ScrewYouGuys!

By the time we headed out it was later than we thought and everywhere looked closed. We asked for directions from a nice lady and when we said we were just looking at getting a beer she said she would serve us one before bed.

This was Moira’s place “La Manna”, the cleanest place we have been by far on this trip! We sat, drank, and chatted with Moira and her friend, the beer here is the cheapest we’ve found at only 35Rs for a 300ml bottle. When we looked at the menu we saw that there was a “Full English Breakfast” including real British bacon, we knew we’d be sampling one of those!

We found another place nearby called the “Paradise Hotel” which has a bar and club that’s run by a couple of gay fellas. Again the place was really clean, the bar was really nice and the staff very friendly but it was just like being in Blackpool, it was full of drunken Brits and Indians and typical nasty Blackpool style music, we had not been ready for this! We didn’t stay out too long as the traveling finally caught up with us and after all tomorrow was New Years Eve so we wanted to be rested and on form.

The next morning we hit the streets and found it remarkably clean compared with what we’d grown use to, no street stalls or cows, this was not India! We walked down the shop-lined streets and soon came across Domino’s, Addidas, Rockport and a whole host of other names we recognised. Heading towards Calangute beach the row of shops continued along with bars like the “Red lion” and “Hard rock cafe”……had we gone to Spain? There was nothing Indian about this place. As we reached the beach it was packed with white and red, sun burnt Brits and Russians drinking beer, we sat in one of the many beach bars and spent a few hours drinking G&T’s watching New Years Eve unfold before us.

After a while we went back to the room and changed then returned out to the beach for the rest of the night. We hadn’t been back at the beach long when we found ourselves surrounded by Indian lads that all wanted pictures taken with us. They were also keen to find out our opinions on a few things and after we’d discussed the differences between India and the UK, we went bar hopping. One lad seemed hell bent on getting us to try Chicken Lollipops? They were ace, he got us hooked and we haven’t been able to find them since. The New Year was seen in with a flurry of fireworks and bonfires all on the beach with thousands of people. Surprisingly though most people seemed to be Indian tourists and it wasn’t long after midnight that the majority had dispersed and left the beach. Not us though we were going to make the most of the night and determined to see the sunrise, we trooped on into the early hours. The evening progressed and so we had more drinks, the whole night coming to an end in a bar with some Americans, Canadians and a couple of Indian guys having a dance off, not very successfully as the Canadian guy in particular was smashed!

The bar closed and we headed back down the beach from Baga where we had ended up, to Calangute beach where we were staying. On the way we saw a crazy looking dude with dreadlocks and we ended up stopping and having a chat, his name was Baxi, an Englishman who had come to India but was having difficulty with his bank letting him withdraw money abroad. He was an interesting guy to talk to so we ended up talking for ages until it came light. Kelly had fallen asleep so I woke her up, we gave Baxi some cigs and headed back to the hotel.

After a few more days of living the high life in Goa we were ready for some more hardcore traveling with everything that goes with it, we decided on going to a beach North of Calangute called Arambol. This was a place that we had been told was full of hippies and had less bars and clubs than Calangute and Baga, more like India as we knew it! We thought it was more us and enjoyed it much more than Calangute, it had such a laid back atmosphere and the accommodation was cheap! This was a place where we could come on holiday and relax for a couple of weeks yet not what we were looking for. We wanted it dirtier and smellier so after a few days we decided it was time to get ourselves to Hampi.

Arriving back in Chennai was harsh, the dirty streets and the barrage of people trying to get you into their rickshaw or sell you opium was overwhelming. We thought we would try our luck with making it to Goa for New Years Eve, we had been told that all the trains would be booked and that there was no chance basically. Everywhere we have been so far has been quieter than we’d imagined, very few tourists, plenty of accommodation and transport hasn’t been a problem. We think the global recession may be going in our favor as less people are coming away.

We managed to get tickets on an overnight sleeper train to Mangalore which left us with 10hrs to kill so we thought we would use the time to update the website. We wandered around a few internet places but we couldn’t upload pictures, after going down a horrendous street, somebody bumped into Ira with a cart and cut her leg open. This was very amusing to the locals which didn’t help the situation and a large crowd of people were attracted to the scene, as Sam bandaged her leg the locals stood around pointing and laughing. I was nearly run over by a rickshaw and when we finally reached the internet cafe we had to wait over two hours for a free machine, we wanted to go back to Neil and all three of us seriously thought about getting back on that boat!

Several hours later and with the pictures uploaded, we boarded the train which was really comfortable and we had a good nights sleep.

