DAY 98: JAIPUR DAY 1

After a nice breakfast, we planned to visit some of Jaipur’s sights. It is known as the pink city due to the colour of many of it’s buildings and is also conjested and chaotic. The city was ruled for a long period by India’s Maharaja and due to this royal legacy, the city boasts some incredible structures built by this dynasty including the Raj Palace where we were staying and two locations we planned on visiting today; The Hawa Mahal and the Amber Fort, high in hills surrounding the city.

Dave peeps out of the Hawa Mahal

Our first stop was the Hawa Mahal, a remarkable 5 story pink sandstone structure on the main street, designed in 1789 to enable the royal ladies to watch the passers by and city below without actually being seen themselves. It was forbidden for another man to set eyes on a Maharaja ruler’s wives. Unfortunately for our visit, the whole building was under renovation, but we still all got an idea of the protected existence these women led.

After the Hawa Mahal we hopped in a tuk tuk for the long journey to the Amber Fort, 11kms from the city. After taking an elephant ride to the entrance of the fort, we got a cheap local guide to show us around. Construction of the fort began in 1592 and became the home of the famous ruler Maharaja Man Singh.

Us at the Winter Bedroom in the Amber Fort

We were shown around his winter and summer bedrooms, made from marble imported from Italy during the 16th Century. It’s hard to imagine the logistics of this but we were told it involved a lot of camels. The rooms’ walls and ceilings were also intricately decorated with convex glass and mirrors. We were also shown the bedrooms of each of the rulers 12 wives. These were designed so that each had its own separate tunnel to the ruler’s bedroom, this was to ensure that none of the wives knew which one was visiting the ruler at any given time. We reckon this cut back on a potentially massive amount of bitchiness between the wives and saved a lot of hassle for the ruler who appeared to never do much except enjoy himself! Good on him!

Caroline ascend the secret tunnel of love to the Master's chambers! Note the pose!

On the walk down from the Amber Fort there were a lunatic pack of monkeys running around terrorizing people.

The local monkeys stand their ground!

We returned to the Raj that evening to find the whole place decked out in preparation for an Indian wedding that night. A Swiss-Indian couple had pulled out all the stops for this celebration that included an elephant parade to the hotel accompanied by an Indian Marching band and an incredible fireworks display. We watched the whole ceremony and couldn’t stop laughing when one of the fireworks set fire to a whole dining table. The guy responsible got a slap across the face from his manager for this cock-up!

The Raj palace gets ready for another 5 star wedding. They do over 150 weddings a year!

After watching the wedding ceremony from our hotel window, the plan was to have a wander around Jaipur’s night bazaars. But unfortunately Caroline came down with a bout of Delhi belly and restricted to bed, feeling terrible.

DAY 97: DELHI TO JAIPUR

The wonderful Raj Palace Hotel, Jaipur

We all up early again for our interview at the Pakistani embassy. This turned out to be a quick affair, being called in one by one for a few questions about the drive, our route and how long we intended to stay in Pakistan. After a much easier than expected interview, we were told that we could collect our visas in 4 days time, no worries!

Leaving Rhys and Chuck behind, Fintan and the Forans left Delhi in the Hummer for a three day trip to Jaipur and Agra. The drive to Jaipur was interesting and we saw a colourful pilgrimage on the roadside all heading towards a religious festival near Jaipur. We stopped for some footage and photos and ended up getting involved, dancing with the wild crowd to their mad Indian music.

Fintan gets involved with the loose Pilgrimage Revellers

We arrived late into Jaipur and eventually found our accommodation, courtesy of Caroline, at the beautiful Raj Palace Hotel, voted this year as the number 1 heritage hotel in the world. As a former Maharaja Palace, you can imagine the luxury this dynasty lived in during their rule. The hotel's dining room is even home to the largest chandelier in Asia.

Dining room in the Raj Palace under Asia's largest chandelier

We had a lovely meal in the hotel’s courtyard and were entertained by traditional Indian dancers who managed to move about rhythmically, while balancing a collection of Indian pots on her head!

