katrine the phosphorescence lit up the water, and I felt like a Disney character flying on a magic carpet of pixie dust, ah! Any way enough of the fairy fantasies…although I do have to add that when you flush the toilet at night it fills up with fairy phosphorescence too! I may or may not have flushed a couple extra times just to see the water sparkle… 

The dingy, on shore

Ravi saves the day...

Once I finished filling out my visa application form (adding that I would be staying with my grandparents on Katrine…their 40ft Cataraman) I guess someone at the office recognized the boat name and thought they were doing me a big favour by calling the taxi driver (Ravi) that my grandparents usually get to collect people meeting up with them for a charter. This was really nice of them, but unfortunately I was not informed of this plan…so Lee and I left the airport in search of a taxi to take us to a hotel. The plan was to meet up with my grandparents the next day, so we had time to kill.

Port Blair

We found a driver who told us he knew where we had to go, drove us down to the habour and told us to get a ticket and go to Havelock 7, because that’s where all the tourist go to. Not knowing what else to do we got into line in a very hot stuffy room packed in with people. While standing in line we saw two familiar looking faces…our Israeli friends! We agreed to take turn standing in line in the unventilated overly humid room.  Lee and I were standing outside having our breathing break, when this man walked over to me and said “Don and Jeanne?” You have to understand why this confused me and it took me a minute to respond, those are my grandparents names…After the initial shock I responded and spoke to this guy (who happened to be Ravi, who happened to know my grandparents very well!) He had gotten the phone call from the airport visa office and had come straight to look for us, when he realized we and left he knew we would go to the habour…and that’s how he ended up there, I asked him how he knew who I was and he said I look like my grandparents…how awesome is that?!

Port Blair Habour early in the morning

So safely in the back of Ravi’s taxi we were taken to a clean, nice “hotel” and told to take a shower and have a nap and then he would be back to take us out to a beautiful restaurant for dinner. I probably sound ridiculous when I say this…but that was one of the best showers of my life. In Goa we showered in cold water…EVERY night! So finally having warm water flowing over my body was a wonderful feeling!

Ghandi Park

Ravi took Lee and I to a wonderful place, the tables were outdoors and the view was stunning. We each ordered our entrée, which Ravi ordered another two or three dishes *Lee and I exchange confused looks* when the food arrived we learnt all about eating Indian style.  The best way to do this is to put all the dishes in the middle of the table, and pick and chose as you want…there is no yours or mines just ours. It was a great way to eat as you eat slowly and conversation flows.

Beautiful Port Blair

The next day, before we meet up with my grandparents we did a mini tour of Port Blair. This included a trip to a museum of the history of Port Blair which was interesting to see and a trip to an “aquarium” I emphasize the word because what we saw was NO aquarium! First of all you had to pay extra for each camera that would be using a flash, otherwise you had to turn off the flash. Secondly, all the fish in the aquarium were DEAD! Yeah dead fish in bottles…that’s all we got to see!

Mosaic on the History museum's wall

Indian elephants and trip abroad Bollywood bus...

My island adventure began when I meet up with grandparents ,after 7 years of not seeing them…this was greatly attributed to the fact that they have been sailing around the world since January 2001, when they set sail in Katrine, their dream yacht …THAT THEY BUILT!!! Yeah, talk about following your dreams and be inspirational! (But that is another story, check out their website for more info http://www.yachtkatrine.com/home.htm) It was such an amazing feeling to hug them and see them! 

My granddad and I at a Port Blair food market

We meet another girl that my grandparents had previously met on their travels. Debbie was a Dutch girl who immediately bonded with both Lee and I, she was crazy, funny and great to hang out with…which is a good thing as we were all going to be cruising around for the next 10 days together, living in close quarters.

Sunset aboard Katrine

We all planned our route which included a trip to Havelock 7 (the beach Lee and I almost ended up on days ago…). We anchored of the coast of Havelock 7, (every area on the island has a number, beaches and towns) and decided to make a trip to the town  of Havelock 3, to get there we had to wait at the local bus stop (enjoying some fresh chai while we waited) then we caught a bus there. The bus was decked out, all tinsel and Christmas decorations (it was the middle of February, just remember) and it was playing the most catchy Bollywood tunes, that Lee and I can’t help but giggle to.

Debbie, Lee, Don and Jeanne aboard the Bollywood bus

Once we got to Havelock 3, we agreed to split up and go about our shopping adventures only to meet up later again, on the most amazing beach. Lee and I enjoyed our shopping trip which involved buying an ‘Andaman's T-shirt’ (like real tourists) and buying small souvenirs for various family members. Later we met up with the Katrine crew and marveled at the beauty of the beach…it truly is a slice of heaven!

Lee and I on the most amazing beach ever

Back at Havelock 7 we swam around and enjoyed the white sand and clear water, you know you are in paradise when you can see your toes while standing waist high in the water. Back on board a few hours later we got to see the elephants bathing themselves in the sea…wow that was such an amazing sight for me to see. I mean I grew up in Africa I have seen many animals (including the big 5…Lion, African Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Leopard and the Rhino) and touched a few of them too, but to see these wild elephants frolicking in the sea was a sight to behold!

Elephants bathing in the Andaman Sea

Valentine’s aboard a rickshaw, a bus, a train and almost a plane...

