Adventure overland show - Stratford

Last trip of the season was planned to Stratford Upon Avon for the Adventure Overland Show 26th - 28th September. Easy trip up apart from the M25 and managed to get into the racecourse and put up the tent just before dark.

The entry fee was £28 for the weekend including 2 nights camping. 

Saturday we spent the morning walking around the bike and 4x4 stalls. There was only a few bike stalls inc James Cargo, Adventure Bike Shop. Authors Graham Field and Dom Giles were selling books. The show was extremely 4x4 bias but bikes have not been part of this for long and from what I am told there were more bikes than last year. 

The food and craft areas were good and the beer tent was serving excellent beer at good prices. Both nights had a band Friday was clearly better than Saturday. The marshals were friendly and very helpful and there was good acces to toilets and showers.

Went to Graham Field talk about travels which was a enjoyable talk, watched Dakar Dreams starring Danny Jules (Red Dwarf). Missed the Dom Giles talk as it was too late on the Sunday.

Overall I enjoyed the show and will be going again next year taking Mrs G and some biking friends.

                                       

My thoughts

This was a different trip from last year and very Delhi based. This was Mrs G's trip and I was there to help her survive in Delhi. However I wanted to take an active part.

We both loved working with the Children and it was the most amazing experience to meet them, be involved in their lives, see their homes and families. ASHA does some amazing work and clearly their lives are better for being involved with ASHA.

The children were keen to learn and were motivated, friendly, generous, kind and a lot more. They seemed to enjoy the activities we prepared and wanted more. Having over 50 children in class with many more outside listening or watching through the window showed we were making a difference. Clearly two weeks was not long enough and we would have loved to stay for a couple more but our lives and employment would not allow it.

We will go back one day, we promised the children we would. There's a lot of India we haven't explored yet. I do feel me and Delhi are done and I don't want anymore of the tourist traps.

We have to thank Anita at Jeevan Nagar because without her we would have struggled at the Slum Centre not have a Hindi translator. I certainly could not have done it without Mrs G and Mrs G admits she couldn't have done it without me. What a team and this is the start of the joint adventures.

What I will say to anybody who ask is......go and do it volunteering is such an amazing experience. Go travel, see, hear and experience. We are only here once.

 

 

 

 

Day 20 and 21

Friday

Well Friday 15th is India Independence day and its a big thing in India. We watched Prime Minster Modi on the TV at the Red Fort in Delhi giving his speech which actually included some excellent policies. (Take note Cameron).

Following some breakfast and the wrapping up of my metal box in cardboard for the trip home we decided to go for a walk. Well we were warned nothing was open. It was like Christmas morning outside. Nothing was moving and roads were empty. All the shops were closed. In the space of 10 minutes we must have been approached 15 times by auto drivers telling us it was Independence day and it was all shut but he knew a place open.

Empty roads

Empty streets



We bumped into another couple of Brits whilst out walking and they were having similar troubles with the local Auto drivers. We went back to hotel after buying some fizzy drinks and watched Transformers on the television before venturing out later in the day when things had opened up a bit. We found a bakery and bought some biscuits for home and had dinner in the restaurant upstairs. Very good and very cheap.

Back to hotel and watched Wolverine on the television. The Indians have great film channels. A hot sweaty night without the AC on as it was just way too noisy.

Saturday.

Up early, breakfast, paid the bill and then into the pre booked taxi for the trip to the airport. So we were at the airport by 0945 flight time 1300. Once we had convinced the Border Security Officer at the door of the airport we were on a plane he eventually let us into the airport. Not flying then no entry to the airport.
At check-in they were not impressed by my cardboard box but with a few more stickers and a fragile tag (I did explain it was a metal box) it was put on as checked baggage. They lady must have liked us she upgraded us to extra leg room seats for no extra charge.
Immigration/Customs and security all cleared, Mrs G got a bag search must be those dodgy biscuits we bought yesterday.
Mrs G then thoroughly abused the remaining Indian cash around the duty and tat shops in the departure lounge. I found an article in FAST bikes about Teapot one.
In due course we were called to the gate and loaded. By god the security was tight. Following boarding passes were checked by Border Security officer, then another boarding pass check all within 30 feet of each other. Overkill.
A very pleasant flight home with good food excellent legroom from the upgrade. Watched 4 films the last ending as we dropped into Heathrow.
Got the car and drove home. After 3 weeks on Indian roads it was a shock to be passed on the M25 by dickheads 100mph+.
Glad to be home and see the little G's

Teapot 1

Our plane

Mrs G abusing the Indian Rupees

Bye Bye Delhi

Something has amused us?