Dave astonished by the Indian dancer!

DAY 96: DELHI DAY 2

Fire Bar, Delhi

We were all up early this morning to sort out our Pakistani visas, which is the next country on CRAZYJOURNEY. After queing up for 20 minutes, we were told we all needed letters of recommendation from our respective embassies in order to apply. We went our separate ways to get the letters from the Irish and Aussie embassies. When we arrived at the Irish embassy and told them about what we were doing, we were introduced to Justin Ryan, an official of the embassy who gladly gave us our letters and asked us about our plans for Paddy’s day. Delhi must be one of the only cities in the world without an Irish Pub and we were over the moon when he invited us to the Embassy’s party being held at the ambassador’s residence.

We arrived back at the Pakistani embassy in the nick of time and got our applications in and were informed that we needed to return to the embassy again the following morning to finalize the application process.

That evening, we went for drinks in Fire, one of Delhi’s nicest spots, where the ratio of guys to girls was about 20:1! We had a good laugh seeing all the Indian stags trying their luck with the 3 or 4 girls in the club!

DAY 95: DELHI DAY 1

CRAZYJOURNEY REACHES DELHI!

Dave and his sister Layla at the Red Fort, Delhi

We had a late start today after our manic drive from Calcutta. Whilst Fintan, Rhys, Paul and Chuck went to a shopping mall in South Delhi for lunch, Dave,Caroline and Layla visited Connaught Place, Delhi’s central shopping district, only to be constantly annoyed by hawkers and scam artists. The most bizarre proposal was a man who offered Dave an ear-wash!

Deciding to escape this madness, they headed to Delhi’s Red Fort for some sight-seeing. Although it has great historial value to India and its independence from the British Raj, it's interior was unimpressive and run-down. The girls were constantly being ogled at and hounded here for photos by a mob of young Indian ‘stags’ with Dave nearly loosing the plot at times. Dave was even asked to hold a family’s baby for a photo.

Indian stags hand in hand at Delhi's Red Fort.

One thing we all noticed and found very strange and unique in India so far is the way the young male friends walk around holding hands. There's nothing different about this in Indian culture and isnt out of the ordinary here at all. See photo above...

Dinner with the Foran's and Sokhi's

That evening, Fintan and the Forans met Paul Sokhi, his dad and a friend, Mr.Johar for dinner at a lovely restaurant in a park in south Delhi.

Fintan, Layla, Dave and Paul after Dinner

DAY 94: CALCUTTA TO DELHI

NON-STOP CALCUTTA TO DELHI IN 26 HOURS!

Safety First on Indian Roads!

We eventually got to the motorway leading our of Calcutta at around 12.30am only to hit a terrible traffic jam. It turns out that a huge amount of commercial trucks travel by night to avoid the weight restrictions. After this initial blockade and already knackered from the day at the port, this drive seemed like a big ask no matter how determined we were to get to Delhi.

We continued for a few hours and couldn't believe the complete disorganisation of the roads and the crazy drivers on them. At times we were in complete disbelief when in the distance, headlights appeared to be heading straight for us on our own side of the motorway. Sure enough it was an oncoming truck which we had to swerve to avoid. Unbelievably this was a common occurrence and seemed quite acceptable. We saw the aftermath of several horrific truck crashes, which came as no surprise after dealing first hand with their blind overtaking, lack of visibility and over-weighted loads.

A common sight on our drive to Delhi!

Most trucks don't even have rear view mirrors, and lazily rely on passers-by to beep and let them know you're coming. This can be a shot in the dark as sometimes the don't hear you til the last second. Most trucks have colourful reminders of this necessity painted on the back of them.

A lazy reminder for those overtaking!!

Dave, with eyes starting to close, decided to get a quick power nap at the side of the road. However after ten minutes we woke up devoured by mosquitoes with about 20 bites between us! Deciding to just chin it, Dave pushed on through the night, with Fintan asleep beside him, reaching the Holy City of Varanasi, at feat in itself, by 11am.