Valentine’s day has arrived and instead of planning a romantic dinner and being pampered Lee and I are starting our voyage to the final destination of Port Blair. To get there we had to leave Patnem via rickshaw and get to Chaudi, where we had to catch a Bus to Margao, from there we had to catch a train to Chennai (formally known as Madras.) Most of the beginning of the trip was pretty uneventful…until we boarded the train! We were advised to chain (yes, chain) our bags to the seat we were occupying, which doubled up as a bed. The ac system aboard the train was totally modernized…fans chained to the ceiling! 

AC system

There were venders walking up and down the train selling all kinds of things such as food, toys and chai. The funny thing is they walk up and down shouting tempting offers of their wares, but when they see anyone pale skinned they raise the decibel by about 20, just in case you didn’t hear (of course they don’t realize that you can hear them, you just don’t understand their accent most of the time!)

Motorbike injuries, but still trying to sleep

Most liquids you buy are brought in plastic bags which means when Lee and I purchased Kerosene (paraffin) for fire dancing it was given to us in a small plastic bag. Chai tea was sometimes also sold in little plastic bags. Have you ever tried to pour the contents of a small packet into an even smaller container? A little tricky!

Lee holding our packets of chai

Lee and I being South African girls are pretty good at finding a solution, so when faced with the problem of no bowls for breakfast one morning, we decided to convert our empty juice container into a bowl, which meant ripping the container in half (as neither of us travel with scissors) once we had achieved our goal we poured coco pops and milk into our makeshift bowls, only to discover we had no spoons! Hmmm…

Makeshift breakfast bowl

The train journey was super loooong! It was pretty exciting to be travelling through the Indian country side but after 20 hours on a train, many millions of stares and more than one trip to the bathroom…I was about at my limit and ready to be done with the super long journey. While sitting on the train we became entertainment for most of our fellow middle class passengers. Most people stared openly at us without showing any social graces of hiding their long lingering looks.  A few people approached us and asked us where we were from and what we were doing in India and then my favourite question and one of the reasons I loved my time in India “What don’t you like about my country? And what can we change for you?”  I loved this question because even though there are down and out people in India, they still have faith in their country, and faith to me is one of the most beautiful traits to posses.

Some of the sights on the way

On Indian trains there are no exact times for anything. So when we stopped at various stations we were never sure how long the train would be stopped, which meant that we took turns to stand on the platform and stretch our legs. One person remained behind to both watch the bags and to make sure the train never left without both of us on board! When we did try to ask the conductor about times he just gave us what we will now refer to as the standard ‘Indian Head Wiggle” which basically means…well I’m still not entirely sure what it means. I would say it is probably equivalent to the South African saying of “Yes,no well, fine”

Dinner on the train (because we were too scared to venture too far from the train)

Bathroom trips on a moving train are slightly more challenging than peeing in a standard bathroom, it’s a big adventure! Not only are you dealing with the fact that you are peeing into what is essentially is a hole in the ground, but you are doing it while trying not to pee on your own shoes and trying not to fall over because the train is moving sideward’s as well as forwards!

View from the bathroom window

Finally we ended up in Chennai…and that’s where my next post will begin…

Food court in Chennai

Chennai shopping trips and late night card games...

We finally arrived at Chennai station at noon, and found a place where we could ‘check’ our bags in for the 10 days we would be in Port Blair. Then we found a taxi and headed to the airport where we booked our flights to Port Blair, they were the next morning at 5 in the morning…now came the truth time, do we A.) Book a hotel and sleep peacefully for most of the night and head back to the airport in time for our flight or B.) Spend that money on shopping and sleep in the airport? Hmmm…hard decision, well not really…we are girls…so shopping won hands down!

At the airport...finally!

We found a taxi guy that told us he could take us to a shop that stayed open ‘til 11pm. So the twosome travelers were on their way to Singapore Shoppe paradise. This place was crazy; it had a floor for everything! Shoes, make up, food, clothing … everything!  We had so much fun shopping as well as taking pictures people thought we were going crazy! Finally at closing time we made our way back to the airport with thoughts of our next adventure playing in our minds.

Shopping..on the kids floor I guess

At the airport we found a bathroom that had a shower! After a much needed clean up session we made our way to the airport restaurant, where Lee and I sat and dined. Later we saw two Israeli guys that we had meet at the train station in Margoa, they had helped us find the correct carriage, as the train ticket numbers are pretty confusing and they had travelled on the train before. We ended up playing card games with these guys until the restaurant closed, which was a little before their flight to, surprise surprise…Port Blair. 

This is what 20 hours on an India train looks like! EWWW!

We were on the next flight but had a few hours to kill in the mean time, which meant we became part of the airport 3am entertainment, a ‘show’ which Lee and I had become accustomed to partaking in. We plugged in our cell phones to charge them, then began dancing to the tunes playing from the mini speakers all the while painting our toenails…I realize this was probably more personal moments than we needed to share, but we had a blast anyway.

All cleaned up

Finally up in the air on our two hour flight, and Lee and I were dead tired! We each got three seats to ourselves, which was amazing as we needed the sleep, we were woken up for breakfast (eggs, mushroom and all that jazz.) Once we arrived in Port Blair we were immediately ushered to a line of foreigners applying for visas, which is really easy (and free)… 

Port Blair