Agra and Leh

I have made numerous promises to myself on this journey to wake up early and catch a sunrise, but as of yet I have failed to make any of them. Sunday was no exception. However, I spent a couple of hours in the daytime at the Taj Mahal; a striking building.

The rest of the day was spent strolling around Agra, while the following day I took a train back to Delhi and an early night in preparation for my early morning flight to Leh.

Despite waking up at three in the morning, I didn't feel too tired in the airport and on the incredible flight over the Himalayas. However, as the plane swooped down between the nearby mountains to land at Leh airport, it was a little nerve racking to say the least; the mountains to the right of the plane looked close enough to touch.

Leh is over 3500 metres high, and flying into a height of this magnitude means one thing; altitude sickness. As I settled into my guesthouse the headaches and nausea began to kick in, and I started to become glad that the small amount of sleep I had had the previous night would help me doze through the difficult first day in Leh. As it turned out, I've never slept so much in my life, but every time I woke up I was introduced to a thumping headache and horrible nausea. To make matters worse, I also seemed to have picked up a new bug in Delhi or Agra.

When I awoke on Wednesday the headache was much milder, but it wasn't until Friday that I felt fit enough to begin to explore outside my guesthouse. After a walk around the main town I ventured up the hilltop palace and yet further to a gompa. At such a high altitude, it's incredible how quickly a small hike gets you seriously out of breath.

That evening I met some fellow travellers in the guesthouse restaurant, and on Saturday I joined them in a visit to the large and complex monastery at Tikse. I also discovered that some of the group were planning a Jeep trip down to Manali on Tuesday, and as this was in my vague plan anyway, I climbed aboard. Sunday was therefore spent organising the trip and climbing up to another gompa, and tomorrow we leave.

The road to Manali is the second highest in the world, so hopefully the mountain bends don't terrify me and altitude sickness doesn't grab me for a second time!

Delhi and Arrival in Agra

On Sunday I went for a walk around New Delhi. This involved a tiring day in the heat to Connaught Place, Rajpath and The India Gate. In the evening I met Chris and Raj in a restaurant, and I decided to join them to a couple of sites in south Delhi the following day.

Firstly we visited the twelfth century ruins of Qutb Minar. They were quite interesting, but very surprisingly they were not the most extraordinary sight there. As we began to leave I suddenly noticed that there was a dog standing inside a hollowed out tree. It appeared to be gnawing at itself. As we stood about picturing the bizarre sight, things got stranger; it suddenly appeared to eat something large and black. Raj then clocked what was going on; the dog was giving birth in the tree, and had just eaten the placenta. As we carefully closed in we noticed that he was right, the dog was licking numerous tiny puppies. What I found even more bizarre though was that no-one else around us either noticed or seemed to care!

After our trip to Qutb Minar the three of us visited Humayun's Tomb before going for an evening meal. We chose to eat at Kake Da Hotel; apparently somewhat of a 'Delhi institution' according to my guidebook! The place looked extremely grubby, but almost all of India's restaurants do, and back in Burma I had eaten in similar establishments. Raj was flying the next day and decided to not risk the food (he already was feeling dodgy), but I chose a chicken curry and Chris, despite flying back to Poland the following day, also chose chicken. The curry was delicious; my first taste of India outside of my hotel tourist restaurant.

The following night I woke up in the early hours. I didn't feel good. All of Tuesday was spent in a semi delirious state within my hotel, and I remained close to my toilet all of Wednesday too. There is much to experience in India, and unfortunately Delhi Belly is one that few miss out on.

Despite not being completely better, I braved the great outdoors on Thursday and ventured into the hectic streets of Old Delhi. Firstly I took a ride to see The Red Fort, and I followed this by entering Jama Masjid - the largest mosque in India. The outside courtyard of the mosque was packed with brightly dressed people relaxing and chatting in the sun, and it looked particularly cheerful from the views at the top of the west tower. The views of Delhi from the tower were also impressive.

