Mammalapuram

Its been an incredibly relaxing few days staying in mammalapuram. Its a fishing town that has most definitely become a tourist village with all the roads to the beach selling exactly the same stuff and all the restaurants charging the same crazy prices but walk 200m in the other direction and you find india again. Its lovely having these two contrasts and being able to pick and choose which you'd prefer for the day, or a few hours.

After living in sadhana I'd forgotten how entertaining india is and how the people make me smile. I've relented and become project as no one can say bridget! And everything needs to be done jokingly in order for it to be fun, for the buyer and the seller. I'm beginning to love the interactions with store owners and yet at the same time loathe the owners themselves. Every friendly overture is a hidden hope that you'll buy something but their attempts are so thinly veiled that it its just a word game that can be played for days. Everyday you walk passed the same stores and every day is a fresh line to try reel you in. in the end a smile and a subtle shake of the head lets them know exactly where you stand and the dialogue is brought to a momentary stand still. But tomorrow is a new day and perhaps tomorrow his friendly words will convince you that you need that pashmina or that stone elephant carving. Day in and day out these men stand outside their shops calling to every tourist in the hope that one might be persuaded to enter his store and buy from him rather than one of the other 10 identical shops surrounding his.

In order to escape this I'm on the beach front watching the fishermen untangle their nets. These men have nothing to sell to me and leave me alone in my staring and writing. Its quite nice to be the one doing the staring for once!

Times nearly up

My time living in a vegan community its almost up. I've had some amazing experiences and met some great people but I feel that it is time to move on.

Auroville is an interesting place. They have a lot of money (not sure where it comes from) but they are constantly putting on free shows and concerts which is a part of the system I do appreciate. Most activities on auroville are free and of a really high standard. They all build on great principles but I'm not sure how many of those principles work in reality. I think the idea of auroville, that each person can own land and farm it and work it the way they would like to is wonderful and that everyone supports each other in their endeavours. However, i have to wonder if such a community is feasible without the vast amounts of money the indian government pumps into it. It seems that people somewhere in the world have to do the dreadful jobs in order for the happy community of auroville to survive. One of the big things that comes to mind is the clothing. There are no cotton farms in auroville so fabric and clothing have to be brought in, fabric spun by factory workers well out of sight of the regular aurovillian. But wearing nice clothes doesnt seem to weigh in on their consciences. Also auroville is a completely flat town, yet very few people cycle here with most happy top jump on ancient pollution spewing motorbikes to get around. I would think such a place would value a cycling community and although cyclists are respected on the roads, they are few and far between.

I think this post is very cynical because I think people like modern day luxuries and when honestly given the choice tend to convenience over environment. If not even the hippies can do it, how can we expect the rest of the world to do it?

Vote for Sadhana

Help Sadhana Forest get the vote they need to fund their edible forest idea in Kenya. Vote for them here

Life in a community

So its nearly been a week here in Sadhana and I'm beginning to become more comfortable with community life. I can definitely see the benefits of living in a community where everyone works together and helps each other out. I like that I can spend the next few weeks exploring this way of living as a volunteer. I think that because Sadhana takes on so many volunteers and people are arriving all the time it makes for a bit of a different dynamic. New volunteers are enthusiastic and willing to do any job they are asked to do, volunteers that have been around for a week or two have realised the best jobs to sign up for and leave the not so enticing work to the newbies. The newbies soon learn and join the ranks of those who've been in the forest for a few weeks. I definitely think that Sadhana needs the newbies to take on the jobs that others get tired of but at the same time the community is not a long stay community. There are a few people who have lived in Sadhana for more than a year but in the grand scheme of things a community base is supposed to be a life time. People who are thinking of spending their lives in a community feel much more for the community and everything that is done should be done for the good of the community but themselves as well. If no one wants to compost the toilets then the whole community will suffer or if no one gets rid of the termites they'll destroy everything. When you only stay in the community for a few weeks or have the feeling you'll leave whenever you want, the onus is no longer on you to ensure everything stays running smoothly.The termites won't destroy the building in the 2 weeks you'e there, and if they do, well you can just move on to the next place. This means that in Sadhana people are given options (you are never forced to do a job you really don't want to do) and then working under a supervisor you complete the task, The long term volunteers have a skill in naming tasks so they seems interesting but as soon as you get to the task, its not at all what you imagined. For instance today I signed up for library and later found out that meant I'd be building shelves. Not quite the library work I was expecting. However, I see why this is done and understand that these tasks need to be done. Running a community where people only stay a few weeks is not an easy task. I can imagine that other communities have other difficulties and problems to face when people are around for the long haul. Maybe one day I'll join a long term community for a few years and see how that works.

