"Finding myself" in a flummoxed fashion

Well, well, well... Where on earth have I BEEN for the past month!?

We spent a further 10 days in the sleepy town of Vashisht, jamming in our new-found band of didgeridoo, guitars and drums and causing angry Brazilian men to throw 2-litre bottles of water at us from his balcony, when they'd felt that we had played enough for one evening - thank you very much. Then realising that we had only a few days until Emily was to arrive in Mumbai, we took the 14 hour night bus to Delhi and on the same day, we flew down to Mumbai. It was after we'd got off the night bus and were in a tuk-tuk going along the high-way to Delhi Airport, that I caught my first elephant-sighting of the trip! It's owner (or Mahout) was sitting and steering from the elephant's shoulders and they were happily strolling along in the 9am traffic - in the slow-lane of course.

My brief experience of Mumbai was similar to how it had been described to me - enourmous, very grotty and full to the brim with people. The landscape seemed to be comprised mainly of slums - miles and miles, along every road side and spreading as far as you can see. India's diversity was most striking here, as poised among the masses, there were also streets and streets of beautiful sculptures and hotels disguised as palaces. We collected our friend and sadly had to take her back to a rather shabby - but by India's standards, incredibly expensive hotel (Mumbai is the most expensive city to stay in India) costing us around 9 times more than we were used to! After a day of well-earned sleep on all our parts, we caught a flight down to Kerala...

Kerala was the first place where we stayed that I could well imagine returning to one day. We started to feel like we were on holiday now that Emily was with us and the sunny, beach atmosphere meant that sadly, we really had no choice but to drink cocktails, eat calamari and frolic shamelessly around in the sea (although the waves were a little rough for swimming). We were staying on a cliff-side beach called Varkala where there was an abundance of clothes and jewelery shops as well as a countless amount of cafes and restaurants all lined up on the coast. The coast was our only path to and from our hotel room and this meant that we had to pass them all several times a day, which was fine - but we did get a little fed up with all the demands from every desperate shop-owner who in this low-season, hadn't sold a single thing in the last week... Here's a taste of the charming customer service that we received around every 10 steps that we took:

Day 1:

"Hello Madam, where you from?
"England"
"Come and look my shop, Madam, good price, good price for you."
"No thank you, I'm a bit busy"
"Tomorrow you come?"
"Ummm... Maybe!"

[After a few days of the same sort of exchange, 'Madam' tries to slip past, but fails...]

"Madam! Why you not look my shop? Look now, Madam!"
"No thank you"
"I have good price Madam. Good gifts for familly."
"I'm sure you do - you see, I'm travelling for a long time with a heavy rucksack -
"If you want clothes I have clothes - look, see here madam"
"No, I really don't want to buy anything and I have to go."
"Just LOOK Madam!'
['Madam' continues to walk away]
"You want necklace? rings? Madam you come tomorrow! I am waiting!"
['Madam' breaks into a run]
"MADAM!!!!"

We soon had to leave those beaches and the scary business women and make our way to Sri Lanka due to our near exipired visas. So the three of us got on a night bus to Chennai and flew the next day to Colombo (the same city that I am in now in fact!). From Colombo we took a long bus ride down the coast to a beach that we had been told about called Mirissa. Mirissa was rather similar to Varkala beach in Kerala and similarly, we were forced to resume our cocktail-drinking, calamari-eating and sea-frolicing with no real choice on the matter... Emily and I went on a whale-watching trip where we saw three Blue Whales! It was amazing - but when we weren't hanging over the side of the boat waiting for our next sighting, we were heaving into plastic bags as we had both become sea sick! "Are you sure you want milk with your coffee, madam?" said the ship-hand just before we set off. "It may make you sea-sick." "Oh, I doubt it!" I say, slightly insulted that he thinks I can't handle a bit of milk before a gentle cruise out into the calm, tranquil waters... Oh, was I wrong... It was bumpier than a roller-coaster!

