Andamans Baby!!!!

SOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLL!!!

So I've just come back from holidays. (ha ha) It was pretty damn awesome to be honest. My cameras memory card has a load of viruses so I'm trying to get it fixed so I can upload pics of my amazing tan.

I arrived in Port Blair on the 10th Dec. The views of the islands from the plane were immense. The sea was turquoise! TURQUOISE!  And you could see white stretches of beaches along several islands. (I regretted leaving my camera in the overhead locker...) The plane turned left and then right then left then right quite a few times - so I worried that I was going to die as a result of the plane driver clearly being drunk... but at least I'd die happy I thought... The town itself was fairly standard, although cleaner than the mainland. But nothing of particular interest there. Joined forces with a lady called Tanya for the day to get a taxi find a hotel and a place to eat yadda yadda yadda.

The next day I left early to get off South Andaman and go to Neil Island (especially for Neil Wilson.) It was all a fair bit more hassly than expected. I went at 5:30am to catch the 6:00am ferry, which had left at 4:00am. So I had to go off and return at 1:00. Chilled out by the other port that looked over Ross Island. Had an awesome breakfast for 30 Rupees. Went to the Aquarium which was AWESOME 5 Rupees and there were loads of dead animals in jars!!! SO cool. I particularly liked all the funny names of fish (goatfish indeed!) and the jar that had clownfish in and it was just stuffed with loads of them rather than one and they were all upside down and dead. It was amusing. (Poor fishies,,,,)

Queued for ages when I got back to the ferry dock and met a guy called Boris (such a great name) from Switzerland. He had a man who was there getting him a ticket for Havelock Island. Turned out there was no boat for Neil that day so the same guy sorted me a ticket for Havelock too. The ferry was insanely rocky. But it felt a bit like being on a theme park ride so I enjoyed it - I stayed on deck in case the boat went under and I needed to jump overboard. (One wouldnt want to get stuck below deck in a sinking situation....)


I hopped in Boris' autorickshaw to his hotel- the Emerald Gecko -it's not really a hotel so much as a series of cute little beach huts. The cheapest were very expensive (Rs1200) - but it was dark and I didnt fancy walking around lost in the dark trying to find accomodation so I took their last hut. It was SO quintessentially islandy. Little beach huts, made of bamboo with a compact bathroom (no toilet), bed upstairs with mosquito net. Then just about 20 steps away was a little beach. The moon was out reflecting on the ocean the waves lapping against the palm trees. It was just AMAZING. Boris and I stood staring and smiling a long time. Then we had a delicious dinner at the hotel (aubergine fritters and veg coconut curry in my case followed by caramel bananas with nutella on!) and watched and petted the little puppies that were living in an upturned boat outside the bamboo restaurant that was playing chill out music and had a sand floor. Oh! It was just wonderful.


Every so often my head would just sort of scream with excitement : "I'm on a tropical island!!! A Tropical Island!!!!!! So exciting. " And I'd just walk around smiling to myself.


Woke up with those thoughts and then bikinied myself and went to make the most of the beach. No one else was on it. (to be fair I think it was about 7:30) It was basically paradise. Little hermit crabs crawled about - I tried to befriend them but they just sort of tried to crawl out of their shells away from me. :-( Or they'd try to pinch me with their little pathetic claws that I couldn't even feel. Awwww. SO CUTE!


Diary Entry: I read Terry Pratchett and loved life.


I felt safe, and relaxed, and extatically happy all at the same time. I noticed the island continued along it's stereotypicallness - a few fisherman on a boat in the distance, a brightly coloured kingfisher eating a crab, a little washed up bottle on the shore.

Anyway, later that day I decided to go eat and then go for a little walk to the market - about 2km away. Once I got there there were signs to the 'beach' which was strange as there are like 9 beaches on the island or something and they all had numbers. I presumed it was beach number 3 as thats what was nearest - so I followed the signs. 2 hours later I was becoming a little concerned that maybe there was no beach. There was however a lot of forest and quite a few local settlements. I hopped in the next richshaw that came along and he took me to the beach, it was only 15 mins away and was beach number 7. I think I walked about 13km. Therre really are no words for beach number 7. It looks like a postcard. Long, with soft white sand, turquoise and dark blue sea, with waves, and surrounded by vibrant green trees. I found a spot, left my bag and what not there and went for the sea. It turned out to be a tad more energetic than I had anticipated and after being beaten up by 2 waves I decided that was probably enough swimming/almost drowning. Built a sandcastle. Got a rickshaw back to my hotel after beaching myself for the day.

The next day I planned to go to Neil Island. I'd found myself a Markus from Austria who was also going - so I just invited myself along. He was cool with it. He had dreadlocks. People with dreadlocks are always cool. It was more of a hassle lining up in queues to be told that the boat was full today. We booked tickets for the next day so as not to be disappointed again. We stayed a different resort - which had more colourful, and importantly, cheaper beach huts. The place was called the Coconut Grove and was run by a guy called Hari or Ari - not sure - from Nepal. I like Nepalese people. He was nice and smiley. Markus and I wanted to do something with our day and I'd been told by the rickshaw driver who took me back from beach 7 yesterday that I could rent a moped without having a license... Markus had a license just not with him. So we walked down the road asking ever moped place on route for a moped but they wouldn't let us! Eventually after almost giving up we found a place where a guy was covereing the moped shop for a friend... he suggested I try riding the moped up the road and back as I'd never driven one before... So I drove off in the moped in a veryy staccato fashion with the man calling out "Slowly! Slowly!" behind me. I thought I was going slowly. Then I tried to turn the bike around in the road but instead I drove it into a ditch, which I couldnt get out of. Markus and the man came and pulled it out. I suggested that Markus drive the moped. Off we went - beach number 7 again where we met another couple that Markus knew. Got battered by more waves before deciding not to go in the sea again and started to tan.

Slobbed out on beach number 5 before hopping on the ferry to Neil Island. Woo! Markus and I were quite excited. I went off to a different hotel from his as his was a little prices, I found a place that did little huts for 200Rs, so I stayed there that first night along with this girl called Alinka from Slovenia. We also met a French boy and an Italian boy. I went with them to the beach when it was dark to watch the moon and stars while they got stoned. We saw giant toads and giant bats and also shooting stars. It was pleasant in the bright light of the moon and watching to see if the sea would break through Matteo's sand wall. I wasn't happy with the rocky beach though so I moved from beach one to beach 4 the next morning. Checkout was at 7:30. I found a much more satisfactory place : A.N.D. Rs400 for a hut with bathroom. And a beach where I could swim because the waves wouldn't kill me. (Markus joked I could only be in the water if it was like a paddling pool. There is only a certain degree of truth in that.) Matteo and Louis joined me later that day when I was playing the beached whale game. I was also hassled by a whole group of Indian men on that first day... they asked to take my picture - and then took it anyway even after I said no. Then persisted to talk to me and pose next to me- encroaching on my personal space! Whilst their wives also took pictures from a distance. Sigh. They told me to visit them when I returned to Kolkata - I buried their business card in the sand.

Markus and Ben (a German guy that was also on beach 7 in Havelock) popped round the next day after I saw Ben the day before in the market and told him to visit. We rented bicycles and cycled to the natural bridge. It was just one of those arch things you learn about in Geography. I went to beach 1 to watch the sunset - but missed it. Went back to my hut to sit in the hammock I bought the day before, I had arranged to meet Markus and Ben at a restaurant for dinner after they'd been night fishing. They were 2 hours late and had many interesting fish. I watched the guy prepare them while the others went to freshen up. Some fish were definned and descaled and disemboweled whilst still alive. The restaurant guy and I talked about religion and afterlife and fish. I stayed and chatted with the boys as they ate their catch, I'd already eaten, we drank and they got stoned, then as it was like 12:30 we decided to go our separate ways home. I was chased by vicious dogs on my way home. It was incredibly scary. One started barking at me then started chasing and about 4 or 5 others joined in. It was dark and they were loud and sounded very angry. I pedaled fast. 