Sadhana forest

I'm learning a lot about myself st the moment. I'm in sadhana forest, a reforestation project in tamil nadu, india. Its a community of people who live trying to make the least amount of impact on the environment. They use compost toilets, bucket showers, wood stoves and completely biodegradable products. This is such a lovely idea and a great community of people but for some reason I feel so out of place. I can't pinpoint the reason why though and keep trying to figure out what makes me so uneasy. Its definitely not the fault if people here in sadhana, its all to do with my own limitations and perhaps the wealthy first world environment I was brought up in. The thought of how much work goes into creating a self sustaining community like this just blows my mind! Simple things like getting enough food for everyone, ensuring toilets are properly composted, rubbish disposal, fresh drinking water, electricity all have to be done by the people here. There's no outside services coming to fix things or take things away. The rubbish we generate has to be sorted out by us. The toilets cleaned out by us, water stations refilled, ash sifted for soap and countless other things. These are just things I've noticed on my first day. There has to be so much more going on being the scenes that I can't even begin to comprehend!

My day started with 5:45 wake up and 6:30 heading to the forest. Some people stay back to make breakfast, everyone else plants trees. This only happens for about 2 hours before we head back for breakfast. Its hard work those 2 hours, especially before breakfast and when you're not used to manual labour! But then for forest work, that's it for the day! after breakfast time is spent maintaining the community, my job was termite eradication. This went on until lunch when we finished for the day's work. Afternoons and evenings are free. I think I thought there would be more tree work and we'd be in the first for longer. 2 hours in the morning doesn't seem like a lot to rebuild a forest. Hopefully as I get to know more people in the community I'll become more relaxed and get into everything as I thought I would!

The photo is my afternoon's work, reshaping my mosquito net to fit around my hammock!

Spoilt by tourists

When I first got to india people  kept saying its important to bargain otherwise indians think they can always over charge foreigners. I sort of believed it but always bargained just to get the cheapest price possible. Now I've come to see how right those people were.

I've heard pondicherry is a lovely place to visit so it was a stop over on my way to sadhana forest which is part of the auroville community. I took one of india's infamous overnight buses to pondicherry from the ashram. It was not nearly as bad as I expected. I had a decently comfortable bed and a friendly bus driver (though going to the toilets is a bit of a mission and a bit gross). We arrived at 6 am and instead of being dropped off at the bus station, as you'd expect, i was dropped off on the side of the road somewhere in pondicherry and then suddenly bombarded by tuk tuk drivers. Now not even having decided on a hotel and having tuk tuk drivers around you is never a good combination! Talking a mile a minute and invasion of personal space are to be expected while they try draw you towards their rickshaw.

This particular rickshaw driver wanted to charge me 150 ruppees to get into town, way more than it was worth. He then blatantly admitted to me that pondicherry is small so drivers overcharge. After much arguing and debating (with me not having much of a leg to stand on because I have no idea where I am) I get him down to 90 to take me to the one hotel name I remember from my book. As expected he tells me its a very dirty hotel and he has a better one in mind. I tell him to take me there anyway and the rooms were dirty so as I'm walking out, there he is waiting to spring on me. I finally let him take me to his hotel which is marginally cleaner and a lot more expensive. I'm so tired I take the room and go to sleep. A very expensive start to pondicherry.

The next day I make sure to enjoy all the luxuries involved in being in a massive tourist destination. I eat pizza, drink coffee, find bread and devour a croissant. I also manage to do all my shopping at good prices. There are loads of westerners wandering around the town and I'm wandering if its their fault tuk tuk's are so expensive.

After an extremely early night I wake up ready to leave the tourist trap. I head off to the bus stand while being followed by loads of rickshaw drivers. A tourist with a back pack is like carrion to these vultures. I successfully manage to find the bus stop without help. Pondicherry is a place where you won't find help doing anything the way a local would. There's just no money in it for them. I get charged double on the bus for having a back pack which I know is not normal but the bus driver is about to drive off with me still in the bus so I have to let it go. He's going to accrue loads of bad karma!