Afghanistan below

Hello Heathrow

My checked baggage-metal box

 

Day 19 & 20

Wednesday

Today is a day off for us at the guest house where we have spent the day lounging around, reading our books, paddling in the pool and generally being very hot.  Mrs Bhandari's fish curry for tea before a fairly early night and setting up mozzie defences.

Absolutely nothing was achieved today but it was nice to just veg out!

Thursday

Following breakfast we cleared up the room, packed the bags and then had to sit around and wait until it was time to go to the station. 2 o'clock came and we got in an auto and went to Amritsar Junction - we made our way to platform two and a little while later the Shane Punjab Express arrived form Delhi.  It was about a 25 minute turn around of the train and it left on time to return back to New Delhi.  I plugged in my ipod, as I had finished my book, and spent the majority of the 8 hour journey rocking out.  One big error we did make was that we did not take anything to eat as we assumed we would be given food like the journey here. Luckily every time the train stopped people got on selling an array of food and drink ranging from chai and tomato soup to crisps and samosas.

We arrived in Delhi at 22.50 and got a very expense auto to the hotel - night time rates??.  After a quick birthday call to Mrs G's dad (happy birthday papa T) we got into bed.  Unfortunately having missed television over the last three weeks I sat up and watched the film John Carter until 2am whilst Mrs G slept peacefully.

Day 18 - Golden Temple

Tuesday

I awoke to the faint sound of tooting horns from the morning rush hour and the hum of the air conditioning,
I then realised yes I was still in India!  I had woken up late - it was 9.30 but I'd probably had the best sleep of the trip so far.  So had the morning usuals and then went and sat by the pool reading my book, unfortunately today the pool was empty while the staff cleaned and refilled it.  Bit disappointed as it was so hot a dip would have been lovely.  Not feeling quite myself this morning and would describe myself as grumpy!  At lunchtime I had something to eat which made me feel slightly better.
Mid afternoon we left the guest house to find ourselves an auto into Amitsar, 150 rupees took us within spitting distance of the front entrance of the temple.  We handed in our shoes and got a small token in return before following the walkway into the marble clad temple.  Entrance is through a foot-bath, not for hygienic reasons but religious reasons, and as we entered inside there in the centre of the lake was the Golden Temple of Amitsar.  We made our way down into the marble walkway that surrounds the holy lake, the marble was so hot in the Indian sun that we had to find shaded parts to walk on.  Slowly we made our way around the holy lake taking in all the information boards and interesting shrines.  We were approached on a couple of occasions to be in people's photos and I can only assume that it was because we were Western tourists in the Sikhs most holy place.
When we reached the walkway that leads out to the temple itself  we watched and waited to see if we, as non Sikhs, would be allowed to go out there, eventually we plucked up the courage to ask the guard and he confirmed that we were indeed allowed.  We entered the temple and saw the Guru Granth Sahib (holy book) and left with the rest of the worshipers through a side door. Following this we found a shady spot on one of the walkways to people watch, we must have sat there for forty minutes and twice got included in people's photos!  We then made our way into the free kitchen, I decided that I would not eat, however Mrs G wanted to experience the holy feeding centre.  We entered and were given steel plates and sat on the floor with all the other diners where they served dal, bean curry, chapti and sweet rice pudding.  I got talking to the man next to me who introduced himself as Prince William, needless to say not the one that's married the Kate! When Mrs G had finished we left and saw the massive operation to prepare, cook and clean up the thousands of meals that are served each day.
We then had another walk round the complex where we witnessed the ritual cleaning of the temple.  There were many volunteers using buckets of water from the lake to wash down and dry the walkways.  Having been there about three hours at this point we decided to leave and brought ourselves a tacky plastic miniature temple for the mantlepiece at home.   We found ourselves an auto back to the guest house where we spent the rest of the evening reading a book and skyping home before preparing the room for the nightly assault on the mozzies.

Nite x

Just wanted a picture?

