andaman islands (31st Dec 07 - Jan 13th 08)

Happy New Year everyone!!
We are now about three weeks into our travels, so here are a few updates from the Andaman islands for you to enjoy!.
First of all, if anyone is interested in knowing what airline company that goes under the name of ITEK air, this actually turned out to be Kingfisher Airlines - one of the leading low cost companies in India, and a good one too! (great meals...). So, no - there was no dramas involved in leaving Chennai for the Andamans as we suspected, apart from eight hours sleeping quite uncomfortable on a yoga mat in the transfer hall at the airport while waiting for our flight... All this was forgotten though when we arrived in Neill island, after spending one night in the shithole og Port Blair (dont visit the zoo. Its a waste..)

Neill island is one of the more remote islands in the Andamans, atleast among the ones that are inhabited. The ferry from Port Blair is only 2 1/2 hours, quite pleasant as well as you can watch dolphins and some of the 600 or so islands slowly passing by under the sun. Upon arrival in Neill, you are met by the police checking your entry permit, warning you about people stealing your stash, and wishing you a great stay on the island. The islands has three resorts only, so we decided to go for TANGO beach resort. The place is quite windy, so we figured that this would keep the mozzies away (it was not until later on we discovered that wind will not keep the bastards from eating you alive if you have the desired blood type!)
After being given the last available room in the resort, we unpacked our gear and started taking in the location for the next few days. We were happy and all smiles, also tired after four days with solid travelling from Oslo. So New Years eve was celebrated island style, being not much happening and not much fuzz. We spend the day at the beach working a tan on our rather blue bodies, and being very lazy.. We discovered that the beaches in Neill (and the other islands for that matter), doesnt have names. Instead, they are numbered from one up to how many beaches there are. On Neill, there are six beaches - number one being the best option. The beach is clean, white and untouched, with the forest quite near the water with all sorts of trees and animals. The beach ends at a point where you can find the best snorkelling on the island. The island is also quite big, but there is not much people there so its very wild! Exactly just how wild was to be discovered a little later though...

Later on that night we had a grilled fish each (the more common one goes under the name of Silver Jack - a white, tasty fish), and the local rum with warm, dead coke. The first drink is always horrible, but after a few of them they are actually very good! Some people had been making a bonfire at the beach, so after the meal we joined in and watched some rather laim fireworks organized by some danish people at midnight.. But the scenario was fantastic, and it was nice to finally feel the breeze from the sea and watch the stars above the palm trees! Being hammered from the rum certainly added to the fun of it all.. just perfect!.

After a few days in our concrete room waiting for Ole to get rid of some fever and a powerful cold, we got settled in a small basic hut right on the beach with just a bed and.. yeahh. a bed. This was perfect!! The rate for the hut was 200 rupi, thats about 28 NK, so we didnt haggle much on that one. We were planning on staying for a few days and then move on to the more busy Havelock island, but we never came to leave so we ended up spending nine days in our hut. We rented bikes and explored the island, went to the beach, did some snorkelling, freaked out when snorkelling (we are both a little suspicious of the life under there..), had fresh seafood and masala teas (too many teas with too much sugar), practiced the yoga at the beach, hooked up with the islands boys at Green Heaven Restaurant, observed our waiter Sandeep in action, read our books, and got some new friends as well..

The wildlife was really something special at this island. In a matter of minutes, we would see scorpions (one resting right beneath the squat down toilet..!), spiders, ghekko's, snakes (they would appear at night right infront of the bikes), seafood wandering around carrying their shells, cochroches and ofcourse the regular bats, birds and dogs. Lot of dogs. We had some cute puppies and a kitten in our resort, constantly begging for food and a massage. Luckaly, the dogs in our resort were all happy and nice, but one day we experienced otherwise when going for our daily bike ride around the island. This time, we were on a mission to find 'Natural Bridge', a hmmm... yep, natural bridge where the sun would apparently set beautifully. We asked for directions and a little boy pointed in between some buildings at the marked. At first, the ride was scenic and peaceful. We passed small villages and watched people going about their daily business. That is, washing some clothes, transporting goats from one place to the other, killing chickens, making food and eating food. Children would stop us asking for their picture to be taken, and laughing their ass off when checking it out on the screen after. The indian people love to pose for the camera, but more than often they end up asking for money afterwords.. In turn, they also love to take photos of you, also asking for money afterwords!!!
Anyway, we continued onto a small path where the heat was incredible. No wind, shitloads of mozzies and a strange vibe to it all. Something was definately wrong. Had we gone the wrong way?? As i stopped my bike, Ole went a little further on to a field covered in trees and other unspecified plants to see if we could get any further.. I lost sight of him but after a while i could hear a dog barking wildly.. A little worried i yelled after him, only to see that moments later he appeared out of the bush speeding his bike like there was no tomorrow!!. And after him came the dog, angry as and ready to attack!. He kept biting after Ole's leg, and it didnt look as if he was going to stop either. Next, I saw Ole taking his water bottle and started to throw water on the dog, still speeding along. It was quite a sight, and it kept on going for a while. The other dogs picked up the vibe and started barking too. I turned my bike around ready to follow Superman, but as i did the dogs went scared of the water and pulled back. Damn, what a waste of 20 rupi worth of water!!. Needless to say, we didnt try that path again - and we never got the see the natural bridge and its beautiful sunset. It had kind of lost its charm already..

