Have you tried the IPA?

Istanbul is definitely a city which we will visit again. We had just four days there but, during this time, did manage to visit many of the major sights such as Hagia Sophia, Topkapı palace, Sultan Ahmed mosque and the archaeological museum. We also spent an enjoyable day travelling along the Bosporus to the Black sea.

One of the cheapest hotels we could find in the city was across the Golden Horn, in Beyoğlu. The area turned out to be a great place to stay with wealth of characterful local bars and restaurants.

Istanbul is a great place for food lovers. We spent a large proportion of our time sampling the local cuisine. We decided to splash out one evening and have a ‘proper meal’ at a meyhane on Nevizade Sokak. Instead of using a menu the mezes were brought around on a large tray. Amongst all the usual suspects of taramasalata and aubergine salad there was the option of whole lambs brain which, of course, we had to opt for.

The beautiful city of Esfahan was where we were to spend our first wedding anniversary. We were truly blown away by the place. The stunning Naqsh-e Jahan square with its beautiful palace and mosques was one of the most impressive places we’d visited so far on our trip.

Our anniversary was spent Naqsh-e Jahan square and taking a walk along the Zayandeh river admiring it’s bridges. Our anniversary meal was at a traditional banquet hall, recommended by the Lonely Planet. Although the interior was impressive the food was a disappointment with the salads served covered in cling film and ayran in plastic beakers. The day beds were attractive but Matthew spent most of the meal crossing and uncrossing his legs trying desperately to get comfortable.

Trying to save a disappointing night we headed to a teahouse overlooking Naqsh-e Jahan square. When our tea and qalyan arrived the water pipe was placed on the floor next to us after a while we picked it up and put it on the table like everyone else’s. The waiter approached us on seeing this, putting the pipe back on the floor and explaining to Matthew that as he had a woman with him he had to keep the pipe on the floor. The tea and qalyan were expensive but the views over Naqsh-e Jahan square wonderful.

A more pleasant experience was at the Azadegan teahouse the place was packed with both locals and tourists, sipping tea, eating bowls of dizi and puffing on qalyans (including many women!)

Our first task after checking into our hotel in Shiraz was to purchase a manteau for me. At Sharjah I had changed into one of Matthew’s shirts in order to adhere to Iran’s laws regarding how women should dress in public. Finding a manteau was no problem. The lady at our hotel pointed us in the direction of a street lined with manteau shops. After much deliberation I opted for a black pin-stripped number which I was to wear every single day for the next three weeks.

We were fortunate enough to meet Isabella and Hazel, two girls from Hong Kong, who were staying at our hotel. Like us they were on a tight budget and were keen to share a taxi to Persepolis with us.

We spent the next day being driven around by the very nice Mr. Farhad visiting the impressive ancient city of Persepolis, the tombs at Naqsh-e Rustam and the bas-reliefs at Naqsh-e Rajab.

The rest of our time in Shiraz was spent visiting the sights around the city such as the Vakil bazaar, Hamam-e Vakil and numerous shrines and mosques. I had my first experience of wearing a chador when we visited the tomb of brothers Amir Ahmad and Mir Muhammad, Shah Cheragh. I stood out as I struggled to wrap the chador around me then hold it in place whilst trying to carry my bag and remove my shoes. We had read in our guidebook that non-muslims were not officially allowed inside the shrine. Isabella and Hazel had, however, visited two days earlier with no problems so we decided to give it a go. At the women’s entrance I asked a female attendant if I could visit the shrine. I was answered with a big smile and a hand on my shoulder. The woman at the shoe counter on realising I was a foreigner, reached into her handbag and handed me a handful of sweets. The interior of the shrine was absolutely spectacular with every centimetre of the walls and ceiling covered in a mosaic of mirror glass.

Shiraz gave us our first taste of Iranian cuisine (excluding visits to the Persian restaurants in Newcastle). On the whole we ate disappointing kebabs and ’sandwiches’. We were, however, impressed with dizzi, a delicious Iranian stew, and bastani (Iranian ice cream) which the whole of Shiraz seemed to eat in the evenings.

Amritsar was definately one of the highlights of our ten week Indian adventure. It was also one of the friendliest cities we have visited. Travelling across town by cycle rickshaw, our drıver was furiously whistled at. We turned around to find a burly Sıkh policeman grinning at us like a Cheshire cat and giving us the thumbs up. On another occasion, as we walked through the streets, a man cycled over to us, hurriedly rummaged in his pockets before fishing out a handful of grapes and thrusting them into our palms.