The bus station is nightmare and I'm sent from one end to another until I finally find the bus to get on but the conductor shoos me off shaking his head and suddenly I'm surrounded by rickshaw drivers. 300 to moratandi, where I need to go. I find out later that the rickshaw drivers and bus conductors are in on this together. They chase you off the bus then the rickshaw driver offers to take you where you need to go because the next bus is only in 2 hours. Well being stubborn and not willing to pay the now 200 ruppees to get to moratandi I step to the side and look on at the bus that's only leaving in 2 hours. The bus driver is sitting in his seat. Why would he be doing that if he's not leaving for another 2 hours. The rickshaw driver is still pestering me. I've already told him to fuck off, which I never do! Eventually I turn to him and tell him that even if I did take a rickshaw I wouldn't take his because I don't like him. This finally gets rid of him and as he turns to walk away he bumps into someone and explains why he's angry. Instead of sympathising this guy comes to my aid, yells at the bus conductor and gets me a seat on the bus. The bus costs me 5 ruppees.

This is by far the worst I've been treated as a tourist in india. I guess the north is just as bad but I've never been blatantly lied to by bus conductors. If I hadn't been in india for a while I might have fallen for that. Its terrible how badly tourists are ripped off. It makes it hard to trust anyone in india.

This has been a rather depressing post. Hopefully the next one from sadhana forest will be more optimistic!

The ashram hairdresser

With a title like that you'd be forgiven for thinking this will be an anecdote about some wise hairdresser here in the ashram. Well in part you'd be right. I am wise ;) this is about how I have become the ashram hairdresser since everyone has found out I cut my own hair. It all started with a trim that led to an easy reshape and today I did a full on restyle cutting long hair very short. It came out so well and I'm actually quite proud of my efforts! So now I've got the title of hairdresser and pest control (I'm the only one not afraid to chase the monkeys away). One more day in the ashram and I'll spend my bus ride to pondicherry summing up the experience

Meditations in an ashram

Sitting in meditation for nearly an hour each day gives one plenty of time to think, even though you're supposed to clear your mind and not be thinking. I'm starting to believe that's a tall tale and that no one can fully clear their mind when they're forcing it to be clear. The moment I sit down to mediate a million thoughts begin to cross my mind and at a rate I didn't think was possible. Put me in a philosophy lecture and I'll probably be zoned out and thinking about nothing almost instantly. Tell my mind to zone out and naturally it refuses, suddenly there are so many things to think about that just can't be thought about at any other time.

It doesn't really matter what my mind wants to think about, could be train times, could be people, the next vacation, work, camping, the best sleeping bags, getting winter tyres, food, skiing, things that have happened, things that will happen, there's no end to the list. I'm finding that the longer I'm here and the more I try to mediate the busier my brain gets. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm rebelling mentally from putting myself in a place with such a strict regime, something I've avoided since almost school days. Is my mind so undisciplined that I now have no self control at all and just let my mind wander freely at its own discretion? Is that a bad thing? Are we supposed to be able to reign our minds in to complete submission. Can I even look at meditation as submission of the mind to a greater control or a greater power? There are so many people that believe in mediation and have had out of body experiences or reached moments of bliss, but then there are lots of people that believe lots of things. I think I abhor the idea of surrendering control of my mind, I mean my mind is me and so surrendering my mind is surrendering me and I'm fighting meditation to the extreme. Who's to say the forces I'm surrendering my mind to are good forces? Maybe I'm completely misguided and have the whole idea mixed up. Maybe one day I will reach bliss and will come to love meditation.  What I do know right now is that what is for brunch its usually far more important than emptying my mind.

Life in the ashram

Its been a few days but that's because life in an ashram is pretty monotonous and writing about a routine is not necessarily interesting. Writing about how the routine is driving you slightly crazy is ever so much more interesting.

Life in the ashram follows a very strict routine. Our schedule starts at 6:00 with meditation and chanting, this is followed by our asana class until 10. At 10 we get brunch. Apparently its a good thing to do exercise when your stomach is rumbling. for some reason my tummy rumbles at the quietest time in the class. I guess its waiting for the opportune moment to let me know its dissatisfied. Then we have lectures and free time which I generally find I spend sleeping (5:30 wake up is rough). We then have class from 4-6, once again when we're at our hungriest. (its now 6 and my tummy is HUNGRY!) then come 8 we have meditation and chanting again.

So that's the basic schedule. I have decided that as soon as I leave the ashram I will never again chant anything of any kind unless my life depended on it, and maybe not even then. Ever had a song stuck in your head that you couldn't get out and its haunted you all day and perhaps all night? Wil there gets a point when it finally goes away. Over here that's not possible, wee chant the same song every night and every morning of every day. Its a repeat after me chant so every single line is related twice, some of them are repeated more times just for the hell of it. I'm actually going crazy repeating these songs (or I should probably say lines) in my head. I don't understand how chanting us relaxing. For me its like a recurring nightmare, twice a day and haunts my entire day!