Volunteers in the kitchen

Day 17 Amritsar (Waggah)

Woke up in a very dark room  this morning as the curtains were pulled. Checked for mozzie bites just the one with the possibility of another on my toe. Horrible little things (mozzies not toes).

Out to the poolside for coffee and toast. Following breakfast went for a shower then settled down with my book at the poolside shade for some quality reading time. Read to about 11am before going off to see the guesthouse manager to arrange a taxi for this afternoon trip to the Pakistan/Indian border closing ceremony.

Next on the list of strenuous things to do was......go for a swim in the pool followed by an equally hard eat some lunch. I had that age old Indian delicacy...........grilled cheese and tomato sandwich.

A bit more reading and at 3.30pm we got ready to go out. The taxi arrived at 4pm and we drove the 15 miles to the border. Armed with passports and bottled water we were dropped of at the border entrance and had to walk the half a kilometer to the stadium around the border gates. The driver parked up and would be waiting for us at the end.
We arrived at the foreigner entrance and waved our passports, quick search and metal detectors and we were inside. We made our way round to the stadium and sat in the foreigner section. Unlike my last visit the roadway was covered on blue carpet there was a band and large banks of speakers. A VIP seating area was set up on the roadway and there was banners showing the phrase 'Bollywood to Border'. A male and female DJ were talking to the crowd mostly in Hindi but occasionally breaking into English, they were from a radio show. This appeared to be some kind of promotion or support for the BSF (Border Security Force) a bit like the Americans do for there military personnel. The BSF are the force that occupy all the borders around Indian and are very active protecting Indian Kashmir from terrorists and militants. (Mental note should we do this for our border protection authorities??)

Anyway one of the DJ's came into our section and I had a microphone put in front of me, so live on 104.8 I was asked where I was from and why I was there. I replied 'England and its my second time here at Waggah to see the closing ceremony he translated into Hindi and the crowd cheered. He then moved on to a Korean which must have been been the hardest interview ever with two English words yes and No. During all this Bollywooding a coach appeared in the middle of the events. It was the Delhi-Lahore express (like Eurolines) that drove through the gates into Pakistan and disappeared. The passengers onboard all looked a little shell shocked by the attention.
A while later they introduced some Bolloywood stars, four men and one woman. Needless to say we had no idea who they were but cheered and clapped with the locals. Most of them sang a song and when two of them went into the crowd it was chaos with the locals trying to get photos. We later worked out one of them was AR Rahman (writer/singer of Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire).

At 6.30 the closing ceremony began the road had been cleared the BSF with their neat uniforms and lavish frilled hats marched up and down, stomping, stamping and high kicking like John Cleese from Monty Python. They even managed to kick their own hats. Gestures of strength and power towards the Pakistani Police then flags are descended simultaneously before a quick hand shake and the slamming of the gates shut for the night.

A quick picture of the border gate then the walk back to the taxi who was waiting as promised. A drive back which interrupted by the driver having a full blown domestic in Hindi  on the phone whilst driving. Great, doesn't matter what language you can still understand.
Back at the guest house time for a coffee and then bed. But before that I must set all the defences in the mozzie war; Mozzie coil, repellent, bed covers, found two plug in devices one may be an air freshener the other is definitely a mozzie killer, windows secure.

Good nite x

Morning update - no bites

Radio Interview  live on 104.8

BSF

I remember this guy from last year

Stamping and marching

Flags - The building in the picture are the Pakistani side of the border

Border gates - as close as we can get

Day 16 Train to Amritsar

Well what a day we had…..

Early morning start 5am alarm call, today we travel on the train to Amritsar. Shower clear the room and pay the hotel bill all by 6am. The hotel reception assistant takes us to the auto stand down the road. The auto driver is fast asleep in the back but wakes up quoting us 250 rupees to go 4km to the train station. He can take a long run/short pier etc. We go to move on but he insists we now go on the meter.

Off we go and 10 mins later we are at said New Delhi Railway Station and the driver wants 150 rupees even though the meter says 25 rupees. Me, Alison and driver plus A N Other Indian male get involved in an argument. We give him 25 Rupees plus 10 tip but oh know…..I threaten to call the Delhi Police he acts like a spoilt child and AN Other is just being a pain in the arse. I eventually lose my cool throw 100 Rupees at him and tell him he is a f*&king disgrace and should be ashamed of himself. We storm off. Not a happy bunny. There starteth our woes....