On Friday I began the difficult task of trying to work out where to go next. However, unlike in other countries, it was very hard booking a plane or train to somewhere with just one day's notice, especially with the weekend approaching. I therefore booked a flight to Leh for Tuesday with the intention of heading back towards Delhi overland (assuming the mountainous road from Leh to Manali did not close in the winter weather). As I waited for Tuesday to come, I decided to take the opportunity to travel to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.

I am now in Agra. Tomorrow I will attempt to wake up early and see one of the world's most famous buildings in the early hours.

Job-hunting in Sydney and Arrival in India

I arrived in Sydney on the Saturday and soon settled into Big Backpackers. The following number of days were strange. Finding a job was not an easy task, and the jobs available seemed far from ideal. From talking to others, many were commission based. It also became apparent that it would take a little while to start a job, by which time I would have wasted away a good proportion of time sitting idle in Sydney.

On Wednesday, however, things moved forward. I attended an interview for a job; albeit a job I knew almost nothing about. The interview went smoothly, and I was informed that training would start on Monday. However, I was still told little about the job, when it would start, or if I would be paid for the training period, and I had to ask questions to find out about the pay and the details of the commission side of things.

I spent the next couple of days wondering if it was all worth it, and finally, on Friday, I made up my mind; it wasn't. And so on Friday evening I made a phone call, and by Saturday afternoon I was in mid-air and heading north. At two in the morning local time I landed in Delhi, India, and the final section of my journey began.

Everything seemed to happen so quickly. In a flash I had replaced the Sydney Opera House for a dark, humid and daunting Delhi. I felt a little lost with no India guidebook, although I had done a small amount of research on the internet back in Sydney. Part of my research warned me about the problems of taxi driver scams for newcomers to Delhi, something I was particularly wary of in the early hours of the morning. As I expressed my desired destination to my taxi driver, I was over precautious. Taking on board every letter of my online advice, I stated firmly where I was going and even took down the number plate of the taxi. However, these overly precautionary measures only seemed to frustrate my taxi driver and his English speaking counterpart, but nevertheless I arrived at the backpacker location I desired with no problems. It was a dark and narrow alley with a few lights paving the way to the hotels.

Going to sleep that night seemed troublesome for some reason, despite it now being four in the morning. Maybe it was the heat and the jet-lag, or maybe just culture shock was hitting in. Naively I thought that culture-shock would be a thing of the past after nearly eight months on the road, but that night I felt unsure, and I wasn't even quite sure why.

In the morning, however, things changed. I walked out of my hotel at about midday to embrace what the dark empty narrow street would throw at me in daytime. What it threw I didn't expect; a bustling array of shops, vehicles, Indians and tourists rummaging through the streets. It's incredible what a difference eight hours and a bit of daylight can make. Although this was the moment where culture shock could have hit, I now felt much more comfortable. This is what I was travelling for; culture. While Australia and New Zealand had been fun, you can't beat the fascinating sights, sounds and smells that Asia brings around every corner. In Australia and New Zealand you have to spend lots of time and money transporting yourself to a place of interest. In Asia, all you need to do is open your eyes. India is certainly no exception. It feels good to be back travelling somewhere like this again - and if anything I think this is reflected in the increase of enthusiasm and passion in which I write this blog.

I haggled myself a copy of The Rough Guide To India (plus a copy of The Hobbit) yesterday, and now things are beginning to clear up. I think I shall spend today exploring the area known as New Delhi.

Denedin and Christchurch

My final few days in New Zealand have been spent in Dunedin and Christchurch, but unfortunately I have been suffering from a cold and have had a very low key week. Having said that, there was little to do other than walk around the towns anyway. I enjoyed watching the new Quentin Tarantino movie in Denedin though.

Tomorrow I fly back to Sydney where I will see if I can find a job for a few weeks. My time in New Zealand has been good; it's a great place to come for the scenery alone. Now though, I'm ready for a change.