In the morning it was really cool waking up on the train and being able to lay in your bed staring out at the world passing you by. Food and drinks were readily available so we lay in bed and drank tea, then afterwards we hung out heads out of the train doors, great way to wake up.

We arrived at Mangalore and were fully prepared to accept the fact that this is where we would be spending our New Years Eve. We went up to the ticket counter and said two tickets for Madgaon (Goa) please, to our surprise she said which class? Happy Happy Days we were on our way to Goa!

From Leaving Neil Island to arriving in Goa we worked out we had traveled roughly 1600 miles and it had cost us approximately 35 pounds each!!

We arrived at Madgaon around 9pm and we were both knackered, our option was either to catch two more buses or find a bed there for the night so we decided to stay. Out of curiosity we enquired about a taxi but it cost 800Rs, far too much for us. As we walked away we were called back as two Australians had just arrived and also wanted to catch a cab there, we shared the ride and by 10pm we were actually in Calangute, Goa! The Australians had pre-booked accommodation and were paying well over 100 pounds for a night, they looked at us with pity when we said we were just going to wander around and try and find somewhere.

The first place we tried offered us a room for 1500Rs as did the second with a promise of doing us a better deal if we stayed for a few nights. The room was at Veronica’s Guest House and it was lovely, the room was brightly painted and clean and they had a hot shower! Oh my God!! we hadn’t had a decent shower since before getting on the boat so we both had to stand under it for a while before the water ran clear!

Extremely pleased with ourselves that we had spent Christmas in the idyllic Andaman Islands and we had now made in to party central, Goa for New Years, we went to see what this town was all about.

Back in Port Blair for the final time, we headed straight towards a shop where on our previous shopping trip we had surprisingly managed to find olives, cheese, tomatoes and onions as well as bruschetta style bread, we were going to be eating much better on the boat this time around. We also bought large metal cups so that when the tea shop did open we could get more than a thimble full, this turned out to be a great idea and they charged the same price of 10Rs.

Usual procedure with the boat which was the same one as we had been on going out, we had the usual “Medical” although this time Sam didn’t even go in the room as the ladies queue was much smaller, I went in with both tickets and was asked Is he healthy? Examined!! I still don’t understand the point of this! Similar to last time the three of us were the only Western tourists on board. We set sail 3 hrs late again, helped ourselves to someone else’s bunk so we had three top bunks all in a row, then we went and sat on the deck with a book.

The journey was a lot smoother, mainly because we knew what we were doing this time. We drank lots of tea and didn’t miss a thali meal, it was an enjoyable voyage and the time passed very quickly.

As the boat pulled into the jetty we saw the familiar smiling face of one of our lovely waiters from Tango and it was a great feeling that we were back.

We arrived at Tango and joined Marie for breakfast and chatted with everyone as they woke regaling our tales from the big city! We were so happy to be back that we felt like celebrating and so after a cup of Chai we thought a beer would go down nicely. About 14 hours later we were still in our happy place, drinking and chatting with everyone at Tango, great day!

Christmas Eve and people had organised a party on the beach by the resort, Sam and I however were both lay in our hut with painkillers! I had pulled my back and could barely move and Sam had tried to do a handstand on top of a fallen tree on the beach earlier that day and it hadn’t quite gone to plan! He’d done his neck and back in good style so we were like a couple of geriatrics on Christmas Eve!

On Christmas Day we woke up early and I headed into town for painkillers and to try and get some things to make Sam a Christmas stocking. As I’ve said before pickings on Neil were slim but he got some chocolate, a t-shirt with moth holes in it and some peanut brittle.

We had a leisurely morning and then went for a nice long stroll down the beach. It was the strangest Christmas, the sun was beating down and there wasn’t a bauble or bit of tinsel in sight! We walked into town which was deserted then went to Chand’s which was also quiet apart from a few locals milling around. We both called home and wished we had a turkey dinner and a few roasties to look forward to, we made do with a few samosas then walked back to Tango, it wasn’t quite the same.

Everyone was laid back and in tune with the pace of the island, we chatted and had plenty of drinks. One of the successes of our trip to Port Blair was that we had managed to find ipod speakers which was a miracle on a par with Moses parting the Red Sea,  we had music which was brilliant, you don’t realise how much you miss good music. We stayed up until the early morning with Martin and Beth playing guitars and singing, it was just a really chilled out, relaxing day.

Boxing day we had to wake early and pack up in order to catch our ferry that was leaving at 08:30. Sam, Ira and myself had breakfast slightly hung over, said our goodbyes and it was sad that our time here was over. Still we’d enjoyed the luxury of tropical beaches for a month so we couldn’t complain and we’d saved a lot of money in the process, now it was time for the adventure continue!

