pre new year post

Christmas to New Year has been interesting and fun, can’t really be bothered to say exactly what happened for the whole time. Firstly I’m knackered; Christmas takes it out of you defo. I may have developed a rum problem, and affairs of the heart although fun and interesting can also be a little draining and tiring. What can you do? This has been a Really Great Christmas and wouldn’t have changed very much - just one person I would have swapped for another (cryptic!). The last days I’ve been chilling out during the days, drinking a little bit some evenings, eating good food. Here are a few of the highlights

Watching Steve eat lobster in the freedom café. Freedom café is famous for its slow service and Steve ordered his lobster at 6.30 went for a walk for an hour then went back with me and Emma. At about 10 Steve had had enough and decided it was time to leave. I wanted to stay and see if there was actually a lobster but got outvoted and left, good tip though if you are in a bar and the beers warm, order a beer that nobody really drinks (fosters) and they have lots of cold ones – this was a fun night but nobody else agrees.

Went and danced at the sound system and sat by a fire after. Met Dennis who was cool, he left me with this Irish girl by a fire that was a bit fucked (she threw up in the fire) had to walk her home with her trying it on with me. I declined the offer!

Sat by a fire watching the sun go up when me and a girl called Corrine decide to walk to the next beach, neither of us had a room and we weren’t very tired. Got there and stayed there all day found a nice guest house then sat in café all day. What a nice girl she is.

Coming back to ohm beach after moving to paradise beach for 2 days, felt like coming home, was really nice, missed saying goodbye to some people. Haven’t got a room on ohm though and have been sleeping a little funny.

Having to tell jenny mark (and Emma I think but she denies this) to shut up as they were waking up the whole beach. I told them to shut up they thought it was funny and laughed some more so had to tell them again. They woke me up, they woke my other neighbours up they woke everyone up!! Was funny ish. Then in the morning I heard that mark shouted at some hippies for chanting and waking him up!!!!! Very very cheeky that!!

Marks new beach hut on paradise beach is absolutely amazing!!! Great view, I’m jealous I have no home.

Thats all I can be bothered to write today. I’m knackered now just been lying in the hammock practicing with gariks (that’s a person) catapult. Tonight’s New Years Eve so everybody is deciding what to do…... as per usual. I’m going to put on my sword and pirate about a bit

Extras
Juggling practice has had to be put on hold as I lost a ball
Going to arambol for a juggling festival
Happy birthday big boz man (40!)
Happy new year everyone



Oh quick note for myself on 2008 as I may not remember it in 10 years time and this is a good place to record my thoughts

2008 was a year of change….. lol,

Lots happened, biggest thing was splitting up with ex girlfriend. Changed my life but not for the worst. I actually can’t remember much that happened this year before this event, don’t know what that means but hey. I have been a heartbroken mess of a man occasionally but some really good things have come out of it.

discoving mid-wales !! I love mid wales thanks wayne!!
Sneaking into festivals is useful occasionally, also getting lost with gilly on way to sneaking into festival is also good 
Living at Ralph road with the gang was great
Just had a rush of memories from the year and I’m going to share them..
Discovering gin!
Meeting dangerous dave!
Birthday in Cornwall was gorgeous
Taking my little brother to his first festival (he was well behaved I ‘m a good influence – honest…… :)
Leaving my job – was sad about this because didn’t leave in the best way but did not want to work a months notice, plus I miss everyone there sometimes. Jez was a really good boss learnt a lot from him
Seeing my little sister sing Valerie at her school with my grandma and kev was fun.
My gran still being gran
PASSING MY DRIING TEST!!!!!!! forgot about that what a fucking brilliant moment this was, borrowing my brothers car after being talked out of buying a van (that won’t happen again – I’m getting a van!!!)
Mum surprising me at work in Bristol when I was having a fag (she heard my voice and followed it)
Sneaky lunch time drinks with gemma
6 festivals, all with rain, some messier than others!!
Losing car keys at big chill and finding then on the Sunday sticking out of the lock (big chill was best festival last year – snuck in pretending to be a journalist – brilliant (thanks rhi)
Getting pissed as a fart with krissy many nights sat on the couch chatting till we run out of beer.
Carrying lae home many times :-)
Great night with Jackie ‘camping’ in kevs back garden!!
Jim and ria splitting up was very sad hope there ok
Big Chris Evans may have a woman !!
Carla and chris coming to see me in Bristol
Little sister tiff getting rid of her boyfriend and moving on brilliantly
Watching vampire strippers at James office on Amy’s leaving do!
Uncle stuart getting lung cancer and dieing, great funeral - song as we were walking out was living la vie da loca by ricky martin and you could see the priest physically wince as it started playing and we started filing out.
Cousin Remy expecting a baby and getting engaged
Cousin Stacey also getting married!!
Mum and Dad both being worried about me and phoning me up very often to check I’m ok
Think the summer was amazing so many great weekends and nights
Trying to find the street party with saira, lae and krissy
Krissies tomato’s plant extravaganza
Getting loud speakers for my computer and annoying everyone on the street.
Suppose going to India is also good…….

