tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57811769777193967972024-03-08T09:46:39.384-08:00pommywantsapoppadumpaula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125truetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-73320009173637257112012-06-27T06:32:00.000-07:002012-06-27T06:33:36.420-07:00My first impression of Nepal<br />
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Nepal is not how I imagined at all. I imagined snow capped
mountains, cold weather and chilly nights around a log fire. In India I picked
up lots of winter clothes along the way for Nepal. I should have researched
more. It is monsoon season, 35 degrees, humid, sweaty, and hot and has not
stopped raining since I arrived. Kathmandu city is like a clean Khosan Road in
Bangkok with heaps of bars, restaurants and lots of shops selling everything
you can imagine.</div>
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After a few days in the city
eating momo’s, shopping and making friends with the local street hawkers I
headed to Pokhara city. A clean, comfortable
6 hour drive from Kathmandu by tourist bus made a nice change to the
Indian bus journeys of 16 hrs or more. Pokhara is a lush green tropical looking
city. The city is built around a huge lake with all the guest houses, bars and
restaurants dotted alongside the lake. It feels weird seeing so many bars, beer
advertisements and people drinking everywhere after being in India. People
drink in public here and do not cover up. That is the biggest shock to my system,
seeing girls in short dresses, singlets and shorts. I am still covering up and
went as far as to wear a singlet but still could not wear shorts. It just feels
weird showing so much flesh. It feels like Thailand without sun. Imagine a dull
Thailand without a beach. This is it!</div>
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I and Ella decided to spend a day
checking out the local temples and visiting the biggest pagoda in Pokhara. It started
and to rain so we decided to get the bus. After an hour of waiting for the bus
I stuck my thumb out to hitch hike and we scored a lift in a flash 4x4 with
four Nepali local men. We hopped in the back of the trailer as there was no
room inside and prayed the rain would stop. After a bumpy hour up a huge
winding steep mountain we arrived at the stupa. Chatting to the men we figured
out one was a kernel with the guerkas, one a chairman of a Nepali charity, one
a business man and the youngest one of 32 a taxi driver. After looking around
the stupa and taking photos they invited us to join them for lunch at their
secret local bar. They drove us into the countryside where there was a few
bamboo huts in the hills surrounded by rolling green fields and hills. Drinks
arrived, bottles of whisky, local millet wine, Australian red wine, beer,
buffalo meat, chicken bits, cucumber and chili dip.</div>
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I have not had red wine for months.
It was amazing. After spending the afternoon with them drinking, eating and
chatting they invited us to party. They told us every Saturday was boy’s day
when they all meet together and leave their wives and kids at home and it would
be a pleasure if we joined them. The youngest kept saying it was a dream comes
true we met and he will remember this day forever. We headed into the city and
pulled up at a bar called ‘The dancing restaurant’. It was dark, full of
restaurant tables and chairs, sofas and had a cat walk with a pole in the
centre of the room. Neon lights flashed whilst akon pumped in the back ground.
We were swooped on by young Nepali women dressed in tight jeans and low cut
tops for our drink order on arrival. Me and Ella told the boys drinks were on
us as they footed the bill in the afternoon and we settled into the sofas in
our hiking gear wondering whether this was a pick up joint or a restaurant.
Drinks and popcorn were served and the music changed. Indian bollywood music
pumped out the speakers, the lights went on and a Nepal boy and girl strutted
down the catwalk to to the beat. She was dressed in a full Indian sari whilst
he wore skinny jeans, skinny t-shirt and a trilby. They danced with each other
like it was a high school prom and the men at our table gave the waitresses
tips for the female dancer. Next up was a group of young Nepali women bollywood
dancing seductively then the finale was a young girl fully clothed swinging
around the pole. Sick of wondering I asked ‘Kernel’ was we in a pick up joint
and could they buy the dancers. He said no but a few of the men in the group
had ‘girlfriends’ here.</div>
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Prince the youngest of the group
was really drunk and was getting angry with the waitresses. One of the girls
would not pay him attention so he threw the silver tray out her hand and
started dragging her towards him. None of the men batted an eye lid, she was
smiling and people looked on like it was nothing. Me and Ella jumped up and
told him to calm down and apologized on behalf of him to the girl. We decided
to finish our drinks and leave. Prince would not let us pay the bill and was
causing a massive scene so we agreed he could pay. He then took his brother’s
wallet and footed the bill with the help of random notes from the other men. We
noticed the drinks were 4 times the price of local bars and winked at each
other thanking our lucky stars he was acting like a fool footing the bill.</div>
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We said our farewells to the
other men and thanked them for a good night. We promised to call them whenever
we were in town on Saturday and spend a boy’s day with them again. I think I
would as long as Prince behaved!</div>
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Today Ella was feeling a bit
unwell so I decided to take a wander about whilst the rain was off. 5 min of
walking and a 30 0dd year old guy stops his motorbike and introduces him.
Within 10 min I am on the back of a motorbike with a Nepali vet on call who
promises to show me the best sights of the area. We visit temples, caves, local
villages and a monastery but he stars to get a bit touchy feely and tells me if
I touch him he feels warm?! I decide to make an excuse to leave him and when I
refuse to visit his home he spits his dummy out like a child and speeds on the
bike. I tell him I must get back to my friend and jump on the next bus me
see.Phew! He would never have tried anything I think like Indian men some
Nepali men are very immature and act like school kids who have a crush. As soon
as they meet you they are thinking of marriage, babies and dates. From now on I
will say I am married!</div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-89898130514437273192012-06-22T09:57:00.003-07:002012-06-22T10:01:34.124-07:00Cashmere and Ladakh..where dreams come true-well almost!<br />
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Cathy and Dave arrive after a 36 hour local bus journey and
we head out to explore Srinagar. Srinagar is a busy little city with the main
attraction being the Dal Lake. The lake is full of house boats and small wooden
boats called shikaras that take you on hour tours around the lake. The boat
touts roam the streets in their hundreds harassing tourists.</div>
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I met a lovely local man who took me for lunch at his home.
His wife picked fresh salad from the garden and we ate it for lunch. Later on
that evening his friends took me and Irish the river for a beer and we watched
the sunset. The people here are so nice.
</div>
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I have been in McLeod Ganj so song with so many westerners I
forgot what ‘real’ India was like. The stares are back, but this time it feels
like there are a million eyes on me at all times. It feels different, I can’t
explain why.</div>
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The Cashmere men are
so handsome. Dave and Hussam the Israeli guy walk ahead viewing the sights,
architecture and culture whilst I and Cathy dawdle behind them eyeing up the
local cashmere talent! My god I have never seen so many good looking men in one
place. The men here are not like the other Indian men that gawp at you like you
have two heads they are all very charming, intelligent and speak very good English.
The city relies on its tourism industry so these guys know how to sell ice to Eskimos.
Dave and Hussam find mine and Cath’s obsession hilarious and don’t mind when we
stop every 5 min to let the hot cashmere men chat us up.Hahah Funny shit.</div>
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After a day ogling the local talent we take a boat trip on
the lake. It was so relaxing, beautiful and an amazing experience. Various
locals float past selling their wares and there was even a man making, cooking
and selling shish kebabs from his wooden canoe. I decided I must break my no
meat ban. It smelt amazing, looked delicious and tasted fantastic! Hussam has
an obsession for all things meat so we spent an hour floating alongside the
kebab canoe whilst he gorged on 20p shish kebabs!</div>
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That night we followed the local’s recommendations and
headed to Srinagar’s most famous Cashmere restaurant, ‘The Mogul Dabba’. The decor,
food and service were shit. When we left there was a man outside telling us the
real mogul dabba was upstairs. This happens in India. Places get good
reputation so cunning business men set up a business in the same literally
upstairs in this case to steal business. We investigated upstairs it looked
more traditional, the waiters were all smiling and the owner told us he was the
real mogul and had been open 20 years. When leaving the boss from where we had
ate came to us and demanded he was the real mogul.Catherine exclaimed Eminem
style “Can the real Mogul dabba please stand up!” We came to the conclusion we
ate in the wrong Dabba and decided to visit the next night.</div>
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We went to the real mogul Dabba and it was fantastic apart
from Catherine being served meat with her sag dish even after we explained a
hundred times no meat! I think she secretly liked the taste of mutton.</div>
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We all decide to head to Ladakh but Cathy and Dave want to
go by local bus as it’s cheaper. It’s also 24 hours longer so I took a private
jeep again with Hussam. We waited and hour to fill the jeep with 6 people. The
last person to fill the jeep was a 20 odd year old Indian. He wanted to use the
loo before we were setting off and a huge, loud Czech woman who was also in our
jeep told him he could not go the loo and to get in the car. The poor lad
climbed in the car! I ordered him to go the loo and ignore her. I then told her
she cannot tell people if they can or cannot go the loo and I use the loo often
so she better not try and tell me what to do! I was so angry. How dare she?!?!?
She stared ranting in her own language to her husband whilst looking at me. I
just kept staring. I was hoping she was not that crazy as one punch and I’ve
been dead. She was built like a WWF wrestler. After 10 min it was obvious the Indian
was having a poo and her husband beeped the horn whilst she rudely banged on
the cubicle door. I got out the jeep and told her to calm down and asked the
driver why he was letting this happen. The Indian guys rushed out the loo still
buttoning up his trousers bless him and jumped in the car next to me. It took
minutes for me to realize he had human shit to on his trouser leg and shoes and
I could smell it. Great. He must have slipped whilst squatting when she was
rushing him. I made sure I stopped the jeep every 20 min to have a pee and take
a breather.</div>
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The drive to Ladakh was one of
the most amazing, out of this world experiences I have ever had. Breathtaking
views. Layers of Desert, Rocky Mountains, greenery, and snow capped mountains
and turquoise rivers. I have never seen anything like it in my 10 years of
traveling. I must have snapped a thousand photos on the way. You could cut the
atmosphere with a knife in the jeep. That woman was so angry with me but I didn’t
care. I just made sure we did lots of toilet stops. To be fair it was cold, wet,
raining and I did need a pee a lot.</div>
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On arrival we seen Irish walking
down the street and checked into his guest house. There was a nice group of us
but no sign of hot accent until the following day when he arrived which brought
a big smile to my face.</div>
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Our group all got on well. We
hired motorbikes, ate delicious food, went sightseeing and even found a local
pub to play the football and serve cheap beer.</div>
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As the days went by I started to
like hot accent more and more and we spent every day together. He made me feel
good about myself for the first time in years and I had never been this happy
in ages. It sounds vain and stupid but I never look in the mirror and think I
look good. I actually avoid the mirror. The last 7 years or so I’ve hated my body,
my looks and have never had confidence in how I look. I may be confident and
happy with my personality and what’s on the inside but I hate what’s on the
outside. All my close friends and family tell me I look fine and I’m not ‘fat’ or
ugly but it does not make any difference. I don’t know why it was different
hearing it from hot accent but I actually listened and felt good about myself.
For the first time in ages I felt confident about my appearance and it felt great.
As the days went by this feeling grew and I can honestly say I am satisfied
with myself and am the happiest I have ever been all thanks to him and his
words of wisdom. I have also had a positive impact on his life and his personal
issues and we both think it was a blessing we met.</div>
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After a day in the she snowy
mountains driving on the world’s highest road and playing in the snow it was
time for hot accent to leave. I was very sad to see him go but we both planned
to meet again in November in Nepal for another meditation/Buddhist retreat.</div>
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After a few days of him gone I
missed him a lot and after speaking with Cathy, Dave and Irish they egged me on
to message him my feelings. Paula, being honest Paula opened her mouth and what
always happens to Paula happened. He didn’t feel the same as I did and just
wanted to be mates, nothing more. I felt like a right knob. Every guy I like
wants to be mates. I don’t get it? I admit I was gutted and had a wee cry. I
really liked him and thought he felt the same. He liked me but never had the
same feelings I ‘thought’ I had. A few amazing, kind messages followed and I
and the situation was all good. I think I just got over excited, as I normally
do! We met for a reason, to make each other appreciate what we both have and realize
we are both two amazing people. We have made a great friendship and will still
do the course in November as planned which is cool. I am looking forward to
another month of Tushita. If ten 10 days changed my thoughts, opinions and
beliefs imagine what a month will be like!</div>
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Me, Cathy and Dave hiked to the
mountain village of Yang Lang which took a day. Beautiful scenery stayed in a local’s
house and ate amazing local family food. The next day I was aching and felt
weak so after a few hours of hitching in the heat I ditched the trek and
hitched a ride to Lama Euro with 6 Ladakh cricket players. Cathy and Dave were
worried and were reluctant to let me go alone. I persuaded them and relaxed in
the mini bus for the next 6 hours thinking of them walking up the dry Rocky Mountains
in the heat. I got to Lama Euro and was ill. I had hot accents Bangladeshi flu
and was cursing him in my head. I took pills and went to bed. A few hours later
Cathy and Dave arrived. They felt terrible leaving me and had checked all the police
posts along the way to check if I’d signed inch ha.</div>
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Next day we headed to the Lama
Euro cham mask festival. The local monks in the monastery parade around and
dance in traditional clothes and masks to warn off the evil spirits. It was magical.
A group of French tourists embarrassed Europe by having a brawl in the middle of
the monastery because of a disagreement about photographs and the monks had to separate
2 women. It was very embarrassing. In a place where compassion is the main
focus and these fuckwits are punching each other and throwing water over one
another because they have a camera dispute. When the monks left and the coast
was clear me and Cathy gave them a piece of our scouse mind whilst Dave minded
his own business bless him.</div>
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Time to head back to Leh but the
bus was taking forever so we hitch hiked in an Indian oil truck with 4 Indians’
2hour traffic jam followed, we finally caught up with the bus and got back to
leh to spend our last night together until we meet again in Jan 2013. They
bought me a lovely local turquoise and coral necklace for my early birthday
present and we had a little cry on saying goodbye.</div>
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I have a new plan. I will return
to Oz as planned in July and leave in Nov this year. I will do another course
at the Kopan monastery, Nepal in Nov, 6 months in India and then me Cathy and Dave
will hitch hike the silk route from china to france.From France we will get the
boat to Ireland, boat from Ireland to Holy head and then finally THE FERRY
ACROSS THE MERSEY to Liverpool. I think I will spend a good 6 months at home
working and living with the family till Cathy and Dave’s wedding in August 2014
to star t saving again. I have the travel bug again. Sod putting a deposit on a
house! I’m following my dreams.</div>
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Arrived in Nepal and it is boiling?
I imagined snow, cold temperatures and hot chain around the log fire. No chance
of that. It’s monsoon season,mosquitos are everywhere and it is boiling!
It is a hell of a lot cheaper than India
and the Nepali people are beautiful, friendly, humble and sweet.</div>
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I have met a cool Australian
chick who I lent funds to as she lost her bank cards and we are planning to
spend the next few days visiting villages,temples,light trekking and taking it easy.
Met a cool Nepali lad called Santosh through Erica in Cairns and we are
planning a nice celebration for my birthday next week.</div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-88834220465309612052012-06-05T21:03:00.000-07:002012-06-05T21:03:44.346-07:0010 days of meditation,buddhist philosphy, silence and finding the real me.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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OK. So I have not wrote a blog for 2 weeks as I had no
computer but I kept a written diary and the next few pages you read I have just
got up early to type up!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It has just
taken me 7 hours to do this</b>! Enjoy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Sat 18 May</u></i></b> Cathy and Dave arrived today. It was so nice
to see them and I really want to stay and hang out in McLeod Ganj with them
instead of going to my introduction into Buddhist philosophy and mediation
retreat at Tushita. They found it highly amusing everybody in the area stopped
to say hi and chat to me. I know all the locals now as I have been here nearly
a month and tend to hang about with them a lot. They nicknamed me ‘Paula Lama’
which I and the local lads found highly amusing. We discussed their wedding plans
in July 2014 and after a few hours we decided I can still be a guest as well as
the chef so I am going to be their personal scouse chef and cook their Thai
wedding 3 course meals. Very excited! I am already planning menus and whipping
up ideas as we speak! I introduce them to my school class who love them to bits
and are sad to see me leave. I take them around the temple and bump into a guy
I spotted at a café a week ago. Well I never spotted him I heard him. I don’t
know whether he is American or Aussie but his voice is amazing. I think he has
a bit of Indian in him I am not sure. It turns out after a quick chat for
directions he is heading to Tushita too. Sweet! A week ago I met a really nice
lady who lives here and reminds me of Olive. She must be 50 0dd.She lived in
Manchester and in 1996 her 22 year old daughter was shot by her boyfriend. He
then killed himself. She told me an amazing tale of how she was suicide, losing
the plot and came to India to find happiness. She found a guru , she sorted herself
out and now feels like it’s time to leave and move on to the next life. She
feels like she is wasting time. I listened for hours at one point crying.WOW.
This woman is an inspiration. I told him she should write a book. We swapped
emails and I got a lovely touching email off her today saying I reminded her of
her daughter and what she hopes she would be like now if she was alive. Bless
her it was a very touching, emotional email which made me realize how lucky I
am and how some people can jus connect only knowing each other for only a few
minutes or hours.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Indian guy who runs the guest house next to my place was
very nice to me when I was sick. Checking up if I was ok and we have got to
know each other a lot the last 3 weeks. His name is Sunny; he is 27, from Cashmere
and is hot as. I don’t find Indian men attractive, they are not my cup of chai
but it seems the further north I get the hotter these Cashmere boys are
getting! Typical Indian men are very skinny, small and dark skinned, the
cashmere men are tall, muscle and light skinned with amazing features and have
a great sense of humor. He comes out for a drink with us and when he gets a bit
touchy feely I decide to lay down the rules and say we are friends only. I
think when I get out of Tushita I may change my mind about that! We will see!
When in Rome and all that. I met a funny Irish lad tonight called Tom who is
also going to Tushita. We went back to his and had drinks and chatted until we
the crazy Russian chick next door complained and we had to leave. The gate was
locked so we had to jump over roves from building to building to escape. I was
shitting myself.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Mon 20 May DAY 1 of Tushita.</u></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A few days ago I met a girl called Carly who is also going
to Tushita. She has battled with her weight and had eating disorders since she
was young. I met up with her for lunch before hand and we chatted for ages. We
got on like a house on fire and when I was telling her how un confident I am
about my body she was in shock. She said she wished she could be as confident
as me and said I am lucky. I was surprised. Don’t get me wrong I am confident
and will talk to anybody but when it comes down to my looks I have zero
confidence at all. Nobody has ever said they wished they were like me. In a
selfish way it gave me a bit of a confidence boost and made me realize that I’m
not that bad. I hope his course is going to change the way I think and help me
get over this ‘looks issue’ and a few other skeletons I have locked up in the
Paula closet, the main one being Andy’s death. Irish joins us and we chat about
the course. Him and carly are talking about science, philosophy and physics and
I do not have a clue. I am worried I won’t understand any of this course. I am
only here for the mediation so I will concentrate in that. Everybody starts
arriving and ‘hot accent’ turns up. We get chatting and I try to concentrate on
what he’s saying without getting distracted by his voice.Amazing.A few Israelis
I know arrive and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I now wish after
sitting in this little group chatting we were signing up for club med or
something and not this course! The resident nun comes out and gathers us in the
temple/gompa for a chat about the coming 10 days. There are 85 of us attending
the course. We are all given a ‘karma job’s o do for 15 min a day. I and Carly
are given the window cleaning job.Great.One of my pet hates when cleaning. I
was fuming until I heard that some people had to clean toilets and wash dishes!
I got a good job I Think. We are asked to stand up introduce ourselves and say
why we were here. I have never been so nervous in all my life. I was shaking,
had a lump in my throat, my eyes were filling up with tears and I kept going
over and over in my mind what I was going to say. I jumped up quickly and said
with a shaky voice and bright red face, “I am here to learn about Buddhism and
how to meditate.” It took 2 min and felt like hours. Everybody said the same
thing which made me feel a lot more at ease we were all here learning but one
girl upset me. She was from Vietnam and stood up and said she was here to get
over the sudden death of her father. I started thinking about Andy and got
upset. After a few hours briefing she tells us from now on it is silence for 10
days. I walk out the gompa and think shit, this is it. It finally hits me what
I have let myself in for. Go back to my room and everybody is quiet. We are all
looking at each other thinking what the fuck?!It is so weird not saying goodnight.
I pray to god I can do this and not leave before the 10 days is up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Day 2</u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The gong rings at 5.45 am and I am already awake. I woke up
at 2.30 and could not get back to sleep.6 showers and 10 drop toilets between
85 people led to some queues. Glad I was up early. Bump into Carly at the loo I
am about to say hi and realize no alking.Feels weird.Just smile. Mediation till
7.30 then breakfast of porridge and banana before class starts at 9.The teacher
was telling us to look at our thoughts and not listen to them. I didn’t have a
clue and sat and planned wedding menus, my to do list in Cairns when I get back
and thought about my family and mates. Man I wish I had brought coffee I am so
tired! Today our teacher talks about greed, money, success and how we should
help others. I related to everything he said, found it really interesting and
everything he was saying I have been doing for years. I keep thinking of one
friend in particular when he talked about greed, money and ego. This course
would do her he world of good I think. Sat next to Carly at lunch and had to
move too hard not to talk. I was so tempted. It’s so frustrating I keep going
to say hi and stop myself. It’s been 16 hours now and it is killing me not
talking. I want to tell Carly the guy next to her is the ringer of Gary Glitter
but I can’t. I am cleaning windows and Irish is behind me brushing up, normally
I would crack a joke but I can’t. Lunch was vegetables, rice and tofu.
Meditation was really hard tonight I could not concentrate and kept thinking of
the wedding, Sally, Jodie’s baby, Leanne and Hannah. Discussion group today we
were allowed an hour’s talking.It felt so nice although I wanted to talk about
each other, our interests, travels but we were discussing topics from the
previous lesson.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Day 3</u></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Breakfast of porridge again, I really want coffee. I feel
really tired. No sleep again kept thinking things. After breakfast I find a
note in my bed of Carly saying she has left and good luck. If I give up she
will see me for a beer in a few days. I run outside to try and find her and
bump ion Irish smoking outside the compound. I passed him the note mouthing
“have you seen carly?” “That counts as speaking!” he says. He said he walked her
gate she is fine and was bored as she wanted to do meditation rather than
lectures. I am relieved she was not upset but worried because I was bored too
as some things I did not understand and wondered how I was going to do this as
I am a lot less intelligent than her. Today’s afternoon lecture concentrated on
physics, atoms,particles,matter,science<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>and all things I did not know about. Teacher may as well have been
speaking Chinese. I took notes but on reading them afterwards I understood 3%
of what I’d wrote. People were asking questions and I didn’t even understand
what they were asking. Don’t know whether I can do this. I want to but I don’t
know what the hell he is talking about. God damn Notre Dame high school
teaching me about parts of a flower in science! Meditation was very hard again.