We arrived at the dreaded ticket office yet again and again I went off to the ladies queue, the weather that morning was particularly hot and there are no fans or open windows in the terminal. Three women in front of me passed out and about 2 hours of pushing and shoving later, rather stressed I must say, we were in possession of bunk class tickets for the ferry back to Chennai, what an absolute result!!!

The one good thing about the Port Blair terminal is a guy outside who sells fresh lemon juice, if you don’t look at where the water comes from you’ll be fine but we haven’t been ill from it yet.

A few juices later and feeling refreshed we headed off for a shopping spree now that the hard part was over. We had written a wish list of fresh bread, cheese, pate, olives, ipod speakers and nit cream (Allanda’s christmas present) …and so the list went on, we knew it was hopeful and we’d be lucky to get anything but aim high we thought!

Sam also wanted to get some presents for Archie so we searched high and low trying to find something, most of the shops here are just filled with tat so it was a feat in itself. Presents secured, off we went to try and find somewhere that would give us a box. When you post something from India you can’t just go to the post office and buy a box and tape or a jiffy bag, oh no no no! It’s a bit of a palarvour but it does look nice in the end. When you have your box you need to then buy some cloth to wrap it and then find a tailor to sew it up for you. We tried three tailors and none would do it, time was getting on and the post office would shut soon. Not wanting to spend an extra day here we ran around until finally we found somebody that would do it. An hour later we went back and collected the parcels, jumped in a rickshaw and just made it to the post office with minutes to spare.

All we wanted to do was post a parcel back for Sam’s son along with his dive books a simple task you would think. The guy behind the counter came back with a ridiculous price which was for the most expensive service which we didn’t want, Sam asked the simple question of How much is it to send it normal post? Well that was it the guy went berserk!! NO You give me money! The situation turned into a farse, the guy refused to give the parcels back saying that they were now his property, we didn’t have the money to pay what he wanted all we wanted to do was post them normally. Sam surprisingly didn’t lose his temper and when the guy asked Sam to go around the counter onto the other side he went. Then the guy locked Sam in and started shouting and waving his arms around so much that I started shouting and told him I was going to get the police. I went out into the streets and found that the police station was too far away and there was no one else to help. I ran back inside to a shower of shouting from both sides, the post guy had now thrown the parcels across the room, Sam managed to grab them and throw them over to me and then got himself out.

What a stupid situation!! and after all that we still had the parcels with no way of posting them now! We were both furious, instead of returning to Neil that day we had decided to spend a night so we could get this sorted and now here we were parcels still in hand and the post office shut, not that we would have left them there after that anyway! So we went to the police station surely you shouldn’t be able to treat people like that. The police listened and sent Sam along with an officer back to the post office to identify the irrate man. When they arrived he was sat behind his desk, didn’t look up and didn’t say a word but instead a lady came out from the back office shouted at the police officer and so he left, brilliant!

Once again we returned to the Comfort Inn stressed, this was becoming a regular occurance!! The lovely man there could see we were not happy and went out of his way to help by trying to find out how much it would be to post them by a private courier, he was not happy with the post office because as he said he’s trying to make a business and if they treat tourists like that they won’t come back. We will be back and will most definately stay here but no more trying to post anything or buy ferry tickets in this town!

Next morning we bought boat tickets on the dockside, no hassle, and took ourselves and the parcels back home.

As we approached Neil Island we could see the outline of beautiful beaches and swaying palm trees and we knew it had all been worth it!

We went with one of the resort touts in a free rickshaw to a resort called Pearl Park. The resort was beautiful, bamboo huts that were set around luscious gardens and the accommodation was cheap. 50Rs for what are called the chicken huts (if you see the pics you’ll know why), slightly bigger huts were 100Rs for a basic hut with no mattress and shared bathroom, and because there were very few tourists the resort was empty and so they offered us a bigger hut with a mattress and private bathroom for 200Rs. It was very nice so we took it and then headed off for a stroll on the beach which was beautiful and the sea was stunningly blue. Heading back to our resort we then realised that we were in mosquito hell, they were massive and everywhere, it was impossible to sit out so confined to our hut we called it a day.

The first thing the following day we packed up and checked out then went to the next resort called Tango. Little did we know that this was to be our home for the coming weeks and a place we dearly miss and will most definitely be back to. We were offered a hut for 100Rs, it had a mattress and a piece of tarp for a door, it was modest but cosy, and after the night before more importantly it was sea facing and so had a lovely breeze which would keep the mosquitoes away.