This year has been amazing! As I get older ever year gets better! Long may this continue!

Anyway I’ve decided I’m in a new years resolution mood so I’m going to do one. I was going to stop drinking but that’s changed and at the moment I’m going to go vegetarian (I’ll eat fish – not lobster though ). May change between now and then though..

Happy New Year hope your year has been at least as good as mine and I hope your next one is even better! xx

Pirate day that letter is just for chritmas not for ever

Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrhhhhhhhh!!!!! I’m going to be a pirate for ever!!!


Anyway after the last entry it took me 21 hours or so to get to the beach in gokarna. Went on a sleeper bus first where a cheeky bastard bus man tried to charge us ‘baggage fee’ I told him I would ‘fuck his shit up’ if anything happened to our bags (this made everyone a bit anxious:). Probably shouldn’t have said that but nothing happened to the bags and we didn’t pay the 50 roupes. The guy was still trying to get money off us when we got of the bus so I told him that if he actually got my bag of the bus I would give him 10 roupes. He got the bag off then refused the money!! Language problem maybe. Anyway arrived in solipur at 6 in the morning and had to get on a local bus for a long time to bijapur then we had to get another local bus to hubli then we had to get another local bus to gokarna… arrived in gokarna at about 8. Think I may have gone a little mad on the bus as it took a long time. Had some fun though. Jenny fell asleep and we put a hat on her, tried to put the hat on mark but he woke up. There was a little girl sat in front of me and Emma who we played with a bit. Quick note, some bus drivers drive like maniacs I was really worried about dieing but I didn’t so its ok. Can’t describe it but they just put there foot down and overtake with traffic coming straight at them, overtaking on corners etc scary. In summary it was a long journey not that interesting as we were just on a bus.

Arrived in gokarna for Christmas !! What a good idea that was. Ended up coming to a place called ohm beach at 8 at night. There were no rooms anywhere. Luckily we meet a nice beach house owner that said we could sleep in his hammocks, ended up sitting down and drinking rum I got pissed and crawled into my hammock and slept like a little baby. The next morning a room opened up where the hammocks were and we took it (we are living 4 in a room again and the beds keep getting smaller). When I say room I actually mean a shed with a bed but its somewhere to keep our stuff safe (if we hadn’t lost the padlock that is ..). That day I was hungover but decided to go and do my Christmas shopping. Need to say now that we’d decided to turn Christmas day into pirates day (great idea jen and emma) bought some great stuff for dress up, bought presents for the gang (jen, mark and emma) and stuff to make crakers. I’d tried to arrange a cricket game but that didn’t work (I couldn’t be bothered trying very hard). That night was feeling a little tired and had a little time on my own, we had arranged to have a fire so I got that going which I always enjoy (a woman helped me - I didn’t need the help but I do like to let women feel like they can do stuff :-). Fire was very good fun but again we DRANK rum (notice the capitals). I woke up in my hammock with no idea how I got there. Went for a night swim, sang some songs, chatted some shit. Ended up having a nice heart to hearty type thing with emma although couldn’t remember exactly what was said (altought i know i told her that I love her, i do she's ace) Mark lost his bag and was looking for it everywhere after an hour or so of looking I decided to help him and it turned out the bag was where he left it (took me 2 minutes to work this out … was funny – mark does lose stuff a bit :-)

Next day I was a mess; we were all still drunk in the morning and had some fun being rautious, then I sobered up, then I felt ill, didn’t do much for the rest of the afternoon just sat around I think. wrapped presents, made crackers then made paper chains. Jenny and emma were making the pirate flag so I helped them and did some sewing (haven’t sewn in years (did texitiles at school) jenny cut out the skull and crossbones so she thinks that she owns the flag (but she doesn’t) ) finished making the flag and went to bed, we were really knackered and went to bed. Was to tired to sleep though and didn’t have the best nights sleep (it was Christmas eve and I was very excited!)