We enter the station and see our train scheduled for platform 1 on the boards another helpful but unwanted man tries to tell us where, what, how. (fuck off and leave us alone I think my mouth says 'Thank you but we are fine').

So we head to the platform across the concourse. (lonely planet guide advice I have read: ignore everyone most likely touts at the railway station). As we go to enter a man asks for our ticket erm…ok, he tells us the train is delayed for 8 hours it never arrived from Amritsar last night. Strange Indian railways are usually so very good. Go to International tourist office upstairs….so we do but man on the stairs tells us International ticket office is closed due to being Sunday. He tells us to go to the platform. We go through security and another man asks for the ticket, train delayed 8 hours next train at 0820 blah blah blah. Go to ticket office in Connought Place and get refund and rebook next train. He even finds us a cheap taxi 100 rupees return. So to recap. We have met three men all not wearing train station uniform who tell us train is delayed for8 hours. Message board is showing train at 0720. I ask why….board faulty. So like a pair of idiots we get in cab and go to the ticket office. To be told next train full, why not go by taxi or plane. Total cost £180 compared to £30 return train. Penny starting to drop now we are being scammed not been comfortable with this from the start. I tell the man we are NGO’s and we have no funds to do anything more. He states his computer is not working now and wants to check with his colleague. If by magic he tells us that the railway have laid on a new train and the announcement is being made now so must get back to station. We jump back to taxi who drives like Jenson Button back to the station. Its 7am by this point and by magic a train is waiting on platform 1, race through security and go to our carriage and find our seats. We sit with a sigh and a laugh and realise how close we came to being done. There was never a delay and all three men are no longer around the concourse.

0720 the train leaves and we are headed for Amritsar.

Train is clean, spacious not fully booked, freezing cold from over active AC. Morning tea and biscuits is served soon after leaving followed by bottled water. By 9am we have had breakfast and another round of tea. We settle down and watch fields of crops, paddy fields, towns and villages rush by. We see numerous level crossing all snarled up with Indian traffic waiting for the off when the barriers lift. Having been on that side last year its clearly better being on the train. We make several stops during the trip none of which I know. I give in to the badder pressure mid morning and have to use the facilities. Two toilets western style and Indian style. That means toilet or hole – I opt toilet but still urinate on the tracks below. I later have a go indian but it’s the same thing.

We arrive in Amritsar exactly on time and as we grind to a halt a man is standing there holding a clipboard with Mrs Bhandaris on it. Plan A is working we go with him to the car and it takes 5 minutes to reach the guesthouse. We are show to a room by the pool in fact the same room I spent one night in last year after our AC broke down. The manger remembers me from the bike trip last year. We quickly sort out our things and I take Mrs G for a walk around. We have coffee at the outside tables and get talking to another resident who’s an Italian who lives in Spain.

After coffee we go for an hours nap in the room then into the pool for a swim. Its nearly 6pm so we order Thali and an omelette for tea. I have a Kingfisher extra strong. It is extra strong at 8.25% and one is more than enough. All signed out in the honesty book!

By 730pm in the room blog writing and getting ready for bed. Tomorrow is a do nothing day but will go to Wagga for the Indian/Pakistani border closing ceremony. Lots of stamping and fancy uniforms

A war has started in Amritsar - me versus the mozzies, last year I ended up with 200 bites on my legs. This year I will win. I am inside with all windows shut, mozzie coil lit, repellent administered, AC on to make room too cold for them and hidden underneath a bed sheet. Its only 8pm at this point. Reading my book for 90 minutes assures me we do not have infiltration's in the room and I drift off to sleep. Mrs G doesn't care they wont touch her (she must be their Queen....flipping hell that beer was strong).

Nite nite, glad today is over its been a learning experience..

Morning casualty's in the mozzie war: one bite on my arm where I applied the repellent now wheres the logic in that.

Railway breakfast - Veg patties

Train selfie

The carriage

Our train on arrival

Mrs Bhandaris - heaven on earth

Good to be back

Mrs G swinging!!