I can’t sit right without pain; hot accent is in front of me wearing a
distracting tie dye t-shirt which I keep making pictures out of and for some
reason he distracts me. We are old to pretend we are lying in a field with
beautiful things surrounding us. I imagine being in the field with hot accent
listening to his voice.Haha.What’s wrong with me?!Feel really negative tonight.
I can’t meditate, can’t concentrate and aunt got a clue what we got taught
today.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Day4 </u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wake up at 4am can’t sleep. So tired. When the
gong strikes I huff and puff. I am thinking of leaving. I get to the gimp after
porridge and I count 8 empty cushions which makes me think I’s not just me
finding it hard and don’t feel as stupid. We are allowed to book a private 10
min app with the teacher today. I put my name down. Went and had a word with
him and told him I feel stupid no knowing certain things and how am I supposed
to understand if Carly left and she was clever. He told me sometimes you can be
too clever and analyze stuff to much.I’s good to be open minded, take in what I
do understand and don’t have any expectations. He has been meditating and
studying Buddhist philosophy 25 years and still does not understand things and
is still learning. I feel a lot better and want to stay and finish what I have started.
Today’s class was all about the 6 disturbing emotions we all have, why they
arise and how to deal with them. My main disturbing emotion is Andy’s death. I
had to walk out the lecture and take a 10 min in the look to have a little cry
and clean myself up before heading back in. Our group’s hour discussion was
about this topic. The Korean girl who lost her father is in my group. We are
talking about how to get over death. I have a massive lump in my throat. I
don’t know how the Korean girl is coping; she looks fine she is so strong. I
try my best not to get upset but after the hour end up in tears again. Nobody
has seen or knows I’m crying which is good. I don’t want people o think I’m
pulling a sympathy vote. I wish I had a phone today so I could ring Sally. She
would snap me out of this. Even if I could just talk to someone. I am going to
break my silence ode and plan a sneaky chat with Irish. I wish Carly was still
here. Can’t concentrate in lectures today thinking of Andy it is a waste of
time me being here. Last lectures are all about karma I really get into it.
Understand everything, relate to everything .Every time we hear about money,
greed and attitude I keep thinking of my friend.Man, she is going to get some
bad karma for her attitude in life. I kept falling asleep in mediation tonight,
it’s so hard. Dinner was soup again. Although they threw some peas in tonight.
Did not see Irish at dinner or evening meditation, hope he is ok.Hot accent
asked a question today in class, his voice is so sexy. I wish he was the
teacher.hahha</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Day 5 </u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Feeling very positive today and looking forward to class. I
keep smelling toast during meditation. But we never have toast for breakfast so
I must be imagining it because I would love toast instead of porridge! I keep
thinking of Amanda every time I sand in the oiled queue. There is an old
fashioned watering can outside the look and I think she would love it. Funny
how you hank of people and things! Then I start thinking of her wedding in the
garden with Chris and someone nudges me the toilets free haha.Our lecturer
reminds me of the woman who hosts fat club in Little Britain.Everytime an
Indian asks a question he pulls a confused face, us is hand behind his ear like
he is struggling to hear and asks them to repeat the question. I see Irish
talking with the smokers outside and decide to break my silence today. I think
if I hadn’t seen other people talking I would have stayed silent. I told him
about my Little Britain thought. I should not have done that.Everytime an
Indian asks a question we look at the lecturer and I am trying so hard o keep
my laugh in and not look at Irish. To be fair I have seen and heard many people
whispering. I think if we are allowed to speak at discussion group for an hour if’s
not that important. People don’t speak in sight of eachers,monks or nuns but
whisper in bed or in smoking section and only for a few minutes. Irish tells me
he has been escaping every night having beers, joints and real food. I am not
even tempted. I really want to finish this course and not get kicked out. I do
ask him to bring me back a jar of coffee though! Found out today in class a
local monk died in the lotus position meditating a few days ago. I was his
cremation today. That explains the reason I was smelling toast today! Irish
escaped at lunch and skipped half the day today to go to the outside and relish
in pizza, joints and beer. Mediation was thinking about people who we have
fallen out with today. It made me think a lot about a good mate I fell out with
before mass so I went back o my room and wrote her a massive letter but now I
can’t stop thinking about it as I want to just pos it! Hot accent smiled at me
today. Man his smile is amazing too. I keep thinking of him? What’s wrong with
me!?Am I going round the twist?!I need o step back and use my new mindfulness
skills and think lol.I never thought much about Andy yesterday or today.Had a
weird dream last night about people who I have not seen for nearly 20 years.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Day 6</u></i></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Could not sleep again last night thinking of all the people
I have fell out with because of my actions, thoughts and honesty and thinking
how I can put things right. Gong goes off and I have been up an hour writing already.
I don’t feel tired or fall asleep once today the coffee is working a treat.
Mediation was a success today. I never moved an inch once, of course my mind
was distracted but my body was not. I often hear people saying their lives have
changed because of certain things they experience. I don’t hank my life has
changed but my opinions have, my religious beliefs and thoughts and its only
day 6! I feel really positive. I am really happy and excited ode as I can see
some results in myself. I keep thinking of Andy’s death and thinking negative
thoughts, why,how,etc and get sad. Of course I’m not going to magically stop
getting sad but I am learning how to. When these thought some to my head I need
to hank before I start thinking bad thoughts. With death because I have been
brought up a catholic and have been the last 30 years I think when you die you
go o heaven or hell. So you can go to a psychic and contact them. You can talk
to me and pray to them. I still hold onto the fact that one day I may get to
speak to Andy via a psychic or even some days wish I could die for a few min
just to see an speak to him. Well I think god, heaven, hell the afterlife it’s
all bullshit now. At discussion group we were talking about death and the
people in my group are atheists. So I asked if there is no god or after life
how do these psychics contact the ded.They thought and explained a psychic can
read minds and of course they are reading whets in your mind,waiting for
reactions and tell you what you want o hear. When Joanne went o a psychic and
told me a hello from Andy I was so happy and sad at the same time. Now I think
he woman jus read her mind and never really contacted him. So now I’m thinking
like this here is no point in praying and talking to Andy and getting upset as
he is not here, he’s gone and I will never hear or see him again so I need to
let go. It feels like massive weight has been lifted off my shoulders. The
lectures are not about converting us or religion we just learn facts. I am not
saying my prayers or speaking to Andy tonight there is no point. I can
definitely say I am not a catholic, something I thought I would NEVER say. I am
learning so much and it’s all common sense. Rather than switching my brain off
me really need o switch it on? I thought meditating was all about switching
off. It’s not it’s about switching on! I am learning and discovering new things
every day here it’s unreal. Why have I not thought like this before? Ignorence?
No confidence? I don’t know. At the beginning of his course I thought I would
not understand anything. Now it’s all falling into place and I am so happy. I
decided o concentrate on meditation as I wanted to learn how to meditate. Now
the tables have turned and I enjoy the philosophy side more! I feel like I don’t
want this course to end oday! Yeah, the food is tasteless but throws in a bit
of chili sauce and it’s ok. Talking of food Irish has escaped for a steak
tonight and a date with a Dutch girl he met last night. I am not even tempted.
I am definitely finishing this course. The monkeys raided the roof today during
meditation which was funny but scary when one snarled in my direction. Just
walked out of mediation class in tears. It was going so well today until now.
The teacher tells us think of somebody who has done bad things to us really
hurt us and imagines taking all the bad things in their life away from them and
giving them all the happiness hey need and everything they want. I am thinking
about my knob head ex and thinking of everything that I went through. Then I
get angry and think how the fuck can I take all these bad things back?!I keep
thinking and getting more upset and get up and leave before I burst out crying
in there. I’m in my room now in tears like a knob fuming, how can something 10
years ago still hurt me and upset me now. I make me mad I still think of him he
does not deserve to be in my mind. I need to go and find a fogged I wish Irish
hadn’t escaped. The Israeli girl left mediation too as she was upset and came
to my bed and we hugged and had a little cry together. We didn’t speak we just
hugged like crazy women. I went out and go a fag off the little lively Indian
man and I made me feel good.But after I smoked it I am angry I did. I have gone
4 weeks without smoking.Damn! How can that fucker sill upset me now?!Fuming.
Climb into bed and there is a bar of chocolate under my sheet, must be he Israeli
girl. Bless her.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Day 7</u></i></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Woke up fuming. I am in a bad mood and angry. Regret having
a fag too. Feel a bit of a knob for getting so upset but I’m going to ask Irish
his opinion today or my teacher if I can catch him alone sometime. I need a phone.
I wish I could call Sally.Lizzie gets married today. I can’t stop thinking
about her, how she looks, how she feels, who’s there, is she happy, what her
dress is like. I think about her all day. I send him good vibes in mediation.
Normally I would say a prayer but what’s the point. I never said my prayers
last night and it’s the first time my whole life I have actually said I am not
saying them .I felt guilty and was tempted but did not say them. Can’t eat brake
or concentrate in mediation his morning I am fuming still. Asked Irish’s
opinion at lunch and he said nobody could think like that or I would be very
hard o wish someone happiness who had done something bad. You would have to
have lots of compassion. A Tibetan monk was in a prison and was tortured for 20
years by the Chinese. When we were released the Dalai Lama asked him what was
he most sacred of and thinking during his time there. He said he was worried he
would lose compassion for the people torturing him. Man, I could never think
like this and I think many people feel the same so I need to get over it. The
only way I can get over anger for this person is to show the person compassion,
that will never happen so whatever. I told him about hot accent and my crush,
he pissed himself laughing but said he too has a crush on the Indian girl in
his discussion group. Today we talked about me, what is menthe mind, thoughts,
lucid dreaming, rebirth and lots of stuff that Sally would be interested or is
interested in. I think she would love this place. I hank of her all day a lot
am not being preached to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am just
expanding my knowledge and learning a lot.80 percent of my mates would say this
is all bullshit but a few people I know would be really interested. A lot of my
mates who would say it is bullshit would learn a lot too I think. But I’m not
going to go back home ‘preaching’. Each to their own. Can’t get my head round
the fact there is a mind, a brain, a body but where is me. I think I get it
then the teacher pulls something else out of the bag. I think I have just found
my hobbies. I hope when I get back I can continue learning more and improve my
meditation skills. It really intrigues me and I don’t want this course to end.
Time flies in class. I will never learn or know everything but as long as I’m
interested and enjoying it that is all that matters.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>DAY 8</u></i></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Up at 4am can’t sleep again. Done something to my back
yesterday at yoga it is killing me.Great.We got eggs for breakfast today!
Great! Skipped porridge. We skipped yoga today and were allowed outside the
compound and taken for a walk to a local mediation retreat where nuns and monks
come for months or even years. The walk there oak 30 min and it were so nice
getting out and walking. I miss walking. Funny, I was mindful today and
concentrated on the walk and nothing else and ended up with a bagful of rubbish
picking it up as I noticed it. Normally walking down the street I is too busy
thinking of where I’m going to notice anything. On the way back I spot
Liverpool Mark who I met a few weeks before. I waited till everyone was out of
sight and had a quick hug, hello and a chat. He was leaving India today. That
was meant to happen I got to say a real goodbye. Last night was the first time
in the last 2 and half years I have not spoke to Andy intentionally. I wanted
to but decided not to. He’s not here and he never will be. I told the Israeli
girl after lunch quickly before nun patrol seen us talking and I was so happy
to get it out and tell someone how I feel. We hugged and she told me she had
something to tell me but the gong struck and we had o get back to class. I
can’t wait to tell my family, friends and especially Sally and Nicole. There
was a commotion in the room tonight of whispers and torches when I got up one
of the girls had a scorpion under her pillow. We managed to get it in a jar and
out in the garden. Lucky she checked her bed. I always see her checking her bed
at night and I hank paranoid girl. Now I am doing the same!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Day9</u></i></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Everyone looks so tired today and I have had 4 people ask me
for a bit of my coffee. It’s taking its toll on everyone all this mediation I think.
It’s hot today as well.84 of us in one room the size of a school gym is a bit hot.
Could have killed Irish today. I and hot accent were sitting at the same table
and Irish sat facing me. He kept looking to his left at ho accent and raising
his eyebrows. I was beetroot and dying to laugh. I go up o move, Irish got up
to move. Irish moved. I couldn’t even finish my breakfast with embarrassment
and I was dying to laugh. I had to go the oiled and compose myself. What am I
14 again? I went the smoking area and give Irish some shit he just laughed and
said I need to grow up lol.Hot accent must think I’m a nutter.To be fair though
if I had no have broke my silence ban I would not be in this position so that’s
my karma! We realized I have been easing with cutlery for a week now. No
stained nails or fingers from using my hands.Nice.Been thinking about very one
at Cairns 2 today, Hannah and Ryan looking forward to moving in with them,
meeting Mini marty,seeing sally and family,olive,Leanne keg…ash it’s all going
through my mind. Today we are mediating all day with no philosophy classes. I
miss the classes. Finding mediation easy but it’s hot. Cannot get Louis
Armstrong ‘We have all the time in the world’ out of my head today? Nearly fell
asleep on the last hour of mediation but today went quicker than I thought.
Israeli girl was sick in bed today so I brought her lunch she never said hanks
she jus said it was too much. I made her ginger tea and after she drank it she
said it gave her a high temp and could I not put ginger in it next time.
Normally I would have told her to fuck off and make her own. I smiled as calm
and thought it’s her behavior speaking not her.Hhahha.She’s sick she’s not
thinking straight. Let’s see how this works when I’m off this course loll. I
had patience, I worked when I stopped and thought…I am all about being
mindful.Hahah.Anoher 4 hour mediation session I took the Israeli girl some tea
and we had a chat. Ten years ago at the age of 46 her mum had a stroke and is
now paralyzed 100%.She is upset, angry and affected by this still. She was
hoping this course would help her sop getting angry and upset and it has in a way.
She has realized it’s happened, her mum will not be here forever so she has to
make the most of the now, the present. I always wonder what if my mum dies.
What if my dad died? What will I do? I get sad and upset. I need to think about
now Toni’s all about living in the present and not the past or the future. I
can still have aspirations and memories but I need to not dwell on thoughts
about the past or future. Two of my friend’s mums have died in the last month
and made me realize how lucky I am today and I thought about them a lot wanted
to say a prayer again loll and remembered it’s not real! Irish missed all
meditations and meals today. It’s funny how I have spoken to only 4 people in
here but everyone else I seem to sort of know. We eat together, sleep
together,study,meditate and I have nicknames for them allege, hot accent he is
late everyday for class, he can’t sit still in mediation so I hank he would be
a bad time keeper and a lively person, girl in bed next to me always borrows my
shampoo so I think she is tight-jus buy someone Indian lad can’t keep still and
brings food into gimp which we were specifically told not o do, he laughs out
loud in class a lot think he has Audit’s made me realize that most of the time
I speak it’s not worth saying. Does what I say really matter sometimes?
Especially when it involves something that does not concern me or involve me. I
think now when I speak I will think twice before I speak especially if it
concerns other people. Irish is not at the smoking area giving his daily Dalai
Lama speech. The Indian man tells me with his lively head wobble and hand
actions Irish have left a day ago. We had to meditate about someone close to us
who has died tonight. I got upset. The nuns and monks next door were chanting
beautiful songs and it all got to me. I sat and thought and calmed myself down
so I didn’t have to leave the room but still filled up and had a lump in my throat.
I feel like I’ve took a million steps backwards. I suppose it’s not that bad of
course I’m going to feel sad sometimes I’m only human. Time to go to bed. I am
sad I am leaving.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>THE FINAL DAY!</u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One thing I will miss about this place is the peace and quiet.
I Think I have taken it for granted. Dreading going back into the town with all
the car horns, noise and commotion. I don’ want to leave today. I have been up
since 2are with the Israeli girl she is really sick. I sat with her and mopped
her brow, got her water and just sat with her outside as she was scared to be
alone. She is very ill. The hospital does no open till 8am.She has asked me to
go with her. I really don’t want to as it’s the last day but I can’t say no. I
put her back to bed while I go to morning meditation and go and tell the nun on
duty she’s sick. The nun comes the room and we are allowed to speak as I’s an
emergency. The nun is lovely from Germany with tattoos and asks her name.
Rachel her name is. I introduce myself. We both burst out laughing. The last 7
days we have been hugging, having sneaky conversations and really connect with
each other and on the last day we find out each others name. After meditation I
go to get Rachel to go the hospital but she wants to go alone and feels a bit
better. I am secretly happy as I want to stay and finish. I really wish it was
not over. Everyone looks so happy and there are massive smiles everywhere. We
had our morning meditation session but I couldn’t concentrate thinking about
what I am going to do on the outside. After meditation hot accent comes over
and asks me for a coffee with his sexy smile. I think he is asking for cough
liquid I am so nervous. I am such a knob. After asking him to repeat himself 3
times I give him the coffee. I think I looked nervous. What a knob! Haha. We
went back to the gimp for our last session of feedback and we were allowed to
talk but told not to get too excited. It was so funny. I had a girl that came
up to me and tell me she thought I had such good energy and she used to love
watching me smile and really wanted to get to know me she said I looked like fun.
One guy came and we hugged each other to congratulate each other like we had
known each other for years. Everyone was hugging, shaking hands and smiling. We
all had a picnic lunch together and I decided to try and get to know all the
people I had ‘mentally’ connected with the last few days. So all the girls and
boys that made an effort to smile at and ones I thought looked happy I
organized a place to meet when the course was over later that day. I decided to
invite hot accent. I went over to him and made general chit chat, swapped face
books and then he asked me what I’m doing later. I told him the name of the
place where we were to meet and took his number. Paula Morris being forward?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>MY FIRST DAY ON
THE OUTSIDE 1 JUNE</u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the retreat I bumped into Irish on the way nod must
have talked for an hour without stopping for breath and got the last 10 days of
talking out my system. I told him to come for drinks and I would be his wingman
with the Indian chick he liked. I headed back to meet Cathy and Dave but they
had gone out for the day. I prayed they would return before 5 so I could put a
different set of clothes on and look nice! My hotel had forgotten to save me a
room so Sunny came to the rescue and give me one at his hotel. He was very
happy to see me and we sat and chatted for a few hours over coffee. He asked me
for a drink damn! Lol! So, I told him I was heading out with friends but I
would catch up with him tomorrow. I thought Cathy and Dave may have my phone
turned on so I used his phone to call my number. When I dialed in my number it
came up saved as beautiful girl Paula which was a bit embarrassing. I headed to
the internet café to face book Cathy and Dave and bumped into hot accent. He
was with his travelling buddy. I asked them where they met. He told me on a gay
dating website. I was gutted. Then they both burst out laughing hahah.I wonder
what my face looked like. No Cathy and Dave so I put my 10 day old clothes on
and headed the restraint. Word had spread about the meeting and there were
about 40 of us in total. I invited hot accent to sit next to me and we sat and
talked for hours. We had lots in common and he was a good laugh. Been there a
few hours and Irish reckons I’m ‘in’ loll. I hear someone shout me from the
road below and look over the balcony and it’s Sunny. He has had a few drinks
and asks me would I like to go for a drink. I tell him I’m with a friend but he
is welcome to join us-praying he refuses-he does and leaves.He comes <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>inside 10 min later and asks me who the guy is,
who all these people are and says he has missed me. I send him home and say he
is drunk. The restraint closes at midnight and me,Irish,Indian chick he likes,
hot accent and 2 other s decide to head to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Irish’s pad near mine which is an hour walk from where they all stay.
Everyone is worried about how they are going to get home so me and Irish tell
them not to worry we have spare beds.Lies.We have a double bed each. We go to
the local Indian pool club and it’s closed but a quick bang on the door and
they open up for us. We sit talking till 5 am. Hot accent is from Bangladesh
but moved to Melbourne when he was 8.He is now 25.I keep my age quiet.lol.Time
to leave and Indian chick is going to Irish’s, the 2 others are walking back
and me and hot accent are heading to my place. We creep down the 86 steps to my
guest house so we don’t wake Sunny as I feel bad on him and sit up talking
until 9am.Dave and Cathy knock at 10 am and are getting on a 13 hour bus to
Armritsar.No way. I agree to follow them in 2 days as I need to rest and
chill.hey thought that would be the case and head off to 47 degree
armritsar.Sod that. Well, no need for details but let’s just say the 5month sex
drought is no more and this guy is really nice. I never felt awkward, paranoid
or did the whole Paula rigmarole of I feel fat. Well maybe I did a first but
this guy is so nice. Full of compliments, funny, nice personality and A HOT
ACCENT! HAHA Sunny wasn’t too impressed when he seen he leaves my room in the
morning and gave me a look of death. I asked him what his problem was and he
apologized saying he was Hun govern. Later that day we meet up for dinner and
have another night talking for hours-well maybe me chatting his ear off. Next
day we meet up with Irish and hear his tale of how after all the ground work he
put in, in 2 nights he ended up with a little kiss.haha bless him. Next day me
and hot accent were both leaving going in different directions and had a
farewell lunch with Carly and said our goodbyes. We may bump into each other in
the next couple weeks or not. I think I learnt a lot from this guy as well as Tushita.
He gave me a lot of self confidence and made me feel good about myself. I
believe everyone you meet you meet for a reason. I know all my mates and family
say you’re no fat, you’re not fat, you’re not ugly blab la blab but you never
listen to those closest to you. Hearing it from someone you barely know is a
different story. I feel a lot more confident and need to stop thinking like a kid.
I’m 30 and need to grow up it’s not all about my figure I should appreciate
what I have egg my AMAZING personality loll and get on with it. So yeah let’s
just say I am the happiest I have ever been in the last few years and am
looking forward to thinking positive and looking at my life in a different view!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>5<sup>th</sup> June</u></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sunny was an ass hole when I left yesterday. I said I’m
leaving he said well, whatever.Sweet.Me and Irish headed to Srinagar to meet up
with Cathy and Dave. The Indian chick is heading here too that’s more the
reason he came.21 hours travelling in 47 degree heat is not comfortable.
Driving through Punjab and stopping for lunch I got a million stares more than normal.
The Punjabi’s are terrible for it. Arrive in Cashmere. My god these people are stunning.
It’s like a catwalk of models walking down He Street. The men are gorgeous but sill
all has the Indian playboy mentality. Met a few nice cashmere lads with Irish
Indian chick ode and spend the day sightseeing, went to one of the man’s houses
for an amazing lunch cooked by his wife. He lived in an amazing 10 bedroom
mansion with a massive vegetable patch. We ate fresh salad for lunch from the garden.
Last night they took us for a nice drive in their flash cars to a really
beautiful river spot. We had ONE beer each after the 40min drive then headed to
the local Cashmere bib house. I ate bib mutton after not eating meat for 5 months.