Woke up on Pirate day, sun shining, sat on the beach had a chai and some breakfast (egg chips and salad – great breakfast, had it every day), emma had got up early and made our Christmas stockings (my socks) filled with goodies, I got a shivalingum (gods penis/vagina) I’d got penis envy when I saw a huge one at the caves, some sweets and a banna (which I ate!). Got dressed up as a pirate first as I was really excited. I bough I cool waist coat, a cool skirt, wrapped a bandana round my head, emma tied some fabric to my hair, bought some pirate bling (got some bling in my stocking as well) and put some eye liner on. I though I looked fucking ace !!! (my photo’s don’t do me justice) Didn’t realize there was a mirror so had to take lots of photo’s on my phone. Me jen and emma then decided that we wanted to change our facebook photo’s! We were giggling like little kids. Think this is the most excited I’ve been about Christmas day since I was a kid (I was acting a little childlike). Came back put the presents we’d bought for each other under the tree (that emma had decorated with stuff and an amazing angle that she’d made). Opened the pressies, yey. I got a pirate pipe, a music shakey think, some juggling balls, a necklace, a recorder (some people will remember when I got a tin whistle and wouldn’t shut up and would walk round treforest (uni town) playing it – same thing is almost happening now:). felt sorry for everyone else who didn't have presents so gave all my crackers away which hope made everyone happy.

Everyone else had now dressed as pirates (maybe 8), jenny and emma both looked like hot wenches in new dresses. Very good look for them! We were the only pirates with swords as there were only three swords in the whole of gokarna – got to have a sword or your not quite a pirate. Jenny got a great tattoo (check picture), I ‘d found (stolen) a treasure map the day before (result) and got this tattooed on my chest (henna tattoo / although may get it done for real as I like it)

This blog is getting long and I’m getting tired but want to write about Christmas as it was so much fun

So now we were ready – we got a boat and raised the jolly Rodger and invaded the next beach – by invasion what I mean is we got of the boat span emma round until she was nearly sick waited to see which bar she pointed at and charged screaming. I was the first one through the door screaming my head like a right pirate. First think I see is two little kids looking at me with an expression I can only describe as a mixture of fear and perplexion. There parents were there and I played cricket with them for a bit (little kids can’t play cricket very well). After the initial ‘invasion’ we had grog (rum) and chi. As it was pirate day we played a traditional game of chirades which was fun apart from sometimes people new the answers and didn’t say them as they didn’t want to have a go!! That’s cheating in my book, was fun thought because if you’ve ever played charades you know people get very excited and people who didn’t want a go kept getting excited and saying the answers so they then had to have a go :-). I was feeling a bit tired by now as it had a been a long day already and I had a lie down. Emma joined me, Saw crazy American lady from goa – she’d had acid and was sketchy (not the best look). Got the boat back to our beach and invaded out own guest house. Everybody was flagging a bit by this time. We sat around for a bit. Remember talking to jenny and saying sink or swim time and she said do or die (she did – but I’ll talk about that later;- ) sat around for a bit then phoned the family with emma. Was really nice to talk to everyone, I have great families :-) and I love them all so much. Think my mum was a bit upset that I wasn’t there but I did miss her in the morning as she usually comes and wakes me up to open presents, I don’t want to as I normally have a hangover but she brings me a nice cup of tea and we open pressies. Dad was funny too (well tiff thought he was funny) love my dad he’s ace. Really perked me up speaking to families and I got back on the grog. Me and emma were on the phone for about an hour and when we came out, everyone (jenny and mark) were a lot more pissed. Drank some more then went looking for a regge party, couldn’t find it but some people had hired a sound system and were playing bad trance so we went there.

At this point I’d like to mention the fact that we were by far the coolest (maybe the drunkest) pirates in India. Party was fun, jenny was now winning the drunkest pirate award. Sometimes when people get drunk they get really happy and have really great grins, jenny had one of these plasted all over her face, was funny. At one point jenny decided we were all going to drink the rest of the grog (about half a bottle) one swig then pass it round. After three rounds of this I hid the bottle… Emma was now inducting people into the pirate fraternity by ‘dubbing’ them with pirate/porn names and jenny was trying to get the Dj to play the dirty dancing song ‘time of your life’. I was chatting and dancing and mark had lost something ;-) me jen and emma went on the beach and sang ‘time of your life’ and danced round just like real pirates do. The party was starting to die by this point (as was jenny ;-) as no bar would give us electricity for the sound system. Went on a mission with a what I will describe as a wonky guy and then set up a fire. Fire was nice. Me and emma then went in the sea as there was the phospourus effect going on (read the beach by alex garland) was georgeous. Me and Emma decided (correctly) that jenny and mark were to drunk to swim so we didn’t mention that we were going in the water. Although I’d been drinking all day I was quite with it, as was emma which was good. I like emma’s company and we swam about in the water and had a chat. Got back to fire and some people had gone, think jenny was asleep and mark had lost something (probably). Had a bit of an idiot round the fire and we took jenny home. I put emma in a firemans life and carried her for about 5 steps till she got scared. Jenny wasn’t capable of walking so mark decided to do the same… he fell over straight away was ok though as jenny though it was hilarious. On the way back met another guy getting someone back to his hotel (as he was spangled) so I grabbed an arm and helped him as he looked like he could do with it (jenny was now being carried by mark and emma with an arm each) it wasn’t far. Got back to hotel and mark and jenny were laughing there heads off, I wasn’t very tired so me and emma grabbed the last bottle of grog, some blankets and went to the beach Cuddled up and went to sleepish. (No funny business she has a boyfriend:(, ended up with 2 dogs sleeping with us keeping us safe/warm. About 7ish we went back to hotel and slept on the floor of hotel.