We were surprised to discover the levels of aggression that appeared rather prevalent in Mirissa - being flashed at one night and then witnessing a rather heated dispute between the owners of one of the restaurants and two other local men who were quite obviously very unwelcome there. It became clear just how unwelcome these men were when one of the restaurant owners ran inside and appeared seconds later with a cricket bat and proceeded to beat them both. Then the lady of the restaurant took hold of the bat and beat them both as well. At some point in all this, the cricket bat snapped in half after one paticularly heavy blow, and that was the point that these two men decided they'd had enough and limped back in the direction that they had come from. We'd heard some horrific stories about these men - one of them in particular, and felt rather on edge from then on.

Aside from the underlying aggression and relentless sexism that we've had a lot of experience of here (in four out of every five bus trips, one of us would have to kick away some pervert who decided to take advantage of the close proximities of the bus and start to feel us up), Sri Lanka has felt a lot easier than India to me. I think this is largely because it's so small and therefore everywhere is easier to get to - but also, the landscape is consistently stunning and the beaches and towns are generally quite clean.

-For some reason, I've felt the need to sum up the country in a few words as if I'm reviewing it for an artical! I think I may have over-dosed on The Lonely Planet.

So since Emily sadly had to leave us over a week ago, we have been in the hill-country (starting and finishing in a lovely city called Kandy) with three delightful women -two Australians and an American - who came here for a week's holiday. We hired a lovely driver called Sandil who we nick-named 'Sandy', and who took us around the sites and we stayed in some very beautiful places. We also went to an elephant ophanage which was a very mixed experience. All three women are teachers and we will be seeing one of them very shortly when we arrive in Melbourne on the morning of the 12th! In fact, our flight is in four hours, so we should probably get going to the Airport! We leave Colombo at 1am, four hours flight to Kuala Lumpar (Malasia), where we have a fifteen-hour stop-over, and then eight or so hours to Melbourne! Then a few hours spent in Melbourne waiting for Amy (the teacher that we met only a week ago) who will pick us up after she has finished at school and put us up for the first night. We're very excited and not very prepared. Forgive me for writing that all out, since it's not really that interesting - I do think we deserve some sort of procession though if we do actually make it there in one piece.

Lots of love to you all at home!

Off to the land of Oz!

Just a quick update, since my last post seemed to be rather disjointed and also ended rather abruptly...

We're now in a very small town called Vashisht which is just next to the city (or maybe it's a town) of Manali. Vishisht is similar to Bhagsu - except it's more beautiful and even quieter where we are. The hotel is on the side of a mountian over looking the river and towns below and all around us are hills and moutains that disappear into the clouds above. When the weather is clearer and the sun is out (yes, there is actually sun here!), you can see the last of the snow on the moutain peaks.

We arrived here yesterday morning after a 10 hour bus journey through the night. At times it felt like we had all died and must have gone to hell. It was similar to how I'd imagine a ten-hour ride on a tractor would be - to say it was bumpy would be an understatement. Poor Camilla was feeling ill before we'd even got on the bus - so I can't imagine how she was feeling after a few hours. The driver seemed to be enjoying himself though! He took great liberty in accelerating around every bend and breaking only at the last second when he'd realised that there was an even bigger bus hurtling towards us - and only really room on the road for one... As we all sat in silence with our eyes closed, trying not to speak too much since this required far too much energy; I imagined that I was merely sitting in a very powerful massage chair... and soon it would be over. It seemed to help.

Anyway, since the journey, we have slept a lot and Camilla's feeling a little better. I have met some friends - an Australian, an Indian from the Andaman Islands, and two Israeli girls - who took me out to a music night last night in Old Manali. I went with half an intention to join in, but it was very drum and didgeridoo based and I realised that my little quarter-sized, $30 (there's no pound sign on this computer!) guitar wouldn't quite be up to the task... Still, it was a fantastic atmosphere and I'm looking forward to the same again tonight!