We went for some food at a restaurant in town called Chand’s, the “town” wasn’t really much of anything, far less than Havelock in fact and this was a real local place to eat. We got chatting to an English couple called Martin & Beth who advised us that the food was very good here but you had to wait a long time, they were right on both counts but it was worth it and extremely cheap. They told us they were spending a month on Neil and I remember thinking how odd, there’s nothing here! How can you possibly stay for that long? Little did we know then that that is exactly the beauty of this place.

The first few days at the Tango resort were spent settling in, we met some lovely people there that we grew to know quite well. The food there was very good, no problem with mosquitoes and the dogs were beautifully friendly, especially the little puppy called Panda who was also called ankle biter, trying to brush your teeth each morning was a dangerous game with him about. We were invited to a party one night on the beach which was good fun but we drank too much, myself especially and I still cannot go near Rum over a month later!

Still we were trying to fill our days with things to do and struggling because Neil Island isn’t that kind of place, we went diving one day with the only dive outfit on the island called Ocean Explorers.

The day didn’t start particularly well as we had waited nearly an hour for breakfast and then had to leg it to the jetty for the boat. I had lost my hired bike key along with my bag at the beach party and so Sam had to peddle like mad on his bike and give me a backy. Unfortunately by the jetty it goes downhill so against my wishes we picked up quite a bit of speed and then went flying over a ramp, well Sam stayed on the bike I went flying!!! So the dive was started with cut wrist, leg and feet which wasn’t ideal for wearing fins and jumping into salt water. I was then the first to enter the water and 20 mins later I was still sat in the water shivering waiting for the other divers to be kitted out. It’s a fairly new dive company and although we have no doubt the instructor is competent in the water there was a definite lack of organisation, neither of us were particularly bothered about repeating the experience. The dives were however pretty nice and that’s where we saw the turtles, the waters around Neil have a lot to offer.

So with diving ruled out we were still struggling with the fact we had nothing to do and even thought about leaving in search of another Island. We also had the dilemma of our visa which ended on Boxing Day, we had no way of finding out when the boat ran back to Chennai, we had asked at Havelock and Port Blair but no one seemed no know! We enquired about flights but they were out of our price range at about 180 pounds each. We had accommodation pre-booked over Christmas in Goa so we were toying with the idea of sticking with our original plan of going there.

We went for breakfast and said that we would make a decision that day on what we were going to do. We went for a walk on the beach first and there again we saw that familiar figure, Allanda! We had breakfast together and chatted with him about our options and he basically told us that we should stay, accept it and try just not doing anything, so that’s exactly what we did, we left our means of leaving the island to chance and headed off to sit on the beach with a book.

After a few days we got used to not doing anything and decided we quite enjoyed it! Days were spent drinking lots of tea, chatting with a great crowd of people at the resort, reading and snorkeling. We hung out with Allanda and explored the island which really is beautiful, the top end of the island near beach No 5 has some great little villages and you can walk through watching all the local farmers whilst the children all shout out “Hello!” repeatedly at you.

The snorkeling is very good at many different spots around the island. The couple we’d met at Port Blair ticket office who were also trying to get to Neil on that day, Henry and Marie, were also staying at Tango resort and Henry did a lot of snorkeling each day. He saw turtles and even dugons which are a rare site and supposedly a protected creature involving imprisonment for capture or harm, it was therefore a sad thing to find out that of the 9 remaining around the island a local fishermen had caught and killed one at Christmas time.

There is a great group of guys called Laurie, Nori and Dave who volunteer their time and money into looking after the dogs at Tango resort and had successfully done so for a few years now, thanks to them the dogs were well looked after and under a family planning scheme! The puppy Panda and all the other new puppies who’s den was in a tree in the middle of the resort, along with the older dogs, one of which Frank,  looked liked he’d been in many dog fights due to the big scar across his head but we later found out that was a machete wound courtesy of a local. They were all under their care and they also took it upon themselves to try and find out and bring to justice who had killed the Dugon, we hope they succeeded and can bring some education to the local fishermen.

On the 21st of Dec our neighbour who was a Russian lady called Ira, had gone to cancel her flight so she could stay for Christmas and returned with a ticket for the boat back to Chennai which left on the 26th, perfect for us. The next day we headed back to Port Blair, this time we knew fully what to expect and had made a pact that we wouldn’t get stressed, instead it would be a stroke of luck if we got a ticket and also an opportunity to do some shopping.

We were ready for this!

We arrived at Port Blair and had to try numerous ATM’s before being able to pay for our time at Havelock as most were out of money!