Great day. May have pirate day every year. It was really good to do something special as we may have just sat on the beach like an ordinary day on the beach on gokarna. The pressies were ace, rum went down well and we all just had fun. Flagged a bit in the afternoon (so much so that we thought we’d peaked – we hadn’t!) but that’s to be expected as its Christmas and normally we’d be cuddled up watching a film in the afternoon.

Don’t want to stop writing about pirate day but I suppose I have to move on sometime.

Boxing day, wasn’t to hung over, had some breakfast, told jenny what had happened for the last 2 hours of pirate day as she couldn’t remember (including standing on the landlords Head!) She was a little worried that she’d been a tit but she really hadn’t, she was great fun! Most proper pirate award I reckon!! Walked to really quiet beach (moving there tomorrow me thinks) to see some of emmas friends (who are now my friends) aled? And bried? Had some dinner, learnt a new juggling trick (there is juggling festival in goa soon I may go!), and came to internet. Going to watching a movie tonight hopefully. Love everyone Happy Pirate day

Extras – lots but running out of time now
Struggling to get coach to Pondicherry – going to email people now may have to stay in gokarna
couldn't put title for this post that i really wanted to use so i've done two

Face India – still no one got back to me. What to do…

jenny cash, the mother of enjoyment and the explorer of allora

Well it’s been a long time since I’ve wrote this blog, so much has happened I’ve just been to busy, to lazy or to far away from technology. I currently have 3 hours to kill waiting for a bus so I’ve decided to catch up on my blog so this could be a long entry, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

So was in pushkaar which was cool, had some really good times there with, Karen (absolute star), ksenia (also star) and tom (fucking Israeli – who I love :-) not forgetting the guy who came to the hotel everyday who’s name I’ve forgotten but was from the richest family in pushkasar but was hiding out from them as they wanted him to marry someone (I think). Did lots of stuff but forgotten lots. Hightlights were –

Running up the biggest hill without stopping at sunset to see if I could do it – it was good, but hard work. Got to the top of the hill literally crawling up the last 10 or so steps and the guy in the café took one look at me and gave me a bottle of water. Meet a Swedish girl up there who’d had enough of the town (like I had) and we had a coffee and chat.

Getting a call from krissy, lae, Shane and everyone on a Friday night when they were all pissed (love you guys x)

Got pissed as a fart playing ‘put off killa’ on the pool table (this game involves playing killa and trying to put people off) anyway me and emma (will tell you who she is in a moment) were the best at putting people off , then went back to my hotel and sat up singing songs from everyones country, my song was the clash should I stay or should I go (I sang two lines wrong) then me and the guy who’s name I can’t remember sat up singing a hindi song till 3.30 in the morning this is it

Shiv shiv shiv shambo
Hara hara shiv shambo (x2)
Ma ha diva shambo
Ma ha diva shambo (x2)

Over and over and over, was good fun and can’t get it out of my mind

Lots of stuff happened as I was there for a while :-Other highlights include the fire behind the sikh temple, buying a jumper, walking up other hill, going to ajmer and seeing the 14 (I think) different dimensions, walking round the Ghats (lake) everyday, seeing the guy in the cafe become an incomprehensible wreck in the evenings

In puskcaar I also meet up with jenny who I use to see a lot of when I went out with Yvonne (4years ago maybe) but haven’t seen much recently (although she is absolutely lovely) and her friend Emma and we all left pushkaar together with a guy called Mark (from Bristol – drinks in the Cadbury pub). They were all going to gokarna for Christmas so I said I would go with them.