On a more positive note, I did a head stand today all by myself

Its tea time

Another indian town, done and dusted. Leaving ooty today after an extremely pleasant time here. Ooty is at 2200m so its much cooler than most places in the south and I've actually had to use my jacket! Ooty is a lovely indian town, nestled in the mountains and surrounded by tea plantations and old colonial styles it brings a bit of home into the craziness that is india! Now when i say it brings a bit of home to india, don't think this means typical english at all. Instead imagine the odd tea shop selling something that resembles a cake, and sugary sweet milky tea alongside a stall selling caged chickens and perhaps a motorbike repair stall. This is how the british managed to come into india, squashed between every day life.

Lloyd, emily and I thought out would be nice to hike to the highest point in southern india. We were hoping to find the forest trail that leads up but eventually settled for the road. The walk up was beautiful but the top was spoilt by a crowd of tourists and a paid entrance to the view. The complete commercialisation of the top want enough to ruin it but we didn't linger long, and headed back down the road to enjoy the more peaceful views on the way.

On the way down we stopped at a tea plantation and watched briefly how tea is made before being able to sample it. I've bought some masala tea I'm looking forward to trying.

I have to admit a did spend quite a lot of time in our antique hotel reading and enjoying the atmosphere while drinking loads of unsweetened tea.

I'm now in the sivananda ashram near madurai and enjoying the peace and quiet out here. Very few cars hooting and no staring eyes. (yesterday while waiting for the train I felt so uncomfortable being started at my disgusting teenage boys that I had to go into the paid waiting room to avoid the looks).

The flip out

I've been very bad at writing these last few days so there's a lot to say now!

Hampi was such a beautiful place to visit. Its an area of boulders and rocks with ancient temples and bazaars built scattered through the countryside. The whole area is not really walkable so the first day we arrived we wandered up a hill with a temple on top and and just admired the view all around. Its hard to describe the beauty of a place, especially when surrounded by centuries of history and spirituality.

The next day we were proper tourists and went with the tourist departments guide on a bike ride through the old ruins. That was an adventure. he really knew his stuff and gave us so much detailed information that I don't remember any of it!

There were about 10 of us on his tour and when we arrived he walked us over to where we picked up our bikes for the morning. These bikes were about 20 years old! All steel frames with only 1 gear and extremely suspect brakes! It was nice, though, to get on a bike again and cycle around. Cycling up a hill with only one gear is no simple task but a great accomplishment when you do get to the top! The tour started with us having to surmount this massive hill and as we eventually got to the top the guide appeared alongside us on his scooter. Not a chance he was going to cycle! Only in india!

Towards the end of the tour, as we were furthest from our starting point and about to turn around, one of the group got a puncture and because we're in india the guide does not bring spares or any way of fixing the tyre. Instead he tells he poor guy that he has to climb onto the back of the bike, sit backwards and carry his bike til we got back to hampi. To make matters worse, another of the group had his shoe break and had been riding on the back of the bike for most of the tour so now there were 3 people and a bicycle on the scooter travelling along dirt roads with no helmets and the guy holding the bike couldn't even hold onto the scooter! Only in india!

Yesterday we arrived in mysore after a very long 12 hour train ride! We thought it would be rather easy finding a place to stay but emily and lloyd have a very tight budget so we had a long morning of searching for a place that fit our budget and was clean. What a mission! Either the place was filthy or there was only a bucket shower and indian toilet or it was too expensive.

In the end we found a place that seemed passable and were prepared to stay there. However, things did not work out quite so well. We first asked if we could drop our things in the room and then come down to settle everything and the guy said no so I went to the counter and was told how much was owed and asked to fill out the register. meanwhile lloyd and emily were sorting through their bags to get what they needed. I put my share of the money on the counter and started filling in my details. While I was doing this he kept saying 950, 950 which was the total money owed so I explained I put down how much I was paying and emily and lloyd would be over to pay their share. To which he said 950, 950. Now don't get me wrong, he did speak english, he'd just explained the room situation to us in english but once again I explained that emily and lloyd would pay for the double, I was just paying for the single. He just got more insistent, tapping the ledger for me to fill out while at the same time telling me a needed to give him more money. I flipped out, asked him where he thought we'd disappear to with his money, we were staying right upstairs and he just needed to calm down and give us a moment, we'd been on a train for 12 hours at which point emily and lloyd came and high fived me and we walked out. Its not often I get angry but that man made me so angry! I still don't quite know what he thought would happen to his money or where we would disappear to! Eventually we found a reasonably clean hotel with everything we wanted, although its very noisy!