It was nice but I felt afterwards I would have enjoyed a big plate of bib
veggies instead. I asked the Indian girl did she like Irish or is he wasting
his time. She did. Cool! I played cupid told Irish this and he left me this
morning to travel with her. I am sharing my room with an Israeli we met on the
bus so we both save costs. It was really weird climbing into bed with someone I
didn’t know but we got chatting today and he’s sound. Nice guy just travelling
the world like me. Waiting for CATHY AND Dave to arrive so we can plan our next
2 week adventure!</div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-5576788396892744712012-05-19T05:23:00.000-07:002012-05-19T05:23:29.884-07:00wankers.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Up until today I have not wrote about ‘wankers’ in the blog
so I do not worry my mum and dad.But after today’s wanking incident I want to
tell you all about the ‘Indian wankers.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My first ‘wanker’ experience was in Shimla.
Me,Sorcha,Kiera,Steve and Sally where strolling down the street and a lad of
about 25 ran past us and stood in a door way at the side of the street.We
thought he was having a pee.He then turned to face us and started wanking.What
did we do?We just walked past him, not uttering a word,we were shocked and
disgusted but what do you do? Steve started pulling out wanking jokes and we
just carried on as normal.Thats the thing in India nothing suprises me
anymore.Around every corner there is something weird and just when you thought
it couldn’t get any weirder BAM! A wanker pops out!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A few weeks after that I seen a man wanking in a bus station
whilst I was sitting on a bench waiting for a bus.He was standing at the side
of a bus wanking looking straight at me.I moved where I could not see him and
where he could not see me and carried on eating my samosa.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A few nights ago<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was walking home from school,it was dark and I was alone.I seen the Indian man
in front of me standing in the road and did not notice he had his lil indian
penis out.As I got closer I realised he did and speeded up walking to the left
of him.You know when you walk down the street and someone is in your way,you
are both going in the same direction and you sort of do a dance to get past
each other?It was like that.He just stood there wanking,I moved left,he moved
left,Imoved right,he moved right. When I finally pushed past him I ran for my
life whilst screaming ‘sister fucker’ down the street.Sister fucker,a bit like
mother fucker is the worst sware word you can say to an Indian.That is the
first time I have used this word in India.He was really skinny and I probably
could have smashed him but it terrified me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To top it all off
last night I was in bed.There are bars on my windows and the windows were
locked.I was watching 8 mile with my headphones in and seen something in the
corner of my eye.The window is about 3 ft from my bed.The light was off in my
room and I could see that there was someone peeping through the window.All I
could see was eyes and a nose.My stomach was turning,my heart beating fast and
I just did’nt know what to do!! Itried to feel around for my phone without him
noticing and set off the ring tone.I then pretended to speak to my invisible
friend who would be coming to my room in a few minutes.He stayed there a few
secs then ran off.I jumped up and checked all the locks before jumping under
the covers.I stayed under the covers all night.I could not sleep for hours.I
think it was probably one of the most scariest moments in India-apart from when
I had weed in my pants and thought we were going the police station!I reported
it to my hotel manager<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>today and he told
me not to worry nobody can get into my room,keep it<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>locked..Well, that makes it ok then?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today at school I cried with laughter. Mr.long gave me his
note pad to write something down.I turned to the back page and there were
various questions he had wrote.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘’Have you ever had sex with a goat? Have you ever had sex
with a dog? Have you had a penis in your ass?’’ He was bright red with
embarrassment as was I, but I was trying to keep my laugh in.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘’Have you asked anybody these questions?’’ I asked. He told
me no. ‘’OK. Well make sure you don’t.Or you will never get an English
girlfriend.OK?’’ He agreed and took back his book.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had tears rolling down my face.The other men wanted to see
what the comotion was about and dragged the book off him.They did not find it
funny .One of the monks could not understand and Mr.Long tried to translate, I
cut him off and we moved onto our next subject. Homosexuality.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 365.25pt;">
One of the men asked me do I know
anybody that is gay.When I said yes the class was amazed and started asking all
sorts of questions.I decided to use Andy and Pauli as my subjects and told them
how they met,how they got married and showed them photographs of the happy couple.
‘’But they are so handsome,why can’t they find a girlfriend?’’ “How will they
have children?” “Do you think it is ‘normal?’” I was bombarded with questions
and after an hour of debating about ‘gay people’ only one of the group thought
it was sort of ‘ok’.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 365.25pt;">
In Tibet when a man marries a
woman if he has a brother/s it is tradition that the brother shares his wife
with the other brother/s. I explained to them how in the UK we do not do that
and they must understand cultures are different.I told them if this happened
with my Brothers there would be a murder. It’s funny they thought sharing their
wife was fine but homosexuality was not normal.They told me in the west they
hear about divorce,break ups,affairs etc and in Tibet everybody is happy.So<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked my student<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who lives with his brother and his wife and 3
kids,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 365.25pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“So your wife.When you come here to school,
you say bye bye to your wife and she says bye bye to you and then she makes
love to your brother?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Yes” he replied
laughing at my honesty. I asked him who the kids call father? He said the two
eldest call him dad and the brother uncle but the youngest child calls them
both father. Very confusing, but<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I agree
with him if it works why not? They are all happy and not hurting anybody so why
the hell not?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 365.25pt;">
Mr.Long then asked me would I
like it. “No,one man is enough for me”I replied. “That is good!I have no
brothers!” He said. The class erupted in laughter. Mr.Long is hilarious and
quick.Any chance he gets to hit on me he will but in a jokingly way. Today’s
class was fun, I left giggling thinking of all the random shit we chat about.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 365.25pt;">
Today I feel like shit.I am
hot,sweaty,weak,I have diorheaa and a massive headache.I keep feeling like I
want to be sick but can’t. I cancelled school today and spent the day
sleeping,shit,sleeping,shit and then spend thenight vomiting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 365.25pt;">
I can’t find the strength to get
to the Doctors which is a hike up the 184 stairs that lead to the main road so
I stay at the hotel drinking lots of water. Tseng texts me and tells me if I
need anything to call her.Bless her.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 365.25pt;">
Last night I got so scared
something serious was going to happen to me I got the hotel manager’s mobile
number and asked could I call him if I was scared or needed a doctor.I spent
half the night on all fours vomitting nothing with massive stomach cramps.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 365.25pt;">
Today I seen something I did not
want to see in the toilet.WORMS.Little,skinny,white wriggly worms are coming
out of my ass.Shit! Time to go the doctors.It took me a while getting up the
stairs in the blistering heat,I was borking with the smell of the sewer that
runs down every Indian street and felt like I was going to faint.I ran to a
local shop and asked the man could I sit in the shade of his shop for a bit.
Ten min later I was walking to the doctors feeling like death.4 hours later and
I had a bag of pills,some electrolyte powder and a diagnosis of a stomach bug
and worms.He told me I must have had a bit of dirt under my nail or something
before I ate.Great.There is a reason for cutlery INDIA!!! God damn it! I buy
some anti bacterial gel for my hands and sware to use it every hour of the day.
Roll on Australia and cutlery!I will have probably forgotten how to use a fork
and knife by the time I am back!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 365.25pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see and smell sewers everyday in India but
today my body could not take it.I dry retched all the way home from the doctors
whilst people gave me strange looks along the way.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 365.25pt;">
Today I feel a bit better and
have only been sick once.I still have diorheaa and worms.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 397.5pt;">
Last night I was up vomitting but
I feel fine today so I am going to school.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 397.5pt;">
Just finished school.My class told
me I did not look handsome today.To be fair I look like shit but I feel a
lot<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>better.I can’t sit still the worms
are wriggling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 397.5pt;">
Today I feel fresh and healthy and
after 3 days of eating only 2 slices of toast and beans I ate a bowl of plain
rice and vegetable momo.Momo how I have missed you.I did feel fine until a few
hours later. Toilet!!!!! I am so glad I am in a room with a normal toilet.God
bless you western toilet you are my saviour today.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 397.5pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another day and I have no squits,no pains but
my little wormy visitors are still here.At school today I met another teacher
from Liverpool who is taking my place and we figured out we know each others
friends.He has not seen his friend who is my mate’s father in 20 years.Weird,it
really is a small world.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 397.5pt;">
I told my class I it was my last
lesson today, printed them off some photographs and wrote them a nice card.
They were very appreciative and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sad.
Mr.Long in particular had tears in his eyes when we hugged.He also tried to cop
a feel of my ass when we took photos..hahah he cracks me up! They presented me
with a white scarf which the Tibetan people use as an offering(puja) or
blessing and gave me lots of hugs and handshakes. I was really sad but stayed
strong and never cried(in front of them.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 397.5pt;">
When I left the class I checked my
emails and to my delight I have been given a place on a ‘Introduction to
Buddhism’ course. A ten day course involving meditation, philosophy teachings ,
and all things to do with Buddhism. I am so excited and happy . I will not
speak for 10 days which I am fine about and hope at the end of the course I
know a lot more about Buddhism, how to meditate and I hope I will have gained
‘something’ from this experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
will be no laptop,mobile phone,internet ,no talking,no caffiene or connection
with the outside world so I am going to sneak in a note pad and write daily so
I can update the blog on my release! So, it looks like I am not leaving McLeod
Ganj at all , well not just yet.My class will be so happy when I surprise them
tomorrow!I will have another 4 days here before my course begins in the Tushita
monestry in Dharamkot. If you would like to see what I am doing and where I am
going click on <a href="http://www.tushita.com/">www.tushita.com</a></div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-59323663913690302192012-05-13T23:15:00.002-07:002012-05-13T23:15:32.924-07:00School dayz.................<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">My second day at class and the air is filled with the smell of cheap Indian
aftershave and essential oils.I think the men are a bit excited about having a
new female teacher! The men who have hair, have slapped some gel on and one guy
in particular Mr.Long has a crisp ironed shirt on,some tight jeans and a
massive cowboy belt.Mr.Long has the brightest,rosiest,chubbiest cheeks and the
largest,widest smile.His eyes are wide with excitement when I tell stories and
he has the biggest personality in the class.He tells me that the 61 year old
monk has lost the key to unlock his brain.A lot of the other men get jealous
when he talks as they never get a word in edge ways! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The quietest man in the class is a 61 year old monk.He is always smiling
but very shy.He tells me he does not like sitting next to Mr.Long as it gives
him a head ache and he says Mr.Long has lost his mind.He thinks he is
crazy.These two men really clash and it's funny to watch them in action.As soon
as Mr.Long shouts across the classroom or raises his hand the monk has his bald
head in his hands.Haha.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Today's topic is Mr.Longs love life. He has a wife in Tibet but she now has
a new man and he is searching for a new wife. He says he is not fussy, he just
wants someone British so he can marry them and return<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to Tibet with his new British passport to
visit his children.They also must have money to pay for the flights. We all sit
and debate for hours how he is wrong in judging people by their nationality but
he won't have it.He wants a British wife and that's it! Half the time we are in
stitches laughing at his thoughts. ''British ladies are beautiful, they have
nice hair and skin, they have good jobs and make nice children.'' He begs me to
help him find a bride.I give him a few dating website addresses,chat up lines
and hints on finding love(Like I know a lot about that!). That night when I go
home I print off a photo I have of him for a joke make a poster. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">I stick the photo on a sheet of paper and write underneath it ''Mr.Long,
aged 36, seeking<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>rich British wife for
love, citizenship and fun.Must have money,fair skin and a British passport!''</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Next day at school the poster brings a lot of laughs to the class room and
we have another lesson on love.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<u><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Thursday.</span></u><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The main English teacher at the school asks can he have a word with me.I am
walking into the office feeling like a naughty child at school.I think I
already know what this is about. Mr.Long had only gone and asked the teacher
could he photocopy the poster!! I tried to explain why I did this but it was
just plain embarrasing.I could feel myself going red. He tells me if I want to
continue to volunteer at the school I must be professional.I bite my lip and
leave the office laughing inside.Imagine if he knew what we talked about in
class!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I start class I explain to
the group about the poster being a joke,they all knew this anyway and give
Mr.Long shit for getting me into trouble.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Today's topic is Australia. Two of my students have just won the Australian
visa lottery and have 12 months before they are sent to Sydney. One is a 31
year old monk and the other a 26 year old girl called Tsering.I tell them about
kangaroos, crocodiles, all things Australian and promise to show them some
photographs next lesson. The other men are so happy for them and no resentment
at all is shown.This is a dream come true for all of them. They are both so
nervous, but so excited. They do not know anything about Australia only that
there are kangaroos, sharks and crocodiles. I tell them how clean it is,how
there are no car beeps like in India and how they can drink water out of the
tap.This excites them more than anything. I feel sorry for them too as they
will be venturing into a completly different way of life and society. We
promise to keep in touch and I promise to fly them to Cairns and take them
fishing, go to the beach and introduce them to all my friends. They are so
excited, bless. It's days like this I appreciate how lucky I am to live in
Australia and come from a 'normal' country.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<u><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Friday</span></u><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Today I worked at the local Rogpa nursery cleaning, making flyers,helping
craft class and took one of the kids to the temple for an hour.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Trust me to get he strongest 19 month
old.He pulled my hair,pinched me, and nearly deafened me screaming when I
returned him to class.I finished the day by handing out some flyers around town
to the locals for the nursery charity day and then I had to head to English
school.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Today we looked at photographs on each others laptops.One of the men showed
my photographs of Tibet.AMAZING.It was beautiful.Crystal clear lakes, turquoise
lagoons, snow capped mountains and miles and miles of deserted
countryside.This place looks like heaven.I must go.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tseng tells me she is going to visit
her aunt in the local 'nunnery' tomorrow (that's what they call convents
here)and asks me would I like to join her.Why not.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<u><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Saturday</span></u><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I meet Tseng bright and early at 7am
and bless her she has sneaked me a cup of tea in a flask and a piece of Tibetan
steamed bread from the school canteen as she knew I had not eaten breakfast.She
told me we were heading to Norbulingka which is 6k away. She tells me we have
to get 3 local buses and they cost 4 rupees each(8cents) as a taxi is too
expensive(200rupees-4$)I really want to offer to pay for a taxi as it will be
easier,quicker and comfier but it's awkward and I don't want her to feel
awkward so I keep quiet.She won't let me pay the fare and it's too busy to
argue. It's boiling hot, the buses are packed but strangely peaceful.There are
no Indians at all on the buses.The buses are full of Tibetan monks and nuns traveling to visit family,temples or to the markets as Sunday's are their days
off.They just sit on the bus reading bibles,books or meditating.The only noise
is the horn and the screeching brakes of the bus as we turn corners on the
mountains.2 hours later and a steep 15 min climb up a hill and we arrive at
Dolma Ling Buddhist nunnery.On the way we pass a fruit stall and I ask Tsering
can I buy her Aunty some fruit.After a few min arguing she reluctantly lets me
buy a water melon. I wish I had bought a bunch of bananas this thing is bloody
heavy!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The nunnery is huge,a big red bricked building set on gardens filled with
English flowers,sprawling green gardens,a stream running around the gardens,a
huge temple and shrine to the Dalai Lama outside,no traffic,no noise, the smell
of flowers and the sound of birds singing in the sunshine.It is beautiful.It
makes me think of my nan looking at all the English flowers.All the plants I
look at are what my man used to have in her back yard.I have not seen these for
years.I think this is a little sign she is with me so I say a quick hello and
have a little conversation with her in my head...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We head to her Aunty's room which we
are not allowed to enter and are greeted by a shy,red faced smiling bald nun
wearing the famous maroon robe.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Her aunt is 46 years old and has been here for 7 years.She cannot speak any
English and has never met an English person before so she is very quiet.It's a
bit awkward at first but after a few minutes we are laughing,joking and she is
holding my hand.She takes me around the nunnery showing me the libary,prayer
hall,classrooms and finally the kitchen.The kitchen is so tiny, I cannot believe
they can feed 200 people from here.But it is spotlessly clean.I would say
cleaner than any kitchen I have EVER seen in my 15 years in the catering
industry.To be fair the whole complex is clean,spotless and I would eat my
dinner off the floor.It is so quiet here.Me and Tseng joke we should be nuns
and join the nunnery and live in this amazing place.We sit in the gardens and
eat the melon whilst the nunnery cows munch the grass around our feet.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Midday a massive gong strikes and the nuns flock to the dining hall to eat
their noodle soup for lunch.We all go outside to the local Tibetan noodle house
and eat a delicious dish of noodles and vegetables. I am trying my best to use
chopsticks.The two girls finish in seconds slurping and whipping up the noodles
like masters with the chopsticks.It takes me nearly 15 minutes and I have more
on the front of my top than on the plate! Tseng will not let me pay for lunch
and I feel terrible but accept when she says ''If you are my friend you will
let me buy you lunch.Please.'' She only gets given 6$ a month to live off from
the school fund and I know even though it's only $1.20 for all our lunch it is
a big spend for her.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Aunty makes a call to Tibet from the local phone shop whilst we sit and
drink hot water from the flask she brought. We finally say our goodbyes late
afternoon and head back home. What a beautiful day.Peace,quiet,nature and
beautiful company.I head back to school with Tseng and hang out in her room with
her for an hour much to her delight.By 6.30pm I am shattered and head home to
get a shower,I stink.When I leave I receive a text from Tseng,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>''I am very happy today so I want
you to know.You make me happy.I am happy to have a friend.OK,good night and I
hope you have sweet dreams.I look forward to conversation class tomorrow.
XXXX.''</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Bless her. From what I have experienced travelling Asia, Asians are very
young at heart and very innocent. It sometimes annoyed me and Sorcha when we
made friends, they would tell us they loved us and would not leave us alone for
a second. Calling, texting,emailing etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But today I think I have met a friend for life who has a good heart,
good morals and beautiful personality. She has been through so much at such a
young age and is so happy and full of life.She has nothing compared to us in
the west but refuses to let me pay for my lunch and bus fare.I really want to
give her some money when I leave but I don't think it's appropriate.I am going
to buy her some toiletries and a nice gift she can keep to remember me by.We
had such a nice day I even rang home to tell my mum about it.It's amazing, some
people you meet for only a few hours and you have strong feelings for them.Such
a nice girl.I am looking forward to seeing her in class tomorrow and telling
the boys about our little trip.</span></div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-18208870476749652012-05-10T01:27:00.001-07:002012-05-10T01:27:35.518-07:00FREE TIBET..<br />
Wow! I have so much to write! Where to start!?<br />
Me and one of the Irish lads finally left Vashist and headed to Kasol for the 'Shiva Squad' trance festival we had heard about. I only enjoy trance if I am on drugs or pretty pissed so this was going to be interesting as I planned not to drink or take any drugs.<br />
After a scary 8 hour local bus journey we arrived in Kasol. It was a bit hotter which was nice, the sun was shining and we found a great guest house after a few minutes of searching. The guest house was run by local baba's who greeted us with a chillum (massive pipe of hash) and a cup of steaming hot coffee. I have been saying for the last few weeks I am going to stop smoking hash but with the weather being so cold in Vashist and the local traveller hang out being a pot den it has'nt happened. Judging by the welcome chillum it definately was not going to happen here.<br />
It turns out Irish is a massive stoner so it's going to be pretty difficult not to smoke. The last 2 weeks the first thing I have been doing in the morning is having a joint. I really need to quit and decide to make a rule for myself. No joints till after 5pm. That rule did not happen and day 3 in Kasol I had already smoked my brains out.<br />
The day of the rave I decided not to smoke as I have been pretty anti social lately and basically a complete stoner. I wanted to wake up fresh and lively and enjoy the day. The hippies I met arrived but did not want to pay the 20$ entry fee so I decided to go with Irish and pay entrance whilst they searched the forest for a gap under the fence. The rave was from 10 am till 10 pm which we never found out till 3pm so we quickly grabbed some beers and headed into the forest.<br />
The place was empty apart from a few food stalls and about 30 Israelis smoking pipes and joints. The air was thick with smoke and the area was the size of half a footy pitch.As with everything in India I should know not to expect too much! Trance music was pumping way too loud and after an hour I felt like the same tune was playing over and over again. I decided to be social and have a few beers and make the most of it. This is the loudest music I have heard for months and I start enjoying it. I refuse joints off the fellow ravers and chat with random hippies in the circle. That's he thing about India you can go ino any coffee shop or smoking den and there is always a joint or pipe being passed around. You can sit there all day and there are so many of you smoking we all probably roll 2 joints each and we always have one in our hand.I remember when I was young there was always arguments, bets and debates who was going to 'roll the next joint'. This would have been heaven!<br />
Within a few hours me and Irish are a bit merry and get up to have a boogie. Some of the people around us are off their faces making shapes and pulling the strangest faces. We are offered MDMA and have a little 'try before we buy' but it's rubbish so we just stick to the drink. 10pm arrives, we leave and head home. Back home we play music, have a few joints and chat till the wee hours. Irish tries his luck, I tell him where to go and head to my room. I like this guy but not like that. After no sex for 5 months you're probably wondering am I mad?Maybe I am. My excuse not to was ''I hate beards.''<br />
Next morning the beard was gone. Awkward dot com.<br />
I headed to a guest house where you rent a room which has a massive hot bath.The hot water comes straight from the springs and costs 40 cents for 20 minutes. It takes me a while to immerse my whole body in as it's so hot but once I stop being a pussy and slip under the hot water I feel amazing-although I was paranoid whilst sitting in the bath because of the many holes in the walls and ceiling and kept wondering was their some old Indian man peeping through whilst 'banging one out!'<br />
I mentioned before how I love Israeli travellers. I take it all back.Here they are like brits abroad. Rowdy, noisy, they take over every bar they come across and here in kasol it is like little Israel. The menus are in Hebrew,the signs are in Hebrew and the Indian food vender's are selling falafels and lafas! I have had enough of little Israel and decide to head to Dharamsala. Vashist was way prettier than Kasol.<br />
Oh, and may I mention I have finally stopped smoking so I can detox my body for 3 months so I can pass my drugs test for work.I have not had a join for 3 days now.<br />
Dharamsala is best known as the home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile are based here.There are all sorts of courses available here from yoga, to cooking, to hypnosis. I find a really nice guest house with my own private shower and toilet which is a rarity in India and am pretty excited about my '24 hr hot shower!' The room is the cleanest I have ever rented.Even the bathroom is spotless! Yes!! I have 3 hot showers today.Bliss!<br />
It's really hot here and it feels weird not wearing my fleece. Now is the perfect time to wash it and after 5 months of travelling without washing my fleece once ( I always need it!) it takes me 7 hand washes before the water runs clear!<br />
In the morning I see a man walking up and down the stairs with massive barrels of water. An hour later he is still going...up, down, up , down. He is hunched over with the massive barrel on his back, with rope strapped onto his forehead holding the barrel on his back. I ask my landlord what he is doing. The landlord tells me he is filling up the water tank for the showers. I feel terrible.I have been having 3 showers a day because I have not had my own CLEAN, private, HOT shower in months. From this moment on I have been using as little water as I can and even brush my teeth with bottled water and not turn on the tap!<br />
I attended a Tibetan cooking class yesterday and I can proudly say I have now mastered my favourite Tibetan treat MOMO's!<br />
FREE TIBET<br />
Today has been a day that I will remember for the rest of my life.<br />
I spotted a cute cafe advertising the fact that all it's profits go to Tibetan refugees so I decided to have a coffee. The cafe also sells local handicrafts handmade by Tibetan women in the crafts factory they own.The Tibetan woman are given a fair wage and free childcare to work in the factory.I got talking to the barrister and a cup of coffee turned into a 3 hour chat about Tibet, China, communism and his old life in Tibet. I don't know much about the history of Tibet or China's invasion but after speaking to this guy I was moved, upset, and angry I did not know the history and wanted to know more. I headed to the local Tibetan Museum where I read newspaper articles, stories of Tibetan refugees, stories of Tibetan prisoners, watched a few documentaries, looked at photographs and left 2 hours later with a lump in my throat ready to burst into tears. I found a quiet spot down an alley and cried.I don't think I have been this upset since Andy died.I don't know why it affected me like this? I got myself together and headed to the Tibetan Temple next door. I sat in the temple all afternoon listening to the monks chanting mantras, I said a few prayers myself, watched the world go by and got chatting to a monk who could speak good English. He told me about a school close by that accommodates male ex political prisoners of war and Tibetan refugees.The school provides accommodation, food and teaches them English, Tibetan history and religion along with many other things. Their is no age limit at the school, the men here are aged 16 to 70.He tells me they are always looking for people to drop in and chat so they can practise their English. I got directions and headed straight there. I was very nervous but to be fair talking is what I do best so I figured it would not be that hard! I headed into the building and was greeted by a smiling Tibetan man called Jinsun. He led me to a room and we sat and chatted over a cup of tea. He is 34 years old and escaped from Tibet 2 years ago. It took him 18 days to walk from Lhasa to Kathmandu. He told me all about his old job as a tour guide in Lhasa, how he misses his family and how it upsets him he cannot return to his family.He escaped without telling a soul and regrets its so much. He does not like India, he does not like Indian food and misses his family so much.I kept a brave face and listened but inside I was crying for this man.How can China do this? I am so angry I visited China 4 years ago.Had I known any of this I would never have gone. He asked me had I ever been to China.I lied. I have a chinese flag tattoo on my foot and chinese writing on my back for god sake!I am so angry with myself.I love the tatoo on my foot but the chinese tattoos have to go. As soon as I get to Australia I'm getting them removed.<br />
Another man overhears our conversation and joins us.His name is too long to remember.He has the longest name in the school.I refer to him as Mr.Long.<br />
Mr.Long escaped 6 years ago and has a wife and 2 children in Tibet. He escaped to earn more money and get a job as it was hard in Tibet. What he did not realise was that to get a job in India he must speak English. It took him 2 months to walk to India and on the way him and his friend where attacked by the chinese.They managed to escape but his friend had been shot in the arm. He helped his friend all the way and when they got to Nepal his friend was suffering from serious frost bite and his arm had to be amputated.His friend was sent back to Tibet for hospitalisation and is still imprisoned there. Because he helped his friend he was allowed into India. He showed me photos of his children who are now 8 and 6, a boy and girl and told me it has been 2 years since he heard their voice. Why? Because the chinese cut the phone masts in the village where they live so the only way he can communicate with them is by letter. Like Jinsun, he too misses home but he seems a lot happier in India than Jinsun does. He told me his wife now has a boyfriend and he too is searching for a girlfriend, preferably a westerner so he can get a different passport and return to Tibet to see his children. It's crazy how if they leave their country they will be imprisoned on their return.I just don't get it. I hate china.I hate the Chinese government and I hate the fact that nobody can do anything to stop this. We then move onto the subject of marriage and children and I am now the topic of conversation because at the age of 30 I am still single with no children. The clock strikes 7 and I have been there 4 hours and it's time to go as they are having dinner. I promise to return tomorrow with my hard drive of movies so that they can practise their English skills more of course!<br />
I head back to the cafe to tell the barrister all about my day but he is not there. A Korean volunteer who can't speak much English is making coffee. I read a few notices on the board in the cafe and see that there is a local nursery also run by the same charity as the cafe. They provide free childcare so that the Tibetan refugee women can go to work at the local crafts factory that they also run.You can sign up and help at the nursery which has 50 odd children all under the age of 3. I sign myself up and buy a few postcards and another coffee.<br />
A group of Indian tourists stroll past the cafe then turn back and rush in for a photo. I tell them they can have a photo with me only if they all put a donation in the donation box.They agree. The first guy takes a photo and puts the smallest coin in the tin possible so I refuse a photo with the next guy unless they stick their hand in their pocket.About ten photos later I have sold a handmade Tibetan bag, a handmade shawl and the donation box is heavier. The Indian's leave and someone orders a coffee with me thinking I work there lol....<br />
I head back to my room and tearfully watch 7 years in Tibet.<br />
What an emotional day. I have learnt so much today my head is sore. I know I cant change the world and free Tibet but there must be something I can do...........................................<br />paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-54818236237151417302012-05-03T06:13:00.000-07:002012-05-03T06:16:25.088-07:00Leaving Vashisst...<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, the last few days have been spent with
people I would not normally hang around with in my 'normal' everyday life. My
daily routine the last week has been pretty much the same. I wake up whenever I
wake up, head down to the local hot spring baths for my morning shared shower
with the local Indian women,have a breakfast of vegetable soup, morning stroll
through the mountains and then the rest of the day is spent in the local cafe
'shanti,shanti' drinking chai,eating soup and momo's for dinner, listening to
strange tales, opinions and smoking charras.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Harry Potter boy is starting to really annoy me
and I don't know how long I can bite my tongue for. Yesterday he comes into the
bar carrying an axe, some dodgy twigs and bag of shells,cotton and shit bits.