Now the thing with gokarna is its probably about 1800 km from puskaar and all the trains are fully booked, also last time I traveled the length of the country I didn’t see much I just did it in one train ride. This time my plan was to get coaches to different places and see different things…. Everybody decided to follow my plan (although there was talk of a boat.) We have been on a proper adventure and its been great fun

First stop – udipur
Wasn’t as good as everyone said, walked round the city, ate some food, saw the palace (which was nice) tried to get to the hotel in the middle of the lake in a pedelo but got stopped by security guards, all 4 of us ended up sharing a room and we had a laugh in the evening just sitting around chatting waiting for mark to come home (he was playing chess in a bar), had to send some food back in a restaurant because it tasted like disinfectant and the guy was a bit rude about it!! I was a bit rude back!! Meet some Australian girls who are cool (they remind me of kath and kim on speed) ended up having a bit of a palaver figuring out where to go next but we randomly ended up in a place called Vapi that wasn’t in the book and headed to a beach called Danan which is an old Portuguese enclave in Gujarat. We were very happy about going to Vapi because it rhymes with happy….

Next stop – Daman
(going to write less now as this is really going to be a long entry but so much has happen wish I could write it all:-(

Got there at 6 in the morning and it looked shit!! Beach was smelly and polluted, turned out we were on the wrong beach. Went to new beach and got a guest house, this one man and his wife helped us and bought us chai and potato stuff. We then decided to get pissed. We bought a bottle of coconut fenni (read hampi entry) and added it to fresh coconuts, was very tasty!! Beach was hilarious, me and emma rode a camel and when we got back jenny was surrounded by literally 2 coach loads of Indian school children, and they were mental! Can’t explain, - they wanted us to play guitar, juggle, anything, I’m sure it nearly turned into a riot and the teachers where the worst offenders. Managed to get rid of them by telling them we would do a show for them at 1.30. Luckily we fell asleep. I woke up hugging Emma’s foot?? We’d ordered dinner in the morning from a beach hut and we ate that on the beach as the sun went down (magic) and then returned to our hotel, where we were invited to the nice man from earliers wife’s birthday party (him his wife and his sister in law getting pissed) we joined them and had a really nice evening, he bought us lots of drinks (he was loaded) and was just really really nice, ate food and danced, it turns out I know all the moves to Wigfield Saturday night – who’d have known!

Next day moving again, this time on the recommendation of nice man we head to nasig (spell check) on the second holiest river in India !! must be mentioned at this point that we have two aims, one to get to gokarna before Christmas and two - I really want to see the ellora caves that are in the middle of India on the way and nasig is on the way (sort of)

Took quite a long time, got local bus (which was funny) then got a hotel with a tv and had movie night (was late when we arrived) we all shaved a room again and watched two films die hard 4.0 (ok but 3rd time now I’ve seen it) and perfume (great film but very very very very very very very very strange ending watch it, you can also read the book which I’m told is rude!!)

First impressions of nasig was what the fuck are we doing here it was dark busy and probably smelly. Next day our impression hadn’t changed much when we went for a walk… thenl we stumbled across the Ghats (baths really) and all these people where there praying, watching, hanging out and I think we all just felt our spirits lift and realized it was well worth while coming to nasig. That was the highlight, rest of time we walked round, jenny and Emma danced and bought bangles. Then we moved again

Got the train to Augredabad (which from now on will be called oranjeboom for no other reason than I want to). Train was easy enough, I wasn’t in the mood for talking to Indians so put on head phones or got on top bunk and fiddled with guitar. Got to oranjeboom and I’d told ‘the gang’ that I would find a hotel that was very cheap and they should just have faith. Well the faith didn’t last very long :-) after an hour of walking along with their backpacks on there started to be some moaning in the ranks so we stopped walking around and got a hotel!!! Sharing a room again is keeping it cheap and is really good fun, although the beds space keeps getting smaller and smaller. Ended up going for a beer – we needed one. Had a bottle of Carlsberg that honestly tasted like pure sex!! Amazing, so guess what we did then. We got pissed! And skipped home in a long line, was a good night.

Now its today and we went to the ellora caves, we were all a little hungover today and a bit tired from all the traveling and drinking and stuff – its been about a week since we left pushkaar and we haven’t stayed in the same place more than one night, which is quite draining although we all having a really good time.

The ellora caves are a bunch of caves that have been dug out and turned into temples and stuff, quite amazing. Somebody has literally caved 3 story houses out of the mountains!!! Also had an Indian ice cream which was very tasty. Got back to oranjeboom and really struggled to book a sleeper bus in the direction we wanted to go at a price we were willing to pay but managed in the end. Going to solipur tonight at 10, arrive there at 6 then we have to get local buses another 300km to get to near where we’re going!!! Just waiting to go at the moment so I’ve come to internet may answer emails and then might have chai..