Eventually we settled up and parted ways then headed off to the Comfort Inn which the French couple had previously recommended to us. It is slightly further up the road than the Jagannath and the room was much bigger, cleaner and only 250Rs. The owner is a lovely man but has THE hairiest ears we’ve ever seen! still we couldn’t hold that against him and he seemed genuinely very happy that we had come to stay.

Next morning we had to face the dreaded Port Blair ticket office again. Our first obstacle was trying to ascertain whether or not there was a boat that day to Neil Island, with no one to ask I braved the women’s queue to get tickets, luckily we had been given a form this time around and there were also female guards policing the line so it was all very orderly and a breeze compared with the last time, great stuff. I reached the counter and was told no boats today but we could go at 06:30 the following morning, if there were no boats then there was nothing we could do.

Sam had been chatting to a nice guy called Henry who’s wife was also trying to get tickets for Neil Island, they had been told that there was a boat going at 12:30 that day and another lady had already bought a ticket for it. I asked again at the ticket counter and they were adamant there were no boats, on the dockside we saw the name of the boat we were due to catch the following morning the “Pilowmillow” so we decided to ask them. They told us they were setting sail that day at 12:30, the time by now was about 10am. Back into the office we go, back to the counter, we tell them that there is a boat going and that we would like a ticket, “No Boat!! No Boat!” There is a boat we shout and we point to show them which one, the guy then got irrate and directed us to another counter. Same thing they said no boat and we argued that there was. We stomped off desperately trying to find someone else to ask and so we wandered into a room at the end of the terminal and tried to explain ourselves to anyone that would listen. Again we were told no boat and shown a piece of paper with ferry days and times and no boat to Neil Island was listed. Sam lost it at this point and left in a shower of shouting which was not received well by the guy and he asked what country Sam was from as English don’t get mad, they do when they come here I can assure you!

We knew there was a boat and we were determined to get on it, so with the problem of still needing to get more money out Sam head off to find an ATM and I stayed to try and sort out our ticket problem. I calmed the guy down and asked him to come and speak with the boat guys, he shuffled out at the slowest pace possible around the building to a door labeled office which we hadn’t seen before. I stayed with the rucksacks as Sam had also left his so that he could leg it into town. Eventually he shuffled back down the dockside clutching a piece of paper and told me what I already knew, the boat named “Pillowmillow” was leaving for Neil Island at 12:30 that day, so what is your problem he said!!! my problem is that you will not sell me a ticket, my problem is that you keep telling me there is no boat when I know there is. He told me to go to another counter where I needed to cancel our tickets and get new ones issued. I went back again and again I was told there was no boat! I went back to the man I had just spoken with, gave him my tickets and told him to sort it out!

At 12:15 he came back with tickets to Neil Island finally!!! I waited outside for Sam and he arrived back sweating and flustered, the ATM’s were empty again he’d been all over town. After all that we couldn’t board the ferry because our money wouldn’t last us, back in a rickshaw we went to Comfort Inn and we both collapsed on the bed and lay there in silence. It shouldn’t be this hard. We had tried our best, with our heads unable to cope with anymore we went out for a few beers again!

Next morning we hit the dockside at 6am and thought we would try our luck, without any objection and with a smile the boat guys waved us on and we sat drinking chai as the sun came up, 2 hours later we were arriving at the gorgeous Neil Island.

During the crossing we ended up chatting with two guys called Danny and Chris, they were working at a new resort which hadn’t yet opened and it was also a dive centre at which they were the instructors. They seemed really nice and offered us a free ride to their place to have a look around when we arrived at Havelock. As they said the resort (called Ocean Pearl) wasn’t yet finished but they said they could get one hut ready for us and charge a minimal rate. The hut was beautiful and massive! They only wanted 400Rs which although we were sure we could get cheaper accommodation, it would not be of this standard. We checked out the dive centre and all the equipment was brand-spanking new, after talking about diving and prices we decided we were both happy to stay here and Sam was going to do his Open Water PADI course with them.

We stayed on Havelock for about 11days in total at the end of which Sam had completed his Open Water and Advanced PADI course and had had excellent one to one tuition from Danny. With a total of 9 dives under his belt and some great experiences Sam was hooked on diving I would say!