He tells me he went for a picnic and tried to start his own fire. ''Bear grylls
style?'' I said. ''Bear Grylls is an over rated idiot'' he replies. What a
twat. He then carries on his tale of how to start a fire, how he made yak
cheese and tomato sandwiches and met some cool indians bla bla bla bla bla bla
. I asked him why would he try to start his own fire.I mean really.What's the
point???? AHHHH! Paul the irsish lad loves how this lad grates on me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The only thing that's really bugging me is the
morning bath ritual. It's freezing in
the room when I wake up so it takes me a few minutes to drag myself from under
the duvet.I get dressed and head down to the local bath in the temple which is
only about 2 min walk away. Then I get undressed, washed, bath and then have to
get out the hot baths into the cold air outside in the temple court yard to get
dressed.I then run home dodging the cow shit and muck through the farm and get
undressed and dressed once again. It feels like the old days when people used
to go to outdoor toilets. Sod that. I cant wait to get up in Cairns and not
have to go outside to use the toilet or run down the street to get a bath or
get a shower with a jug and bucket.I cannot wait for a REAL shower and red wine
and cheese on the esplanade.MMMMMMmmmm.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">It's nice and hot in the day which is good but
the cold nights are starting to annoy me a bit. I think I feel the cold more
now because I'm not sharing a bed. It's nice having my own space and only
having to worry about myself.I am enjoying 'me' time but also missing
travelling with Sorcha and missing Leanne too.It felt like she was here for
longer than 4 weeks.It actually only hit me today the 3 months I have left are
going to go so fast as the last 5 months have and I need to start aking the
most of every day!Not that I have'nt been bu it's going to be the end of my
trip in no time and I'm going to wish I was back here. I am so glad I came to
Manali it is a very chilled out and easy place to travel.If everywhere in India
was like this I'd have less grey hairs!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">I have been in Vashist nearly 2 weeks now and
keep saying I am going to move on but I never do. It's a nice place, the locals
are lovely,nice views,stunning scenery,the food is amazing,the weed is awesome
and I love it here.So why move? Well, I only have 7 weeks left in India and I
hear there are more amazing places like this up North, so it's time to make the
most of my remaining time and go and explore!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">A couple of days ago I took part in another
cooking class with a local Indian lady who runs the local orphanage. I learn t
how to make a few more tasty treats but I still prefer to cook and eat thai.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The local momo stall where I eat everyday I will
remember forever. I made the lady who owns and runs it, a little Face Book page
for her momo stall and she knitted me some woolen socks as a thank you.They are
gorgeous and so warm! She taught me how to make tibetan soup, and gave me her
secret recipe for her famous Momo's! I can't wait to get back to Oz and have a
momo night with the gang.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">I invested in a pair of unattractive long johns
and a cute pair of Gap jeans yesterday. It is so cold now and felt so weird
wearing tight jeans.I have been used to baggy pants the last few months but up
here nobody is bothered if you wear tight clothing or not, I always have a
blanket wrapped around me anyway.Oh and may I add the jeans are a size smaller
han when I left Cairns!BAM!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">I got up early today and went down to the local springs
to do my laundry.There were two indian ladies there bashing clothes with
cricket bats, wringing out carpets and had a weeks worth of family washing with
them.I squeezed in between them with my little bag of socks and pants and tried
to do my laundry without getting drenched by cricket bat lady.Bitches would no
make room for me so I just sat and rolled a joint and watched.9am and I'm
smoking.I'm making the most of it as I have 13 days left before I'm going to
give up the weed for the mines.God help me.It;s going to be hard if it's like
this place everywhere I go.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> An hour
passed, they were done, my washing wash done and it was time to find something
other to do than sit in Shanti Shanti smoke cafe.Today it was nice and sunny so
I headed down the lane for a nice walk. One eyed Willie was bored so we both
went to pick some fresh weed, tea and herbs en route to the temple. Ate some
homemade coconut cookies, had a smoke and drank fresh chai at one of the
farmers houses on the way back.Nice day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">I have been hanging out with 4 Irish lads the last
few days who are sound lads. One of the lads it turns out knows a few of my
mates Kev and Lego from Oz so we got on well and had things in common.I decided
I was leaving today so me and Jerr have decided to head further down the valley
together to The Parvtati Valley. The other irish lads and a few of the local
Indian lads will follow down in the next few days as there is a massive trance
party happening there.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Parvati valley is meant to be as beautiful as
here in Vashist and full of Israelis. I'm a bit fond of the old israeli
traveller so I think I'm going to enjoy it there.Who knows?</span></div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-78346247793171688482012-04-24T21:35:00.001-07:002012-04-24T21:35:27.811-07:00Lost in translation...lost in space...<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Me and Paul took a taxi further up the mountains an hour away to the Rotung
Pass. The snow or should I say 'powder' as all these 'snowboard dudes' call it
here was fresh and deep. Apparently snowboarders and skiers come from all
around he world to sample this kind of 'powder'? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Paul did a paraglyde for 7 Min's and zorbed down the hills.Fuck that. I
opted for a cable car ride to admire the stunning views and sat and had a cup
of chai on op of the mountain. Later on we hired some fishing rods and jumped
on a local bus further down the River Beas to a fishing spot a local
recommended to us. After 2 casts my line got caught on a rock and I realised
there were no spare hooks in the tackle box. Great. Radio1 live lounge on the
Ipod it is then.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Paul headed further up stream whilst I got hassled by a few Indian
holidaymakers for photographs with them.I was seeing flashes the amount of
photos they were taking. Snap!Snap!Snap!After 10 min of this my patience was
running thin and I was in the mood to tell them to 'fuck off!' But I bit my
lip. If I have learnt anything in India, one important thing is to keep my
mouth shut and keep my opinions to myself. Yes, really.ha ha. I think I'm
growing up!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The crowd finally dispersed and the heavens opened. It was teeming with
rain and the sun was blocked by all the massive rain clouds.I'm shivering now
and cursing the rod.I jumped under the nearest big rock for shelter, put on my
ipod and rolled a joint. Half an hour passed, Paul returned drenched with a
trout the size of a gold fish and we jumped on a bus to Vashist, another
village close to Manali to organise a trek. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The trek takes three days, climbing 6000ft to the top of the mountain in
snow boots and the 1980's scouse fluro ski suits they provide, camping over
night -03 degrees, learning to snowboard the next day, camping again in the
freezing cold, then the last day snowboarding to the bottom. No way am I doing
that. I can't snowboard or ski and I don't fancy the idea of sleeping on a
freezing cold, flat tent floor, climbing 6000ft,getting mountain sickness and
wearing a fluro ski suit for 2 nights. Paul goes off to buy a shit load of
chocolate for his journey and I move to the village of Vashist for a change of
scenery.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Vashist is an old Tibetan town with lots of wooden houses with slate
roofs,lots of wells,goats,yaks,cows,farms,cow shit, hippies, cheap
accommodation, hot springs,temples, Tibetan restaurants,weird people and has some
of the best views of the Himalayas in India.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">I meet a local Tibetan guy who gives me a room in an old, wooden, Tibetan
house in the middle of a farm in the local village. We have hot running water
24 hours because the water is pumped straight from the hot springs to here. I'm
at the top of the house with a wooden balcony and stunning views across the
Himalayas. It is amazing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">I went to the hot springs today which was a bit weird. Set inside the
temple garden is men and women separate baths. You go down the stairs and go
into a massive outdoor stone room which has a small stone pool steaming with
spring water and showers pumping out spring water. All the Indians and Tibetans
are in the showers naked washing themselves, their children and a weeks worth
of washing. I really did'nt want to get naked in front of all these random
strangers so I sneaked back outside and went and drank chai at our local tea
shop.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Later that day I met some weird, wacky hippies,spongers,gypsies,travellers
who told some tales whilst sipping chai and smoking charras.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">White lad, young fresh face,sounds like a posh southerner, looks like Harry
Potter<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>without the specs walks into the
tea shop wearing what looks like a carpet with a hole cut out for his head and
carrying a wooden flute. Nearly all travellers in India carry an odd instrument
from triangles, to xylophones, to fiddles and bongo drums whatever, it pisses me
off. It's like you're not a 'real' traveller unless you have some annoying
instrument. Anyways, this guy doesn't even introduce himself when he sits down
to join us he just announces, '' I had a dream last night ,that I was sat on
top of a mountain playing the flute. So today for the first time in my life I
bought a flute and guess what? I can play!''</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Randomly he<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>starts belting out the
theme tune to Lord of the rings and I keep telling myself ''don't laugh, don't
laugh Paula. Be nice!' He finishes, there is along silence then we all start to
clap. It's moments like this that I think, only in India. Incredible
India.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The conversation is flowing and I
am not listening properly to the weird stuff going on around me I am thinking
of home, going back to Oz, work, friends and my family when I'm brought back
into the conversation by Harry Potter announcing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>''I have seen some amazing puppies in
Vashist.''</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spit out my tea laughing, as
earlier on, me and Irish had seen an Indian guy in a t-shirt saying 'I like
puppies.' We both thought the same thing and burst out laughing.We know he
means dogs but it's still funny.And it does not help when he then follows it on
by saying, ''Some of them are so cute!'' Nobody is laughing, Harry looks a bit
upset and we have to explain our childish reason for laughing so he knows we
were not laughing at him,for fucks sake! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">As the hours tick by more dread locked beasts join the table talking about
religion, Buddhism, politics, freeing Tibet and all things that I cannot
converse about because I ain't got a clue. I do try to get involved but
there's no point I don't know what their talking about.So I just switch off and
learn how to play 'shit head' with a group of 'normal looking' Irish lads for
the millionth time in my life. I forget card games after a few games, I'm useless
with cards.No memory whatsoever when it comes to card games and jokes. I do not
know one good joke. I always forget them. Every Indian I meet asks me to tell
them a joke. I must learn a few.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Today is a new day so I got up early and decided to take a stroll through
the mountains as the weather was perfect.Clear blue sky, nice cool mountain
breeze and the warm sun. Along the way I met a young Indian lad, age 24 with a
glass eye. I couldn't talk to him properly cause I kept looking at his eye when
I looked him in the eyes. Anyways, one eyed willie aka Shiva was a coffee shop
owner and was out foraging for fresh tea and herbs so I went with him picking
up litter along the way(good karma) and chatting about what all Indian's love
to chat about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A million questions why I
am single?Why I have no kids<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and why am
I not married?...bla bla bla...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">We stop at an old temple and one eyed willie pays his respects whilst I go
and sit next to a baba. A baba is a man in India who dedicates his life to the
gods, wears an orange robe, dreadlocks, more than likely carries a stick and a
metal tiffin box for food. This dude looks like the above and is about 70 years
old smoking a joint. People give the 'baba's' money donations, food, cigarettes
and accommodation. These guys are sorted. They travel from place to place, sleep
in a cave, in the hills, wherever they can, live free, and have a small bag of
belongings. I think it would be a good life- as long as there is always a river
close by to get a wash and lots of generous tourists! I sat and listened to his
prayers, made small chit chat and gave him a cigarette. This baba was real, he
wasn't a fake, some are fake and do it to make money .They then go home to a
nice house and family at the end of the day. Just when it all seemed to good to
be true the old bastard grabs my ass. I smack his hand and then he moves onto
my thigh.Bastard! I knew it. I should have known, sitting out here in the
forest waiting for a random lone traveller. Well,that's it, I'm off. Old
fucker.I smack his hand again calling him a dirty old bastard under my breath.
I pay my respects at the temple and apologise to the gods<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for swearing and then head back to Vashist. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">It's really has been a strange day. On the way back to the village I get
talking to two Indian guys 24 and 39.They are on holiday here and want to know
why backpackers they have tried to approach are rude and tell them to go away.
I assure them we are not all like that and then have to accept the invite of a
cuppa chai. I go back to their room they are renting and sit on the floor. I
thought we were going to a cafe. It's all a bit awkward, they are pumping
questions at me and I wish I had not come. I calm them down talking about my
family and life so they can't get any questions in and one of the guys bring in
4 cups of coffee. I am so paranoid I grab my own cup thinking 'what if they
have drugged me' haha. Funny the things you think sometimes. The youngest lad
who tells me he exports gems and diamonds pulls out a guitar.Hindu hymns are
being sung and played and they make me learn a few hymns. I'm sure these guys
are going to try and make me take some gems or buy stones.You always read about
these scammers. I try to think positive, sometimes well most of the time there
is always an ulterior motive. This time I actually think these guys are genuine
and really do just want to socialise and drink tea with good company.I end up
sitting their for 4 hours chatting,singing and drinking chai but and I need to
leave I still can relax.I make up a story, I have to meet a mate and they ask
me to come back at 8pm for dinner. I say maybe but they insist. I go home get a
shower and have another cup of tea.It's 7.30pm and I really can't be bothered
going but I feel I have to or I will feel bad. I knock at the door and there is
about 10 Indian men all sitting on the floor. I sit down, all eyes are on me,
it's quiet, the TV has been turned off and I cross my fingers and lie, ''I'm
sorry I cannot make dinner, my male friend has arrived and I have to spend time
with him.I will see you all tomorrow.'' I quickly jump up and they are asking
what time? Where?Breakfast?Lunch?'' I tell them I don't know and dash off. Sod
that. I felt so uncomfortable and paranoid. There were too many men who didn't
speak English and me. I wouldn't want the land lady to think I'm I....Oh I
dunno I just did not feel comfortable.Maybe the joints I had earlier that
afternoon had something to do with that paranoid moment! I headed to our local
tea shop 'shanti,shanti' and ordered a cup of chai.I'm going to miss chai so
much in Oz. They're all here tonight, Harry Potter, a London serial squatter
,one eyed willie, a Mexican who looks like Aladdin with the biggest head I have
ever seen, three stoned Korean girls who are drooling over Aladdin and a
Russian chick. Russians are always a bit crazy.I haven't med a calm or 'normal'
Russian ever. This girl was chilled out and cool. We had a few smokes together
and went to get some dinner.She took her hat off<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at dinner and I nearly choked on my samosa.
She has a skinhead with a dread locked multicoloured Mohawk, looked cool though.
We exchanged travel tales whilst getting strange looks off the Indians and I
gave her my hard drive to borrow so she can copy my movies. She better not do a
runner tomorrow or her dread locked Mohecan has had it!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">I'm off for another cup of tea and a smoke then its bed time for me. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">I AM ABSOLUTELY LOVING INDIA RIGHT NOW. What a beautiful place it is up in
the Himalayan Mountains.
Bliss.....................................................................................................................</span></div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-9245210981365915062012-04-20T22:42:00.000-07:002012-04-20T22:43:09.133-07:00Heading into the hills with winter chills..<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN">We headed to the hill station of Missouri by private jeep courtesy of Sally
and Steve. It’s so nice not using public transport although the 5 hour drive
was terrifying. Lots of bends and twists up massive mountain sides speeding
past buses and lorries. At one point a massive coach came whizzing around the
corner and we had to swerve to avoid it. We were inches away from the edge,
4000 ft up and even Steve admitted he was a bit scared! After a death defying
journey we arrive in the hill station of Missouri.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN">It looked like a British seaside town without the seaside. The tiny town
was filled with little tea shops, cake shops, penny arcades,candy floss stalls,
souvenir shops and Steve's favourite, MAGIC SHOPS! People on every corner
selling home made sweets, food and the smell of fresh BBQ corn on the cob
lingered in the air.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN">Steve loves any kind of magic trick and set off into the town with his coin
trick to impress the local magic hawkers. We must have walked round for hours
whilst Steve bought, tried, and tested his magic tricks. He has a smile on his
face every day but this day his smile was much bigger, he was like a kid in a
sweet shop.The Indian magicians loved him and his magic habit!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN">We drank lots of chai, went up the cable car and did what we do best-ate lots
of local delights. Headed back to the hotel with a few bottles of red we found
earlier on and met a young Irish lad, Paul, 22 from Dublin, Ireland but lives
in Sydney. We sat up till the wee hours talking whilst Steve entertained us
with his new magic tricks. He showed me a coin trick and everyone knew how to
do it except me and Paul. Every time I tried and thought I had it I never. It
was getting frustrating and he finally showed me the secret after an hour of me
failing miserably whilst everyone laughed and couldn't believe I couldn't figure
it out. I have practised this trick over and over and am really looking forward
to driving Felon round the bend with it when I'm back in Oz as she will never
get it! Just like me! Marty on the other hand I'm sure will get it but if not
I'm sure he will Google the trick and find out the secret! haha Mr.Google.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN">We spent the next day walking around the town and I decided to leave the
Douglas's 3 days early and continue higher up North with Paul. I am quite glad
I chose to leave earlier unplanned as I was counting down the days till me and
Sorcha would say goodbye and it was better this way as I never had enough time
to dwell on our parting! I had only been with Sally, Steve and Kiera for a
couple of weeks but I even thought leaving them and saying goodbye would be
tough too.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN">The last few weeks have been amazing travelling with such a close,
connected, happy family and even though my mum and dad are better off separated
I really wish I could share this quality time with my family all together. I
wish we were all not so far away living in separate countries, with separate
lives and even though I had the best time it made me feel a little bit sad
wishing I was travelling with my mum and dad and not someone Else's. Although, that
would never happen! My mum would hate India, her idea of a holiday is an all
inc resort for a fortnight with all the home comforts! I wouldn’t even think of
bringing her to India! My dad on the other hand would love everything about it
except the heat. But no, it's been brilliant and I am so glad I got to
experience India with my 'second family' and good friends. When I do finally
settle down I am going to model my family on the Douglas's and make sure we are
as close as them. Sally and Steve have taught me more in 4 years than I learnt
growing up in 20 odd years, they really are an inspiration.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN">We said our goodbyes which was not so bad as we are all moving on with our
next adventure and me and Paul jumped on the local dirty, rickety, packed bus
for a couple of hours drive back down the windy, curvy death defying hill road.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN">An hour after being on the bus my stomach is grumbling, I have a hot sweat
and I know this feeling to well, being in India, if I don't get to the toilet
now I will poo my pants! I've known Paul 5 min and have to swallow my shame and
tell him in a panic 'If we don't stop this bus I'm going to shit my pants!' I
squeeze past all the Indian men who are standing and sitting in the isle and
whilst waving toilet paper in my hand shout to the driver 'toilet please! Stop!