Day 15 Rest Day

Today we woke up late packed our bags and said our goodbyes. We jumped onto an Auto and made our way across the city. We checked into out hotel in Karol Bagh (Amrit Villa). This is the hotel I stayed in last year in Delhi. Its convenient for the station, cheap and very clean. We spent the afternoon wandering around the shops had some Indian food in a veg restaurant then back tot hotel for blog updates, a bit of telly and a early night as we have an early train tomorrow.

No pictures today.

Day 14 last day teaching

With all the arts and crafts packed in the bags we headed across the city for a final time in an auto. We arrived to find only a few children at the centre. We sat and had tea with Anita. Slowly the children started arriving. All were wearing their best clothes and we found out all the children in our classes were not going to school today. (Approximately 50 children)
We laid out all the craft stuff, colouring and sticking and had a free for all. I had set up my POGO poloroid printer and when round taking face shots of the children and then printing off a small photo to present to them. All this concluded at 1130 glitter and glue everywhere. During the morning I introduced the cildren to ACDC, Metallica and Iron Maiden from my Ipod even had then doing air guitars.....yea rock on.
Anita cooked us some lunch of Chappattis and peppers. The children all disappeared for half an hour and return for Anita called the program. Alison went out with one of centre staff and bought street food samosas and fizzy drinks for the college students later in the day. On her return the centre was full of children 50 plus all in their best clothes. Two lads acted as door staff and had to stop all the non school children and village kids centre trying to get in. It was Chaos.
We then had to sort out the gifts we had for the children, A pencil, pen, sweets from us and Dave M along with a balloon and stickers.
Following this the dancing began and the children did all sorts of dances for us all with music but in Hindi. Near the end we were hauled up onto the dance floor to dance Hindi style, it made them laugh watching me dance apparently I was doing girls moves. I had been watching the girls dance. Me and Alison danced arm in arm together to rapturous applause.

Soon after it was all over and lots and lots of hand shaking and hugging when the children left the centre. It was sad some of the kids are just brilliant.
We then sat down with all the college/Uni students, we gave them all the samosas and fizzy drinks and sat and chatted about our experiences. Sunil was present and had given us a card earlier in the day and had some of the most poetic words I think I have ever read. Touched and slightly choked by it.

Soon the time came to say our goodbyes......the big question for us all day had been when are you coming back to Jeevan Nagar. The answer 'one day' and that is a promise.
Lots of hugging and hand shaking with the older students and staff. Sad to leave Antia as she has been a rock for the last two weeks.

Sunil and two others walked us to an auto and waved us off as we drove off down the ring road.  Stressful day and week over, Mrs G fell asleep in the auto. Once home a debrief of the day.

I went out to sort out Simons bike and empty the fuel and put it away it took me a few minutes to drain the fuel take of the mirrors. I found an Indian guy with a moped and gave him the fuel. His lucky day.
With that all complete had a shower and make plans for the evening.

All four volunteers when out to the mall for our last night together and had dinner and happy hour beer and cocktails. I had pizza (veggie) and brownie and ice cream plus 4 beers. Cheap 50 rupee auto home for all 4 of us. Made a quick phone to my mum to let her know my cousin has had a baby (well done Mr and Mrs N). I phone home to let them know news from Croydon!

Bed time nite nite xx

Summary: Jeevan Nagar is a fantastic ASHA project and it has been my privilege to assist those children with their English. The children are so kind, warm, generous and some have an excellent grasp of the English language both reading and writing. The children want to learn and this makes all the difference. I am grateful to Antia who has made the whole experience very pleasurable. Most of all having Mrs G by my side has been great, she is a fantastic teacher and certainly could not have done this without her. Thanks babe x

Mrs G with her new Indian clothes

Arts and Crafts

New Clothes

Children ready

Anita

Waving goodbye

Last dinner for us

Day 13 Half day teaching and ASHA debrief

Thursday

Daily grind again playing dodgem with the buses, taxis, motorbikes and autos on the ring road. I wont miss this.

