india ......
it is pretty massive and really busy. the people here are really friendly but it is hard to tell who is friendly and who is after your money. everything is a scam. the hot water is a scam, the hotels are a scam - i guess it is just people trying to make a living. Hot water comes from gas heaters mounted on the walls. sometimes they work and sometimes they dont. Sometimes you get water and sometimes you don't. Sometimes you get a dungeon with cold floor and grubby beds and sometimes you dont.

they definitely have an eye for opportunity here and make the most of every opportunity. (do you want fries with that- do you want 2 t shirts? ok 4 for 400).the touts are full on and are very persistent. They are all on commission. the forts are beautiful and date back to the 15th century, the mogul emperors built huge palaces. then abandoned them. go figure.

India is land of plastic bags. they throw their rubbish in the streets and someone comes and pickes them up in the middle of the night and recycles them. (40% are left in grotty piles on the street. that is the ones the cows don/t eat.) There are cows and tuk tuks and roosters and pigs and homeless and piles of rubbish all sharing the streets. there are open sewers and grotty children who scavenge whereever they can and from whomever they can.

there are huge phone towers in front of straw huts. there are motorcycles that share the road with rickshaws.

there are cow pats drying on corrugated iron rooves and tractors towing BIG wooden overflowing obese looking trailers.

Bright red and gold sarees flutter in the fields of emerald green wheat and saffron turbans pop up from dusty roadside stalls.

Flourescent is popular here. Turbans are flouro pink, sarees flouro yellow and the colours are so bright compared to the dusty and grotty landscape.

There are many wasted bits of land in india. There are crumbling ruins and holes filled with garbage and small children. The cows stroll past them oblivious to the passing rabble of smoke belching motorbikes and tuk tuks. Everyone is busy, doing whatever it is they do here. Some are working in fields, some jostle with the tourists, some drive old noisy smelly tractors and pile bricks high on the trailers they pull.

there is so much poverty here and it feels like the wrong thing to have money. so many are desperate and live on the streets. They tap on our windows as we drive by and motion for food. they have red stained teeth, which means they are eating chewing tobacco or beetlenut and are addicted to the stuff.

There is a pecking order on the streets. 1 and 2 lane motorways that are either being constructed or being repaired are turned into 7 lane traffic bottlenecks and the biggest vehicles win. Bicycles give way to rickshaws, rickshaws give way to motorbikes who in turn give way to tuk tuks. Tuk tuks give way to cars and trucks and the busses just push in where ever they want to. Driving here is not easy. And everyone gives way to animals. Camels are used for lots of work here. they pull carts with food, bricks, gravel, people, wheat and other crops, branches, water and animal food. The plod down the main villiage streets and amble down motorways, beside the piles of rubble and sleeping bodies.

horns are just part of the daily driving and a vehicle without a horn may as well not have brakes. There are different honks depending on just what you are trying to communicate. They vary beteween long honks, short sharp blasts and downright cross toots. Some of them mean "get the hell out of the way or i am going to run you over". The lorries have painted, in childish colourful letters on the tailgate. HORN PLEASE. They actually want to get tooted at!!!!! The incessant honking jangles my nerves - india is never quiet.

Everything looks like it is being constructed or being pulled down. the roads are potholed and rickety and it takes ages to get anywhere. it takes us 6 or so hours to travel 300k and we have a GREAT driver. he who hesitates is stuck in the traffic. The roads are built by hand and the bricks for building and rocks for roads are loaded by hand into lorries painted in bright colours.

Camels and elephants, a snake charmer and pigs that snuffle thru the rubbish. Loos with no paper and great chai tea made from hot milk and spices. Crubling buildings and shiny offices. Clean suit wearing men and filthy beggars missing limbs. Smog filled valleys and monkes in trees. Great bananas that cost 10R per hand (30c) and boiling vats of milk frothing and straming over fires.

Bright red sarees and grass and mud huts. Piles of hand shaped dung and roadside stalls by the mile. Sleeping men and children playing cricket. Ruins beside shanties.

These are my images of india.

I am having a love hate relationship with this amazing country. I hate the constant touting and hassling for your money and I hate the smog that dries out my skin and i hate the constant traffic and the rubbish. But I love the friendly smiles, the fact that every one wants to know you, the shopping and the hard haggling, the huge difference to Australia. I love the smiles combined the the head wobbling just like those things you put on your dashboard. I love all the icons of religion here. I love the old temples and the ancient ruins and I love the sense of history here. Every hotel is faulty towers and india is your tiolet and rubbish bin.

All in all, India was an incredible experience that I was not prepared for. (thought I was.) It is not really asian, not really middle eastern - it is only indian. There is nothing i have seen that compares to it anywhere, and it will make me more aware of their hardships understanding our culture.

Had a ball.

Emma

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We recently spent a weekend at Walt Disney with the kids which was a great opportunity to get reconnected. It is great watching the kids be in awe about meeting Mickey Mouse and all his friends... Going to Disney can be hectic and stressful, but remembering why you are there will keep you sane during the times We stayed at the Marriott off property and really enjoyed it. The pool was a great place to "chill out" and it provided something for everyone. My two year old son enjoyed the kiddie pool and my eight year old daughter loved the water slide and waterfall in the big pool Favorite ride was Splash Mountain- It is a must
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I had the pleasure of visiting Los Cabos in December 2007 and what an adventure it was!
The Charter flight with West Jet was perfect - bring on the snack mix and peek freens plus a light meal courtesy of Sunquest.

Upon arrival in San Jose Del Cabo we rushed past the time share salespeople (TIP: Avoid them by walking right through to the buses outside) and were greeted by our Sunquest Reps in smashing orange golf shirts. They got us onto our air conditioned tour bus and narrated our way to Cabo San Lucas where our resort was located a short 40 mins away.

As we were part of a Familiarization tour we stayed in one resort but visited several others in San Jose Del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas area.

Our host Resort was Riu Santa Fe which even in the few short weeks i had been open ran like a well oiled machine. The staff could not have been more friendly and helpful. The rooms were large with rich colored furniture and fabrics. The buffet food was incredible, tonnes of choices both hot and cold. Plus 3 a la carte's to choose from. The steakhouse was my fave with buffet appies and table service for the huge main course however the Italian and Asian and Mexican restaurants were also really great. (TIP: You must get at least one very affordable spa treatment - I recommend the Pedicure it was AMAZING)

The sister hotel The Riu Palace Cabos was even more wonderful, if that's possible. The attention to detail in the decor will take your breath away and the cuisine would even satisfy Gordon Ramsey.

The most spectacular feature at both of these hotels that you will empty rolls of film on are the infinity pools.
As lay in the perfectly sculpted tile water loungers you will feel as if the ocean goes on forever.

We also visited Dreams Los Cabos, Presidente Intercontential, Royal Solaris, Crowne Plaza Los Cabos, Best Western Posada Real and Villa Del Palmar and Villa La Estancia.

I would highly recommend Cabo for anyone interested in great night life, shopping, snorkeling, scuba diving, surfing and amazing beaches (although not the best for swimming in front of the resort areas).

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