Continuing hard and stopping strictly for petrol and junk food, we passed through plenty of interesting towns such as Allahabad and Kanpur. These were generally manic places and completely slowed our progress as we had to squeeze the Hummer through teaming streets filled with cows, camels, rik-shaws and crowds of people. Some of our petrol stops have been priceless, with practically the whole town coming to stare at the car and whiteboy contents!

The usual interested crowd check out the car and its blonde heads inside!

Flying through Agra on the final 3 hour stretch to Delhi, Dave took on a Zombie-like appearance and claimed to be hallucinating behind the wheel. An hour from Delhi, we got lucky news that Dave's mum and sister's flight had been delayed, giving us just enough time to meet them at the airport. Dave's super-human effort over 26 hours with no sleep or meals got us to the airport at 1.30am and in the nick of time! We eventually found the girls in a manic Delhi airport not long after they arrived. We also happened to meet Scottish Jamie who was also leaving and after a quick goodbye, we headed to our hotels for well earned rest!

Dave 'Hallucinating' on the final stretch to Delhi!

DAY 94 ROUTE MAP: Click for Details
1,600 km in 26 hours from one side of India to the other!!

DAY 93: CALCUTTA DAY 7

THE HUMMER IS FINALLY RELEASED!

Debashish looking cool with Fintan's sunnies

After days of back and forward to the shipping agents and port authorities, we were finally told this morning that we could go to the shipping agents, make payment and be brought to the port to collect the vehicle. We could never have realised the nightmare that lay ahead!

At the shipping agents, we were greeted by our old mate Debashish, an absolute character who we had already met earlier in the week when he brought us from the shipping agents to the customs office to clear papers. After the standard two hour process to organise anything at the agent's office, we were brought to the run-down and disorganised Calcutta port.

We met some other officials and queued up for a permit to enter the port, clear customs and hopefully drive the car out. Our permit to the port was denied on the basis of us being foreigners. We found this ridiculous as it was never a problem for Dave to enter any other port so far, but this being India, there's nobody to complain to. So we just had to put our trust in one of the shipping agents employees. Since the car could no longer be driven out by Dave, the employee devised a plan to take the container itself out of the port by truck where it would then be unloaded. In theory, this sounded simple, but as with everything in India, we expected a long wait.

The Carnet and passports were now in Indian hands, so all we could do was wait by the mentalist Debashish. The guy cracked us up with his robot dancing, attempts to tech us his fighting techniques and non-stop cricket chat. After three hours of waiting and being ogled by crowds of Indians, some of which had claiming to have never seen a white person before, there was still no sign of the car. The only answer we could get from Debashish when we asked the whereabouts of the car was "your car is with God now!".

Dave and the man himself, Debashish, at the port

Not only funny, Debashish was also a very philosophical, filling us in on his religious theories, our personal favourite being the close relationship between the word 'GOD' and the word 'DOG' in reverse! The man was like an Energizer Bunny and got incredibly irritating after 8 hours waiting for the Hummer in a mozzie-filled car-park.

At 11pm, we finally caught sight of the container we had left behind in Bangkok on top of a truck and followed it to an accessible unloading dock outside the port. Thinking we were home free and the ordeal was over, Dave hopped into the car through the boot as it was still in the container. But to his horror the engine wouldn't start due to a dead battery! Charging the battery in the container was impossible so Dave and around 20 port workers managed to pull the car manually out of the container. The Indian lads eventually found a spare truck battery and jump-started the car after about 50 attempts.

It was now midnight and we now had just over 24 hours to reach Delhi, on the other side of India to collect Caroline and Layla, Dave's Mum and Sister from the airport. This was a huge ask, especially on some of the most disorganised roads on Earth but we set off into the night nonetheless!