Visited beach number 5 the next day in the morning, a storm started when i arrived. I got very wet despite hiding under a bamboo frame with grass roof shack. I decided to cycle onwards as I was soaked through anyway. I had intended to go to beach 3 but didnt see the turning so I went to look for it again. On my way back I saw the restaurant that my European neighbours had recommended so I went in and had some delightful food before beaching myself a bit more on beach number 3 now. The owner came and took me for a little walk. We sat down to enjoy the view and he called me fat before asking to kiss me which I thought was a little strange. I said no. He was quite cute though. Marcus and Ben had arrived when we returned to the main beach so I chilled with them for a bit, sun as well as sea bathing before watching the sunset. We parted ways and decided to meet at the Ferry back to Port Blair the next day. I got chased again by dogs on my way back to my hut.

I ended up getting the earlier ferry, so I didnt see the boys until I met Ben at the airport. I never got to say bye to Markus - I'll e mail him a goodbye message. It was very nice hanging out with these other beach people. I thoroughly enjoyed myself tanning, reading Terry Pratchett, pretending to swim and not doing a lot generally. I think I'd be incredibly happy living in the Andamans and I would defo go back. I would recommend them to anyone who wants to slob out big time. There is also a lot of stuff you can do there - boat trips/diving/snorkelling/animal watching etc. I didn't do a lot. But I enjoyed myself and that was the main thing. :-)

I didn't want to come back to Kolkata to be honest. And especially not to a room with no natural light after living in idyllic little beach huts where natural light comes through the bamboo every morning waking one in a most desirable fashion. I hunted for an acceptable room, but they were all pretty grungy and most didnt have any natural light coming through... I realise this is very important for me - not entirely sure why, maybe something to do with my pineal gland.  Anyway, I ended up in an incredibly fancy and expensive hotel (Rs1800! - like 25quid?) I stayed there for one night and have now found another slightly dingy room but it is a lone room on a rooftop of this hotel with hot water and air con (possibly not working...) for Rs600 (7 pounds) I really like it -it smells a bit like English granny's house used to smell, a little bit of damp and a little bit of smoking. And I'll get some exercise going up and down the 6 or so flights of stairs.


Today I have been busy trying to find places which can fix my camera memory card, buying Terry Pratchett books,  eating cake and finding a hotel. It's been active. Sort of. Tomorrow I have to wake early (4 or 5am) to go to mass with the nuns and start my volunteer work. Blog in a week or so to let you know how it goes.

Have a great Christmas everyone. I shall endeavor to be on skype at that time - if any internet places are open....

New abode

Sundarbans Tiger Tour and a bit more

Wow.
India really does get better the longer you stay. Heres a VERY brief lo-down if you can't be bothered to read the whole blog:
The food is AWESOME.
visited a few sites in Kolkata including mother Teresas tomb and the Victoria memorial, a few churches and a graveyard and an art gallery. It's all been really good.
Met up with some NZ girls (who have been living in England) to go on a tiger hunt at the nature reserve - didn't see any tigers but saw a lot of other cool animals. Met a NZ man and his Aussie wife on this tour who were really nice. AJ our guide was wonderful.
Found more interesting accomodation. At least there's a window.
I'm going to the Andaman Islands!!!


Food:

this is where I get my somosas and onion bhajis.

I've frequented a few little almost western cafes where I've met other lone travellers like myself and it's nice to chat to them over breakfast. But my favourite place for breakfast has been this little street stand where they do the most wonderful flavoursome somosas ever! They also do some delightful potato patty things and onion bhajis at night. So Good! And it's like 3 Rupees for a somosa! Such a bargain! I had 2 somosas and tea for 11 rupees this morning! I've been finding all the coffee shops and trying them out. I've come to the conclusion Barista does the best coffee, but everythings a bit overpriced. I went to cafe coffee day and was disappointed in the coffee but the brownie was superb. Then I went to Flurys and didnt really ever want to go anywhere else. I shall go there whenever I'm feeling sorry for myself.... which I must do more regularly... (I am having to stem my chocolate/biscuit/cake eating because of the cellulite dimples that have started appearing on my bum. But seriously I've found the best cake in the WORLD! the eggless chocolate truffle. I'll need to buy one more to take a photo). I've been to a few restaurants too, I haven't found the food too spicy at all - it's all basically perfect, although I was at one Bengali restaurant the other day and I couldnt eat all the chillis in my bindi bhaji.  I went to a restaurant called Prince when Alexis and Anthea arrived and there was a whole array of different flavours in our different curries all made to perfection. We all fitted in 2 mishti dhoys each as well, they're like little yoghurty things which have like added sugar and basically they're inexplicably delicious and just what you want after a hot curry. Last night I had my first dosa. Oh my goodness - Amazing, like a rice pancake which is crispy with a spicy potato and tomato, chilli and onion filling served with a bowl of curry and a coconut sauce. Yesterday Alexis also bought one of the Kali egg rolls which the place is renowned for and I tried some of that and may have to buy another at some point. I JUST LOVE ALL THE FOOD!

Activities:
I had a busy day visiting the Victoria memorial which it said in the lonely planet would probably be one of the most beautiful buildings in India if it was built as a romantic gesture for a living princess rather than built for a dead colonial Queen...

Victoria Memorial and Alexis.

It was so good to come to a place where they had information! You weren't just looking at pictures it explained who painted them and what they were about - how refreshing. It also had it translated in Bengali, Hindi and English - most impressive. And the place was beautiful and restful, although I was asked to pose in a few pictures and take a few pictures. I went to chill out in the gardens and ended up speaking to a fairly safe Indian man - he was like in a suit and didn't ask if I was married as like the second question - we talked about religion and colonisation and stuff first.
Afterwards I walked slowly on purpose so that we didnt have to walk together and then went into this art gallery, contemporary stuff. It was really good. Inspirational. I love art galleries. I was taking photos of a lot of it (most of it) and this guy noticed and was like - do you want a brochure and it had pictures of all the works in and was free so I was like - yes please :-)
I went back to both of these places yesterday as Alexis wanted to go on her last day in Kolkata and I was quite happy to go again as there were pictures in the VM that I wanted to draw as you're not allowed to take photos - (they really should do postcards). We also chatted to some of the actual artists when we went to the art gallery as they'd seen us discussing their paintings. So it was all good.
I visited a cemetery - South Park St Cemetery - I find them quite peaceful and some of the tomb stone things were huge! Much bigger than one would expect but not particularly elaborate. It's also nice to get away from all the beeping of the horns and people. There were a few people shouting in the cemetery... I have no idea about what. Insane numbers of house crows were loitering in the trees and there were quite a lot of chipmunks running freely over the graves. No photos allowed though.
I walked down AJC Bose road one day to Mother Teresa's motherhouse. It seemed to be a largly muslim community down that way and I wasn't sure I was walking in the right direction. Once I got passed all the street stalls selling food, there were all these rubbish clothing stalls and then a really long mechanics garage road; where insanely, as if the car horns beeping of the road wasn't enough, it was like the only thing being fixed on this road. Seriously - why don't they just have a regular volume horn? I eventually found the motherhouse and walked in to see the tomb, I misead a sign as you couldn't take photos and misread another sign saying that you shouldn't take your shoes off - but I think a lot of other people did the same. The tomb was fairly unremarkable, there were some lovely paintings on the wall though and the atmosphere was lovely and peaceful, prayerful. I said some prayers and left as I'd come at a time when the museum and the church opposite were closed. I intend to go back at some point.