So today is our debrief with ASHA so we will have the morning boys class then leave and go to the ASHA HQ. On arrival we had our morning chat with Anita the centre supervisor and at 10am we started lessons.
Today was flags and countries. During lunch yesterday we had hand drawn and crayoned in 12 national flags. Note: although I have my netbook we have no printer or other means of using technology.
(USA, Canada, Australia, GB, Brazil, Mexico, India, Iceland, Ireland, Russia, South Africa, France)

Quiz time and for a cricket nation they did not really have a good idea at countries. Only one lad did really well. So then I stuck the flags onto the countries on the painted wall map on the classroom wall. We then had flag bingo. At 11am Anita the supervisor called us out for some breakfast, a traditional Indian rice dish with lemon, nuts, seeds and a little spice. Not my favorite.
At this point we realised the class had gone but we hadn't finished. We told them to play in the yard until we were finished. Anyway a few minutes later we were told photographers from the ASHA PR department were coming to photograph us and the children as part of the volunteer advertising. So Antia had to send out children to get the boys back, within 10 minutes all peace and calm was restored the boys were back (in town). The photographers arrived and took the photos and a very version of Mr Wiggle and Mr Waggle was done.
More photos were taken in the yard playing clapping games and high fives at the lesson end.

The end of the day brought a surprise.....Sunday is Rakhi festival where sisters give their brothers bracelets to show their love for them and the brothers reply lavishing them with gifts. So were given big red Bindi's and Rakhi bracelets by the centre ladies.
We then hitched a lift to the ASHA HQ with the photographers for our debrief. On arrival I walked down the road to collect my 400 rupee top box which had been built. OMG its brilliant, just what I wanted.

Debrief forms completed and a short video session for you tube. Yes my blog fans I am going up in the world. Search you tube for 'ASHA volunteer Geoff (or) Alison' in a weeks time. Following Polly completing hers (search 'Polly not Geoff obviously')

We got a lift home from an ASHA driver and during the late afternoon I took Polly on her first motorcycle pillion experience to the big bazaar. She loved it, another converted to two wheels. I will say she is brave to have her first go on the streets of Delhi.

Evening meal........you guessed it omelette. Tomorrow is beer and evening out.

Time to catch up on the blog and sort out all the extra resources for tomorrow and pack all the sweets and stuff we intend to give to the children tomorrow.

Loving India, Missing the Little G's at home. I am told house is in one piece still.

Last day tomorrow party time at Jeevan Nagar Slum Centre. I have already been warned it will involve dancing.

Nite Nite western world. x

The boys class

High Fives

Bindi's and the Rakhi bracelets

Debrief with Paul

Indian Handmade Tenere topbox

Add caption

Day 12 Teaching

Wednesday

Its like being at work blog fans....I have travelled half way round the world for the daily 9-5 grind.

Following the morning sing along today was maths lessons. We started with numbers and they showed they were very accomplished with numbers up to a 1000. Not surprising with their currency. We moved onto addition and subtraction and then gave them a maths text. 20 questions. Top mark 18\20.
We also moved onto shapes and had a bingo shapes session. Bingo has really taken off
Following maths we moved onto colouring from a colouring book.

The girls was the usual sing along then maths. We then did some origami making the little game where you put your fingers in and move the boxes up and down. They went down a storm. Followed by some colouring.

The younglings was a book called 10 little monsters which really gripped their attention. Mrs G is such a good story teller. Following the story we made monsters with googly eyes. I then stuck them on the wall and at one point had all the younglings waving monsters at me and had to ask Alison to help me as I was pinned in the corner. This Indian culture of not queuing starts young.

After work we went to the Chhattipur Mandir (Temple), a Hindu temple built in 1974. Firstly we went to the main shrine to seen huge colourful statues of the Hindu Gods especially Hanuman (monkey God). We had a blessing and were given a Bindi (dot on the forehead) and a red string band tied on our wrists with a prayer. Outside was a herd of cows who seemed to know it was a holy shrine and stopped for us to take some snaps. (Cows are holy in India)
We then crossed the road to a second part of the temple and found another shrine where Mrs G watched part of the chanting and rituals. In the complex was a 100ft monkey god so we walked up to it. To approach you had to remove your shoes. It was fantastic the detail was incredible. A young english speaking girl next to me explained who the god was and about the site.

We left and got an auto home and had fried egg sandwiches before a very quick planning session before bed time.
Washing gate is over all clothes returned.

Bed now late one but its definitely cooler xx

Making monsters

Monsters on the wall

Chhatipur Temple main Shrine

Holy Cow....

Monkey God 100ft high