We arrived in mysore on the perfect day, every sunday they light up the place here and it turns into a fairy castle and they let everyone in for free too. It was such a lovely atmosphere, felt a bit like a festival. Mysore is one of the cleanest indian cities I've visited. And for a city, quite a nice place.

A picture is worth 1000 words

Todays blog will be told in pictures. Words are not necessary!

The 12 hour bus ride

This is a post I don't need to embellish, its a post I'm not sure I can do justice to at the moment but it will be the post about indian buses!

the day started at 6:00 with me, emily and lloyd boarding a rickshaw to bring us to the bus station. That was the start of our extremely long day!

We found our bus and looked in horror at the smooth tyres and many dents in the body work. We scrambled to quickly use the famously bad indian toilets then climbed onto the bus, ready for the experience! And what an experience it was! The engine started and off we went. The ticket man was a lovely guy, he comes around, asks where you are going, types it into a little gizmo and gives you your receipt. He also has a little whistle he blows when someone wants to get on or off. I guess the driver must be too focussed on avoiding the cows, goats, dogs, monkeys, scooters and cyclists on the road to pay attention to what the passengers want.

The first long leg of our trip was 150 km. you might be mistaken for thinking that'd take just over a couple of hours. Not in india, in india that takes 5.5 hours.

We have come to the conclusion that the back suspension in the buses must've rusted away years ago and instead of replacing the shocks, they just welded them solid. I cannot exaggerate how hard the buses hit every single bump. When we came across a speed bump we braced ourselves to fly off the seat. If it was a particularly fast speed bump we could hit the roof of the bus we were jolted so high! It is not as fun as it may sound, it results in head aches and really bad stomach cramps!

The second leg of our trip was another 150 km, this section only took us 4 hours because a lot of it was on india's joke of a motor way. You can tell I've been around english people, calling it a motor way... In india buses pull over to pick up passengers on the freeways. Its also not unusual to see a cow on a free way.

After so may hours on these public buses, bouncing our brains around til they were sure we were a few brian cells less we finally arrived in our second to last destination. The thought of one more bus was just killing me and emily so we out voted lloyd and got a rickshaw, with suspension and also a lovely driver. He agreed to drive us around til we found a place we were happy to stay in. and we found an incredible place to stay!

Hampi looks incredible. Old temples amidst boulders and rivers, it looks like the flintstones met ganesh and created a beautiful landscape! Photos to follow!

And its caught up to me

After 11 days I finally got the queasy stomach I'd been promised. Thankfully it required not much more than me spending most of the day lying in my hammock, reading while my stomach tossed and turned, trying to make sense of all the alien food I've been eating. Some grapefruit seeed extract later (yuck) I'm feeling fine but we're going to the expensive restaurant for dinner tonight! Last night we went into this fancy looking place ironically blasting zen music and paid a small (indian) fortune for some of the most dreadful food we've eaten since we've been here! The first bland indian food I've eaten here!

Tomorrow I brave the government buses in india and travel to Hampi. Thankfully I've picked up a lovely couple on my way who will be making this perilous journey with me. I've been told to expect bumpy roads, long delays, crushing masses and unabashed stares. I've also been told I might be invited around to dinner (I first wrote for dinner, then thought that sounded a bit barbaric, wouldn't want my mother worrying!).

Hopefully tomorrow's blog post will be a bit more worth the time you spend reading it.

About that spider

Today has been an extremely relaxing day, after all our exertions walking to town and discovering hidden beaches, today was a reading day. Naturally on a reading day you still have to take a short stroll and a short stroll in india its never without some kind of adventure. Herewith is related the exact truth of todays adventure, no embellishment, I promise.

Emily and I went for a walk around the back of the huts today hoping that in walking away from the beach we may be lucky enough to find shade and keep our feet momentarily sand free. We looked in on an old hindu shrine where we'd been told they practiced human sacrifices at some point (this could quite likely be nonsense though) and then continued on over brooks through forests, under coconut groves until we came upon the fabled spider of yesterday's story! Yes, I did not tell a lie, I only got my days mixed up! This spider was huge! Hold out your hand look at it, now imagine that hand is a spider. That was what we saw! Thankfully it was quite high up in the trees watching protectively over its rather weather beaten web. That weather beaten web must've been about half a metre in length and although holey, still very capable of catching a multitude of insects, both large and small. After considerable observation and due thankfulness that we hadn't really run into a spiders web we continued our stroll. Besides a rather shy peacock the walk then ended without further drama and I am happily ensconced in my hammock once again.