Sundarbans:
Alexis had facebooked me to say she and Anthea were doing this tour and I would I like to go - I'd been thinking about doing it by myself and thought it would be nice to go with people instead, and they suggestede this tour operator. It was great!
http://www.tourdesundarbans.com/
I went to speak to Rajesh as I was in Kolkata and the other two weren't and had already booked. It was very easy for me to be put on the same day as them and Rajesh just showed me on his computer what we would be doing. It was all very straightforward.
Our group - which also comprised of a couple from Australia - assembled at 8 and left at about 9. We had delightful cucumber and tomatoe sandwiches on our quite comfortable mini bus to drop off point. AJ, our lovely guide, pointed out various sites on the way. Including Kolkata's rubbish mountain. Where you could see building on top of it, he explained were recycling centres, where the poorer people could find work. The river flowing in front of us was black. There were a variety of smells along this road. None of them were good, and all of them were incredibly pungent. We passed flats of land holding water, I dont know what was in there - maybe fish, it didn't look like rice paddies. We stopped for tea a few times before hopping onto a boat to cross to a Sundarbans Island. There was a busy market which AJ explained was where people from all the islands around came to as it was the best shopping place. It did seem to have everything. I would have happily lost myself there for a day but we walked to find rickshaw carts (I'll upload a pic rather than trying to explain what they looked like). It was fun but not the most comfortable. I also got bitten a lot on my bum at this point. We stopped at a local family's house to have our lunch which was divine. Then we walked a short way to the guesthouse. We could have stayed there but 3 of us opted for staying the night on the boat.
We walked around the village. Lots of goats and children. A temple a sort of sea wall. Mangrove trees. We saw wild bees in a tree. The atmosphere was very different. Very islandy. We then had a boat trip until sunset - watching out for mostly kingfishers - of which we saw a variety, and other birds like bee eaters. Very good.
We came back for a meal (just magnificent) and regional music from a folk band. After listening to their 1st song, I wondered if they knew what timing was and if they were just making it up as they went along. But after that it got better, we even danced. We were joined by 2 Israeli people who seemed much more into the music than the rest of us.

Mangrove trees.

Slept on the boat after playing cards ( it was most comfortable but AJ had said there weren't mozzies. I was covered in bites the next day - so do opt for the mosquito net should you do this. The one on my arm has started to go down but there was a strange red circle around it about 8cm in diameter. We started our hunt for tigers on a day so misty we couldn't see the banks of the river. It cleared before we entered the reserve, but we didn't find tigers. It was still a wonderful experience spending the day on our pirate ship type boat. We saw loads of kingfishers, plovers, herons, cormorants, sandpipers, shanks; as well as monitor lizards (AJ was imossibly good at spotting these) and crocdiles (ditto from the last brackets) and spotted deer. I think that was it. Oh and monkeys - the scary ugly ones. The backpackers have a pet rescued one - it's a baby but I'm still scared of it...

lovely food - made on the boat!

Anyway - we returned the same way we came. I've not been driven in the dark since travelling - I was sort of avoiding it on purpose. I listened to my music and closed my eyes but didn't sleep and it was one of the best journeys I've had - I will do that more often. If I look out the window (in particular the front window) I do feel like I'm going to die lot.
Really wonderful time. So nice that everything was organised for me. Such lovely people. Such great food. And I love nature.

Future plans:
So I came here to work with the nuns and I've been here a week now and the ball's still not rolling. And it wont for another 9 days. (although I might go to the briefing today) I was reading my guide book and read about sundarbans and wanted to go so did - and then I ended up on the page about the Andaman islands. They basically sound amazing. And I rung up a tour airline to get some quotes - like 600 quid for return flights so I decided to check online the next day. I must have been in a particularly impulsive mood because when I found flights for 317 pounds I just booked them. So I'm off there tomorrow now for 9 days. I'm quite excited. I'm so glad I planned nothing before I came - I'm loving just making it up as I go along. Basically this is what life should be like all the time. But we've made a society which is completely unnatural and stresses most of us out most of the time. I am more than ever tempted to do what Samuel L. Jackson does in Pulp Fiction and just become a bum....

My new room in Kolkata :-)

I don't think that was really quite everything. But you've probably had enough. 

Kolkata

First impressions:

Not as bad as expected. Maybe I was expecting the worst as everyone was saying it would be so much more busy than Varanassi and so much bigger. But actually, Although I recognise its a large city, I've only seen a small manageable part. (Sudder St where my hotel is and Park St.)

The night train here was more comfortable than expected. I was in 2A which means that there are 2 bunk beds rather than 3A where you have 3 bunks on top of one another. But there were more people than my last journey. Mostly men... it's like India is hiding all the women. There were some school girls who I chatted to for a bit - and who bizarrely asked for my autograph, I did tell them I wasn't famous. I even managed to get some sleep. And the train food was awesome!

Getting a taxi was easy as there's hundreds of yellow taxi's lined up like it New York or something. I should have taken a photo really - I'll try and remember when I leave. I got in a blue taxi simply because it was the first man who approached me. He had to stop on the bridge to sort something out under the boot of his car but other than that it was ok.

I hunted around for a hotel which had a room with bathroom at a reasonable price. A lot of them were asking Rs650 which is like almost 8 pounds a night. Which is cheap but more than I wanted to pay. I found room at the hotel Plaza which was Rs400 (5 pounds a night). Yeah there's no TV, no air con (there is a fan), no natural light, no shower (a bucket and jug and a tap) but it serves it's purpose.. wait - I hope! I intend only to sleep there. I'm just going to pray there aren't bed bugs. I did see what look like small leaches living on the floor in the bathroom where all the toilet water is leaking out... The room is a good size though, and has a double bed... ooooo. I did have to ask them to change the sheets as soon as I arrived though. I'm sure it'll all be fine. Only 25 days here.

I went walkabout. Couldn't find any Terry Pratchett books in the numerous bookshops. :-( Saw a Macdonalds - which looked REALLY posh! And saw a Dominoes pizza -reminded me of the gentlemen from uni... I was tempted to take a picture, but didn't. Found a place to eat. It was in the lonely planet and was delicious. It reminded me of Snoobies' mothers' restaurant. It was quite posh. Quite a bit more expensive than other places I've been eating too... I shall have to find some reliable looking street stalls... I also found a bengali sweet shop - so naturally had to try some of what tasted like a sweet milky mushy blob. They were most tasty. I might have to go back actually - I've eaten them all now. I also found a coffee place (only instant though, so I didn't bother) that sold stuff made by children who had been taken off of the street and were being taught skills. I was drawn to it cos it was like a project founded by Don Bosco - who I know very little about but remembered he had something to do with the Selisians and Mr Mark went to Selisian college so I went in to buy some biccies and a book for drawing in.

That's about all I've done today. I intend to visit the nuns on Monday... Maybe I'll go to church on Sunday! How exciting - My first mass in like 3 months or so. I've also realised that after this week, I think it'll be the longest amount of time I've ever not seen the parents for... Uni had hols like every 3 months or so, and whenever I've gone off I always seem to come back after 3 months. And I usually speak to mother on the phone regularly. I intend to buy a small laptop at some point and then I'll skype home. And anyone else who wants to be skyped. Within reason.

Sweetie time.

Goodbye Varanassi

Well, I've spent about a week here now and have become accustomed to the place.