Generally
This last week and a bit has been really fun and quite hardcore we have missioned halfway across India having fun and seeing stuff, don’t think there is anywhere I would have liked to stay for longer and we’re going to make it to the beach for Christmas. Having lots of fun with everyone and has been the easiest bit of traveling with people I’ve done (get along really well with everyone) although hardest in terms of getting where we want to go as its Christmas. I’ve missed out so much stuff its sad but these entries are getting far to long

Extras
if your wondering about the title thats marks, jenny and emma new traveling names (i haven't got one yet ...)
Thanks for message tiff hope dad doesn’t turn that way ;-)
Don’t think this entry is my usual eloquent self but I’m tired and rushing, sorry.
Its nearly Christmas, can’t tell at all in India, haven’t heard any Christmas songs yet, going to make some crackers (lay style) – merry Christmas everyone. All Christmas monies can be posted to my mum (don’t bother with cards as I won’t read them just send money:)



Face India
Visited a animal sanctuary (very sad) and hospital (bit strange – they wanted to take me into the surgery room!!), to check them out for volunteers and meet people. The places are all free to volunteer in and people don’t have to come on the work camps, not 100% sure about model of organization.. No body has got back to me about website, wish they would, creating a volunteer journalist position for somebody to come to India and write ‘copy’ would be a brilliant opportunity for a wannabie journo. Love Manoj

James is not called Big Bear!!

Delhi! What a good place. Very hectic and very.. just very. Lost of pushy sellers, lots of rickshaws, lots of tourists (which was strange as I hadn’t see a white face in a week.) got there on the train fine, managed to squeeze on to the train with the help of a nice guy who then wanted me to come to the hotel he worked in for lunch. He gave me a card and everything; I politely declined due to the fact that the cheapest meal was 400roupes. He couldn’t understand my reluctance think he though I’m loaded. Anyway found cheap hotel in delhi (120-roupes) was the 2nd to worst room I’ve stayed in yet. 3 floors up box room with a double bed (plus point) smelt of mould and the shared toilet and shower was not good (so bad in fact I didn’t wash next morning ) didn’t spend much time in there though and only stayed in Delhi for one night. First day I walked south round the city (connecaught palace, New Delhi areas) was nice. Then thought I’d go to old delhi to see some sites. Got the underground train system, was very good apart from three things. Firstly there were armed police everywhere, didn’t make me feel safe at all complete opposite in fact. Secondly when you get the tube you loose your sense of direction. Its very hard to tell where you are in relation to anywhere else. And thirdly I went to the wrong stop. Luckily I was only one stop off. Walked around for a bit until I stopped for a cigarette near a guy who looked like he knew what he was doing and asked him where old delhi was. Turned out he was a research student and he knew lots of stuff. Went to old delhi saw the red fort, was expensive and only ok. You couldn’t go up on the ramparts (walls) and it wasn’t kept in pristine condition. Strange I’ve been to lots (5) castles and stately homes over the years and I’ve never seen anything on this scale. It was huge, much bigger than anything I’ve seen in England. I could imagine the soldiers running up the ramps 100’s of years ago to defend against invaders but everything was a little bit decrepit and it could have done with a bit more care and attention. Eg fountains didn’t work and the flower beds had no flowers in them…

In the evening went to meet a girl I’d met on couch surfers website for Rnb night in the morrisons café. I was suppose to wear a white t-shirt so I got one and got down there.
Quick note on delhi rick shaw drivers (same as anywhere but worse :-) - there are pre-paid rickshaw centers that charge you the real price for a journey. As I was walking to one of these I walked past rickshaw drivers asking them the price to see what they said (I was going 8 km). 150 roupes first one, then down to 130, then 120. I told them I was going to the pre paid booth and they dropped the price further still. By the time I got to the prepaid booth it was down to 90. I asked them if this is what the pre paid booth would charge and they all said yes. I turned to the prepaid guy and asked him how much and he said 60 roupes!!!!!!!!!!!!! All these rickshaw drivers mysteriously disappeared and a new one came out of now where to wisk me to the café, when we arrived the rickshaw driver asked for another 10 roupes because ‘wrong address (it wasn’t))