Unfortunately my time there hadn’t been spent diving as I had hoped, the first day whilst Sam did his classroom sessions (all of them in one day), I went and did two dives with Chris at The Wall and the Lighthouse. The dives were nice but visibility wasn’t great that day, still they were really enjoyable and it was great to get back in the water after over a year. The next day they dropped the bombshell on me and said their other boat wasn’t ready yet leaving them only one boat, as Sam was doing his course he got the boat and so my choice was to go and watch, I wasn’t very happy so they said I could take some scuba gear and toddle around the Nursery dive site by myself as long as I stayed nearby. Long story short the other boat never appeared, I had no one to take me diving and the other dive companies were booked up, I booked in advance to go with Barefoot divers but the day before I was due to go with them and with Sam nearing the end of his Advanced course, he was now doing proper dives one was due to be a wreck and the other a night dive both of which I wanted to do, so I canceled with Barefoot so that Sam and I could dive together. Next day we headed out in the morning and the boat broke down so no diving, with that I gave up trying to dive at Havelock!

That day we decided instead to spend the day exploring the Island and as we set off we saw a familiar figure walking down the roadside, Allanda! We had a catch up and then headed to the beautiful beach number 7 which is on the other side of the island, as you can see from the pictures it is stunning and you can get an elephant ride there for 40Rs for both of you, that’s about 58p!!

Havelock is a beautiful Island, all the beaches are lovely but the best by far is No 7, there is also a lagoon at the top end of the beach which is great for snorkelling. Accommodation near here is limited and food choices are either a row of cheap thali style stalls or a very expensive Italian restaurant.

Ocean Pearl Resort was by beach No 2, within walking distance is the main shopping centre and market, its not very big at all and there isn’t much there. There is one place which has internet which is ridiculously slow and the island rarely has electricity so its very difficult. The fish market is a good experience and you can pick up a very big, fresh fish there for about 60Rs. It was sad to see such a large amount of reef fish there though and especially sad to see the likes of baby hammerhead sharks, if you do buy a fish from here you can take it to a local restaurant and they will cook it for you.

We had a nice meal at the Pelican Beach resort one night but our second visit there wasn’t good at all so no consistency. We were lucky enough through Danny & Chris to have been invited for a free meal at the opening night of a friend of theirs new restaurant called Anjana Beach Resort (No 2), the food was simply amazing and the four of us were fed with enough food to feed an army. Our particular favourite was the fresh tuna carpaccio. The lovely owner Pradeep Janueja, invited Sam and myself back for yet another free meal after which we returned again but insisted on paying, this is some of the best food we’ve had so far and it wasn’t expensive.

There is an elephant training centre at the far side of the island or so we were told! I got a rickshaw there one morning whilst Sam was diving as we had been told you could see them there between 8-9am. I arrived at 8am and the place was deserted, after wandering around for a while I found a lady hanging out her washing and asked where the elephants were, her reply was “Elephants in Jungle!”, I wandered around hopefully for a while but no elephants turned up so I set off on the long walk back. I arrived back at the resort just as Sam returned from a days diving at about 1:30! So if you try to see the elephants take a moped! We tried two more times when we had a bike and there wasn’t an elephant in sight!

There is quite a famous elephant on Havelock Island called Rajan, he is the one you see on google images swimming in the water. He was bought by barefoot and apparently likes to go swimming all of his own accord but we heard otherwise. It is possible to actually go swimming with Rajan but it was ever so slightly out of our price range at $1000 each! Ouch!!!

We came to the end of our stay at Havelock and being keen to see a few more islands we set off back to Port Blair. Unfortunately we couldn’t go directly to Neil Island as we had planned as our resort couldn’t take credit cards and there is no ATM on Havelock, we had no choice but to go back to Port Blair.

After a ridiculous 2.5hr battle to get a boat ticket from Havelock jetty we set sail to Port Blair with one of the guys from the resort with whom we were going to settle the bill once we’d reached an ATM.

Back to Port Blair….

Getting off the boat we were ushered to a little wooden cabin/ shed which was the immigration office, a quick form to fill out and a few minutes later we’d been issued with a free visa valid for 30 days. We had read in the lonely planet that you could get a 30 day visa as standard and extend it for a further 15 days. After chatting with the other westerns, a French couple and a Canadian guy called Andre, we were all under the impression that this was the case but when we asked about this they said it was not possible so that was that, we thought we knew better and could surely sort it out somewhere else. Meanwhile Allanda was having a more troublesome time as they had confiscated his Indian passport and told him to report to the police station the following day, we promised to try and meet up with him to ensure everything was okay and we headed off to find a room.

A rickshaw ride away Sam, Andre and myself arrived at the Jagannath Guest House (mentioned in the lonely planet) followed shortly after by the French couple, rooms were 400Rs but we got him down to 350Rs, the room was basic and not particularly clean but we didn’t care and it was nice to sleep somewhere that didn’t rock from side to side. The French couple had their own bike with them and after checking in to the Jagannath they soon came back saying they had found somewhere better and cheaper called the Comfort Inn, with that they checked out again. We had more important things on our mind so stayed put and headed out to find beer at the New Lighthouse Restaurant near the Marina park.