Must go. I've been hours on the computer now, and I said I was only going to be a few minutes...

As requested, I'll put some photos up of the rings that I made in Bhagsu.

Love to everyone!

There has been so much rain-fall here that by this point, I could only really put it down to sheer gluttony. Although, in spite of the general feeling of exasperation among many people here in Bhagsu; I have to admit that I have secretly enjoyed how stormy it has been here, since it has given me license to sit around doing nothing for as long as I want. When staying in the Himalays, there's that slight feeling that you should at some time do some - wait for it - 'trekking'. I dislike that word. When I think of trekking, I imagine being forced over 30ft tall nets and shoved through long plastic tunnels that are 2 ft deep in muddy, leech-infested swamp water. There are blisters - often in places one wouldn't expect, and there are always - without fail, soggy oatcakes. And with the rain on top of all that...? No way. In case you're wondering, no I haven't been an Army Cadette, but I did go to a Steiner School.

So with all that in mind, trecking was not high on my list. Yes it's beautiful here and yes, I probably will want to at some point, but to begin with I just wanted to read - which I did; to make jewelery - which I also did; eat some food - which I have most definitely been doing; and become as much of a hermit as possible. At one point I was so hermit-like, that I could almost have been two hermits - but then I realised that if there really were two of us, then I (or we) would no longer classify as a hermit.

So that's when I knew I should probably tone it down.

I had a massage one day, and towards the end of it, a woman with a strong french accent was ranting away next door to me. "If I 'ear one more guy say "excuse me, one snap?", I will kick 'is ass!" It was nice to hear that we are all in the same boat.

These "one snap" men are Indian tourists who seem to come here purely to leer at the western girls. They relentlessly pester whoever happens to be walking near them in the hopes of getting a photo that they can post on the internet as their girlfriend. A few nights ago, I got the chance to practice my fencing skills with one of these people with nothing other than my little blue umbrella. It came in very handy one night as I was walking back to the hotel and was approached by one of these men who seemed to think that if he demanded my attention, told me he had a room, and failing that, grab me from behind as I walk away from him; that I would surely find him irresistible. Thankfully, he let go of me as soon as I shouted "NO! Stay away from me!" (umbrella raised 'on guard!') - but it seemed to be more from fear of getting caught than out of a sudden respect for my rights. After a night of feeling rather shaken-up, I mentioned what had happened to a few locals the next morning. It was a relief to see that they were quite shocked. I wasn't sure what the response would be - I was imagining that they'd throw it aside as if to say, 'you are a woman in India - what do you expect?' - but in fact, they told me that the punishment here is to catch the culprit and sting him with stinging nettles! I have been on the look-out eversince....

The plan is to head for Manali next week when Camilla's meditation course is over. Despite it being a ten hour drive away, it's still in the state of Himachal Pradesh and we will still be up in the hills - in fact, apparently we may have to invest in some woolly hats! Then we may go further down to Rishikesh - known as the Yoga central in all of India - before the long train journey down to Mumbai to pick up Emily!

Thursday 11th august

I've done it. I've found free wifi. We're sitting inside a dimly lit cafe tent called View Cafe. It's dark now, so we'll just have to take their word for it on the view front, but it has colourful lanterns hanging all around which are swinging precariously from the power of the storm around us. The rain is getting heavier outside as the booming thunder seems to be getting closer. Camilla is sitting next to me doing her Hindi homework. Her teacher, who is giving her free lessons daily in exchange for chai, has recently started asking her for relationship advice (he has apparently become obsessed with a polish woman) and has made it her job this evening to write down 50 - yes 50 tips on "the best proper aim for a relationship". She is to write them in English and he will then translate them into Hindi for her to learn... What Camilla's going to do with 50 tips in Hindi, on how to make an effective stalker, I can't quite imagine... She's been asking me for ideas but I haven't really been much help. I just keep coming up with different ways of wording the phrase "get a grip".