On my first day in Varanassi I arrived having not eaten since 5:30 that morning, I was tired from lack of sleep (India is much more noisy than Nepal), I was carrying my insanely heavy bag around, lost in the maze of streets being hassled by every single man that was selling or driving or just standing there.

Typical Varanassi rooftops

After washing, eating, sleeping, I felt much better. The next day I explored. I was ripped off by some money changer guy. I found a place where I wanted to do some yoga. I had breakfast at a place I'd highlighted in my book - the brown bread bakery. Then I bumped into the guy who had shown me to the hotel the day before - the tall man I had agreed to let show me the place where he designs silk products. I let him take me there as there was some other guy at the hotel who wanted to take me there and I figured it was the less of 2 evils. It was  a fine place for buying silk products, but I dont think I like silk. I did however buy 2 shawls - one cotton one kashmir? Cant remember now. But that was to be all my shopping. I must be more stringent with my money.

I asked to walk down the ghats - the places at the riverside - alone, my guide wanted to take me - but I have no money to spend on guides I dont really want anyway. It was interesting watching everybody down there - washing and swimming and cleaning in the sewage infested water... Strange, strange people. They consider it to be holy water... I dont know why. Maybe because it'd be a miracle if you dont get ill?  You get hassled a fair bit by boat men and by people selling postcards and generally by men who want to hassle you just for joy of hassling I suppose. I think a lot of them want to get money from people. I don't know why they're so persistant because I can't imagine they get that much business. Why is the women are so much less hassley? Why can't men be more like women? I found saying "no thank you " quite curtly seems to put them off.

One of the reasons that Varanassi is famous is that because many people believe that if you die here or are cremated here you break the cycle of reincarnation and go straight to heaven or something. There are 2 ghats where you can observe cremations. But there's always people who want to tell you about it and ask for money afterwards, so because of the increased hassle I usually moved on quite swiftly. Needless to say because of this being such a popular place to die there were lots of cremations going on - I saw 2 more coming back today. I guess there's lots of dead people in the river too then on top of all the other pollution.

I reached the end of the sort of pathway and was hassled by some street kids - so I took their photo to shut them up more than anything, then they asked for 50 Rupees. I laughed and left them to their business making schemes. I found a little cafe called the open hand - which once I arrived, I realised I'd circled that in my book too. It was awesome - good coffee and good chocolate cake - with beautifully generous portions. I also saw my first chipmunk here. I sat on the balcony - good for people watching, and cow watching.

Decided I needed to eat some Indian food for dinner later that day and ended up at this place which I had also circled in my book! 3 places in one day - all by accident. I had some delicious somosas there with curry. I went back several time. Their Thali was just Rs30 and it's like a full meal with top ups of everything if you want! Awesome.

Thali - (this is actually from another restaurant not the above mentioned...

Had a few lazy days. Whilst I've been here which mostly involve sitting in cafes writing stories and what not. I did decide that as Varanassi is a little bit famous for yoga and meditation I should do some of that here. So I spent 6 hours in total doing yoga classes over 3 days. The yoga guy was quite a character, and there were different people in the group each day. We did some chanting before we started - which was a little weird - it was in Hindi I think, the guy translated it to English for us, but expected us to be able to say it after 2 recitations - which none of us could as none of us spoke hindi, so we all just sort of mumbled through it. It was quite amusing. We did some vigorous yoga afterwards. I think I ended up hurting my back on the first day. (Stupid rowing exercises...) He also made us say affirmations like -' In the form of a spiral I follow my path to the divine where joy and peace are.'  That was a bit strange too. He's test us, after saying the affirmation himself getting us to recite it back - but we'd usually all forgotten. I was busy trying to focus on my posture! At the end of the session he did laughing meditation with us. Sometimes it was funny, sometimes it wasn't. It felt a little awkward. On my first day, halfway through the lesson, the yoga teacher brought me and the other women to meet this australian couple who had been outside doing nasal cleansing. Then he showed them and us - how to clean your nose/mouth cavity out with a rubber tube! He inserted it through his nose, gagged a bit and coughed before reaching into his mouth to pull out the tube. He then pulled ont both ends of the tube backwards and forwards several time, bits of saliva and mucous dropping from his nose and mouth. He looked very pleased with himself when it was finished. We left the aussies to try it and went back to our yoga... thank goodness - I was already preparing how to politely decline doing it.

On another day I went out early in the morning - although not early enough to see the sunrise. But just to take a boat ride on the river Ganga. It was pleasant enough. It's funny the rickshaw men and the boat men sort of see themselves as guides, but they don't really seem to know what people want to see or how to explain what there is in particularly good English, making the whole exercise a little pointless. So my boat rower pointed to a temple and said it was the tiger temple, then he started pointing out hotels... I was glad I only asked for a half an hour ride.

the shop boat... there is no escape from these tradesmen!

I did do more shopping despite my best efforts - I've found the worlds most comfortable trousers and never want to wear anything else! I've also bought lots of Indian sweets. They're so sweet the guy at my hotel restaurant said I couldn't eat them because they were too sweet - and I was a bit like "look - you really dont know me... I eat sweets for breakfast - literally." Needless to say they were sickeningly sweet and I love them all. I have no idea whats in them most the time, but I particularly like the ones which are drowning in syrup.

I let a young girl do my henna tattoo. It's a peacock.

A few other things:
- There appears to be a lot of keen pigeon keepers...
- met more lovely New Zealanders... cant wait....

- I was almost trodden on by a water buffalo on my way here.

Anyway - I'm off to get some cake before I have to catch my train. I shall no doubt write another blog when I've adjusted to my surroundings in Kolkata. I'm hoping to work with the nuns, I wonder what they do for Christmas... 

The Indian Diaries

Well I arrived safely in India. It wasn't too difficult as it involved just walking between two gates... I suppose I could have tripped up....

Hopped on basically the first bus I saw - which was going to Varanassi - where I wanted to go - but I'd already booked a train from Gorakphur (3hours away rather than 7) so I thought I'd get dropped off there just the same as I could probably do with some train practise.

Gorakphur was like a road next to a railway station overlooked by a row of skanky looking hotels and dodgy restaurants. It was dusty, smelly, hot, there were many more men than women, and the whole place was just plain ugly. I don't think I'll go back. Hopped on a cycle rickshaw thingamy to take me to my hotel - the guy didnt say he didn't have a clue where he was going, I would have done better to walk there really. I'm pretty sure he ripped me off as well. Had a nap at the hotel (which I think ripped me off) to adjust to my unfamiliar surroundings. Then headed out at 4:30 for my first proper meal of the day (only eaten Parle g biscuits - has anyone else had these? I really like them... full of glucose goodness!) I stopped a random street restaurant as it said it was pure vegetarian - it was actually very tasty food. I also popped into a sweet shop on my way back to the hotel - they were very tasty too! Slept until 3 when a mosquito woke me up and then started getting ready for my train journey. The train left a 6:00 am but I wanted to get there an hour early just in case...

The journey was ok - I was sharing a 6 person little area with just one person. Yes it was a man who asked too many personal questions and also talked about how he enjoyed watching strip tease in Bangkok... but he did kindly share his sweets with me and tell me when to get off the train. (It was the same stop as him - but I ran off pretty quck as he kept trying to convince me to have dinner with him.)