DAY 87 - 92: CALCUTTA DAYS 1-6

Fintan and a Local in Sudder Street

We never really intended on visiting Calcutta during CRAZYJOURNEY but this was the main port on the East coast of India and the Hummer’s shipping destination from Bangkok. After seeing the inefficiencies of Calcutta’s streets and how difficult it is to do anything, we expected a long and arduous process to release the Hummer and hit the road again. This began on the Monday morning with a trip to the local shipping agent who informed us that the ship would be delayed for at least 2 days, an omen of what lay ahead!

While waiting for the Hummer's arrival we got our bearings in this manic city and rapidly realised that there wasn't actually that much to do. The former imperialist HQ of Calcutta, Victoria Memorial, was the sole highlight in this city which is incredibly run-down and polluted. To escape this urban jungle, Dave, Paul and Jamie decided on a round of golf at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club which is the oldest golf club outside the UK and the second oldest in the world.

Rhys at the Victoria Memorial, Calcutta

All scared of the notorious Delhi belly, we were quite cautious eating in Calcutta and resorted to the Lonely Planet's recommendations for food. We became morning regulars at Flurry's Cafe, the only western type cafe we could find in the city. However, the zoo that was Calcutta's Sudder Street area began to really get to us with people constantly trying to scam you or sell you things even after you refuse on every corner.

After bad news from the shipping agent about further delays, the lads decided that enough was enough with Calcutta and booked the next flight to Delhi, while Dave and Fintan stayed behind to sort out the inevitable mess thrown at us by Indian bureaucracy of clearing a foreign vehicle from customs in Calcutta Port.

DAY 86: TOKYO TO CALCUTTA

CRAZYJOURNEY ARRIVES IN INDIA!

A disguised Jamie MacDonough is allowed on to the flight without his face being seen!

Severely hungover and still clad in our turtle outfits, we headed on the Tokyo metro one last time to catch a train to the airport. Dave, Rhys, Sokhi and Jamie ended up missing the train despite being on the right platform and just got the flight by skin of their teeth after catching the next train. Jamie MacDonough managed to check in for his flight with his turtle mask still on over his head!

Calcutta Taxis!

We arrived to a run down Calcutta airport in the evening. After exiting the plane we had to wait for 20 minutes on the runway for some buses to pick us up and bring us inside. After all the airport formalities, we grabbed one of the old school yellow taxis and headed to our hostel in Sudder Street, Calcutta’s equivalent of the Khao San Road, Bangkok.

Heading towards the city from the airport, it suddenly hit us how mad and run down the city is. Its every man for himself on the roads in Calcutta, and there’s total disregard for any rules of the road. Our taxi driver was a complete lunatic, constantly driving on the wrong side of the road and cutting off other cars presuming they were going to stop. Any communication on the road is done through beeping, and they do plenty of it, adding to the mayhem of Calcutta’s run down streets.

We finally arrived at the hotel, situated on a street that can only be described as a complete mess! Porverty is extremely evident in this city with hundreds of people begging and sleeping rough on the streets everywhere you look. We all went straight to bed, knackered from the last 36 hours.

DAY 85 - LAST DAY SKIING TO TOKYO

AUSSIEBUM SLALOM and MAD NIGHT IN TOKYO!

Dave prepares himself for the AussieBum Slalom!

Bruised and battered after several jump attempts the previous days, we all decided that our last days skiing would have to end in a Slalom race. To make things interesting, and for the purpose of good footage for Aussiebum, someone came up with the stupid idea to do the slalom in just our boxers. The idea was to go over to the other side of the resort and find a quiet slope. As luck would have it, what started off as a sunny, cloud-free day turned into a miserable blizzard just as we arrived, which forced the closure of the secluded spot where we planned to nude up! With 'seasoned' skier Mr Paul Sokhi spending more time on his backside then on his skis, we had to trek all the way back to the front slope to eventually get our kit off and provide the locals with a skiing extravaganza!

Dave was first off with his kit, followed closely by the others. Fintan conveniently took his time to the starting point on a chair-lift, forcing the others to brave the elements for 10 minutes while waiting! Eventually, with encouragement from resort staff and shocked Japanese onlookers, the boys hit the slopes for a few runs as well as some baltic chair lift rides, leaving them blue and numb for the long ride home.