Toilet, toilet, toilet!'</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN">Good enough he stops around a bend in a few minutes. I am running left and
right like a headless chicken looking for somewhere to squat where the 50 odd
Indian eyes that are staring at me off the bus can't see! I see a sort of cave
and run inside. I cant see properly as it's dark but there are a few people in
the cave. shouting quickly toilet,
toilet but they don't answer me. I run back out the what I think was a homeless
persons cave and squat behind what looks like a closed chai mans tea stall. The
buses engine has been turned off by now and the bus can see my head popping
above the chai counter. All eyes are on me(they can only see my head)and I can
hear Paul cracking up laughing. The noise is loud as my bum is exploding
whatever dodgy food I ate out and a few people at the front of the bus can hear
I'm sure!But I couldn't care, it's better this than shitting my
leggings!Finally after a few minutes the deed is done , I'm back on the bus
relieved and can't thank the driver enough for stopping! Paul is still laughing
hard and can' get the picture of me running down the bus like a mad woman
screaming 'Toilet!Toilet!' out of his head for the rest of the journey.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN">We arrive in Dehadrun for our
connecting bus to Shimla at 8pm and are told our next 10 hour overnight bus is
not due till midnight.I am starving but dare not to eat in case my stomach
plays up again.We attract a crowd of intrigued Indians as you always do at any
bus station and answer all their questions of where are we from,what do we do
and how we like India.I always lie and tell them it's my favourite country on
earth and say how much I don't want to leave. I like S.E Asia a hell of a lot
more than India but I will never say that to them! All Indian's I meet are
shocked to hear I am not married with no children at 30 years old to to save
any confusion, long boring conversations and marriage proposals I am now
married to a yoga instructor,who is training in Goa and he is Australian.We may
have children next year.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN">An lady of about 50 wearing Harry potter thick lenses glasses comes and
sits with us and from the minute she sits down and starts talking the little
English she knows we realise she has a screw loose.She is a really nice,happy
chatty,weird,crazy old lady and her smile widens when I tell her me and Paul
are not married and he is single.I buy her a drink and we all sit and chat
about India and where we have been. The group of young Indian college lads are
getting fed up of her talking and move away and the station police comes over
and taps her with his wooden stick and starts shouting at her.Paul jumps up and
protects her and says there is no problem she can sit with us.She looks so
happy bless.Her Irish night in shining armour!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN">The bus arrives at midnight packed full of people?!Why are we waiting for a
bus that is already full?!We are told the next bus is at 6am so we decide to
sleep at the station. The guard tells us there is a dormitory upstairs a dollar
a bed. I have never seen beds at a bus station so we head upstairs to
investigate. There is a massive room with about 50 beds, it stinks of sweat,
curry, stale milk and cheese. I’d say 30 of the 50 people were snoring-my
biggest hate and I would rather sleep downstairs on the floor! He shows us a
private room for an extra dollar with a toilet. We take the room and drift in
and out of sleep for the next 5 hours.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN">The bus arrives half an hour early, quickly fills up and we pop a sleeping
pill that Paul had from a friend in Australia. We fall asleep for 3 hours
immediately and are woken for a tea and curry stop. I jump off and get a tea
and my body feels stoned, my legs are spongy and I feel like I'm walking on the
moon! Paul runs to the fruit man and buys a pineapple. I have no idea how he
plans on eating it on the bus?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN">10 hours pass and we have arrived in Shimla hill station 2300ft safe and
sound. The bus journey felt like it was 5hours long not 10. I pass Paul his
pineapple when we get off the bus and he looks at me weirdly. He can’t even
remember buying the pineapple! Ha, ha he must have been that doped up on the
sleeping tablets he cannot even remember the transaction!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN">Shimla is a lot like Missouri only there were heaps more mountains around
and we were higher up. We went for a walk into the village and met the ex-mayor
of Shimla who took us to her house, introduced us to the family, made us tea
and made us feel at home. Paul played cricket with the kids whilst I got stung
by nettles trying to snap some photographs.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN">There was nothing much to do in Shimla so we decided to head to Manali.
There was no way I was getting the shits on this bus so we paid 12$, our 3 day food budget for one dominoes
cheese and pepperoni pizza to share. The base was thick and soggy, it was
dripping in grease and I felt like a bloated whale after eating it. Paul is a
chocoholic. He eats about six bars a day and after the pizza he ate, dairy
milk, 3 ferreo rocher, a milky bar, a caramel crunchy and something else. I am
trying to be healthy, I hardly ever eat chocolate but when you are travelling
with someone who keeps pulling a bar out of their pockets every hour, it’s hard
to say no to a piece!!! </span></div>
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<span lang="EN">It took 12 long hours to reach Manali on a bus filled with Tibetan monks.
He journey felt like it took forever, it was too noisy to sleep with the
screeching of the brakes, rocky roads and snoring monks. When we got off the
bus at 6am though the journey was worth it!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN">10 degrees, crisp cold mountain air, fog blowing out of our mouths, hot
chai stalls billowing steam out the kettle and the sun rising above the snow
covered Himalayan mountains. A herd of yaks run past us with a Tibetan farmer
wrapped up in a handmade blanket and a woolly Nike hat. Yaks are funny looking
creatures and look like a cross between a sheep and a goat with cute monkey
eyes. There are ladies in the village outside weaving blankets, washing clothes
and making tea.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN">We find a nice guest house run by a local man in the village. Hot water
24hrs a day which is very rare in India, nice shower, balcony views of the
Himalayas, a clean room, big bed and warm blankets all for $3 each! Bargain.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN">We have spent the last few days exploring the villages and hills, country
walks, taking photographs, drinking lots of herbal tea, eating Tibetan momo’s,
Manali fresh river trout, thupka- Tibetan soup and breathing in fresh mountain
air. Manali has the Beas river flowing through the centre of the valley, hot
springs, apple, pear and peach orchards, mountains, hills, waterfalls and
amazing views. Everywhere you look there is a photo opportunity it is a magical
place. He homemade 8% apple cider is a sweet tasty treat as are the peach, pear
and apple wines! </span></div>
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<span lang="EN">I remember being 18 in Amsterdam and smoking Manali weed. Well this is the
place it is grown. It is the 2<sup>nd</sup> best hash in the world and there
are weed fields everywhere you look. I thought it would be rude not to sample
some of the local delights whilst here so I headed to the local chill out cafe
to see what the go was. The Bob Marley lookalike barman told me to head to the
local wool shop and ask for a guy called ‘crazy’. Found the wool shop,
introduced myself to crazy and told him I wanted to buy a pink woolly hat he had
on show and some of his finest hash. A joint later and I’ve bought a new hat
and 10g of Manali’s finest cream hash.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN">We head back to the river bar, order some chai and I make the biggest joint
known to man. I did give up smoking the 29th March so I can be 3 months clean
so I can go back to he mines and pass my drugs test but after speaking to a few
stoners 3 months is not needed only 40 days so I now have another month to
indulge and what better place!Manali.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN">The next few nights are spent listening to music,talking each others ears
off and smoking what has to be the strongest, nicest smoke I had ever smoked.We
take country walks in the day, visit the local villages and Paul tried his hand
at paragliding.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN">The scenery here is some of the best I have seen in India, the spring
temperature in the day is perfect as is the winter chill at night.I am going to
hang around here for a while and try some Tibetan cooking classes and learn how
to make my favourite delight 'Momo's' (a Tibetan steamed dumpling filled with
veggies or chicken served with chili and soy sauce), do some trout fishing and
maybe treat myself to a helicopter ride over the Himalayas!</span></div>
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<br /></div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-82962070138505306072012-04-11T06:20:00.004-07:002012-04-11T20:17:46.154-07:00The Douglas family arrive!!!<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Left it a bit too long again to update the blog so here is the last 3 weeks..<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">After an hour searching for the English bar in Chennai called '10 Downing Street' we finally discovered it at 9.30pm. It looked like an English pub from the outside and suprisingly from the inside too! The bar men did not look English though.The Indian bar men were dressed in 70's clothes, with big scouse afro wigs and looked like Del boy trotter. The menu was well overpriced but we though fuck the budget let's treat ourselves!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">We got talking to a couple of bankers who lived in Chennai. One was an Indian and one was a Kiwi.Before we knew it the bar was closing at 11.30pm and the guys asked did we want to carry on drinking.Hell yeah we did!They bought a bottle of vodka and a bottle of tequila and we left in from what I can remember a posh car with leather interior and chelsea pillows? We arrived at a block of posh apartments and realised that there was no bar it was a 'house party' A house party with us four. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">A roulette table was pulled out with shot glasses and we decided to play 'shots roulette'.From what I can remember the roulette wheel never even got spun we just started necking shots.I returned from the bathroom to Sorcha thinking she was in the bathroom vomitting on the suede sofa.I cleaned her and the sofa up and returned to the lounge.A bit of a blur from this moment on...I remember the Kiwi and I kissing and then I woke up.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">An hours tuk tuk back to our hotel in the blistering heat felt like hell and on returning to the shit hole we discovered the power was out.In the morning we decided to get a tuk tuk to the nearest air conditioned mall seeing as we were in the city and cool down.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">K.F.C was the first thing we seen and a massive meal of shitty food was ordered of which we could only stomach a chicken burger!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Next day we felt a lot better and decided to head back the mall again and treat ourselves to hair cuts and colours.It was the same price as Oz but took 6 hours!!!6 hours in a hairdressers.I was so agitated and the clock seemed to stop.Finally after what felt like 12 hours we were on our way o the airport to fly to Delhi to meet Sally, Steve and Kiera- Sorcha's parents and younger sister.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Was very weird,amazing and exciting seeing the family in the morning and they brought us some lindt easter eggs,my long awaited Lorna Jane Yoga leggings and cuddles.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Next day we got on a plane to Dehadrun, Rishakesh to start our 2 week adventure.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Lots of yoga,family dinners,exploring,laughs and jokes filled the first week.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">I decided seeing as I have applied to do a vipassana/mediation course that I would do an hours mediation class with Sally.The course I'm doing will be 14 hours per day mediation for 10 days so an hours class is nothing-I thought!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Bloody hell!I sat in the lotus position(legs folded,back straight,chest up,hands on knees)and after 5 min I was in agony.The meditation yogi master is telling us how to breathe and chanting 'om' and I just feel like I want to shake my whole body and wave my arms. I don't mind not talking it's the keeping still that's killing me!An hour passes which felt like 10 hours and I did not enjoy it or feel 'enlightened' at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">I'm going to try and do a few more different styles of meditation before I give up on the whole thing but if every meditation feels like that I will not be taking part.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">I'm discovering there is a whole world of things I don't know about through the help of Sally, research and talking to different people.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Crystal healing, stones, mediation, yoga, chakras ... there is so much interesting things to learn about here.I'm loving it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">I've gone off Indian food a bit and have been eating lots of Israeli food which is delicious and a lot more healthier.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">We decided to take a trip to Corbett National Park to spot one of the 127 wild tigers there.Sally and Steve hired a jeep and a private driver and we drove 8 hours to the park.We stayed in big tents in the peaceful countryside and ate amazing Indian food.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">We had to wait a couple of days before we could get a permit to the park and in that time met a guy from England called Dean.I don't really write about many people I meet as there is nothing much really to write about them but this guy definately deserves the air time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">He is 30 odd years old and had cycled all the way from Darlington, Uk to India! Crazy hey?! his backpack,tent and belongings are all on his bike and it took him 7 months to get to India passing through Iran, Turkey... you name it. He had to catch one plane somewhere along the way and it was the first plane journey he had ever took in his whole life!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">The trip to Corbett National park was good. We never seen any tigers but we did see deer, lots of birds and peacocks. We also seen a few tiger prints and claw marks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">We are back in Rishakesh now awaiting our next journey to Mussori which is aparantly India's magic city.There are lots of magic shops and magicians which Steve is getting mega excited about as he loves a good magic trick! It's funny he keeps pulling out card tricks and coin tricks for the Indians and they love it!Hahah<o:p></o:p></span></div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-66578791311586148292012-03-30T05:54:00.000-07:002012-03-30T05:54:47.711-07:00The last 3 weeks, Varkala, Munnar, Kodaicanal.. been slack!<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">The last time I updated the blog was when Leanne left so it's time to stop being slack and type, type, type!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">O.k, so, 3 weeks ago Leanne left and we headed to Varkala beach. A nice beach as far as Indian beaches go, at the bottom of a cliff.100 rock stairs lead to the beach which is good excercise and a nice walk-on the way down!Walking back up at the end of the day covered in sand,sun cream and sweat is another story!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Varkala is the hottest place we have been in India so far.It's 35 degrees,humid,no breeze and very sticky.If there was a breeze this place would be perfect but even on the beach the wind is non existent.The waves are massive so there's no way I'll be going for a dip unless I want to kill myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">We found a really nice place to stay,seconds from the cliff staircase.A pink apartment block of 6 rooms with hammocks outside,a roof top and nice CLEAN rooms with cold showers-no washing out of a bucket!Yay!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">The boys we met in Goa arrive the next day with a nice London girl so we have filled the apartment block nicely and make ourselves at home.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Basically the last 2 weeks were spent lazing on the beach, eating, smoking, drinking and having some good old british banter and listening to some new music .It's sooooo nice to hear new music!My 8gb,1000 song ipod is very depressing after 4 months of constant play!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Our lovely Indian landlord Arun tells us about a deep sea fishing boat trip for 10$ so we decide to do it considering in Australia it costs nearly 300$!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Get up at 6 am, half the boys and Sorcha are still pissed (I snook to bed well early!) and we head to the beach to meet the fishermen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Now, I don't know wether it's just me,but,I imagined a huge boat, a safe looking boat, a boat that looks like one you take to Green Island. I should have known we are in India and everything is a million years old or about to fall apart.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">A wooden boat appears in the distance bouncing up and down on the waves and washes up on the beach. We all climb in, I am shitting myself and decide to get off before we set sail.Peer pressure,the boys persuasion,Sorcha and a few strong arms keep me on the boat. WHY do I always do this!?!??! I am petrified of water,it's my biggest fear but I always try and push myself to over come my 16 year old fear!It never works! I always end up panicked,white,shaking and pulling fear faces everytime I get near water.I even lose my breath in the shower if I face the shower head and water goes in my face for godsake! I really wish there was a cure! I see everyone jumping, diving swimming in the sea and the pool but I just can't go under water.It's ok if its shallow but still I'm a bag of shite if I'm near or in water!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">The engines are pumping and we head out into the ocean. Now, once agin I dont know wether it's just me but I imagined an island, some rocks, beach.something?! I did'nt think that we would be in the sea in the middle of the ocean. The sea is deep,deep deep, the engines are turned off and the boa rocks.he boys start jumping into the sea off the boat which makes it tip and rock even more and I am screaming everytime there is a movement!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Arun sits me by him and tells me it's all going to be ok and trie sto calm me down but once Im in panic mode that's it nobody or nothing can relax me only dry land!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">The boys climb back in because the current is 'way too strong' which makes me more scared and Im now sitting at the top of the boat holding onto Arun and one of the boys fearing for my life!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">A few dolphins swim past and everyone 'oooh's' and 'ahhhs' but to be honest it could be a rare white whale or a flying hippo I could'nt give a flying fuck I just want to get off. I knew I should'nt have got on this fucking boat!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">It's been an hour and we have'nt even seen a rod or any fishing. The boys ask can we start fishing.Fuck me.Ou come the 'rod's'. A tile of polystyrene with fishing line,hooks and no bait are thrown into the water.There are 10 of us and 3 'rod's'. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Varkala is famous for it's fish which we see and eat every night at the numerouse seafood restaurants that line the cliff. Marlin,swordfish,salmon,tuna,squid and shark are all served with salad and vegetables for 6$ cooked fresh on the BBQ.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">So we are all expecting to catch a massive marlin?It ain't gonna happen.Tiny gold fish size fish are being pulled into the boat-fish that in Australia we would'nt even use as bait.The boys are gutted,as am I, but I'm secretly a bit pleased as I know they will all want to get off now as there are no big fish.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Finally,an hour later we jump off the boat.I take half an hour out on the beach in shock.Shaking,white and fear faced I spend a few moments with myself and sware I will NEVER EVER do any water related activities again!Apart from getting a wash.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Next day we decide after 2 months in India the time had come to start daily yoga classes. We attend an ashtanga advanced yoga class. It's hot, sweaty, we are slipping off the mat wih sweat but at the same time enjoying it.We decide after the class we must do an hour every day-that's until we wake up in the morning and can't move our bones!Even our 100 daily sit up ritual cannot be completed.We are all in agony!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">2 weeks is enough time lazing about in this freaking heat so we decide to head inland and uphill to the mountains of Munnar.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">What an amazing place!The bus ride was a bit scary on cliff edges and high mountains whilst our bus speeds and squeezes past lorries and 4wd but the terrifying journey is worth it!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Green fields, tea plantations, hills, mountains, trees, rivers, lakes and pretty cottages are a welcoming sight, as is the 21 degrees temp and the nice COLD breeze! The smell of tea lingers in the air and smells amazing and I walk round with no coat on so I can appreciate what it feels like to shiver!!hahha<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">We spend 3 days here, trekking,visiing water falls, exploring, eating, drinking tea and on the last day I find a cook book in a local shop with Munnar's local cuisine in it. I buy the book and the guy at the shop tells me the auhor/chef lives close and takes me to her house. She shows me various magazine articles she is in, share food tips and she signs my recipe book. I am so annoyed I only meet her the day we are leaving or else I could have done a cooking course with her!Gutted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Head to Kodicanal a place a bit similar to Munnar only there are no tea plantations. We go shopping, sightseeing and have a little trek. There is a nice lake which we hire a swan pedal boat-I know I said no more water...The boat was leaking when we pedalled but I made sure we stayed close to the bank,lol.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">We have just arrived in Chennai after a 16 hour bus.The bus was meant to be an A/C sleeper bus but suprise,suprise as with all things in India it was not as we seen in the brochure!NO A/C, NO FANS, NOTHING! There was no such thing as sleep as every hour we stopped for food or loo stops.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Now, I'm not a rocket scientist but It's common sense if youa re going to be driving a bus for 16 hours you eat before you start work.No, not our driver.We have only been on the road for an hour and he has stopped for a curry and rice.Fucker.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">I thought I had valium left from our last journey but it turns out they are anti hystemene pills and Sorcha has the only valium left-which she does not share! So, we get on the bus Sorcha is fast asleep and I am awake, sweating, listening to Indian men and women snoring and spitting out the window. We are sat at the front of the bus so every time there is a bus stop rude fucker indian's annoy me by squeezing my legs and tugging at me to move my legs out the way.About an hour before we are due to get off the 16 hour bus I fall asleep, bummer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">So, yeah. We have arrived in Chennai.We have been here half a day.I's hot, like 40 degrees hot,80 percent humidity,noisy,smelly,beep,beep,honk,honk,beep beeeeeeeeeeeeeep! Just decided to sit under the fan for an hour or wo and write this blog before we head out when it gets dark and hopefully cool to hopefully find the english style bar that is in our guide book. We have no been to a bar for 7 weeks so I think we deserve a nice COLD drink!<o:p></o:p></span></div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-26691298098216935352012-03-12T05:43:00.000-07:002012-03-12T05:43:58.880-07:00Holi Festival!<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Holi festival is India's most exuberant Hindu festival and falls on the full moon in Feb/March.It's a time when people join nature in whipping off their winter coats and revelling in the arrival of spring.People greet each other with bright colours-everyhing from a cheeky smearing of pink powder on someones face to a veritable deluge of multi-coloured-dyed water mercilessly thrown from buckets.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Down south not many people celebrate this festival which we found out a few days ago.We have been looking forward to this day the whole of our journey so we decided to rent some motorbikes and hopefully find some northerners somewhere in the surrounding villages.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After an hour of 'trying' to drive about on India's dusty roads a young Indian lad speeds past us on his bike his shirt covered in paint.We beep,shout and catch his attention and the rest is history.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">He takes us to his family home where there are about 20 family members dancing, singing, splashing paint and powder all over each other whilst loud western music pumps from the old crackly speakers in the background.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On arrival I am too scared to drive down the steep hill into the house so I let the lad drive.He crashes it straight into the washing line of sheets and rips the front panel of the bike off....too much to say about this situation but I ended up paying 60$ repairs,being verbally abused by the motorbike renter and having a stressful hour of hard barganing so as not to pay for a whole new bike.Leanne keeps telling me not to pay and use my insurance but I cant tell her in front of the lady that I have no bloody driving licence.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back to the party.The family take us round the back away from the women and give us some beers,whisky and Indian spicy soup.We are splattered in paint,powder and buckets of water-good job my camera bag is waterproof.Leanne's camera is drenched, Sorcha's Iphone is drenched and the floor is becoming a muddy swamp.It's boiling hot and humid and we are sweating and smelly dancing in the garden to Akon(the Indian's favourite arist at the minute lol).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The women and young girls are running about,cleaning,washing,pulling water from the well,cooking whilst the men and boys party with us.We decide to send the boys to buy some alcohol so that Leanne can make them cocktails.We get mint,sugar,vodka and soda and Leanne whips up mojitos.The Indian's cannot believe mint goes in with alcohol and start putting it in their whiskies and rum.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We don't drink too much that day,probably only 3 or 4 drinks each but we are high on happiness.It was a great day and after arriving at 11am we never left till 10pm.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Today is the day after holi day and we decide to 'take a day off' India. We sleep in, go for a nice breakfast of toast and boiled eggs,upload our pics onto facebook which annoyingly takes 1min per photo,eat pizza,fries,drink coca cola and have a lazy day.