Queenstown

Back in Rotorua a number of weeks back, I was sat in a busy hall eating a 'hangi' meal at the Maori cultural experience. The girl next to me had been travelling in New Zealand for a few weeks, so I asked her what her highlight was. Her response baffled me; 'Fergburger'. New Zealand has arguably the finest scenery in the world; glaciers, mountains, coastlines, thermal activity - but Fergburger was something I had not heard of. Attempting to ignore the fact that it sounded like a burger, I asked her where it was. She informed me that it was nowhere - Fergburger was indeed a burger. A number of other people have since then also highlighted the excellence of Fergburger, and so on my first evening in Queenstown there was only one place for me to go. I paid my $10 and received a large and tasty looking burger; and indeed it was very good - in fact it was quite possibly the finest burger I've ever had. To say it was a highlight of New Zealand is going a bit far - it is, after all, just a burger - but a very good one.

I spent Wednesday walking around Queenstown, and on Thursday I braved the cold and rain and walked up The One Mile Track. Unfortunately my guide book failed to inform me that there was lots more uphill walking once the track was finished - and as my legs began to tire and the first snowfall of my travels began to fall, I started to regret having no idea where the top was. Luckily it was not too far away.

By now it was quite late, and the top of the hill was fairly low on activity - but I was still able to go luging (a kind of basic downhill go-kart), witness a very calm looking man indulge in a canyon-swing bungy jump, and enjoy the steep cable-car ride back down to the bottom of the hill. The evening was spent in a few bars with Spud from my dorm.

The rain continued to blight my time in Queenstown, but nevertheless I booked a trip to Milford Sound for Saturday. The scenery on the drive there was very impressive, and the cruise on the water was even better.

Unfortunately I was too late to book a bus to my next destination on Sunday, but today I move on to Dunedin.

Wanaka

Wanaka seemed like a miserable place to stay on my first night. It's the ski season, and for the first time since Darwin it was difficult to find a vacant dorm bed. I ended up at Base, an overcrowded mainstream hostel with very cramped rooms. I made a decision; the following morning I would find somewhere better.

After a little searching I eventually found a spot at Mountain View Backpackers. Wanaka now seems like a lovely little place. I did a short walk up Mount Iron and enjoyed the spectacular views of the lakes and mountains. This really sums up New Zealand; you can be just about anywhere and the views will always excel.

However, after more than seven months on the road, I'm always welcome to embrace something different or original. This was found in the shape of Puzzled World! With four perplexing illusion rooms, and a really enjoyable two tiered outdoor maze, it's a fun place to get lost in for a few hours.

Today I had my first lazy day for a while. Skiing would be nice, but ankles clearly take a long time to heal fully. I may just have to forfeit that activity - even in my next location; Queenstown.

From Wellington to Franz Josef

As my ankle began to slowly improve, I took the ferry over to the south island of New Zealand. I arrived in quiet Picton - but with little to do there I moved on to Nelson the following day.

In Nelson I had a nice stroll to the centre of New Zealand, but most of my time was spent in the hostel. I wanted to do a day trek in Abel Tasman, but my ankle was refusing to finish off healing. Luckily, my hostel was fantastic. The Green Monkey provides free internet, free hot chocolate and free cake - what more could I want? I spent much of my time reading a couple of Dan Brown books or playing Pictionary and Scrabble with the other travellers.

Eventually I decided to put my ankle to the test and do the Abel Tasman day trek. The scenery was fantastic, but once I reached the halfway point and checked the time, I found myself one hour behind schedule. My bus would leave at 4:30, and so I had no choice but to speed up and plough to the end. This put quite a strain on my ankle, and the final two hours were particularly uncomfortable. Nevertheless, once I'd finished I knew could finally move on from Nelson to the next destination.

My next destination was Franz Josef village; the stop-off point for the Franz Josef glacier. My first day there involved a walk up to the glacier face and back. Again, the final steps pained my ankle. Nevertheless I decided to do a half-day trek onto the glacier the following day, and despite almost changing my mind at the last minute, I'm glad I did it. Ploughing over the glacier and through the icy crevices was fun, and with the aid of a little ankle support provided for me by the tour company, my ankle held up well.

Tomorrow I move south to Wanaka.