Yesterday we all decided it was high time to head into town for the cheap food and some very necessary insect repellant! Mosquitos and necklace sellers definitely rate amongst the most irksome things in india! Be fore-warned, if you ever come to india you cannot bring enough different types of mosquito repellents with you! Sprays, creams, burners, bracelets, whatever you can find, bring!

So getting back to the point, we thought that in 32° heat, around 10 am, just as things really get hot, it would be a great time to walk across beaches and over rocky barren plateaus to get into town. Perhaps, now that I look back on it and can look at my mosquito free legs I'll feel like it was worth that effort, or perhaps not. I did manage to find a nice light cotton shirt that makes me look a bit like a homeless man or a bag lady but which has the merit of being exceeding cool. I can also assure you that gokarna town has not much to recommend it besides a few grumpy vendors, cheap food and the sin forgiving statue I mentioned previously. This all meant that after our horrendous trek in at 10, we were ready to leave at about 1. Naturally we were thinking that hiking at the hottest times of the day would be nothing but character building... I have rarely suffered as I did on that blistering walk back. Next time I'll pay that rickshaw driver his 200 ruppees!

Half moon

Yesterday the intrepid explorers, emily, lloyd and the dassie headed of to explore the unexplored, conquer the unconquered and just generally become heros. We set off to explore the less frequented beaches in gokarna which require quite a lot of hiking and scrambling over rocks, through jungles and across the path of snakes. But were we afraid? Maybe once, when a snake crossed our paths, with such a vicious look in its eyes my thoughts automatically jumped to ka (from the jungle book, you illiterates) and in terror we all shut our eyes and made a run for it, straight into the biggest spiders web you could ever imagine, which held us almost suspended as we fought to free our limbs before the probably giant spider returned! Ok I lied about the spiders web but it did make it seem more dramatic. Well while we were in this conundrum, deciding whether it was worth being hypnotised by ka-like snakes, a pleasant group of indians walked passed us and on hearing our dilemma and upon seeing the snake promptly informed us it was a completely harmless snake and we were all quite safe to cross its path.

And so the explorers continued, prepared to face anything, but slightly relieved the group of indians in front of us would have to face it first! After what seemed like hours, the sweat dripping into our eyes so that the horizon a appeared a blur before us, a mirage of sand and water appeared before us, not unlike those that wander through the desert see. But was it a mirage? Wiping the buckets of sweat from our eyes we focused and there before us lay a beach so beautiful it was hard to believe it wasn't fake. Our indian guides continued on but we lingered, over joyed at the thought that we had the whole beach to ourselves! No tourists, no pesky necklace sellers and no gaping locals as we stripped off and ran joyously into the slightly polluted so not so crystal clear arabian sea. A mere half an hours walk (through a dense, snake packed jungle) away from a tourist trap, lau this pristine beach, lined I must add with coconut trees. Lloyd (emily's boyfriend, and emily being a girl I met on the walk back from town) was designated the task of using a bamboo pole to knock down a coconut, which he successfully managed much to our surprise. He was then set the task of opening it with only a swiss army knife at his disposal, which he managed, much to our surprise. Lloyd doesn't like coconut so emily and I feasted on his hard work. Makes me think of the little red hen a bit, but the little red hen who didn't even get to eat her bread!

Is that a tan... Or dirt?

So today has been a week in india  and I'm having a hard time telling if my feet are stained dirty or if I have a horrible sandal tan. I'm hoping its a tan...

But seriously the beach here is incredible, rather empty with only the occasional tourist and some local fisherman. Really worth the visit to come here! This beach is in the shape of an m which is why its called om beach. The swimming is not great because there is a very strong under current but it will not deter me! When its 32° outside with 85% humidity, I'll put my faith in my swimming!

I visited the town today. Its a lovely but extremely hot walk over a rocky hill. The rocks here are so interesting, they're a deep red and look like lava rocks but I've been told they're not. Anyone have the inclination to google it?

Power has just gone out and there is a lightening storm in the horizon. How exciting! The power goes out a lot in india!

Back to the town trip. There are some temples there which I visited but when I realised I had to leave money I quickly stopped visiting. I did see a ganesh statue that is supposed to absolve me of all sins. That could never be a bad thing. Other than pricey temples, gokarna town does not have much to offer. Its beaches are the reason to come here! Especially om beach, the ones closet to town are rather dirty unfortunately.