I hopped on a 3 wheeled taxi thing to get to the Uma guest house - pretty much just cos the name was like Umi's and I wanted to take a photo. The driver dropped me off cos he said the roads from then on were too narrow... I got lost pretty much instantly and the weight of my what is probably 24kg rucksack was beginning to get to me. I was hot, tired, there were too many people, lots of them trying to get me to go in their rickshaws, there were lots of cars beeping, the place was quite smelly, and there were a few cows looking vaguely menacing. I almost cried. For the first time in 3 months, I felt ... unhappy. A random man passed me on to his friend to show me where the guesthouse was that I was looking for and then to take me to his afterwards if I didnt like it. It was a long walk. There were no rooms in my guest house. Thankfully, the one i was taken to -the Puja guesthouse had a room. I felt much better after I washed and had eaten lots in the restaurant on the rooftop which had safer views of the city and the ganges. I watched the sunset, and all the kites- thousands of them.  Then came looking for the internet. And here I am. I will go out exploring tomorrow.

Chitwan and Lumbini

I just wrote most of this and then there was a powercut... I best try and write a more condensed entry in case there's another. There'd already been one tonight so I thought I was safe.


Chitwan:

Arrived in Chitwan despite oversleeping and almost missing my bus! I'd sat next to a German girl called Katarina and ended up going to the same hotel as her - Jungle Adventure World. The individual little cottages were very cute and I claimed the first one I saw. On my way to discuss price I noticed 2 elephants out back so, grinning like a maniac I went to pet them. They were very... rough... But cute nonetheless. I explored the town a little, it was fairly dull and dusty.

The next day was a lot more eventful with a canoe ride at 7am where we saw multitudes of interesting birds as well as crocodiles. On embarking I commented on how wobbly the boat was and our guide said not to worry as the boat was named titanic. It would have been funny had the boat not been sat quite so low in the river after 10 people were sat in it. This was followed by a jungle walk with 2 guides with nothing but big sticks to protect us from an tiger, rhino or sloth bear we encountered. We started hunting for rhinos in long grass, and thankfully found none. Next we walked through the forest and saw interesting insects and more birds and 2 different types of monkey. Thankfully we did not encounter any tigers or sloth bears. Some may view this as a little disappointing - but I didn't fancy meeting one of these deadly animals without a stick of my own.

We arrived back at the hotel following a quick ferrying back across the river and had to instantly go and change so we could ride and wash Pinky the elephant- one of the ones i met the day before. She was most obliging, maybe because of the man with the metal stick with a pointy hook on the end. I still don't know how I feel about elephant domestication... but I'm pretty sure it's wrong. I didn't feel comfortable (morally) sat on Pinky. I just felt guilty really. I didn't go on for a second go. I hope she's happy.

We had a break for lunch - I just read Terry Pratchett though (I can't believe I've come to him so late! He's awesome) - then we went out for our elephant safari. Because of some mix up with our tickets, Katrina and I had to wait about a bit and went on a younger elephant that only takes 2 people. It meant we were faster than a lot of the bigger elephants. We were the first to see the spotted deer and the rhino - which I was still scared of even on an elephant. We saw a mongoose and more interesting birds and even a deer playing in a puddle. It's great how wild animals don't seem to notice you when your atop an elephant... The ride was more comfortable than I had expected and I thanked Laxmi, our elephant, as well as the rider at the end.

Katarina and I watched the sunset in the evening, then later I went to the Tharu cultural show which was just like lots of people dancing with sticks. It was ok, but I wasn't overly enthralled, perhaps a little lost on me. Also the guy introducing all the dances had quite an annoying accent.

Lumbini:

Another long (6hr) bus ride to another place. The bus ride itself wasn't so bad - at least they were proper roads but I think the driver was a bit of a maniac ignoring all the slow signs on a way down a particularly swervy hill.  I also ended up with some dust or something in my eye which now means I have blurred vision in my left eye. It has led me to contemplate how lucky we are to have 2 of everything otherwise I would be semi deaf and semi blind just 3 months into my trip. I have some eye drops that I bought for 20Rs from a pharmacy and it doesn't hurt quite so much anymore so I'm thinking it'll be ok.

in this temple is the stone that Buddha is said to be born on

We arrived and I shared a taxi from Bhairawa to Lumbini with 2 women and a 4 year old I met on the bus. I also ended up sharing a room with one of the ladies - Queenie - she's from the Philippines. We only share a room and don't really do anything together as she goes off with the other 2, we do keep bumping into each other in the only restaurant in town though. I don't mind because I appear to also have developed flu like symptoms and don't really want the hassle of having to talk to people.

Today, as it's my last real day in Lumbini I thought I should probably go and have a look at the temples - I rented a bike and cycled around all the temples for about 3 hours. I expected Lumbini to be a really peaceful place where I could sit and pray and chill out. But there weren't really any comfy looking sitting areas and there were swarms of pilgrims. A lot of the temples were under construction and it was quite dusty. The grass was dry and the weather hot. And I felt ill. After 3 hours exploring I had seen most of the Lumbini monastic grounds - although missed out on the Peace Pagoda and the crane sanctuary. When I realised I didn't bother going back as it was about 4km away.

I returned the bike and had some dodgy looking samosas which were quite tasty in this little fly infested popular local haunt. I then went for drinks and met Queenie and the others in the restaurant before going back to the hotel for a nap and to finish my Terry Pratchett book.

In other news:

So tomorrow, if there is no strike, I shall be off to India. My phone will no longer work - although I do have that other international sim... I'm not sure if I'll bother with an Indian sim card. I'm there for 2 months before heading off to some other Asian countries. This wasn't part of my original plan but I couldnt get a 6 month Indian visa which meant my flight to NZ was more expensive. I object to paying 200 more pounds when I'm doing the same travel - so I thought I'd spend that 200 pounds and probably a lot more on going to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Then NZ. And everybody said I should plan more... well here's to not planning.

I hope I can find more Terry Pratchett books in India.... I'm reading one by the Dalai Lama now. He says I must love everyone the same and not have favourites. I always thought I was quite good at being a generally fairly loving person... but Everybody has favourites... I'm not sure it's human not to have favourites... There's something for you all to think about.

Pokhara times

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

So relaxed right now... although today has probably been one of the more eventful of the past week. I'll start from the beginning.

While Marianne and Angie were still about we enjoyed (as far as I'm aware) going out for dinner together but spent the majority of the three days apart from one another. I spent my time, mostly shopping and drinking coffee and drawing/writing.

We spent one day visiting a Tibetan refugee camp - which made me a little sad - about their situation in general. I felt obliged to shop to make it up to them (just some jewelry and cymbals and prayer flags etc.). They had a carpet warehouse which was interesting - and I wanted many carpets but managed to restrain myself as any but the magical kind would be far too heavy to lug around India, plus, they were rather on the pricey side. There was also a guest house which apparently no one uses, Marianne explained it was probably because no one knew it was there... There was a monastry where we saw monks making a sand mandala. It was interesting. This was also the day that the three of us had dinner at Olive cafe - which if you go to Pokhara in the not too distant future will probably be the best restaurant on lakeside and you should go there. They didn't even pay me to say that. The croissants are actually rather good - I'm not sure what the other 'croissants' being sold here actually are... I've put on weight and I shall blame the chocolate cake with ice cream (I return to being vegan from tomorrow (I've said that most days this week.))


So I've been here a week and literally most of my diary entries are talking about my lazy days, and how I just sit around, drinking, eating, drawing, reading and writing and generally being a little peeved about the lack of mountains (the weather is, unusually for Pokhara, worse than Britain's at the moment.)