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The sit ups are coming along nicely, we are doing 150 a day and good news we found scales AND although I thought I must be putting on the kilos I have lost 2 kilos the last 6 weeks! I think it must be stress..lol</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Leanne leaves tomorrow I cn't believe she has been here 1 month already.Time has flown.I am secretly jealous she will have a nice bed,A/C,music,salad,the esplanade and normal life!</span></span></div><span lang="EN" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">I am so excited to get back to Cairns.Hopefully I can get a job based flying out of Cairns and get back into a routine.All the time I was there I moaned about Cairns and how I'm over it and now I can't wait to get back to the place!If I have learnt anything on this trip so far the main things are to appreciate what a beautiful part of the world I live in, realise who my real friends are and not take anything for granted.I am excited to get back and watch my good mates Richie and Carrie get married, welcome Jodie and Marty's little baby into the world(mega excited!!!) and spend quality time with my real friends that I have missed.I am going to concentrate on getting my drivers licence before July next year, save up to fly my parents over in 2013 and then hopefully save up to buy my own home in Cairns!</span>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-72607228985214778872012-03-08T23:03:00.000-08:002012-03-08T23:03:37.474-08:00'Venice' to Kovalam beach<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Arrived in ‘Venice’ and after an hour’s hard bargaining and finally find a room. We take a stroll along the ‘Venice’ canal... Dirty water, bird shit stained overgrown trees and bird shit stained broken pavements...Venice?!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the hard day of travelling we decide to have a ‘few’ social beverages and bump into some Swedish boys. An hour’s search later we eventually find a restaurant which sells alcohol.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Drink some beers and try to chat with the Swedes but they have the personality of a teaspoon so we make our excuses and leave.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When we arrive back at our place there is a group of young Indian dudes sitting in the car park. We say hello, hitch a ride on the back of one of the guy’s motorbikes and buy some rum and coke. The guys have a few drinks and then break out into various dance moves of the caterpillar, the ski walk, the shuffle, the moonwalk and back flips.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s brilliant fun and we must have laughed for an hour whilst Sorcha pumped tunes from her phone, before teaching the boys how to ‘shuffle’.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We sit on the roof of our hotel till the ‘wee’ hours learning all about their culture, arranged marriages, affairs and girl talk. They ask lots of questions about our culture, lives and boys and wish they could live like us. I am so lucky to be able to live how I choose. It’s like one big cult here.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A bit rusty the next morning we jump aboard a 7 hour boat along the back waters of Kerala to reach Kovalam Beach. Lovely views of palm trees, clean water, villages and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>happy local people flash past us.This is a really pretty part of India. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Six hours pass and the boat gets stuck in the mud as it’s gone in shallow water. I am packing all my valuables into my waterproof ‘emergency’ dry bag whilst Leanne and Sorcha take the piss out of me. Everyone on the boat is looking and I could not<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>give a fuck as long as I’m near an exit and a life ring. Even though the water is shallow It’s still terrifying as water is my biggest fear!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The boat finally sort’s itself out and we dock into Kovalam. Three local buses and a taxi ride follow and after a 15 hour day we arrive in Kovalam Beach.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hotels ,restaurants, jewellery shops, souvenir shops line the man made lit up<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>promenade along the beach. Sun beds and umbrellas line the black sand and the massive waves on the rough sea sir in the background. Hello Benidorm! Find a great room on the beach and head out to ‘cafe del mar’ cafe for dinner in which the menu is priced in EUROS?! What the hell.?! I ASKED THE WAITER COULD WE PAY in Euros but we could’nt, ha ha.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Everything here is made for package holiday makers and probably 90 percent of the holiday makers here are over 60 with orange tans, white socks and sandals and dodgy hats.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lying on the black sand a Sudanese man calling himself ‘DJ.Boombastic’ struts past and gives us a flyer. Every sentence he says ends with ‘Boombastic’ and a figer click. We decide to go to Mr.Bombastic’s party which starts at 10pm and finishes at 6!! 6 am!? Everywhere in India closes at 10pm so this is going to be a good night for us!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Drink a bottle of rum between us with dinner and head to ‘Spice Village’. The tunes are pumping from techno to trance and Mr.Boombastic is dripping sweat all over the decks whilst dancing crazily and screaming Boombastic into the air. There are3 Indian’s in here and 3 hippies bouncing a tennis ball to each other across the dance floor? Move onto the next bottle of rum and decide to drink the night away.It feels like a million degrees and we are dripping with sweat in this tiny dance hole. In walks a group of guys who look a bit tropical and we get talking. They are Arab’s from Baghdad, Dubai and Iraq and are all studying mathematics in India. We share stories whlist me and Leanne have a debate over my opinions on Sep 11<sup>th</sup>. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A few hours of shuffling follow and we have a swim in the sea and then the hotel pool.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next morning we are hanging and head the black beach for a day of relaxation. The arab’s come and join us and we are too hung over to talk . One of them shows off and starts doing push ups next to our bed and telling us storie’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>about<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>how he can play the drums, sing, dance and basically do anything that he thinks can impress a girl?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We go for dinner and the bill comes. The arab’s won’t let us pay and we won’t le t them pay so after half hour arguing we reluctantly<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>agree and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>let them do what they do in their culture. They invited us so it means they pay? I need to find an Arab to invite me ravelling for a year haha...It’s so different how everybody lives all over the world and I love learning about all these different lives, cultures and people.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ayurveda the science of life has been developed in India since the earliest times and is the nations civilisation. Eveything from medicine to oils is made from herbs and is 100 percent natural. We decide to get a massage.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I am taken into a hot room with no fan or A/C and told to sit on the wooden stool in the middle of the floor. The lady then tells me to strip and I strip to my underwear. She then signs me to remove my underwear as she cant speak English and within seconds I am naked ,feeling very weird and shy.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">She pours oil on my freshly washed hair and starts to rub my head vigourously. This is not pleasant and I can feel my hair breaking with each hard rub. Then she rubs my whole body down with hot oil whilst beads of sweat drip off her body onto me. She stinks, the oil stinks, the room stinks and now I fuckin stink this is not relaxing at all. I’m then told to lie on the rubber bed which has no towel or sheet on so I am slipping all over the joint trying to lie down. She makes me lie on my stomach and starts rubbing me up and down.She’s rubbing my ass, my inner thigh and I am feeling a bit un comfortable. She turns me over and starts rubbing my front. Her hands are circling and cupping my boobs and I’m feeling a bit weird. She then starts rubbing my legs and stroking my vagina?! I am freaking out now and start fidgeting and pretend to scratch my leg whilst knocking her hand.She pats me and starts tickling my toes, feet and legs. 10 min later its over and I quickly get dressed well try to get dressed. I’m oiled up and everything is sticking to me and I just need to get out. Pay her 10$ run home and get showered. Never again do I want an Indian massage!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Yesterday was Holi day in India. It is a day I will never forget my whole life and probably the highlight of the trip so far. But I’m too tired to write anymore so stay tuned for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a tale of love, paint, music, life, celebration, motorbike accidents and culture!</span></span></div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-81752123944330674252012-03-01T07:49:00.000-08:002012-03-01T07:49:05.115-08:00Nightmare train journeys..petrol strikes..sleeping rough..hitch hiking....the last few days of HELL on earth!<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Head to the train station to get an 8 hour train to Hampi which should'nt be that bad- we thought.It's a day train, it's absolutely roasting and humid.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The train station is packed and the Indian's are definately at their rudest today.The train pulls up and they all run to he nearest door causing a slight crush and some guy hits Leanne's head with a huge parcel running past,her head nearly fell off.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We squeeze onto the tain and kick the Indian's that have stole our beds off them.We have sleeper beds booked but that does not stop the rude Indians climbing on the end of our bed when we eventually doze off. Leanne can't handle this and rudely kicks the indian's off her bed everytime she wakes. I'm not sleeping so to Leanne's disgust I decide to give my bed up to a little Indian guy who is covered in dust and dirt sleeping on the floor.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My trousers are stuck to me,shirt is wet with sweat and I am stinking.It's Leanne's first train journey, this is definately the worst train me and Sorcha have experienced and I am secretley laughing inside looking at Leanne's face. Karma pays me back for that as when the train stops I cant squeeze off quick enough,there are about 100 indians trying to squeeze in through one door and I have to throw my bags out to the girls and squeeze through the mosh pit of rude fucker indians who are pushing,shoving and screaming in Hindi at me.Rude fuckers.I officially hate indians at this moment in time.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The torture finally ends and we jump a local bus to Hampi.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hampi is green,surrounded by lush palms,banana plantations,pretty CLEAN rivers,quaint streams,ancient ruins of temples,massive rocks and believe it or not NICE Indians that do not want to rip us off or be rude.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After a few minutes we meet a nice indian guy who takes us to his home in the middle of a banana plantation and stay at his house.The shower is outside in the garden with straw walls and we are eaten alive by mosquitos every time we shower with the hose pipe.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We rent a couple of bikes, spend the day exploring and watch the sunset.This place is like a ghost town and we decide to leave the next day on what should be a pretty easy journey of two buses which take 4 hours on each.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Get up early,eat a nice Indian breakfast and head the bus station to find out the buses are on strike.The indians normally say this so they can squeeze a taxi fare out of you so after an hour of being convinced there really is a strike we get into a auto rikshaw which takes an hour to get the main bus station which is apparantly not on strike.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The bus station is unusually quiet so we walk 2 k to the train station in the blistering heat.My back pack is seriously pissing me off.I throw an item away everytime we<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>arrive somewhere and I just cant understand why it's so bloody heavy.I really wish I had invested in a good bag and not opted for the pink one just because I love pink!Durrrr!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It's an 8 hour wait for the next train so after 2 hours debating we decide to blow the budget and pay 60$ for a private taxi to Gokarna.Nothing is ever easy here though.There are no taxis in this little shit hole of a town and we decide to find an Indian with a car and offer them some cash.There are no bloody cars here at all and we find a guy who can get a car in an hour.Another hour of waiting in the heat and the car arrives.An hour into the journey the driver explains to us there is no petrol and all the petrol stations are on strike.Typical.We head back to the shitty town and wait for the train.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Very random but in this tiny town we spotted a massive hotel,looks 6 star here but it's probably 2 star in Oz so we decide to spend the next 3 hours waiting there.We read the menu and there is western food which excites us,just what we need.We order sandwiches, chips and beers and wait patiently for an hour for it to arrive.Cucumber and tomato on stale bread cut into tiny triangles arrive with some crispy homemade chips and I sware it's the best thing I have tasted in months.After drinking two pints of beers each I feel smashed and we head the station.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This train takes 8 hours,we have no seats booked so when it arrives we have to do the 'Indian run,push and shove to get a seat and there is 6 of us on a seat made for 4 in a small cabin of about 12 people.My back is killing me as we have been sleeping on a bed with no matress the last 2 nights and it's boiling hot and stinks of Indian sweat-as per usual.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Arrive at our destination to get the connecting train but once again we have been mis informed and there is no train.A half hour hike to the bus station through the busy city follows and we pray there is a bus to Gokarna. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It's now 9pm we left at 8am and nobody in the bus station speaks English.Indians are laughing at us, talking about us, staring and we are in no mood for this shit today! We pull out the map and ask about 30 indians how to get to Gokarna and finally get an answer. Wait at bus stop number 10 for an hour and the bus arrives.The guy who spoke little English tells us it does not go to Gokarna but we can get off a the last stop which is another 6 hours away and then get a connecting bus to Gokarna. There is about 10 of us on the bus,it's dark and the driver is a madman.One of the fellow Indian passengers is arguing about the price of a fare and the bus condutcor blows his whistle.The driver slams on, there is a full blown argument for about 10 min then the mad ride continues.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">At one point I doze off and wake to the breaks screaching, the bus nearly tipping over as its taking corners so fast and massive trucks flying past us on a one laned windey road.I tell Leanne and Sorcha I think we are going to die and I really dont want to lose my life in this hell hole of a country and start to well up.They are so sympathetic and make me feel a lot better by telling me to put my ipod on full volume and close my eyes.I crank up the volume, listen to radio1 live lounge ,close my eyes, wrap my shawl around my head and hold onto the bar on the seat in front of me for my life.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally at 2am we arrive at a bus stop but there is no connecting bus till 6.30am.We strap our bags to ourselves and get ready for a night on the streets.It's hot,humid and I am being eaten alive by bugs and flies.I cant sleep, the girls doze off and I watch a little indian man sit and put the sports page in about 1000 newspapers for the next 3 hours.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The bus finally arrives we hop on and after another hour and a auto rik shaw ride we finally arrive in Gokarna!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Surrounded by lush rainforest is a pretty beach with nothing but a few beach huts.I have been praying for a beach with 'nothing' this whole trip but after an hour in the blazing sun we are bored and wish for a bar,music and some fellow travellers.We feel really out of place here.There are lots of hippies,yogis and weird people and we look like we are on a package holiday dressed in denim shorts and singlets.Leanne and Sorcha head into the village to buy some alcohol for wih our dinner and I have some 'me' time playing with my camera(which I am still using in auto mode.)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Order our food and finally after 2 months in India get a spicy curry.We ask for spicy all the time but it never is.This blows our head off.We hit the rum and coke and end up sitting chatting about death,old times,future,mates,cairns and family till the wee hours.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Wake up the next day a bit delicate do our 100 sit ups ritual which we have been doing the last week and try to figure out where we are going to head next as this place is way to quiet..hahah. After a stressful hour or 2 of 'trying' to book a train we figure out we have to head backwards to the shittiest city of the world Margo in Goa to get a train to the next state Kereala.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Tomorrow is going to be loooong day.We have to get up at 8am to get a bus ride to the train station,hang around for 11 hours in the shitty city and then get SIXTEEN HOUR train to Applely which is decribed as India's Venice. WATCH THIS SPACE!</span></span></div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-752937647729326182012-02-25T05:07:00.000-08:002012-02-25T05:07:20.511-08:00The last fortnight....Leanne arrives...GOA!<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We decide to take a daytrip to the 'not to be missed, beautiful' Elephanta' Island, 1 hours boat ride from Mumbai. After seeing the water on Mumbai bay we know it's not going to be paradise but take a pair of togs with us just in case. The boat is packed with old white pensioner tourists who are taking photos of nothing but the dirty ocean the whole journey.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The boat docks in the dirty toxic water and off we go to explore the island. There is a touristy little electric train that takes you 5 min walk up the jetty if you can’t be bothered walking, which is packed full of excited day tripper Indians. We walk the path of market stalls selling the same shit on different stalls and head up the flight of stone stairs to see the famous Elephanta’ caves. We pay the overpriced entrance fee and walk inside a cave where there are a few statues of Indian gods and that's it, it's all over. No exploring as the island is blocked off. The only things you can do are visit the cave or eat at the island restaurant.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We spot a lady selling our fav snack bbq chilli lemon corn and buy our breakfast. Delicious, tasty, bbq corn smeared with lime and chilli mmmmmm! The moment only lasts a few seconds as a flea bag monkey jumps down and steals my tasty treat.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Leave Mumbai on another nightmare 13 hour train journey and then finally arrive in Anjuna, Goa. The sand is golden, the sea is brown and the ocean floor is rocky. The beach is full of market stalls, bars, cafes and annoying Indians selling fruit, manicures, massages and shit jewellery. The bars pump out banging psych trance music from 10 am till 10 pm and there is no peace!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Leanne arrives we find some red wine and drink a bottle each before eating more curry and heading back to the hostel whilst Leanne tries to skinny dip without being swept away by the tide.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We leave Anjuna to head to the city of Goa, Panjim. We get a local bus for 10 cents, it takes an hour. We decide to stay for 2 days as there is a huge carnival which happens once a year in Goa. Get up early in the morning reserve some seats on the side of the road in the blistering heat and wait patiently for the carnival to begin. Hours after it’s meant to start all the floats are lined up but not moving. An announcement is shouted over the sound system, ‘Due to a bus full of school children falling into a river the carnival is cancelled. Please disperse quickly and quietly’.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There is nothing else left here to do so we pack and jump on another local bus to another of Goa’s beaches Palolem.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Palolem is a lot prettier and quieter than Anjuna and we find a cute little hut on the beach for a dollar each a night! The week is spent sunbathing,excercising,swimming and chilling out.We find a nice local bar that sells cheap red wine with a hot Indian Local to admire,Ali ,aged 27 looks like an Indian Ronaldo. I and the girls decide it’s my mission to ‘tash on’ Cairns 2 style with Ronaldo. We play pool, have a few drinks and head to the beach wih Ronaldo in tow. We meet a group of hilariously funny young British lads from Jersey who are cool. Drinks, music, travelling tales and jokes go on till the wee hours and we plan to meet the next night and go to the ‘silent disco’. There is no nightlife here, everywhere shuts at 10pm so a night out getting loose is what we need.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Meet the English dudes and ‘Ronaldo’ at their place and start on the long island ice teas. We have had one drink when one of the boys tells us about his ‘Indian Pharmacy supply’. Anything can be bought here in Goa apparently so we decide to sample a few local delicacies. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I try some Indian ‘ket’ which I have never tried before. My head feels fuzzy, I’m walking on the moon and my body is spongy. I love everyone and am happy as. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We head the disco but as it started at 5pm there is only an hour left so we head back to the boys huts to have our own party. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have had one drink and feel merry and when the Indian acid pops out I can’t resist! The next 12 hours are spent laughing, dancing, joking, laughing, laughing and having a ball until the sun pops up at 7 am and it’s time to take a shower in the sea! </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ronaldo dissapears at some point during this madness....</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s funny what you see this time of morning on the beach. There are yogis, joggers, a girl doing Irish dancing, fighting dogs and a guy that is pretending to be Rocky.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The day is spent feeling a bit sketchy, trying to sleep, am I hungry? Do I need a swim? Do I need a drink? I decide on a beer and a bit of western food (tuna wrap) and feel a million bucks! </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We head to the movies and watch planet of the apes together whilst the typical English lads devour steak, chips, pepper sauce and beers in the cinema bar.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We are heading to Hampi tomorrow for a bit of inland country therapy, rivers, streams and mountains and then onto another beach where Leanne will spend her last 2 weeks with us!</span></span></div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-40469735239417267892012-02-13T20:37:00.000-08:002012-02-13T20:37:30.424-08:00last week................<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Time to leave Varanasi and board a 28 hour train to Mumbai. We are so excited to be getting to a city as apparantly it's 'normal' there and a bit western. A nice bit of western time is just what we need.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Whilst waiting for the train beggars,homeless people and random railway staff jump onto the tracks to pick up rubbish and eat left over sweets or whatever else they can find that is edible. There is human shit all over the tracks too as the toilets on the trains do not have plumbing the toilet waste just falls onto the tracks. I am disgusted to see a man pick up chewing gum which is right next to a human shit and eat it. Fucking disgusting.Dirty bastard I tell you.Makes my stomach turn!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The train is like all the others, dusty, dirty, smelly and dull. We find our bed which is always a bit of a ball ache(Sorcha's fav word on this trip) and fall into a deep sleep. 6 hours later we awake hungry and pray for a station stop so we can grab something to eat. Train stops a few hours later, I dash off and buy rice wih some sort of potato curry. The rice is cold and he curry is hot. Being a chef I know this is risky but fuck it we are 'starving'.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2 hours later and bam! Sorcha is vomitting, I'm shitting liquid and we have excrutiating stomach cramps.The bumpy train does not help and I really wish we had eaten a packet of bombay bloody mix! The indian guy in the bed next to me is snoring and the guy next to sorcha is eating grapes so fucking loud I thinksorcha's ipods speakers are going to burst to drown out the noise. For the next 27 hours we are in and out of sleep and get off the train feeeling so weak.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">An hours auto rick ride trying to find our expensive hotel does not help the mood and we both close our eyes (whilst sorcha swares and tries to tell the driver how to drive and where to go)and wish we were at work living a normal day.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Arrive at the hotel and realise we have booked a dormitory but it is expensive as a hotel as we are in the city and after our 38 hour journey we have a lovely cold shower to look forward too. I would love a 'hannah eggy roberts, edge apt' power shower right now!! </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We meet two indian guys who are shooting a bollywood movie and they invite us out for drinks. We go to be sociable and go to a cool western style bar but we feel out of place in our travelling clothes as all the indian girls are really dressed up, make up, heels, SHORT SKIRTS, DRESSES! They are drinking, smoking!? Man, there really are some girls in India that actually do have a life! Drinking here is so expensive and we haven not drank in ages so four vodkas is enough and we head home feeling pretty tipsy.We are now lightweights.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Wake up at 5am to catch a train and move to the salvation army hostel as its way cheaper and I sware I will never drink again.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Get a bed in the 16 bed female dorm which has 1 shower and toilet. I cannot believe there are 16 girls staying in this room.It is filthy.Fast food wrappers litter the floor,scraps of food,paper,rubbish,it stinks and then I venture into the bathroom.... The bin is overflowing with used shitty,pissy toilet paper and because none of these dirty cunts(sorry!!FUMING!)cannot be arsed to empty it they have resided to just dumping the paper,sanitary towels and everything else on the floor?! No way I can get a shower in this sest pit so I hold my breath throw all the shit and rubbish outside and have a nice COLD drip shower.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Spend 12 hours 'sight seeing' in Mumbai.It's hot,noisy,crowded and the sea we were looking forward to dippping our feet in at the shore is toxic.The sea is full of dead animals, clothes, shit, rubbish but it's India we should not expect anything else.The old massive churches are beautiful but I cant take phoos as they are being repaired and are covered in scaffolding and the big old houses look fairytale like.