Next morning we headed for Port Blair ticket office at the dockside about 8:30am, we found Andre already standing in the queue with a ticket booking form (the booking office isn’t supposed to open until 9am), so again with no organisation or anyone to ask we tried in vain to figure out what we needed to do and to find out how we get one of the elusive forms, at 9am nothing opened and there wasn’t anybody to issue them. As faces finally appeared at the other side of the counters I resorted to scratting around on the floor until finally I found a form we could use. Result!

To say there were queues would make it sound civilised so we won’t, just huddles of people pushing against each other and holding onto your arms even when the “queue” isn’t moving. After about an hour 5 people in front of us had been served and it then came to Andre who was told , only then, that he was stood in a ladies only line and would have to move, there were no signs to say this and local men were also in the line but it turns out they were only assisting the women (or in most cases trying to bribe them to get a ticket, the mens “queues” by this point were horrendous). Poor Andre now had to go to the back of one of these rabbles and verbally made it clear he was not happy, quite understandably. Fortunately for us we were okay to stay, Sam was ushered to the side leaving me to battle it out with the unruly women, seriously they are a nightmare but although I’m only small I was still bigger than a lot of them. I stuck in some serious elbows and stood my ground! About an hour later we had a magical ticket to Havelock island in our hands and whooped with joy to the applause from the other westerns still battling in lines, poor Andre still had a while to go so we waited outside for him.

Another hour later a weary looking Andre appeared with a ticket in his hand, we headed to our boat only to be told by the boat men that it was canceled. The boat was due to leave at 12;30 and the time was fast approaching, by now a crowd of backpackers were eagerly waiting to board the ferry to Havelock. We were instructed to go back into the ticket office so we ran there in a panic trying to find someone to help us, after pushing to the front of a ticket counter we were told that the boat wasn’t canceled and to go, we ran back to the boat and they insisted that it was broken and wouldn’t be going anywhere! We all stood looking at each other, what now? Then a boat on one of the other dock sides set sail and a boatman from what should have been our boat pointed and said that one! Why they didn’t tell us that before, we all stood shouting and waving at the boat to come back but the crew pointed at their watches and shook their heads, so the boat set sail leaving about 20 of their passengers behind. We went back into the ticket office and were told we would have to try and get the 14:30 ferry.

It had been a trying day so far but everyone was excited about reaching Havelock which is decribed as having dazzling beaches, bamboo huts and excellent snorkelling and diving, bring it on!

With time to kill we headed to town for breakfast and to see if we could find out how Allanda was doing. After a nice breakfast we went to the police station and saw Allanda happily sat chatting with the officers and lapping up the free coffee, his passport was sorted but he was going to stay around (probably for more coffee) and head to Havelock the following day. Whilst we were there we also enquired about getting our permits extended and were pointed to the man that makes the decision, he took one look at us and our permits and flatly said no. Unperturbed we thought there must be another way.

At 14:00 a man stood and sold tickets for the ferry right on the dockside and some people after only just arriving, simply paid their money and walked onto the ferry, a lot simpler than what we had just been through!

The day finally arrived no more putting it off, we’d finally get to see just how bad this thing was going to be!

We arrived at the Port (again) and waited for the bus to arrive to take us onto the dockside, the bus pulled up and there were faces and bodies oozing out of every window and people hanging off by the doors, we stood there and looked at each other with our big rucksacks and laughed no way we’ll wait for another, but no we were ushered on and before we knew it we were hanging out of the doorway. The heat was unbearable but luckily it was only a very short ride else there would have no doubt been casualties. We all spewed out onto the dockside and then stood looking at each other wondering what to do next, with a sigh of relief we saw that our boat wasn’t a rickety old wooden thing at all, but a proper ferry and everything! In fact it was massive, complete with life boats which were essential from our point of view.