I made friends with the guys who work at the hotel Bednidhi and Purna as well as Bija -the guy who runs the bike rental out the front. This has made life much nicer as I've had someone to talk to. Having said that - as soon as Angie and I arrived here Pokhara felt like some crazy trekking reunion - it's great the number of people you bump into that you've been bumping into trekking. I also met up with the Scottish girls (not sure if I mentioned them previously) Jen and Ruthie, we went out to dinner a couple of times, and Jen and I went Pedaloeing on the lake which was fun despite the fact that the lake and surrounding scenery was just a blur of different shades of grey. I showed Jen this yoga retreat thing I had booked to go to for approx 3 days - we looked it up online - seeing how hardcore it all was (waking at 5!!! Nasal cleansing!!! Mud baths which were just pots shared in a garden!!!) I decided it wasn't the sort of retreat I wanted and as I was quite enjoying chatting to the hotel guys and Jen and Ruthie I decided to stay in town. Jen and Ruthie then left me to go there!

Jen had talked of visiting the eco village that the hotel Marigold, where I'm staying, runs. I was interested, so I spoke to the Bednidhi who tried to convince me to go there most days. To be honest - I was shamefully lazy (although everyone needs a break and lots of chocolate, especially after a trek) and the weather was just a tad oppressive and made me want to sit in cafes hugging coffees and books. So I did. Today I decided to go - So Purna and I cycled there - at my request - in part because conversations about my fat were beginning to get to me, but also because 20km didn't sound that far. (I did do it in under an hour before... ) So as it was up most of the way and we stopped a few times it ended up taking 4 hours to get there. It should have taken 2. And I've never been on a more uncomfortable bike ride! going uphill off-rode on a mountain bike with a saddle which I can only presume was made with steel is rather awful!
Then we arrived. It was so beautiful. I felt a little bit gutted immediately that I hasn't spent my week in this peaceful haven of marigolds and views of the frikkin' mountains! Even now I'm still not bored of seeing mountains - they're like fire or the sea. You can just stare indefinitely. Purna showed me where all the organic vegetables are grown, so I have lots of photos on my phone now of plants which I'll probably forget what they are when it comes to posting them on facebook. The little cottages where people stay were so quaint and the rooms named after mountains. The whole ethos of the place is right up my street - all environmentally friendly and what not. We had lunch and I met Purna's mother and father and brother and sister in law and their dog. There were no tourists there at the time. It would have been perfect for doing some drawing and writing. Don't dwell on it Mary, dont dwell on it.

the eco village : beautiful

And a few other things:

I've now seen the king's speech - at this delightful restaurant called T'hic T'hac or something... I ate a magic pot of something called Grandmother's secret and watched the movie. It was a wonderful evening. The manager also had a complementary drink sent to my table (ginger lemon and honey I think - I was a little worried it would be drugged so I drunk it slowly.... It wasn't.) I don't know why... I think maybe because I told him the A team wasn't the King's speech... they'd advertised the latter on a board outside..

I had a full body massage from a blind/semi blind person. There's this great place here where they train blind people in massage so that they can have an income. It was the hardest massage of my life so far, and I didn't really like it. But Marianne and Angie both liked theirs so maybe I'm just a little bit more of a woos than I realised...

I think that's it. I'm off to Chitwan National park tomorrow to see ANIMALS! How exciting. I'll let you all know how it goes. Although I may be in India when you next hear from me - who knows?

Trekking Adventure

Holidays!

I've been working for a couple of months and it was time for a little holiday. So I went to go on a trek to Annupurna Base Camp which can be found at 4130m above sea level... It was the most physically enduring thing I have done in my life to date I think. I'm taking an actual holiday now...

So after a 7 hour bus journey I arrived in Pokhara about 12 days ago - it's a town where you're surrounded by the mountains and a lake and its supposed to be really beautiful. It was very cloudy and rained when Angie and I arrived. Angie is Marianne's friend who went with me, Marianne had a dodgy knee and couldn't go in the end. The town had a chilled out vibe which seemed somewhat dampened by the weather. We only stayed one day and a night before heading off on our trek with Mani our guide.

Day 1:
trekked for about 5 and a half hours after a 2 hour taxi ride to our starting point Nayapul (probably spelt that wrong) It was an enjoyable day, starting gently through some towns on easy terrain but finally reaching steps that led upwards towards Ulleri (2073m). he lodges were all fairly basic. Rooms separated by a thin sheet of plywood, 2 beds squeezed into a room with enough space for one person to walk down the middle usually. They are quaint looking but cold - especially at altitude. Thankfully this was one of the few with a hot electric shower. Mmmm. Angie and I drank tea and ate biscuits (I ate slightly more) We had simple dinners and went to bed at about 8.

Both Angie and I woke in the night, I felt strange, probably needed the toilet so went but still felt strange when I returned, I told Angie I felt sick and she said she already had been and was going to make herself sick again. while she was in the squat toilet doing that I realised I too did need to vomit... where to go - we were upstairs and there was no other toilets. I went downstairs but the door to outside was locked! slight panic... I had to be sick over the edge of the balcony upstairs. I checked in the morning what I'd puked on - thankfully it was just unused ground slightly above where people are walking so I dont think anyone will have noticed... the birds will be able to feast on that little treat and no one will be any the wiser - other than Angie who I told in the morning.

Day 2:
Couldn't face breakfast and tried to sleep more. Mani wanted me to eat something; he just settled for just carrying my sleeping bag and toiletry bag that day. I think all three of us are pretty stubborn in our own ways. My instincts not to eat were right though, after about 50 steps upwards I vomited again by the side of the steps near some logs. It was a little embarrassing. Mani had been saying I wouldn't be able to walk without having breakfast as I'd have nothing in my stomach - I pointed out after the vomiting that NOW I didn't have anything in my stomach. Afterwards I felt a little better, I think it must have been something I ate... I did see the lodge man handling an uncooked chicken before preparing our meals, but all our food was cooked. Who can say - Mani reckons maybe we walked too far and couldn't cope - balderdash!

This day was supposed to be an easy day but it really didn't feel so - probably as I wasn't eating much. Angie and I got into our sleeping bags on arrival at about 3. I couldn't sleep for long as I was too cold - a 2 season sleeping bag isn't enough for these sort of treks (I was given extra blankets every night) . Had a luke warm shower and changed into thermals and sat with the other trekkers and porters and guides around a furnace in the communal lounge area. It was toasty - this lovely steel drum with a fire inside. Really all the lodges should do that - it was a great place to stay warm and be sociable. I convinced Angie when she joined me that we deserved chocolate bars for the days efforts - my vegan morals replaced by the need to be comforted by chocolate... We also ate proper meals. Chocolate the medicine for vomiting.

Day 3:
Had a memorable dream about a baby panda and Matthew exhibiting my drawings on a billboard in ridgeway.

A wonderful day - Downhills! I'm great at going downhills, I just sort of flop whereas other people keep trying to control their legs too much but if you just sort of run/fall it's all over and done with with much less expenditure of energy and without all the jarring of the knees.

Saw a glimpse of mountains through the clouds! We have seen only 1 other sighting of a ghostly mountain through clouds en route to Nayapul. The rhododendron forests were all misty and it was very atmospheric - like walking through some sort of story. I never knew rhododendrons could be such big trees - I just thought they were sort of big bushes. But they were huge - and covered in moss and other saprophytes. Beautiful.

Saw monkeys! Literally straight after I complained about the lack of animals.  They're quite big with black faces and white around the edge.

Met a NZ couple originally from England. We would meet many other times on the trip - as we did with other people also. But the conversations with these 2 were a little different from most - we talked about cartoons from our childhood - like he Moomins and round the twist. Good times.

Day 4:
[diary entry] My legs!
I probably should have done some sort of training for this, my legs hurt a lot this day and every time you turned in the night you would be woken up with the pain. We'd had to stop at a lodge Mani had never been in before because I don't think Angie and I could face walking up more steps for 45 mins. he lodge we stayed at was very nice though.