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We finally found a beauty salon and I got my big hairy caterpiller eyebrows threaded after 4 weeks of no plucking.Sorcha got her under arms waxed which was as painful as it looked.The wax was too hot,the girls never had a clue and we wished we could be in BEWAXED!! After watching sorcha's ordeal I decided I was not going to try an 'indian brazilian! Our bushes will have to remain till Goa.I sware we have a few monkeys down there hanging out in the vaginal jungle.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Spoke to mum and dad today which was soooooooooooooo nice.I love it when my phone rings and I see their name pop up! Told them all the crazy tales.Mum thinks I'm crazy for staying and dad just laughs at all the stories.It would be soooo nice for one day at home now! If I could do anything in the world in a day it would be to have a real shower,hot water,nice shower gel,shave my legs,walk the esplanade with Hannah,have a nice strong coffee or cuppa chai with sally,eat a huge thai meal with Jodie and Marty then spend the night on the sofa with my mum,dad,bro's and sisters and a bottle of red wine and cheese!Ah, the things you miss... I still don't know wether I'm going to go the U.K before returning to Australia or go straight to Oz but I need to decide soon so I can book some cheap flights!</span></span></div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-65086616711270127142012-02-07T18:54:00.001-08:002012-02-07T18:54:04.868-08:00Loving India right now....<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Vrindarwen-Agra<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN">We hop on a local bus to Agra- which is full of Indian men- we are the only females. Once again they are all staring at us like we are aliens but the ride is only an hour, so no worries.We have our 2 backpacks on our knees and are breathing in dust,dirt and are hot and bothered.We arrive in Agra 2 hours later and find our accom really easy for once! We are master map readers now!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN">Our room is freezing cold so we get a quick cold shower and head into Agra. An 11k walk covering up in our long sleeves, shawl and trousers in the sweltering heat to a watch the sunset over the Taj is rewarding, followed by a cup of chai and a birri! We have both started smoking again-only light tobacco wrapped in leaves-but still we are somking which I'm annoyed about but its just to ease the stresses of the day and I will definately pack up a month before I leave here to finish my trip,plus we are only smoking 2 -3 a day.We eat some of our favourite deep fried samosas and chilli sauce and head to the train station for our 8 hr train journey to Khajuraho.We are still hungry and are sick of deep fried shit and then I see it! A man boiling eggs!YES!BOILED! Not fried!!! I get 2 boiled eggs,but no, too good to be true.He takes off the shell and puts the boiled eggs in oil.He is now frying the BOILED eggs.Chilli,garlic and onion are added and ok, its good but I really did just want boiled eggs.Its funny all the food on the street is delicious but we dont know the name to any of it or what most of it actually is!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN">The train is sleeper class so we have a bed, so Im thinking it is going to be comfortable.The trains here are not like Thailand.Pity! Oh no... there are 6 beds in 1 cabin.Me, sorcha and 4 indian men who like to snore, turn the light on regulary and talk loud at 3 in the morning.The bed is a slab of wood and our 2 bags on our bed leave us with little room to move- and did I mention it's feezing?!hahha After 8 hours of tossing and turning the train arrives and we find a cheap guest house to get some rest before seeing the sights.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN">I NEED TO SAY SOMETHING...All these negative comments look like we are not enjoying it! I'm just writing it how it is.Sally (sorcha's mum)asked me are we actually having fun?haha. Well, we are but a different kind of fun we would be having at home.It is fun,weird,exciting,scary ,annoying,intimidating, all in a fun kind of way. Thailand is FUN. All the time you see pretty things,meet nice thai people,eat nice thai food and it is Fun with a capital F. Here we have only seen a few pretty places, everybody wants to rip us off, the food is nice and it is fun but not with a capital F? If you get me?! hahah<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN">Khajuraho is where the kama sutra carvings are and some of the worlds finest temples. We meet a young indian dude who tells us he will take us out on his motorbike with his friend and show us his local town and surrounding areas for just the cost of some fuel.Agreed, but still thinking there must be a catch(nothing is for free with an indian) the 3 of us jump on his bike to meet with his friend who's bike I will be on. You know what,you can't write it. My guy turns up,Indian lad, age 24, name Borat, wearing a tshirt saying 'SEX INSTRUCTOR,1ST LESSON FREE' with a black and red motorbike wih playboy stickers all over it hahahah funny shit. We head off at full throttle ino the hills on the back of the bikes. The countryside is so pretty, there are fields of yellow mustard flowers, fields of green beans with huge mountains in the background.We stop at a little straw hut in he feild and sit down to have a charras. My stomach is in bulk and I have terrible pains....the fried boiled eggs are guilty I think....<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN">We head off and they take us to a dam to watch the sunset.It's beautiful.These guys are really nice and the new story is when we meet indian guys.I am sorcha's sister in law and our partners are in Goa doing yoga-one can only dream...hahha The minute you say you are single that's it you are harrassed,married off and given some of the best chat up lines... My driver informs me he is a 'player' and has had many girls from different countries and respects I have a boyfreind in Goa hahha.. Sorchas driver really is a true gentleman and is very sweet, he does not drink or smoke where as my driver is a rebel.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN">Head back to the room as Im feeling dodgy and sorcha's sweet driver gets me a coke bottle filled with hot water for my upset stomach which actually cures me!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN">Head off on our next train journey of 11 hours to Varanasi wishing we had not booked our train tickets so soon.Another few nights here would have been great. This journey was nowhere near as bad as the first.We slept about 10 hours and after a few wrong turns and a hot sweaty journey in a moto we are at our dormitory accomodation. We booked a dorm in order to meet people BUT suprise, suprise we are the only people in the room haha.It's once again cold BUT we have bought blankets and the hot water as described is not hot.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN">In Varanasi there is a holy river called the Ganges. Hundereds of people are cremated on huge wood fires along the banks of the river every day and the poor people who cant afford the wood just put the dead bodie sin there to float away.Millions of pilgrims flock here to bathe, wash and swim in this holy water. Me and sorcha were going to be 'one of those pilgrims' until we seen the shit,rubbish,dead bodies,dogs,cows and sewage in the river.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN">We sat and watched many corpses being carried down to the river.The bodies are wrapped in cloth,others are just naked and hey dip them in the river,let them dry out on the side then put them on the bonfire to burn.It was eerie and we cried when we seen an old man preparing his wife to be bunrt.He was crying and had to be carried away by his sons..we left the river shortly after this as it was a bit depressing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN">Every night alongside the river is a huge dance and music show to celebrate the dead that have been cremated that day. Rose petals and candles float down ther river,hundreds of wooden boats full of people fill the river,fire,music,dancing,babas,thousands of clapping people, right lights and smoke from the incense sticks fill the air.It was magical.<o:p></o:p></span></div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-45711849726250050252012-02-02T21:03:00.000-08:002012-02-03T00:23:42.814-08:00The last week.... poo..poo and more poo....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span lang="EN">Awake in the morning to Sorcha’s morning ritual of swearing and shouting at the shower for the water not being hot enough ha has .. God help her in Goa when we are saying in a straw hut ,he he!<br />
We find Vikas in the car park getting a morning wash with a bottle of water as he did not want to stay in the hotel last night, The car was his hotel for the night.<br />
Head to Udaipur which is a nice country drive through little quaint villages. Scenery is green hills, cows, donkeys carrying everything you can imagine, women balancing large clay pots of water on their heads returning from he wells and like everywhere else we go there is cow shit patties everywhere. The Indian women collect the cow shit then pat it into ‘patties’ and stick it to walls, floors, rooves anywhere it can sit in the sun to dry and then they use it as fuel for fires to cook, heat water, keep warm etc<br />
Arrive in Udaipur after only a couple of hours to an amazing Indian hotel overlooking the lake. The lake looks amazing with all the buildings, castle and palace reflecting off the water. People are washing clothes, themselves and dipping in the lake. On closer inspection the lake looks like all the sewer systems run into I and it has a green mould breeding on top with all sorts of rubbish floating about.<br />
Udaipur is the only city where nobody has hassled us, begged or tried to rip us off- I like this place, We decide to celebrate Australia day early as we will be driving on the official day. We are in a Muslim town so there are no bars, clubs or pubs. We head to the local booze shop which looks like a small prison cell with bars on the windows and doors. Any imports are very expensive. For example a bottle of vodka is about 30$ but if you buy a bottle of Indian whisky it is 6$. We decide to buy a bottle of Indian rum each at the cost of 2.50$! Go for another vegetarian Indian meal and whilst exploring the town see a sign for an Israeli bar which has a pool table! We are so excited! We buy cokes to mix with our rum and play pool in the empty, dark, dusty bar which looks like it has been closed for years. Within minutes we are surrounded by Indian men ( we reckon the worker tested his mates) and we are playing pool together listening to Indian music.<br />
Sorcha goes the toilet and returns telling me it’s full of shit with no flush. I hold on as much as I can and when I can hold on any longer venture into the room of doom.<br />
It smells of shit, piss and dust and I hold my breath. I decide to pour water down the toilet using the jug and water out the tap. I pour the water in the loo. BIG mistake! I think I have jus disturbed 3 months worth of shit that has been sitting there, the smell is horrendous. I stick my head out the door for another gasp of fresh air and hold my breath once more. Trying to hover in skinny jeans is hard whilst holding my breath trying to pull a wet wipe out the packet! All done I run out the room gasping for breath whilst trying to tell Sorcha another toilet tale!<br />
A few straggling Israeli guys arrive and we are sharing tales of our travels. These guys are an inspiration. They bought a motorbike in North India, tied the bags to the back and drove around India alone. NEVER would I attempt to drive on these roads (if I had a licence). They tell us all about Goa and the South of India giving us lots of tips on places to visit and good beaches to go. I really wish they were heading south and we could jump on the back of their bikes!<br />
In Udaipur everything closes at 11pm including the hotels so we head back to the hotel before our curfew. Matt the American we are travelling with really is a light weight. Me and sorcha have drunk more3 than him and are watching im swagger about the road on the way home. We make him walk in the middle of us as you really have to conduct yourself well in India. It is bad form to be drunk or even drink in public here. We finally arrive back the hotel. Matt has stood in various types of shit on he walk home and is nearly knee deep in brown shit splatters up his jeans. We put him to bed and sit up till the wee hours drinking the rest of the rum and talking.<br />
Wake up the next day feeling fresh and head to the local park for a quick stroll and visit the local palace which is nothing special really, they are all quite similar.<br />
We book our train tickets to Varanasi,Khajuraho,Mumbai and finally goa. Some trains take 2 days, some are 24 hours others 11. We book sleeper trains top bunks so no pervy Indians can molest us whilst we sleep!<br />
The Indian man who booked the tickets for us was HOT! In my 2 weeks in India I have seen probably millions of Indians and this is the first hottie we have come across! Bright white teeth, handsome face, a big head of hair and a massive smile! Hot, hot, HOT!<br />
Evening meal comprises of vegetarian curry and rice and just as we decide to leave Sorcha’s tummy feels dodgy. We walk home fast and I am feeling the same. Sorcha runs ahead to use our toilet and I beg matt to let me use his but tell him he must wait downstairs in the hotel so he cannot hear or smell anything! Ha<br />
I wont go into shit detail but lets just say me and sorcha relieved ourselves and are glad we never shit our pants in public.<br />
Udaipur-Pushcart<br />
Today I am feeling a bit dodgy and we have a long 9 hour drive ahead. I really hope I don’t have to stop and shit on the side of the road!<br />
O.k. yes I did have to shit at the side of a road…<br />
Pushcart is a very pretty little town full of arts, textiles, leather shops and funny enough falafel stalls.<br />
Sorcha got blessed by the lake whilst me and matt stood back wondering if this was a scam and she was going to get ripped off. It turned out it was not a scam but the ‘donation’ she had to make was $10 for each family member she had! We told hem we would pay later and donated $1 in the box… even religion is a scam and a rip off!!<br />
Drank chai tea till 1030 pm as hotel curfew is 11pm and smoked some newly purchased Indian charras.<br />
We were so stoned on the way home. It was pitch black, dusty and there were cows in the shadows. Every time a cow moved we shit ourselves. Narrow winding streets, getting lost till we finally find our hotel.<br />
Camel trek the morning at 4.30 am to see sunrise which was freezing cold but amazing and then onto our next destination Raipur.<br />
Pushkar-Jaipur<br />
Raipur. Mad, crazy, busy roads, noise, horns.smelly,crowded….nightmare.<br />
We headed to he train station wih matt to TRY and buy a ticket for him….2 hours later no ticket.<br />
Vikas knew a train guard so the next day we went and purchased a dodgy backhander ticket for double the price. Jumped on a rickshaw to head home. The guy was about 70 years old and we felt so bad him cycling wih 3 of us on the back! We got this as it was the cheapest option but ended up giving him nearly 7x the amount even when he cycled us 30 min away to the wrong direction as we felt so bad on him!<br />
Raipur-Agra<br />
TAJ MAHAL. What can I say. AMAZING. But the Indians were more interested in taking photos of me and sorcha rather than the magnificent Taj that stood in all its glory!<br />
Matt felt really sick after eating a samousa before we entered and vomited in the taj toilets after turning 10 shades of green.<br />
Taj Mahal- Vrindarwen.<br />
This place is where Hare Krishna was born, raised, founded or something like that. Temples, temples and more temples….<br />
This was the place we said goodbye to vikas our driver with a nice little tip- he cried and swore his love to us.<br />
Met up with Sorcha’s family friends who they knew from growing up..<br />
Checked in a guest house and went to meet the family. Very sad story. The families ten year old son died of tonsillitis a few years back so they are in depression and very sad.<br />
The other 4 children aged 7months-14 are all happy and healthy. Deepak the eldest son never went to school and helps round he house which is basically a concrete open aired block with two bedrooms. Monkeys are on the roof waiting to jump and attack any bit of food or objects that come into sight, Every kid and parent has a ‘monkey stick’ to bash the monkeys when they enter the house. Me ans sorcha hold on tight to our cameras. It’s sad. This family have nothing but the clothes on their back, no jobs, rats running about the house and wooden slabs to sleep on and they make us fresh hot chai, food and make us at home. The eldest daughter who is 13 does all the cooking making us fresh chapattis and tea whilst the other kids run round cleaning up after her and chasing the monkeys away. A white rat runs past and Deepak catches it. We ask him is he going to kill it. White rats are good luck he will keep it and sell it to he temple. Deepak does all the general duties of the house and when his sister comes home the 13 year old she cooks and washes the kids as the parents are very sick with depression. I feel so sorry for them. They have probably never seen a green field, he ocean or anything like that. it’s a little dusty town full of narrow winding streets and the only thing they get to see from the age of 5 is school.<br />
After finishing the amazing food we head to meet Jimmy,aged 24(looks 34) the father of the kids brother. He is like us, works all day, runs a successful business making temple clothes which he ships all over the world and rides a motorbike. Him and the other family live in a huge concrete house a few doors down form the kids. He takes us out to party for the evening to drink rum but makes us sware not to tell his family. We should have known what ‘out to party’ meant. He has a police officer friend who picks us up in a car with a bottle of rum, water and Bombay mix we head to a dark dusty road whilst Michael Jackson plays off the nokia phone. Me and sorcha skull rum in the back seat whilst the police officer keeps his eye out for police. If we or him get caught drinking it is very bad. Every time I write I cannot explain properly. There are no bars here, no pubs, no restraunts selling beer. Alcohol is drank secretly in private and that’s the way it is.<br />
He then takes us to an ashram (temple) and tells us to act sober and he will introduce us to his friend a guru of hare Krishna. We ARE sober and fine, and eat a delicious meal of chickpea, spinach, potato and bread followed by more bread which is all cooked by a lovely 80 odd year old woman. Nobody can speak English only jimmy so he translates whilst we get a Krishna blessing, tumeric rubbed on our heads and a huge orange ribbon tied round our neck. A t this point jimmy is pissed and we think he is drinking to impress us. It isn’t working,<br />
We head back to our guest house and jimmy comes in for a rum. He takes his shoes off and gets cosy and we tell him not to get too comfortable he is having one rum then leaving.<br />
He sits on my side of the bed with his shoes off, I hate smelly feet.</span><br />
<span lang="EN">Oh yes, have I mentioned my sweat smells funny. Like onions, curry and piss all mixed together seeping out my pores. My clothes stink, my arm pits….its grose. He starts getting rowdy drinking more rum and we tell him to leave.<br />
He is asking questions like ‘ what man am I interested in? what makes me happy? What do I look for in a man?’ he then asks sorcha can he ask to marry me and he loves me. We tell him to stop being stupid and make him leave. After 30 min and sorcha literally pushing him out the door we can sleep peacefully-well sorcha can. I have the smell of an Indian lingering on my side of the bed.<br />
Go to visit Sonia, jimmy’s 21 year old sister who stays home all day every day washing, cooking and cleaning and will only be set free when a husband is found and a marriage is arranged. I really don’t know how these people live. There are no bars, clubs, cafes, beaches, cinemas… there is nothing, The only way to have fun is by going to a temple and worshipping, They chant hare Krishna 12 hours a day which unfortunately for us starts at 4 am and wakes us up. Sorcha screams ‘oi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’ loudly every morning when the Indians in our guess house wake her up chattering and slamming doors to get ready to worship..hahhahahah<br />
She feeds us once again..Im gonna be so massive by the time I leave here! We sit on the roof all day in the sun sweating our asses off in 28 degrees heat whilst covered up in trousers, shawls, long sleeve tops wishing we were in a bikini!<br />
We check out the guest house and go to say in the ashram. The ashram is free you just donate and it is so much prettier and peaceful than our hotel.<br />
Pink building surrounded by green fields of roses and all different flowers which they worship the gods with. Hundreds of peacocks, parrots and pigeons which they feed 250kg corn per day and lots of cows.<br />
This is what I don’t get. There are children on the streets begging, hungry and dirty and the people in India feed cows and monkeys before the human race!! What the hell!? All these poor people are on the streets begging, cold, suffering and the cows have he best life ever??<br />
I cant get my head round it? We saw a woman with about 200 bananas today feeding the monkeys. Why couldn’t she just feed the people on the streets?<br />
Rant over.<br />
We wash our 14 days worth of washing as we have seen no laundry shops like in Thailand… we are going to have to hand wash our clothes I think… and jitto takes us to his mates house which is one concrete bedroom with 2 beds where 3 people live. No toilet, no shower nothing. Where do they wash? He pulls out rum, Bombay mix, nuts and drinks. He asks can he kiss me. I say no. End of subject.<br />
Me and sorcha have 1 drink and say we have to go back to eat. We jump on the back of his motorbike and he takes us to another friends. I think he is trying to show us off to his mates. The wife is ordered to make us food and the husband shows us some antique Indian guns.<br />
The wife has her face covered and this really freaks me out. Lots of Indian women do not show their faces and cover them up. You cant even see their eyes because their whole face is covered. It is very scary. They do this because they cannot show their face to father in laws, I don’t like it ,but oh well.<br />
Finally an hour later we leave and everyone in the ashram is asleep but there is a little boy waiting patiently with some food and more bread for us.<br />
Cold nights sleep followed by a cold shower and OH YES! I have not mentioned the latest toilet happenings!<br />
There is NO toilet paper in India. They only sell it at tourist places as they use their left hand. If we go in a restaurant when we find one we steal the napkins but they have ran out and we are now using our left hand followed by splashes of water. It is dirty, uncomfortable and make you feel like you have pissed yourself when you leave the bathroom and the water runs down your legs! The toilets are holes in the floor and we are both sick to death of not being able to wipe our ass with paper! Its so grose you have to look at your hand to see if there is any shit left before you finish squatting and splashing your ass with water. We definitely remember to eat with our right hand nowadays!<br />
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</span></div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-66367225789234878382012-01-24T01:59:00.000-08:002012-01-24T01:59:02.493-08:00THE LATEST MUST READ ADVENTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!!! CRAZY SHIT HAPPENING IN THIS PLACE!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span lang="EN"> DAY 4 Bikaner-Kuri<br />
Today is going to be a very long drive.Our driver tells us 6 hours but we have worked out every time he tells us how long the journey is going to be add another 2 hours!So lets say 8 hours.We buy lots of fruit and water for the long drive ahead.It’s not so bad as we know at the end of this drive we have something very exciting to look forward to!We are going on a camel safari and then camping in the dessert.<br />
Looking out the window its very yellow,bland,sparse,,sandy and dusty but in the Indian dessert for some reason there are lots of shrubs and trees.<br />
I don’t know wether I have mentioned before how cold I is here.Me and Sorcha packed enough clothes for a day of coldness as we did not plan on being in the cold for so long.The last 4 days we have worn the same socks, trousers and layered many tops. Thank god for Bree buying me that north face coat as a leaving present I am living in the inner fleece! We stop along the way at truck stops drinking the world’s best chai for 5 cents, eating samousas and Bombay mix whilst local Rajhistanis ask us to pose for photos on their mobile phones and stare at us in amazement. These stops are nice, nobody hassels, begs or tries to sell you random shit. Talking about shit I would like to mention when we drive from place to place every day there are no toilets or rest rooms along the way we have to stop at the side of the road wherever we can and do our business in a bush or behind a rock. Every time I decide to squat somewhere there are these bloody dry shrub thorn twigs that always stab or attack me. <br />
It’s funny…Everybody I spoke to about visiting India all said we will lose so much weight but I really cant see how. We eat curry, rice and bread for meals and all the snacks here are deep fried.Ok we do drink water all day but in the night when we have a few before bed the only thing available is beer. Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that a diet of curry, rice, bread and beer could lead to a fatty fatty bumba figure! Me and Sorcha are thiking along the lines that because everything is spicy it will speed up our metabolism and maybe it will burn off quick? But for 6-8 hours a day we are sitting on our asses in the car getting to the next destination only stopping to stretch when we need to relieve ourselves in the dessert or eat more curry!<br />
I am actually typing this latest entry whilst we are in the car we have just stopped at a tea stall and they had a toilet! Hole in the ground, the smell of urine is so strong in these little rooms your eyes sting and the smell hit’s the back of your throat so bad u heave. There was shit sprayed up the back of the wall where someone had very bad Diarrhoea or very bad aim! I would have rather gone in the bush!<br />
We arrived in Kuri and it was an old crumbling village surrounded by dessert, sand dunes, camels, shrubs and women carrying everything you can imagine on their heads.<br />
The temperature has risen now it is late afternoon and we climb aboard our camel to explore the Rajhistanis dessert. It is so scary when the camel stands up and I have my fear face on, my knuckles are white from holding on so tight and I don’t know wether I am sweating with nerves or because its 24 degrees.<br />
We head deep into the dessert with just the tinkling sound of the camel bells ringing in our ears.<br />
It’s so peaceful here, no car horns, no motorbike beeps, no beggars…. Bliss.<br />
We watch the most amazing sunset. The sky turns orange and the huge sun is a bright fiery orange setting behind the massive yellow dunes.<br />
The ride back to the base is a fast one with the camels speeding up. Our asses are throbbing and our inner thighs are trembling like jelly. We eat another fantastic vegetarian feast of rice, bread, vegetable curries, vegetable dishes and chai whilst watching a lively colourful group of Indian musicians and dancers.<br />
10pm we get wrapped up and layer our cloches and hop aboard the camel trailer. Well, everybody hops aboard easily. I try and fall off first attempt with our group of 5 laughing at me. Typical Paula..<br />