The CrazyJourney 1st VI Ski Team 2008

Standing L to R: Fintan Edgar Gillespie, Paul 'The Yeti' Sokhi, Jamie MacDonagh

Seated L to R: Charles Ross-Smith, Rhys Owen Baker, David Austin Foran

That evening, we caught a bullet train back to Tokyo for our last night in Japan before our flight to India the next day. Rhys Dave and Fintan went out with with the Scots Jamie and Paul for a final meal of sushi and after a few sake, it was decided that Fintan, Dave and Rhys take on a 'sushi challenge', where each person would choose the most unappetising piece of sushi for the other bloke to eat, only to have the 'privilege' returned to him. Needless to say we made the most of the opportunity to ruin the great meal we just had and after forcing some of the most bizarre and rancid sushi Japan has to offer, (the worst being Japanese Sea Ants for Fintan) upon each other we decided to make a night of it and hit the town. With a stroke of good luck, we ended up in a nightclub full of western catwalk models living in Japan...OH YEAH! Sometimes it's surprising how a night can escalate from nothing but we all went a bit mad to say the least!

The place was full of nothing but ugly girls!

With an early flight the next day (a recipe for disaster) the night ended in the early hours of the morning, all of us dressed head to toe in stupid turtle-like outfits which was the result of a chance passing via a costume shop that was strangely still open at 3AM. In our given states, none of us even questioned it, and turned the shop into a mess trying to find the most ridiculous kit we could. The carnage only ended when 12 Japanese policemen arrived and booted us out. However not before drunken logic kicked in with Dave deciding it necessary to purchase a pink suitcase to fit all our clothes we had just taken off. See photos below to try and make sense of what was going on...absolutely mad night!

Action shot! Jamie runs away while Rhys sleeps in the corner!

Dave tries to reason with the shop owner!

Dave being very thoughtful looking after the clothes!

DAYS 76 - 84: SKIING IN YUZAWA, JAPAN

Our week's skiing in Yuzawa was fantastic. We had some great days skiing with loads of powder, no wind and plenty of sun. Yuzawa is a small village located within a 20 minute drive from over 13 ski resorts so we took our pick of the best each day. Most of our days consisted of skiing, a feed and some solid games of poker. There was absolutely no nightlife which was a welcome relief after the last few months.

Because of the repetitve nature of this week, we have condensed the blogs into just two to save you all from the monotonous blogs! With all the free time on his hands, Dave, our in house editor went a bit overboard artistically with this video. Try your best to enjoy it anyway...

A RECENT ARTICLE ON CRAZYJOURNEY IN THE MALAYSIAN NEW SUNDAY TIMES

CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW TO READ ARTICLE

DAY 76 - TOKYO TO ECHIGO-YUZAWA

Fintan with some of the Tuna fish about to be auctioned off at Tsujiki Fish Markets

Dave and Fintan, rather than go to bed, did an all nighter and headed to the Tsujiki fish markets, the largest of its kind in the world. Arriving at 6am after nearly getting run over by forklifts on the way we legged it straight to the tuna auction rooms where auctioneers sold massive tunas every 4 seconds in an intense and seemingly unrecognisable but melodic chant for over 20 minutes at a time without pause!

That afternoon we set off for the slopes on one of the famous Japanese Bullet Trains. Our destination was the town of Yuzawa which was only a mere 1 hour Bullet train drive away at the trains staggering but surprisingly smooth speed of 200mph!

Fintan with our Bullet Train to the slopes!

Rhys mate Josh collected us on arrival and we were blown away by the amount of snow there. Josh informed us that the previous night it had bucketed 20cm on the resort. Dressed in normal clothes, we were completely unprepared for these harsh conditions. Josh's company, http://www.welovesnow.com/ , kindly agreed to put us up in free accommodation for our stay. Knackered, we all hit the bed early for skiing the next day!

Check out we love snow's site by clicking on the image below!