This was a tough day. Mostly steps. Mostly up. Mani said it was a 'gentle up' day. His idea of gentle is wildly different from my own idea of gentle. I have never walked up so many steps before - a lot of them are high and steep. They are not all equally placed - which actually makes it easier climbing them.

We arrived at our lodge and were put in the bunker bit of the lodge. Angie and I weren't enthralled - it was by far the worst place so far - a shed - under the seating area above, made of corrugated iron. But I heard another trekker say something about the amazing shower and I suddenly didn't care anymore. Had a hot shower and a chocolate bar and sat in the communal area chatting to some Aussie's and a Dutch man who had all been to base camp but seen nothing but clouds.

Day 5:
[Diary entry] Oh.My.Goodness.My.Legs.

So my legs weren't any better today. Not until I got walking.

More majestical cloud mountains... stopped at a place called Himala for lunch- it took ages and wasnt very nice.

Arrived at another place called Deurali - there's lots of them- to rest for the night. I felt bloated and could eat no dinner and was having some fairly savage farts and felt very cold.

[Diary entry] Why am I such a devastating wreck of illness at the moment. Bloody Nepal - I don't know why I like it here.

I got up 4 times in the night to have diarrhea.

Day 6:
Porridge for breakfast was good. We only had a 2 hour walk to go to Machhupuchhre base camp (its the name of another high mountain)which was just as well as I'd needed the toilet for most of the way. It was through this flat grassy area a lot of the way that reminded me of the Lord of the Rings when Sam and Frodo walked through the misty marshes was it? The rivers had started freezing over around these parts and there were beautiful ice crystals decorating some rocks.

 I ate lots of chocolate and biscuits and hot chocolate (medicine food) when we arrived. It's much colder up here -3700m and it started snowing as we arrived and became more severe. Angie read and I drew pictures and wrote stupid stories which is what we do when we arrived at most of the lodges. We also chat to other trekkers - there were lots of very tall Germans here about to climb one of the mountains... they were all clearly insane. The porters here were lovely. One helpful man recommended I asked for combination tomato and garlic soup when I asked which was better  - it was very tasty. The pizza here was also magical.

Day 7:
Alarm woke us up at 4:30 to leave by 5, walking through the dark and snow to get to Annapurna base camp (ABC)
[Diary entry] Wow! I just don't think words can express how amazing mountains are.

We didn't need to carry bags t the top - although Mani carried a few bits and bobs. I was glad to be warmly wrapped - although just as we were leaving Mani did point out that I'd forgotten my coat (wind sheeter) Oh well - I had a balaclava and 2 wooly jumpers on. A few people had already braved the route before us so we had snowy footsteps to follow. It was easy walking on the crunchy snow, and quite exciting walking in he dark - it felt like Christmas. As the light started coming up Angie and I kept stopping to take photos. nd as the sun rose on our journey there we could see the mountains in the distance light up as though they were on fire. My photos do not do justice to just how stunning it was. We reached base camp at 4130m and were satisfied. I had a snickers and hot chocolate to celebrate. Angie was more restrained.

[Diary entry] I do love mountains -and snow - and long johns (who would have thought?) - me vegan walking boots - which survived! - people - my balaclava- wristwarmers- wooly jumpers- hot choc. and snickers - having firm thighs again (even if they are still surrounded with flab) - spectacular views - life in general.

We went back to MBC for breakfast and had an easy walk downhill - if a little slippy and wet in the slush. My feet got wet despite having been dry all the way up to ABC! Angie and I walked together and Mani went ahead to try and find us a lodge. There was a little confusion when he wasn't where we expected so we continued to walk and walked a lot further than expected. All the way to a place called Bamboo - we met Mani coming the other way to tell us there was no room unless we slept in the dining room. When we arrived there he got us room in a tent! It was remarkably cosy - especially when the gammy leg dog slumped down next to me in the night - there was a partition he must have half unzipped...

Day 8:
Easy day. Mostly down  - with LOADS of steps up to Chomrong - but it wasn't nearly as bad as expected. We kept byumping into people we had met earlier in the trip. There were some Nepalese boys I'd met coming back from ABC (they kept falling over) and we had some hot choc and special oreos at Sinuwa (where we slept in the bunker before) before braving the steps to Chomrong where we were going for the famous chocolate cake - they served it at the chomrong cottage where Mani booked us rooms. When lured by chocolate cake I am clearly unstoppable and even he swarm of bees didn't deter me (although I did go down a few steps when I noticed) I arrived at the cottage just as the NZ couple were leaving - they informed me the cake was wonderful. I waited 20 mins for Angie and Mani to catch up. We were shown to our room which had the most amazing views of Machhpuchhre - the fishtail - and another mountain... I forget which. The room was warm and the day was clear. Everything was wonderful. We had choc cake and I ordered 2 pizzas that night for dinner - they were very good!

There were more lovely people here - some interesting Scottish girls, and there was a NZ(?) girl who had a bird book - very interesting - and a Beached Az flask! So cool.

Couldnt sleep as I was listening to music and the stars and mountains were just too beautiful!

Day 9:
[Diary entry] My thighs are so delightfully firm.

Trying to focus more on looking for animals now after seeing the bird book - there are loads of really cute little birds!!!  the journey was more even but still mostly down - love it.

We stopped in bee hive view lodge for lunch - you can see wild bee colonies on the cliffs opposite - they looked like little black dots. The place didn't have any of the bees honey... honestly - it's supposed to have drug like properties! I wanted to try some. Mani was quite relieved that I couldn't...

We carried on walking and stopped at Syauli Bazar. It was much warmer now, I bought a lovely turquoise necklace from this Tibetan girl - it cost 700Rs she told me to tell people it cost 1200Rs. We had a tasty Dahl Bhat with Iscus in the tarkari (curry). Mani explained to me that iscus is a type of squash! So interesting!

Day 10:
Final day. Finished the walk in about 2 hours or a little less. Stopped at Nayapul for fizzy drinks and chocolate.

The views are still there.The whole journey down has just been beautiful - so much easier than the trek up and I've not been ill. I'm so glad I've done it. Such a great thing to experience even with all the little struggles.

I'm glad to be able to be somewhere I can relax properly now though. I shall eat lots of cake for the next week and then be a healthy vegan when I reach Chitwan.

Home Sweet Home

So I've just spent a bit over 3 weeks 'working' in the children's home in Thali. I working in its loosest possible sense as my work really just comprised of playing mostly. I thought to start this blog off I would use some choice words/sentences from my diary so that those of you who find my blog long and boring dont have to read so much, and those who would like a more in depth description can read further.

To Summarise:
My room contained an Xray, some rubbish and a desk-we moved a bed up from the kitchen later. I love it already. I feel like a spare wheel. The children have head lice. Went to a 'Fun Park'. Met Pralhad's Uncle in Bodah. Found out curd tastes nice! More runny Poo. Eaten a lot of sweets. Swing is Ping in Nepali. Nepali movies have appaulingly bad acting. Kids stole lollipops from my room! The Aussie ladies made me want to go trekking. Made a mosaic. Head lice are huge! Helped at a Hindu Funeral-included peeling potatoes for 2 hours. Everyone thinks Sarah is beautiful.Runny Poo again. Did art. I hate every aspect of HW. Cleaned loads of shoes for the kids. Indian Visa=hassle. OR2K restaurant is awesome. Met amazing young swiss couple. Found out I definitely do have head lice. Made an art gallery of kids' work.Cleaned the upstairs bathroom and toilet. Met with Stijn and Marianne - wonderful time. Showed kids photos and played guitar.Another exhausting day. Did yoga with some of the others, taught guitar, art club, watched kids singing and dancing with Gesine and Jennifer. Ear infection! I am now deaf in my right ear. tried learning Nepalese dancing, did some other idiotic dancing in front of the girls. Played card games. 3 very nice potato curries in one day. oil lamps everywhere. Watched and tried to make cell roti. Everyone woke early to see me off.