Tomorrow I'm going to explore paradise beach, an hour hike in which most people don't bother to make.

On the move again

When you find somewhere clean to stay in india, it becomes quite difficult to leave but leave I did today because as much as I like clean, my budget doesn't! So I hopped on train to gokarna. What an interesting experience! Firstly I managed to bargain down from 400 to 250 ruppees for my taxi then the train to gokarna cost all of 30 ruppees, for a 130 km train trip! Second class train travel is super cheap over here! (you can see from my pictures why). There are loads of people selling good and drinks and snacks, the train is contrasted by energetic sellers walking up and down shouting their merchandise for sale and the travellers who sit weary eyed and half asleep in the rows and rows of (very hard) seats.

I met a couple of german tourists on the train and they bargained ruthlessly for the taxi ride here, we paid only 70 ruppees each... I almost felt bad for the taxi driver, but he could've said no I guess. Ashley listening to them I feel like I'm always being ripped off! They seem to be leaving india with an intense dislike of indians. What a shame!

After trawling the beach looking for the cheapest room to stay in that was the least shitty, I ended up at the first place I went to. So typical! It had the cleanest bathrooms by far! I'm not too fussy about sleeping arrangements, a bed is a bed, but bathrooms I find hard to compromise! When a bathroom door half closes with a piece of string I have to decline. I'll pay those extra 50 ruppees a night!

I'm on a beach called om beach, gokarna is a group of beaches clustered together and separated by forests. As of yet I have just experienced a lot of little bungalows that all look similar and a few cows on the beach. Quite a few hippy looking tourists who seem to belong to the landscape. Full on om beach assessment tomorrow, as well as report on showers here. I suspect there its no hot water. I can deal with that though, when its 30° outside!

Every day life

The last 2 days have consisted of me relaxing, reading and generally feeling like I'm on a tropical island. The rice paddies my room overlooks are full of birds and pigs sorting through the muck looking for the tasty stuff. I managed to buy 3 pairs of trousers for 950 ruppees which I think is a good price. I don't know if it is a good price but really if I think about it, I can't complain!

I also bought ayervedic face mask for 99 ruppees, I'm going to go broke shopping in india! But it will take me a while!

There are so many stray dogs around here! They're all wild and live un the rice paddies, eating left over food and waste from all the beach restaurants. Its quite terrifying seeing about 10 dogs siting in a pack, occasionally growling and snapping at passer-bys. I doubt they ever attack but they do look menacing!

so far, being a single female in india I have felt no more apprehension than I feel walking around in south africa. Maybe even slightly safety here in india! Sure people may try rip you off but why not, we have so much more money than them and if we're stupid enough, then we probably don't deserve to have that money!

Tomorrow I'll be leaving goa and head to gokarna, its come highly recommended by many people for both its temples and beaches.

The squeaky beach sand

Today is my first day in goa and I quite like it here, I might stay for a while, maybe in different places or maybe just here. Its very tranquil with very few tourists. I'm in a town called benaulim which is less touristic than other goa towns. Today I walked along the beach front to colva, benaulim's big brother and as I was walking through the soft fine white sand, it started squeaking underfoot! The beaches are beautiful here but they also remind me of durban beaches; soft white sand, palm trees and lots of indians at the beach but not in the sun! As I was walking along the beach I was approached by a group of women who wanted me to be in a photo with them. I found out one of the girls was getting married so they were all in goa for the wedding. I also had some disgusting man try expose himself to me but I managed to ignore him and keep walking, looking in another direction. So far this is the only disgusting thing I've experienced here.

I have a new love, that of fresh coconut milk. So much so that I've started actually seeking out vendors who sell coconuts! I drank a juice from a street vendor who used normal water and pre-sliced fruit and today I feel fine. Don't want to jinx it, but I'm starting to think the dehli belly thing is exaggerated! but don't worry mom, I'm still going to be careful with what I eat!

The train ride last night was interesting. I ended up in a carriage with mostly foreigners and we all went to sleep quite early. Not very comfortable sleeping on those rock hard beds but there was a/c so its all ok.

I think that the weather here is preparing me for the south african summer! Its crazy hot over here and extremely humid, another reason why I think of durban!