The Golden Temple was every bit as majestic as we’d imagined. We loved the place so much that we spent the best part of two days there wandering around, watching people bathe in the sacred pool, appreciatıng the live devotional music and absorbing the atmosphere. Sikhs from all over India and the rest of the world make the pilgrimage to their holiest sıte. We a bit taken aback by how many Sıkh families with Midlands accents we came accross.

The pilgrims and volunteers at the temple were incredibly friendly. Similar to our time spent at the Hındu Meenakshi temple in Madurai, many an hour was spent sat near the pool chatting to groups of Indians, posing for photos and recieving numerous invites to visit homes and villages.  One of the people we met was Mr. Singh, a retired engineer who now volunteers at the temple helping wıth the provision of free drinking water for the visitors. We ended up taking tea with him and his friends on both days of our visit.

An important aspect of the Sikh faith is that all people, regardless of religion gender and caste, are equal. One way this is demonstrated is by encouraging people from all walks of life to take meals together.  Many Sikh temples, therefore, provıde meals free of charge for visitors. The volunteers at the Golden Temple churn out an astonishing number of meals every day. We joined the queue and were soon seated on the floor of the huge hall being served up some tasty dal, chapati and pickle.

Aside from the Golden Temple, we also visıted Jallıanwala Bagh – the scene of the 1919 massacre when hundreds, if not thousands, of unarmed Indians were murdered by British infantry. We were rather embarrassed by the usual ‘Where are you from’ questıon by the numerous Indian tourists but there didn’t appear to be any hard feelings. As usual they seemed more interested in havıng their photographs wıth us.

We had seen footage of the bizarre Pakistan-India border closing ceremony on Michael Palin’s Himalaya programme. It seemed so ridiclous that we had to go and check it out for ourseleves. We took a minibus to the border at Wagah. We joined the crowds who flock there every night to watch the spectacle. The warm up to the show involved loud Punjabi music wıth children and female members of the crowd dancing bollywood-style. The ceremony itself was every bıt as ridiclous as we had hoped with loud cheerıng, silly hats and Pythonesque marchıng.

The rıch Punjabi cuisine was familiar to us from the Indian restaurants in the UK. It was easy to see why so many of the Punjabi men were overweıght and dıabetıc when we were served dishes topped wıth a large knob of butter and bread dripping in ghee. Our favourite Punjabi dish was the brain curry which we sampled on our final night in Amritsar.

The International Guest house was a peaceful haven, just outside the chaos of the main Thamel tourist area, where we were to base ourselves for a couple of days. We had a day and a half in Nepal’s capital before Pam arrived. Wanting to save the sightseeing until she arrived, we spent this time relaxing in the immaculate gardens of our hotel and getting frustrated by the frequent power cuts with which we have since become well accustomed.

We managed to persuade the hotel staff to allow us to accompany their driver to the airport for Pam’s complimentary pick up. Her flight was delayed by half an hour or so but we soon spotted her walking through the arrivals gate looking a little bewildered but pleased to see us. We witnessed her experiencing the inevitable culture shock on the forty-five minute drive back to our hotel, staring in amazement at things which we had gradually become accustomed to over the previous few months.

The next couple of days were spent visiting some of Kathmandu’s sights and organising the next two weeks. After finally deciding that we would travel to Pokhara in the Annapurna region, we visited the KEEP office where we picked up some useful advice and brought a map in preparation for our trip.

We spent the best part of a day visiting the impressive Durbar square housing the old royal palace, Kumari Chowk (home of Kathmandu’s living goddess) and a number of other temples and monuments. Although visually appealing, spending any time in the square was exhausting with constant harassment from beggars, vendors and would-be guides.

The other highlights of our brief sightseeing tour of Kathmandu were Swayambhu (“Monkey temple”) and Pashupatinath, Nepal’s holiest pilgrimage site. We visited Pashupatinath a day after the Shivaratri festival. There were still a number of Indian sadhus wandering around smoking marijuana. Whilst there, we witnessed a very moving public cremation. The body of the deceased was that of a young man who appeared to have been in the army. A group of soldiers, lined up the opposite side of the river, saluted him as the pyre was lit. As well as the cremation ghats, the complex also housed a number of interesting Hindu temples.

Matthew had feared that the Nepali food would be a disappointment after our two months in India. Indeed, Kathmandu in particular, appears to specialise in bizarre pseudo-western dishes which are not particularly appetizing and not particularly cheap. We did, however, enjoy two decent meals at the Everest Steak House and New Orleans restaurant thanks to a recommendation from Glenn and Erika.