After nine fantastic days in Neill, it was time to move.. After one hour or so on the ferry, we arrived in Havelock Island - the more settled and established islands in the Andamans and very popular with the tourists. We had heard not so positive things about the island from the people at Neill (money oriented, too busy and too expensive) - only to find that the beaches was near deserted, the food a little cheaper and really laid back after all. Sure, there was more people and more travellers but after nine days with total isolation and only each others faces to glare upon, it was nice with some action! We picked out PRISTINE beach resort, known for its good food and chilled atmosphere. And we certainly got both... Also, Havelock is famous for its beach NO.7 - voted one of the best beaches in the world. We got the picture as we arrived a beautiful laguna at the very tip of the beach, with turqouise water and palm trees touching the sand.. it was perfect and Ole even went as far as checking out the life in the sea!.
Back at the resort we met some really nice people including the israeli Raymond and his wife, the austrian Barbara and her boyfriend, the italian Ricardo with his supplies (thanks Ricardo!!) and more. We found Havelock to be the perfect mix of beach, beautiful scenarios, nice people, great food and nice atmosphere.. A place we will visit again Im sure!.

We were sad to leave the Andamans but after two weeks, we were ready to move on to Pondicherry, a french colonial town east of Chennai. After one night in a crappy room in Port Blair and an overprized tandoori fish at a restaurant - we took our flight to Chennai and went straight for the bus terminal. The bus terminal is Asia's largest, and chaos is a bit of an understatement when describing this place. We missed the first two buses, and the reason for that was that we were not fast enough! In India, there is no standing in line culture, and this didnt apply for the bus stand either. After being pushed to the side and missing out on two buses, we decided to take the Indian approach at the next one. Ole took both of our packs, and when the bus arrived I made a run for it with the other people desperate to get on the bus. It was jabbing, pushing, screaming and pure muscle work to get into that bus and dive into two seats. Once i had the seats, i had to hold on for life, with the people pushing and trying to snatch them while i was actuelly sitting down! It was like nothing i have ever experienced before, and i was quite proud of myself when Ole came into the bus with our packs to discover that I had actually managed to get the seats!!
When the bus had filled up, it became all chilled out and people respected their seats in a more relaxed manner. We hit the road and started preparing ourselves for the 4 hour bus ride to Pondicherry..
We soon discovered that taking the bus in India is like asking to be killed momentarily. They drive (yes, like there was no tomorrow), and half of the time it looks like you are going to collide head on with the other vehicles on the road. Being a variety of bikes, two wheelers, three wheelers, buses, vans, horses and cows its fair to say that the speed varies a lot. But the bus is king, so speeding along we reached Pondicherry after 3 1/2 hours of constant panicking. It didnt help either to be stopped by the police, smashing the bus' frontlight with their bamboo sticks - screaming angrlily and acting like there was murderers hiding in the bus. Fortunately, they only stopped the bus to make way for some VIP's on the road to Chennai....

After two nights in a bungalow at Rhippo beach (also known as Auro beach since its near Auroville), we moved to the city of Pondicherry. Being an old french colony, the french are everywhere and the streets are named rue de cathedral and so on... the food is also french inspired, along with the arcitechture and general vibe. The city is sort of divided into two parts, the 'indian side' and the 'french side', with the french side being much more relaxed, quiet and clean. its nice to walk in the streets and look at the buildings and the people passing on their bikes. but its also much more expensive here, so we tend to just 'look and not touch' (i did however have a salad in one of the fancy restaurants, and paid 80 rupi for a salad niqouise with no olives!!). after the salad incident, we managed to find a cheap local place to eat right at the beach promenade, where you can have curries and dosa for 20-35 rupi.. so its all good! our guest house (RAM) is really clean and fresh after staying in sandy huts at the beach, so we have done our loundry and taking hot showers in the afternoon!. We also located a place to do the yoga, in the local auruvedic centre with one of the doctors there.. perfect!. we laugh, cause the doctor have a cool way of saying 'tighten your buttocks!!' and 'this asana is good for the gas!!..'
anyway.... we cruise around, and this is also the first place we have been able to go on the internet (andamans was totally disconnected, perfect ofcourse...).

The celebrations of PONGAL just ended yesterday, so we got to experience a full on Indian style festival as well. The festival celebrates the end of harvest. This means that there are colorful drawings in the street, entertainment all around, chanting and painting at 4.30 in the morning and lots of people everywhere. the trains are also full because of this, so we will stay here until it all cools down a little - sunday the earliest!. We have a few more things we'd like to do, such as visiting Auroville (a free-minded, eco friendly community funded by 'The Mother') and checking out the Sri Aurobindo Ashram - a popular place with pilgrims and yogis.

Hope you are all good everyone, and please feel free to write comments at our page or an email..

until next time -

Ole & Wenche