Slums, markets and train stations

Today has been a brilliant day, so much done! I started the day with a type of the biggest slum in mumbai, the third biggest in the world. What an interesting place! Its an entire community inside the slum, and its also the place where most of india's plastic is being recycled. I felt so bad about the vast amounts of bottled water I was drinking but now I know it helps give someone a job, a rather dreadful job of searching through dumpsters to find the plastic bottles, but a job none the less. The plastic is sorted in the slum, broken down and dried on the roofs of the buildings. This is then melted down and made into long thun cables of plastic that are cut up into little squares and sold to plastic manufacturers. So those sunglasses you're wearing could easily have been recycled plastic from Dharavi slum.

After touring the slum Crawford market was next on the list where I couldn't help but buy some incredible smelling spices, apparently the best in india. He also delivers internationally... I bought some tea spices, that are better than going to the doctor and some masala spice. 97 different spices mixed into that packet! Makes any curry taste good! Guess who'll be making the best curry in durban... Haha! Vedanthi your mom's is still the best indian curry I've had in durban!

I'm now in the fancy air con waiting room, waiting another 1.5 hours for my train to goa.

The head wobble

Today was dedicated to visiting elephanta caves, an how off the coast of mumbai. I'm starting to realise that its probably a lot easier to travel by taxi in mumbai, you will get a lot more accomplished! It took us about an hour to walk a 15 minute journey! Whenever you stop and ask for directions, you are met with a friendly head wobble and gesturing in a definite direction. This direction is definitely not always the correct one! We discovered this today while trying to find the gateway to india. A huge landmark in mumbai, a lot of locals will not be able to tell you where it is!

Eventually we took a can when we realised we's walked in completely the wrong direction for 10 minutes!

The caves were lovely, but would've been nice to spend more time there!

Oh I forgot, we got distracted on the way to the train station in the search of food and ended up walking through lovely suburban streets. I bought a coconut and drink such delicious coconut milk. It might become a regular thing now!

On the way back from the caves we took a rickshaw to the hostel and the driver was trying to tell us something we couldn't understand. at the end of the journey we realised he wanted the metre price plus 20, we all looked indignant and when I threatened to report him to the traffic police I got a smile and a friendly head wobble as he drove away. Guess he had to try! He's been my favourite taxi driver so far!

Tomorrow I'm going on a slum tour at 10 with Pilar

Survived india day 1

Today was my first day in mumbai. Its exhausting st the moment because everything is so new and needs to be discovered through trial and many errors! Thankfully indians are helpful and generally very nice. I started today with a rickshaw ride to the train station, a journey I think I would walk usually, if it were not 30° out there!

the train journey to the centre was only 20 ruppees, the same price as a bottle of water! A group of us walked from the main station to the gateway to india, a trip I'll be making again tomorrow to see the elephanta caves.

I love the life and noise that is all around mumbai, its amazing to see so many people all so busy. It seems like a place that never sleeps! Even more so than new york felt! I have to mentioned I got thoroughly ripped off on the price of a sim card, you constantly have to be alert here!

We had a massively expensive lunch at this fancy restaurant on the way to the gate way to india. Absolutely delicious!

Its now nearly 10 and bed is calling!

Tuc tuc tuc

Last night (or rather earlier this morning) I arrived in india. My trip started with me losing my water bottle in abu dhabi :( but so far so good in india. I had an amazing time bargaining for taxi prices to the hostel, then found a rickshaw driver willing to take me for a decent price. He got lost though but eventually we found the place, after numerous phone calls and other helpful rickshaw drivers pointing us in the right direction! Surprisingly, it took me ages to fall asleep and with the hours of being in a hostel, you wake up when everyone else does!

Today I face mumbai as I head into town to book train tickets and see the famous gateway to india. There are a few people from the hostel going so I'm joining them for now.

Breaking Habits

I feel that at the moment I have lost a lot of my good habits and started forming some really bad, need changing habits. The young explorer in me is wondering what has happened and who the person I now am is. I have always prided myself on having an adventurous spirit and yet here I am, on the verge of going to India, one of the most exciting and interesting places in the world and I'm shaking with fear. I understand that a lot of people would feel that way and its normal, but I'm not a lot of people. How can I have this crazy adventurous spirit and be terrified of leaving my comfortable life here in Switzerland. And there, I believe, lies the problem. It happens to a lot of people I'm sure who get comfortable jobs and settle in to a place, leaving and going somewhere new becomes a massive challenge that people who have no base don't have to face. When you are already a nomad, travelling and living out of a suitcase, going one more place before you stop travelling is just something that happens at every "last stop" you reach.

Once again I am moving out of my comfort zone, going across the world to one of the craziest countries in the world and I am not afraid. I am excited and going to make the most of every minute that I am there.