In depth:

Intro :
I've spent my time working in a children's home on the outskirts of Kathmandu in Thali for an organisation called Women's Foundation which is run by a lady called Renu who works to protect women from abusive situations and train them so they are able to single handedly support their families in a safer environment. It's like women empowerment - there seems to be a bit of that going on in Nepal at the moment, but they're still a little behind the times.
 It's been fairly chilled out, no major stresses, and on the whole it's been an enjoyable experience. I've enjoyed being like a big sister to 50 odd kids and have been feeding them and myself insane amounts of sweets. What's not to like? Well - waking at 5:30/6:00 sucked, especially to get up and do HW/Make kids do HW. Pretend crying is annoying. And people coming into your room without knocking is annoying... Most of these had solutions, and one soon works out how to live happily in a large community of young girls.


The kids :
They were just so friendly from the off - like the first day I met them I felt like I was family - they just seemed to trust me instantly - which I thought afterwards was a little dangerous. I'm a fairly trusting person, but I also trust myself and my own judgement - do these children have this judgement? Do they know who not to trust? I don't know, but it was ok to trust me, I was nice enough. They seemed to have a lot more personality and confidence than the village kids, which I wasn't expecting. But I guess this is a result of living on the outskirts of the city - maybe having to grow up more quickly due to their circumstances and also having a private education where they were taught in English for most lessons.
The older kids could all speak quite good English which made my life easier, and I'm sure having conversations in English is good for them too. Some of the girls had lost their parents, others' parents couldn't look after them, but they all seemed quite well adjusted, and happy, which I wasn't really expecting really. They all supported one another, and yes they had their stupid squabbles - but then what family doesn't? They calmed down and got over it. I detected no bitchiness or cliquiness they all seemed to get on with one another. Maybe I would have got a different view if I spoke more Nepali - but we'll never know...


My roles:
I don't think my presence there was really out of necessity - it was more of a bonus - as a person who could entertain the kids and keep them happy over the holidays. But from what I saw really they would have been happy without me. They maybe would have done a little less, but still been happy enough. In holiday season they are allowed a DVD player and so they literally would just watch movies all day. I'm not opposed to watching a movie a day - but like 4 or 5 - one night they watched this Korean series all night long - I passed the TV room in the morning and it was full, and I asked if they'd been up all night and they just laughed. Auntie Shibamaya who was the guardian of the home had also been up all night - clearly a bad influence.
I joined them in watching some TV but I couldnt sit there for more than an afternoon - the floors are very hard! And most of the films they watch are awful or terrible copies.
I started a sort of art club, and made an art gallery in the TV room where the children's work is displayed.
I taught guitar (badly)
I helped with HW
I helped teach the children who didn't go to school as they werent accepted - or because they were 'ill'
I pushed the swing (ping in Nepali)
I taught a little yoga to a small group who wanted to learn some
I helped cook the dinner, they were all very impressed with my chopping skills.
I helped clean and even wrote instructions on how to keep the bathrooms clean - they dont seem to take a lot of pride in the cleanliness of their abode in Nepal. -In the village I often wondered why the family didnt sweep up the rubbish in front of their house or like tidy up the place a little bit more... Cultural difference?
I also generally entertained with bad singing and guitar playing and dreadful dancing - the few that were privileged enough to see my dancing seemed to enjoy it.


Health update:

On my second day there I noticed that a fair few of the kids appeared to have head lice, I helped with picking them out, and also got them myself. I decided there was little point treating the condition until I was due to leave as I was bound to get them again. I have considered cutting my hair off as a solution - especially when I could find no anti-louse shampoo in the village shops. Auntie Shibamayar had some she gave me. Also I need my hair to keep me warm on my trek. I dont think I have them now, though I'll need to use the shampoo again to be sure. My head is still itchy - it may be as Manjila pointed out when I asked her to check me for lice - that I have a lot of dandruff. I do love the honesty of the Nepali.
I've had diarrhoea numerous times - I think I was accidentally drinking a bit of shower water...
I've had 3 different types of cold - every time I felt better I seemed to have another the next day
I am now deaf in my right ear, I've been taking ear drops but they haven't done much yet... cannot be bothered to go to the dr but the ringing noise is getting quite annoying now.
I think if I stayed longer I would have started becoming immune to all the lurgies that the children had and would have like the most impressive immune system ever.


Other People:

Jan and Lillianne
I met a lovely Swiss couple who were so interesting and insightful, and just generally lovely to talk to. They had come as Lillianne had bought many scarves made by the woman's foundation and she wanted to find out more about them and see where the scarves were made. They had been travelling a while in a jeep which was where they slept and basically lived. They were also taking their one year old(?) daughter with them. The girls all loved her and commented on how she was like a doll. They also carried her off to show her around and treated her as one of their own. They didnt give her much space though - which agitated me a little - so I explained to the older girls that maybe she didnt want people around her all the time. They disagreed with me - so I said our cultures were different and if she looks a little sad - leave her alone. Lillianne would take little Lola off to the car if there were too many other children around, it was probably a little too much excitement at times. Jan and I spoke a lot about the state of Nepal, religion, politics, geology, philosophy and food. I really enjoyed it.

Gisina
A lovely German volunteer who came to help Renu on the organic farm. She also turned up at the Hindu festival and we were both treated like honoured guests - being fed too much and not really allowed to help a great deal (although I had peeled potatoes for 2 hours in the morning). We met a few other times as she came to look around the childrens home with Jennifer another volunteer from Australia. She gave them a pairs game so we spent an afternoon playing that-the kids cheat so much!  I met them both for a relaxing break from the home one morning in Bodah. I've just met up with her again today for a huge lunch at OR2K this lovely Israeli restaurant I wasn't going to go to (cos I should eat Nepali food in Nepal?) but this Canadian girl at the Indian embassy told me to go and I'm so glad she did.

Brooke and Helen
A crazy Aussie duo who came to teach the girls how to make mosaics. I did a poster afterwards so the kids wouldn't forget how to make them. Helen came back to finish the mosaics the next day, and I helped as most of the kids seemed a little bored of the process by then, I think they mostly just liked smashing the tiles and making a mess. The ladies were really good with the kids and full of energy, Helen seemed a little crazy, I liked that.

Stijn
A Belgium vegan! I just didn't think you'd get them cos of all the chocolate... I met him in the Indian Embassy - it really is the place to meet people! He seemed very interesting and I'm hoping to meet up with him again in India.

Things I've noticed/been told:
-When the kids wake up and go to bed all the doors knocking sound like the druns in the Lord of the Rings in the mines of Mourier after Pippin alerts the goblins/orks to the fellowships presence.
-Everyone has commented on how beautiful Sarah is (I have some photos of her on my phone)- Sharada said why is she so much more beautiful than me? And followed that by saying that I looked like Harry Potter. I said she could leave my room.
-Munjila asked why I didnt brush my hair - she said I did not look beautiful.
-There was a little sparrow who used to live/perch at night under the glass slat in my toilet, I closed the mirror when I cleaned the toilet and he couldn't perch there anymore but I figured maybe it was his poo making the place smell... He also kept scaring me every time I went to the loo before bedtime as he flew away after I scared him- it was a 2 way thing.

I'm sure there's more - but I think I'm keeping the owner of the internet cafe here and its getting too late for dinner, So I shall depart. I hope to upload my Vlog tomo and some pics.