So I go the morrisons bar with my brand new white t-shirt on and realize very quickly that no one else was wearing a white t – shirt, and then I also realized that there was no Rnb music playing and to top it all off I also realize I have no idea what this girl actually looks like. I sit at the bar talking to a few Indians and an afgan pilot . After two hours are up I decided I’ve been had and no one I coming. Before I go I have her phone number and decided to use my phone to just ring her and see what happens (its cost a lot if she answers) it rang and rang about 8 rings and then I hung up, NOTHING happened so I walk out. As I get to the door my phone rings. I turn round and there is the georgeous Indian girl looking at me. We look at each other, point and then laugh. Introductions are made with her friends and everything is good. Turns out they are all ‘wearing’ white or have a white jumper with them. Was really good night. They played, the doors, jimihendrix, red hot chillies, good rock and roll music (no Rnb!)and I danced for a long time. Only problem was the beers where 3 times more expensive than normal (200roupes) so I spent a lot of money. Got a rick shaw home before I got too drunk and spent all my money and/or made a compete idiot of myself. Was really good night and just what I needed after being stuck ill in an office for so long.

Next day decided I was moving on and bought a ticket to puskaar. Decided to go somewhere a bit rural and not another city plus you can get a night bus which means you can sleep on the bus. Booked that then saw a sightseeing tour that lasted all day and ended just before my coach left so I booked that. Did that to see as much as possible in one day. Was good fun met a really nice Venezuelan who worked for chevron (oil company:-( interesting guy with good information. The whole tour was in hindi though which meant we had to find out about the sites from other sources. Saw lots, best site for me was the indra gandi memorial(she was a president that was assassinated. Made me a bit emotional although the place itself was nothing special. Went and got my bags back and a guy took me to the coach.

Coach trip was really good fun. Meet a dutch lady who was traveling to pushaar too and she was sat behind me. The coach we were on was a bit shit and stopped every hour at least to load/unload people and produce. At every stop (apart from when I was asleep) I got of and had a chai. Karen (dutch girl) decided we where on a chai tour and started joining me for chai everywhere. Was good fun, in one of the stalls I had my chai and joking offered to make a chai for a customer as the chai man was sat down. He let me, so I stood on the side of the road making chai, I did it all even took the money and gave him his change. Took me back to working with my uncle paul on the seafront at blackpool.. Anyway we had a great time on the bus – laughing our heads off most of the way. Something that was funny though there was a group of 3 georgeos girls who got on the bus. I obviously wanted to check that they were ‘ok’ so I said hello. They were a bit funny (not haha) and was a bit strange. They looked the part (dreadlocks, drums, tattoos, funny clothes :-) but just odd ‘energy’ coming from them. Can’t explain what it was (maybe tired – maybe me?). Any way arrived puskaa found a really nice hotel (second one I looked at ) 6 rooms nice balcony. Overlooking the lake –

Puskaar is a holy city in India where people come to bath in the lake, lost of history, temples, stories. Its not allowed to eat meat or eggs and you cannot drink alcohol…

I was still in delhi mode (I’d started to be a bit rude to some of the sellers in delhi because I CBA, they were very annoying and I was feeling a little wound up after faridabad so took out some of my frustrations on them… sorry to say this but I enjoyed it as well, everyone has those days though I’m sure) puskaar is completely different though and everyone is a lot more chilled out. The hotel I’m staying at is cool there are a few people there including a Slovakian girl who does tours of India so she knows everything and is really intelligent and knowledgeable (may have a slight cruch). She took us to a temple on a hill to watch sunset and give us a history lesson. Was fun apart from I took my shoes of to walk up the hill, I had a rest and forgot to pick up my shoes, had to walk around the top of the hill (very stoney) without any shoes on although I picked them up on the way down. I’ve got a new book (shateram) suppose to be really good book about India. A girl from burnley (lives in dubai now) was here I recognized her accent as northern so we had a good chat about ‘the north’. Had some dinner then fell asleep on the roof of hotel (was very tired), got ‘put to bed’ at about 12 and slept for a long time. Next day was also fun, walked round the lake with Karen and mowgli (great name) who ran the hotel and he told us some good stuff (all the fish had died about a month ago and the whole town stank like Fleetwood ) for a long time. Went for a walk got a music lesson from a guy selling Indian ‘violin’s (best way to describe it) and it turns out I can’t play it. The sales man bless him really likes me (or really wants to sell me a violin) and is stalking me a bit…… I gave him some money for the violin lesson and for showing me a few things (he didn’t ask and refused the money the first time.) Meet some Belgium people they were nice and decided to walk up another hill for sunset, turned out we set of to late and stopped walking very quickly. Went for a beer instead (had to drink it out of a mug) went back to hotel played some cards – leant a new game ____(can’t remember but good). Tried to play cheat (good game for groups) but descended into farce when there became a rule problem and one of the guys was adamant that we needed to change the rules half way through (he was technically right I suppose but we’d already been playing that game for 10 minutes and he was also losing – he had half the pack!!) drank some brandy and had nice chats

This morning walked round the lake again with tom an Israeli guy and ate some muesli, was quite nice, full of fruit. Was going to go to a school today but needed to check emails for FACE stuff and decided to write blog, while I have a chai or two, will respond to messages another time

extras
loads of stuff – this must be my longest entry yet and I’ve missed so much out!!