Our camel owner Raga is an old Indian man of about 70 with a million wrinkles and a very sad old face. He is really old and cute and once again I feel sympathy for the little Indian man and imagine he’s my dad. I don’t know why I do this. Every little man we meet I always think ‘’ah he could be someone’s dad. Imagine if my dad had to lift blankets and people onto a camel’’ I know my dad’s not 70 but I still feel like they should not be working so hard! It’s pitch black and we can’t see anything. The only thing we take with us is the clothes on our back, a torch , toilet paper and some beer which I might add cost $4 each in India! But hey we are in the dessert,. We set up camp Rajasthan style. Blankets and sheets of various thicknesses with various stains and smells laid on the ground with sand pushed in a pile under the sheet to act as a pillow. I have a funny feeling we wont be getting any sleep tonight!<br />
There are a million stars in the sky it is so beautiful. Prage goes to collect wood for a fire and I help him. Those bloody thorn tree wig things are catching on my trousers, scarf and hat and are pissing me off .I have a huge pile of wood and am a bit sad when Praga tells me to throw half of it back as its still wet. I should have learnt from camping with camp master Jeeno in Oz what is dead and wet!<br />
We light the fire then one of the other 2 campers that are with us pulls out some charras(Indian cannabis) and opium. We discover the charras is tea leaves, they have been flogged! Praga tells us the opium is very strong and is definitely opium and to be careful and only take a little bit. He sticks a twig in and licks a pin head amount. 10 minutes before this we had all stuck our fingers in and sucked off a massive blob! It tasted of petrol,tar,camel shit and had the consistency of tar. We cant feel anything or any side effects though. We is around the fire watching the stars, shooting stars fly past and Praga sings hypnotising Indian prayers till the late hours. When we go to ‘bed’ we fall asleep star gazing after minutes of our heads hitting the sand.<br />
Wake up later than normal 7.30am and all of us agree it was the best un interrupted sleep we have had our whole time in India. It’s freezing cold so we pack up and head back on our camel to the next destination.<br />
KURI-JAISLMER DAY 5<br />
Jaislmer is the quickest drive ever. Only one hour and we are in a bustling medieval city surrounded by a fort. All the buildings are made from sandstone and everything looks very Aladdin style if you catch my drift. The streets are full of bright fabrics,mirrors,silver,tunics,sarongs,bindis,cows,goats,deep fried goody stalls and lots and lots of motorbikes beeping loudly. Our ears are ringing, we are hot, sweaty, agitated, overheating and getting irritated by all the shop keepers trying to drag us into their Aladdin’s caves of goods.<br />
Food time strikes and we head into a local ‘thalis’ food shop. When you go in these places you are given 5 small silver dishes.In each dish is a type of curry, pickle, rice, vegetable dish and sauce. You are then given copius amounts of freshly made rotis or naan bread and eat with your right hand. My thumb and two fingers are constanly yellow because of all the eaing with hands, No matter how much we scrub and wash there is still a slight curry smell with a yellow tinge on our skin. Nice.<br />
The place is filthy, we have dirt on our skin off the tables and the poor little boy who is serving us is filthy dressed in rags. He is amazed by us and tells us him name and shakes our hand. His face is so black with dirt his teeth look even whiter than white. The meal cost us amount 1 dollar each.<br />
Reading the lonely planet I spot ‘something’ for us to do. In Jaislmer there is a shop called a Bhang shop.<br />
This is what the book says, ‘Some restaurants in popular tourists centres whip up bhang lassies- a yogurt and iced water beverage laced with cannabis or other narcotics. Commonly dubbed ‘special lassie’ this often potent concoction can cause varying degrees of ecstasy, drawn out delirium, hallucination, nausea and paranoia. Note that some travellers have been ill for several days, robbed or hurt in accidents, after drinking this fickle brew. A few towns have legal(controlled)bhang outlets such as the bhang shop in Jaislmer.’<br />
We head to the Bhang shop and are handed the menu. Tea, coffee, lassies, magic cigarettes, cakes, smoking herbs, cookies all of various strengths. Budget goes out the window and we order 3 cookies, 2 shakes and 50g of charras (legal weed) to take away.<br />
The lassi shake is delicious and me and sorcha drink on the roof of the hotel.We smoke some charras and are very relaxed. Head to bed and have he best sleep again.<br />
Breakfast at the hotel today was cold toast and coffee so we stop at an Indian place and get some marsala parantha (bread filled with potato,spices,chilli and onion),a cup of chai and pickle.<br />
Me and sorcha are smoking a little treat before the journey and our driver comes to check I out. He looks shocked and we try to explain what it is but no joy.<br />
I don’t get it. In the book it says all drugs are illegal and there is a minimum jail sentence of 10 years for any drug. Cases can take up to two years before they are even brought to court. We explain to our driver what we have bought and where from and apparently because it’s government owned its ok? This place is getting crazier by the day! We have still not ate the cookies. We are keeping them for our next dessert safari in a few days. Hopefully they won’t go mouldy in our bag!<br />
We have been in the car about 3 hours now and its funny, the Indian music is playing on the stereo, sorcha is reading her bookie typing, USA is eating nibbles and Vikash is watching the road.<br />
He is driving very fast today we have nearly shit ourselves 3 times with speeding lorries just missing us. The lorries swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid cows, shit or whatever else is on the road! It seems human life is not important here. Ever day when we are driving you think a million things… I’ve been thinking about my family. I miss my mum and dad so much and wish I could speak to them every day. I bought an Indian phone yesterday so hopefully they call as I don’t have their numbers but emailed my sister mine.<br />
I think lots about work in Weipa and really miss my job. I miss cooking, I miss Australia and a few of my good friends. I don’t miss cairns at all and am glad to be away from the drinking and partying.<br />
DAY6 JASIMER-JODHPUR<br />
Jodhpur is nicknamed the blue city. All the buildings here are washed with light blue colour, it looks really pretty from a high point. The fort here is enormous and probably one of the biggest we have seen. We did decide this morning that we was not going to visit anymore forts as we are not that much into history but when we seen it towering over he city we couldn’t resist. On the way to the fort a group of local Indians play music and the youngest of the group does a little dance. It’s so cute! Every time we see something interesting, weird or good viewing I video. I have quite a few random clips saved now and will put together a little DVD at the end of my trip.<br />
The city is full of market stalls selling bright saris, fabrics teas and spices. The city is so dull, dirty, dark and gloomy and the bright materials stand out like bright lights. The materials are amazing and I want to buy everything. The smell of spices and teas linger in the dusty air and we stop at a tea shop to try some Darjeeling chai. Our driver tells us he knows of a very nice Punjabi ‘restaurant’ and we decide to eat meat. Resaurants in India are no like you imagine. They are like truckers cafes and full of Indians who stare at us like we are aliens when we enter. This place was filthy, dark, smelly and had the atmosphere of a grave yard. The brightly wrapped turban heads turn to stare when we enter and we take a seat on a dirty plastic chair and dusty table. It smells of shit where we are sitting and we realise this is due to some sort of rodent and cat or dog shit that is on the sill next to our table. We cant leave as Vikas has brought us here so we don’t wan to be rude. We order mutton (Indians do not eat beef as the cows are holy) in various forms but Vikas wont eat. He wants to wait till we get back to our Indian homestay so he can eat with his whisky. I feel so sorry for him he looks so tired his eyes are closing.We also just discovered he cant read! We gave him the menu and asked him what each dish was he asked the man and then we realised everywhere we go he asks for directions and does not read signs! The poor fellow only went to school for a year. He must have not told us he cannot read as he is embarrassed. Now I feel even more sorry for him,bless-I’m a sucker for old people.<br />
Food is fantastic even with the smell of shit hanging in the air and we head back to our Indian home stay for the night.<br />
DAY 7 Jodpur- Ranakapur<br />
The sun rises with the sound of parrots screeching outside and he smell of parantha in the air. Parantha is Indian bread made with onion and potato served with pickle for breakfast followed by a cup of chai.<br />
Our chef cooks breakfast in the garden in front of us while I make another video haha.<br />
Only a 3 hour drive today Vikas tells us-so make that 5 hours I reckon. Vikas has 2 shots of whisky a night before bed so I decide to stop off at an Indian bottle shop to buy him of his favourite tipple. I have to ask him what brand he drinks so I get the right one and he gets out to buy it as its cheaper for Indians to buy things here. If any of us white folk went in it would cost us double or even treble! I give him about six dollars for a litre and he wont take the money he just wants a quarter bottle for 2 dollars. I tell him to buy a big one and he wont so I eventually say I will be very angry if he doesn’t buy a big bottle and he accepts the offer. I look at him in the shop and he is checking out the prices to find the cheapest bless him. He comes back to the car beaming with joy holding the whisky like a trophy. He cannot stop saying thank you and wiggling his little head side to side. ‘You must drink with me!You must share’ he says. He cannot accept it is for him only.<br />
The town we are driving to is a holy town so no alcohol is allowed and he tells us to keep quiet about the whisky.<br />
He tells us in the night to not accept food off the landlord of he hotel as he is going to buy and kill a chicken and take us into the mountains to cook us dry chicken tikka and drink whisky. He drums into us ‘please, please, please, please do not tell boss man I am cooking for you!’ We agree.<br />
A huge marble temple is in the centre of town but we are bored of temples. We go for a peek and I is amazing. One of the prettiest temples we have seen. Walking there we see monkeys, cows, goats, peacocks and a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains.<br />
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OH MY GOD! It’s 20.52 and I had to write this post right now!!!!<br />
OK. Vikas rang us at 17.00 and said there is a big problem. The man at the hotel is angry as you are not eating dinner there. We say it’s ok no problem. He tells us to meet him outside at 19.00 hrs discreetly. We packed our Indian charras(weed) and magic cookies and all left separately and got into his car outside. He kept saying it’s a big problem but we said if it is a big problem we will stay here. He said ’no, ,no I promised you we go.’ Sorcha said we will stay here. was adamant we go. We drove about 10 minutes away and then he pulled over at the side of the road in the darkness. Vikas opened the boot of the car and there was chicken tikka already cooked wrapped up in newspaper cold. It seemed like we were on a major drugs deal creeping about in the dark and the drivers were nervous and on edge. We were wondering why they were so scared??? We all got a glass of whisky and started eating the chicken. It was divine. A few minutes passed and the hotel owner turned up with a guy on the back of his motorbike. They pulled out torches and looked at us all and started shouting in Indian. Vikas and another Indian driver who was with us were apologising and telling us to sit in the car. We could not understand anything that was being said but it was very heated and we heard the words police. I bloody shit myself as I had the weed and cookies. I have never been so nervous in all my life! I decided to ditch the stash but then decided to hide it in my pants in case they noticed it when the lights of the car went on. I am shitting myself, sorcha is telling me to give it to her and calm down- I wont. I then decide to tell the other driver what I have on me and he says its fine and takes it off me. I am ok now. At this point Vikas is literally bent over on the ground kissing the owners shoes saying sorry, sorry, sorry…. The other driver comes to us and starts to put together a story for the police when they arrive. The story is we wanted to eat elsewhere and we bought the booze and only us drank not he drivers. We all agreed on the story and waited…waited. Waited… half an hour passes the owner leaves without any bribe money and Vikas starts to cry saying sorry sorry…We hug him and tell him its ok and give him a well deserved shot of whisky. We couldn’t understand what was going on or what he problem was but the driver explained to us that in India it is very bad for anybody to take business away from the hotels. We wanted to do this and its our holiday so what is the problem? We just wanted a traditional Indian feast without the fuss.<br />
We drove off and they then stop at another side road closer to the hotel. The whisky bottle is once again shared round nad the chicken comes out. What the hell is going on. They keep apologising and telling us to eat and drink. To be honest I just want to go home and have a big fat poo because my nerves are gone!<br />
He explains we have to hang round because if we go back the hotel Vikas will lose face and will show ultimate submissiveness and the hotel owner will be bale to bleed as much money from Vikas as he wants. We stay there for another half hour with the other driver who speaks better English telling us that if police ever sop us because Vikas goes through a red light as an example we must be strong and speak for him and say we are visitors of the Indian government and we should tell them to speak to us not the driver. We must be strong. We all agree to be strong(I am pretending). Then he asks me to dinner tomorrow me an him alone! I tell him I have a boyfriend and he will be angry and he says no just friends! I say thankyou but NO! By this time Vikas is drunk and we have to leave .He starts the engine. He hit’s the other drivers car as he pulls out and then apologises provously and speeds back to the hotel at 5k an hr. I just want to get back now. Sorcha is being the mum telling me to stay calm whilst matt is loving the political action.<br />
We arrive at the hotel and there is a mob of Indians waiting for us in the car park. We see the owner and tell him its very bad business what he has done and we will be reporting him to the embassy and trip advisor(they all ask you to give good reports to trip advisor its like they’re bible). We all say ‘bad man, bad business,…’ and he tells us the police have been called .<br />
We go to our room leaving matt with Vikas as there is a mob of Indians surrounding him and vikas is so small we feel he is being threatened.<br />
One of the hotel staff come to our room and say the tour company boss is on the phone and wants to speak to us. We let matt do he talking. Matt tells him we asked Vikas to take us out, he never drank, he has been the best driver and guide and the problem is with the hotel owner. We really don’t want vikas to lose his job, Now we realise why he always refuses drinks and is worried when we go out as the man says the driver should not let us eat out, stop at random places other than the hotel and should not let us walk about on our own. Matt explains its our holiday we don’t like staying in the hotels and this is what we want to do. The hotel owner has told him a completely different story saying vikas was drinking on the side of the road with us and we were in the middle of nowhere. We was but it was our choice but we never told him this. Now we are all sitting in our room wondering what’s in store for tomorrow and will the other driver meet us with our cookies and charras!<br />
</span></div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-3562273866963151132012-01-21T05:43:00.001-08:002012-01-21T05:43:18.166-08:00India last few days...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span lang="EN"> Arrived at Manchester airport 4 hours early to be on the safe side for my flight for London.<br />
Little did I know that should have rang the airline a few days before to check my flight had not been changed. The flight was changed which meant I had to pay for another flight at the cost of 140 bloody quid with British Airways…Bummer.<br />
Arrived in London in perfect time for my Delhi flight.<br />
Boarded the plane to Delhi which was half empty so I got my own seat.<br />
A delicious 6 course Indian dinner was served and thoroughly enjoyed even though I never knew what half of it was. The plane then stunk of curry for the next 7 hours of the flight which made me feel a bit bilious. No matter how many times I brushed my teeth my mouth still tasted of a drunken Indian take away.<br />
Time to get off the plane and I have honestly never felt as nervous arriving somewhere as I did then.<br />
There was probably 500 Indians in the passport queue and 4 westerners. It took an hour to finally get through immigration and then I entered the chaos of Delhi arrivals area.<br />
I had a taxi man picking me up from the hotel and was told to just look out for my name on a sign. Pretty easy hey? There was heaps of Indians waiting with signs so I had to walk back and forth along the lines with them all staring at me, feeling uncomfortable, paranoid and intimidated. <br />
Then I spot my name in flashing lights! Well, not really it was just on a piece of white paper but I have never felt so relieved to see my name wrote on a piece of paper!<br />
The man took my big bag and I carried my little one and he ran to the car park with me running after him. I wondered why we had to run. When we finally finished running up 3 flights of stairs in the concrete jungle I realised it was so he didn’t have to pay extra car parking fees!<br />
Headed to Delhi…crazy roads…camels….crumbling buildings…goats and cows in the road…no road rules….crazy roads…noisy…smelly….foggy…cold…wet....damp….not how I imagined India at all.<br />
Where is all the colour I seen on TV? All the pretty clothes? Blue skies? Scenery? It just reminded me of when I watched TV when I was young and the gulf war was being aired.<br />
Every road and street has a raw sewage gutter running down the side of it and it smells disgusting. If you cant smell piss you can smell shit and if u cant smell that its curry. It stinks everywhere.<br />
Its funny as I write this I think it sound like we are forever moaning but its weird we still enjoy I and are excited for the next day. It just feel s like 9 out 10 people want to rip us off but then when you meet that 1 who does not want to rip you off it makes you happy. Lots of Indians are so intrigued by our whiteness and ask to take photos of us and say hello, shake our hands, want to practice English and its nice.<br />
Arrived at the ‘hotel’ which was not as described on the website. There was a bed, real toilet and a hot shower so that’s all that mattered.<br />
Was very strange but nice to see Sorcha in India. We finally decided to venture outside and explore the streets of Delhi but we were so scared and nervous! Everybody was staring at us like we had two heads and we felt really uncomfortable. We found a chai stall had the best chai of our lives and then discovered a tourist office where we enquired about a few trips. The guy told us all about a 14 day Rajasthan tour but it was nearly $750 each!!! It took us an hour and two cups of chai before we could finally escape him and headed to the government tourist office which was meant to be the cheapest safest option around.<br />
A tuk tuk takes us to he government office and asks do we drive.I say yes and he lets me drive the tuk tuk.Sorchs is shitting herself but filming in the process. I get a bit scared when more veichles come and give the wheel back!!<br />
After another hour of tour chats we came to a price of $780 which was more expensive but we thought it was better as it was a government option. We both still thought it was really expensive for India but it was the government so we thought this was the right price.<br />
The man sent us with his driver to the hotel to pick our money up. The driver parked the car and headed down the street with us. Me and Sorcha quietly discussed was we doing the right thing. We decided to say no. I broke the ice and told the man and after a few min of persuasion and a phone call to the boss he was gone and we were relieved. We then got the tour for half the price in our hotel which I was still a bit iffy about as I hate tours and being on a schedule but it seemed so much easier and less hassle than buying train tickets, bus tickets and booking accommodation.<br />
We met an American guy who wanted to do the same tour so he joined us and now there is 3 of us for our Rajasthan adventure.<br />
Day 1. <br />
Delhi-Mandawa An 8 hour drive which pissed us off as we have spent more time in the car. Which I thought would happen with a tour…Got dropped off at a massive hotel which we would never have opted to stay in full of holiday makers and not backpackers. Mandawa was a really small town, half crumbling, old buildings and an old castle. Every Indian we have met has begged, tried to rip us off, sell us things,try to take us on tours or just annoy us. I think it’s because we are on a typical rich holiday makers route and they think we are rich. Very annoying.<br />
Had a little look around the city and then got some beers and went back to the hotel and watched a freaky cheesy ,puppet show-which they tried to charge us for afterwards. Got chatting to the Indian hotel staff who were really nice and we showed them idiot abroad on the laptop which they were highly amused by,smoked birris,drank beer and got free Indian head massages off the waiters!<br />
Day 2 Mandawa-Bikaner<br />
Only a 4 hour drive today thank god.Got up expecting a nice traditional Indian breakfast only to be given Toast and eggs! We ask why? The Waiter tells us it’s what the tourists like..great….cant wait to get off this tour and do the backpacker thing!haha<br />
The scenery is very dessert,yellow and los of camels and goats.<br />
We stop at a temple which is home to thousands of rats! As with every temple you have to take your shoes off before you enter. We walked in stepping on rat shit, pigeon shit,shit everywhere…rats every where..it stunk.For some reason Indians think the rats in this temple are holy so they come and feed and worship them daily.It was all goin great taking photos,walking about on rat shit until one ran up my leg and I nearly shit myself so I decided to get out.Fast.<br />
Arrived in Bikaner at another amazing tourist hotel and headed out and ate a delicious Indian feast for 6$ for 3 people!It was fantastic.We have all still eaten no meat in case we get sick and have not missed it.The vegetable dishes are fantastic.<br />
</span></div>paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-68256648464113898062011-12-05T04:26:00.000-08:002011-12-05T04:26:56.953-08:00Island life...Arrived in Kho Yao. Very quiet, muslim inhabited island. Stayed in a really nice bungalow on the beach sharing with frogs and a giganic spider which took me 10 min to capture and evict.<br />
Went on an amazing tour of the local islands, rock formations and coves that surround this beautiful paradise.<br />
Met a fellow american for Jess to chat to about politics,Obama, mexican food and all things American.He has climbed aboard our Thai tour.<br />
Two days was enough here as it rained and with nothing else to do other han lay on the beach we decided to head to Phuket, 'Thailand's Las Vegas'.<br />
Motorbikes,tuk tuks,cars,holiday makers from all over he globe,fake ray bans,fake everything,fat old men with thai rent-a- girlfriends,bars,clubs,ping pong shows...the list goes on.This place is madness.<br />
Had a night on the town after drinking 2 bottles of vodka wih fellow backpackers at the hostel.<br />
Walked about the main strip until we were bored of being harrassed by locals selling us everything from fake I phones to prostiutes and headed to a crazy club playing the top ten Australian charts paying 7$ for a beer. Met some fun thai prostiutes that showed us the time of our life whilst trying to take me home for lesbian sex?! <br />
Hung our heads in shame this morning when leaving the hostel as we woke our owners up last night on our return and we felt so bad this little thai man got no sleep because of our loud return.<br />
Spent the day at the crowded Paong beach and people watched whilst bronzing.<br />
It really is amazing, how many over weight, old, wrinkly men think that budgie smugglers look attractive!<br />
One old dude was even wearing a thong.I cannot describe the sight.paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-81245597360870380382011-12-01T04:43:00.000-08:002011-12-01T04:43:47.553-08:00ThailandArrived in Krabi after a 2 hour flight from Singapore. The weather is fantastic as usual and I gotta feeling this is gonna be one hell of a trip!<br />
Managed to walk out of the airport without my luggage!I could not see he carousel?!Then had to stupidly explain to the airport security why I wanted to enter the arrivals hall with an old boarding ticket.<br />
Arrived at good dream guest house, dumped my over packed bag and went on the hunt for food!<br />
Tom yum soup, green curry and rice. AMAZING! I forgot how much I love Thailand and wish I could stay forever.The food is definately the best on the planet.<br />
Jess arrived the following day and I decided with it being her first trip to Asia I would pick her up Thai style. I hollered a man on a motorbike and headed full throttle 20k to the airport.<br />
Jess arrives all smiles and I point to our lift.I climb on the bike and I cant see her.She has jumped into a taxi mini bus thinking I was pointing at that and not the bike behind it. I get her off the bus and point at the bike. Her face was priceless, especially when she realises that me, the driver, her luggage and her will all be on the one bike! A funny ride of laughs, giggles into town followed followed by Jess eating curry that was way too hot and us spending the evening sprinting to loos so she could poop!<br />
We got up at 6 am today and got a long tail boat to the beautiful beach of Railay. Spent a whole day swimming, relaxing and gossiping whilst laying on golden sand staring at turquoise waters.<br />
A few monkeys came to visit the beach and Jess turned into Doctor Do little talking monkey language and feeding them bananas.I left her in her moment and pretended to be interested when she gave me a slide show of the 89 monkey photographs she took!<br />
Heading home a Thai lady was chilling out in her lounge with her pet shitzu and Jess just could not resist running into her home, molesting the dog, speaking doggy language and invading their personal space. I walked on pretending I did not know this freak of nature! God help me when she sees an elephant in real life!<br />
Tomorrow we are ditching all the backpackers and heading to a local island called Kho Yao. Rumour has it its a quiet island with amazing beaches, no clubs, no parties or annoying 18 year old ravers! I'm getting old! We both have no had an alcoholic drink since leaving Australia and are enjoying waking up fresh, eating fresh food and drinking 6 L of water a day! YES IT'S TRUE!<br />
Although things may change in a week when my party animal Lebanese Joe Moussa arrives! I'm so excited! I have not seen Joe for 2 years!He is flying into Phuket from China so depending on what he wants to do we will stay on the island or head to 'Thailand's Gold coast' tacky Phuket..Poo-ket! I really hope he decides to come the island!<br />
Jess is taking a cat nap she just can't handle the pace.So I'm using this QUIET to update and upload!paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5781176977719396797.post-58725403218816930752011-11-28T19:20:00.000-08:002011-11-28T19:20:54.655-08:00First stop SingaporeArrived in Singapore safe and sound after a quick uneventful plane journey from Cairns, Australia.<br />
Stayed at a cool hostel called the fern leaf guest house. Nothing much to report other than when I walked past the breakfast table this morning after using the bathroom my electric toothbrush accidently switched on. It sprayed water all over a guy who was sitting reading the morning news! Woops! Just sitting at the airport abusing the free internet waiting for my flight to Krabi, Thailand!paula2781http://www.blogger.com/profile/01863073539154651720noreply@blogger.com0