Friday 12th August

Back at View Cafe drinking yet more chai. It has become my favourite place. Camilla is at her lesson so I'm taking some time to catch up on things here before we go and continue with our silver making. Ring making has become a slight addiction and since it's so wet here, there's not much else to do anyway. The thunder is still rolling and I can feel it in the ground beneath me as it shakes the whole mountain. I've just been speaking to the man who works here and he says we're only 200 metres from the top! I had no idea we were so high up and eventhough it's only about 5 minutes walk up from where we're staying, it's so much quieter and much more beautiful here that we're thinking we may have to move. Also, although our hotel has only cost us 250 Rupees a night (around £3.50), here they're offering us a room for 200 Rupees with a view! I'm really not complaining - we do have a view where we are but it mainly comprises of scaffolding and workmen... Methinks a change of scene is in order...

A few days ago I came across a man who claimed to specialise in Pranayama (for those who don't know, it's a breathing technique used in meditation, yoga and probably many other mediums), which in English translates as "to extend breath". He said he offered one-to-one 90 minute sessions and I was curious to see what the meditation workshops were like here, so I thought I'd give it a go. So during this session I was first asked to run back and forth across the room shouting "fire on the mountain" - which seemed a little odd and was attracting quite a lot of attention from the people outside, but whilst remaining sceptical, I agreed. I think he was expecting me to find it difficult to run around in front of him screaming for no apparent reason - but after years of drama workshops and being quite familiar with the new-agey, semi-hippy lifestyle, it wasn't really a problem - it just seemed a strange thing to ask me to do! I thought it best not to look too comfortable with the idea, just in case he then turned it up a notch and asked me to take it outside and continue while running through the town... I think that may have been my limit.
Next we did a few breathing excercises and he explained the importance of breathing properly while I said "Sorry?" and "Pardon?" after every other sentence. The rain outside was so noisy that I was struggling to hear everything he said - and it was nearly impossible when he asked me to keep my eyes closed, since about 40% of my understanding was purely from lip-reading. So every time I opened my eyes, I got told off, and every time he said anything that required a response, I didn't answer. He gave me some accupressure (debatable accupressure) to treat my stomach which was still rather shell-shocked from the Varanasi experience, and then got me to hyperventilate (I wouldn't recommend it) which apparently allowed my toxins to be released... All in all it was rather hilarious. I said that I probably won't be coming back for any more. He seemed to understand.

Love to England - riots and all. The news has reached India. A few concerned locals have asked us if our homes and families are OK.

Gone are the days of diving out of the way of the highly charged funeral marches, and retching at every new and overbearing scent that comes our way (which did seem to happen around every 3 or 4 steps). When our stomachs could take it, we fled. During my week of feeling like my insides had given up all together and had probably gone and found a home with somebody else, I made it very clear that Varanasi was never going to grow on me and I was desperate to go somewhere else as soon as we could. So while I lay there feeling sorry for myself, Camilla, bless her, also not very well, went to her guidebook, did some research and suggested we came here to Bhagsu. Mountains, cool climate, yoga, meditation, massage...

So after a stressful 20 hours in the sleeper coach (don't let the title fool you) on the train and then a very disturbing 4 hour bus journey with a very persistent local Dharamsalan man (from my Western view, I'd say he was verging on psychotic - but hey, not in India), we arrived in the mountains, tired, relieved and dehydrated. We are in Bhagsu - a small town about 5 minutes away from Mcloed Ganj where the Dalai Lama lives. Every where you look there are centres for Yoga, massage, meditation, Ayurveda, Buddhism... And jewelery making! There are also plenty of opportunities to go trecking, so... any time the torrential thunderstorms subside...!

Rain or no rain, I will endeavor to become a mind, body and spirit connoisseur before I step foot on another bloody sleeper train.

Love to all. Will write more soon - I have a labradorite ring to finish.

Oh, I keep forgetting - for Camilla's blog, search 'hippygolucky' for a quirky, much more detailed and less self-absorbed recollection of our travels.