The dockside was full of military guys and police yet nobody appointed to guide us the passengers to where we needed to be, we all fumbled our way into the ferry terminal and into the chaos inside. We noticed two other westerners inside the terminal but other than that the other thousand or so were locals, quite surprising really, we thought at this time of year there would be more Western travelers going to the Andamans for Christmas. We joined a large queue of people heading for a room labeled ‘Medical’ and that is when we met Allanda…

A dread-locked Indian dressed in orange came over to me and said hey man I saw you guys in Mamallapuram you going to the Andamans? Turns out we’d been at Mamallapuram and Chennai at the same time as him and he’d seen us on a few occasions but somehow we hadn’t noticed him, not sure how we missed him to be honest! We reached the ‘Medical room’ and a man said are you healthy? We both replied yes and that was our check up!!! we received our stamp saying “Examined” and Allanda invited us to sit with him. We sat chatting for a while and the journey ahead was looking up, this guy was really funny and very interesting to chat too, we were watching all the military guys check bags and then the sniffer dog came out, Allanda said he had some weed and wondered what to do with it so he decided he’d like to smoke it before getting on the ferry. Basically what happened is we went out for a cig and were surrounded by police and military very very interested in what we were upto and stood over us watching our every move but this didn’t stop Allanda, he spoke with one of the military guys, gave him his weed and a few minutes later he came back and handed him a joint where he then sat and happily smoked with the police and the army!

We boarded the ferry and found we were in the lower levels in bunk class, somewhere we had heard that it was only a few bunks to a room so imagine our surprise when we found it to be 80-90 bunks all in very close proximity and about 98% Indian males. My bunk was not near to Sam’s and it was a bottom bunk at that, rightly or wrongly I was not best pleased, we had heard many stories from female travelers of wandering hands and so I thought the worst. With that in mind we decided to not stay and we took our bags on deck with an idea of perhaps spend the night sleeping on deck which we both thought would be quite a nice idea.

The deck was reasonably quiet considering how many passengers were on board (about 1200), we chatted some more with Allanda whom by now we had come to realise was a serious traveler. He traveled across America but decided walking was cheaper than public transport, I asked how long did that take and his reply was “Yeah about like 16 years man” we loved this guy! He did however attract a lot of attention as did we from the other passengers and we’d soon attracted a crowd. The boat set sail and a few hours passed, the deck quietened and we started to settle down for the evening, we were trying to wind up conversation with the latest crowd of guys around us when one sat to my side and said Kiss, Kiss! No Kiss this is my boyfriend pointing at Sam, he then went over and asked Sam if he could Kiss me! We thought him harmless enough and brushed it off deciding to ignore him. Everyone else dwindled off and I got into my sleeping bag for the night when I then heard the guy saying to Sam How much? How much for what!?…How much for what!!? turns out he was then trying to buy me! perhaps I wasn’t so wrong to have thought the worst but we decided it then safer to go to the bunks than stay on deck, we both squashed into a top bunk and I don’t think Sam really got much sleep that night.

The rest of the journey went really well, our bunks had been taken by someone else so we helped ourselves to 2 top bunks right by the end of the room and near to a very nice couple who kept trying to feed me! We felt safe and left our bags there the entire time unlocked without fear of them being tampered with. We spent most of our time on deck as it was always quiet and a nice place to sit out during the day, it rained most nights late on though. The only bad thing with the deck is that the seating was on top of the life jacket containers which they had decided to paint the day before, so when everyone first boarded and sat down they were now walking around with an orange bum, not the best timing to paint a ship!

The ship wasn’t all plain sailing however, if you are thinking of doing it we would definitely recommend it, mainly because it is only 1960 Rs (about 28 pounds) but there are some nasties about it. The main one for us was all the spitting and throwing up which wouldn’t be so bad if it was done overboard or in toilets but it was on deck, in the bins, staircases you name it. The first morning the floors were covered in sick and the noises of people throwing up and honking up “dockers oysters” really was disgusting and made us both feel sick. The toilets are bad as you would expect but if you’ve ever been to a festival its no big deal, at night lots of people are farting and there are small brown cockroaches everywhere. This may sound very bad but if you spend most of the time on deck and sneak into the toilets on the upper decks its actually okay although if you get caught you may get your wrist slapped. You can get Thali on board which is basic but not too bad at all, like everything else there are no instructions on how you get food so we missed it a few times and had to resort to dry cracker butties, not very interesting but safe for the bellies! You need to buy a food token from the shop first but the shop isn’t open for very long during the day, there are no opening times and no token equals no food. The coffee shop which is supposed to be open from 06:00 - 20:00 is open for 10mins here and there sporadically throughout the day, basically whenever they can be bothered. We spent a lot of time desperate for a brew but the time passed quickly, the days were spent chatting and smoking with Allanda and before we knew it the Andaman Islands were insight and there were clear blue skies ahead

The ship was supposed to take 60 hours but ours was 3 hours late setting off plus, the engines cut out halfway through the journey so in total it took 73 hours.

We arrived in Port Blair too late to get a boat to another island so we had to spend the night there, little did we know what horrors lay ahead for us at this place…