Redesign of website is going no where fast, India website guy has emailed me a template website that has no relevance so I wrote him an email back asking him to look at our competitors websites and write what features we need and what designs work well. Waiting for James to let me know what he thinks. Also waiting for the finished adverts to be emailed me by Manoj.



Puskaar is cool people should visit. although i must remember this is a holy place...

everybody wants to bless me and then charge me for it!! at the moment they can get lost, i don't think i want to be blessed but we'll see

i've edited the name as it was shit and read a funny comment that by james)

last post from faridisbad

Hopefully this will be the last entry for a while as I’ll be far far away from computers for a while (computered out) may have to check email for FACE India stuff (I’ll probably have written a new post in a couple of days – its just how I feel at the moment)

Not been ‘doing’ much. Been writing a lot of adverts, making templates, info sheets, strategy documents and procedure forms for people to use as I’m not going to be in the office again, and there are kids doing stuff on the internet everyday but there not even sure what there doing and there not recording things or capable of proof reading. Hope it all goes well … set up a facebook group thank god some people joined. Hope they all forwarded it on to anybody who may be interested and they forwarded in on and so on and on and on and (you get the idea). Quick highlight of problems faced (organizationally). Wrote out many adverts for the street kids in goa project then was told today (manoj only found out today as well) that all applicants need to have had a CRB check to work with kids in goa. Luckily we have another partner in goa that works with women so we can send people to volunteer there!! James Smythe is going to check out the website (and some competitors) to see what we can improve (thanks big bear :-) need to get feedback on the website as manoj thinks it may just be my opinion that its shit. And I do think its shit…(but that could just be my opinion)

What I’m doing now is going to Delhi for a couple of days, met a person through couch surfers who’s taking me to a hip hop party.. Could be fun. Need a night out and copious amounts of alcohol. Brandy coffee is to much like hard work to make. Then heading to jaipur I think and onto some really cool sounding place that I’ve forgotten the name of but have written down.

Stuff that’s been happening in faridabad includes; the actual wedding reception of the next door neighbour. Was fun. Just like a wedding in England really. Lots of family, drunk uncles. Kids running round. Lots of food (food was very good) was really good fun actually, a drunk uncle grabbed me and he could speak perfect English so he took me on a tour then showed me where everybody was drinking the whiskey (out the back!!!) lots of drunk Indians there and I was the main attraction. Bit weird but funny. Manoj came and rescued me after a bit and I went home. All the kids were really funny. They helped me get food then this one cheeky thing bought a leaf (from a plant) up to me and told me it was local specialty and I needed to eat it (I didn’t – nearly did for comic effect, but don’t want to give the English a bad name:)

Mr gupta has been coming everyday –not sure who mr gupta is he just comes to the office sits down reads his paper and then wants to talk to me. I try to talk to him but as charlotte my wonderful sister would say I CBA’d (Can’t Be Arsed for all you uncool cats – harsh but true) had some cool India teenagers/ young adults coming to the office doing work though, there wicked, nice ‘normal’ people who just chat normally.

Got the train to delhi couple of days ago but had to get of the train after one stop and come back as wasn’t feeling well. What a mission. First of all getting to the train station was hard enough everybody wanted to charge me 25 roupes when I’d been told pay no more than 5. In the end got a young lad to help me and I paid 5 roupes but had to walk fopr about 100 meters. Then on the platform I literally attracted a crowd of Indians who stood round me. Very strange and a little disconcerting, was speaking to a couple of them and they were nice enough. Got on the train then got off the train in some strange unpronounceable place. Crossed over to the other side and waited for the next train heading my way. While sat there I got more funny looks then a guy who I assume was a milk man (he was surrounded by milk holder jug thingies) started talking to me in hindi and no matter how many things I said in English he just kept speaking hindi to me?? On a quick note I can now say 4 things in hindi with complete confidence. When the train came it was like something from a film, people hanging out of the sides (but not on roof) and then everybody from the platform (a lot of people) tried to get on the train. I took one look at it and decided to wait for the next train. While waiting I got talking to this Indian guy who worked for some strange religion. Think he was trying to convert me.. He was nice and the religion sounded perfect apart from I don’t believe in god. When I said this to the guy he looked visibly shaken. Having been stuck on a train not doing much all day I decided to have some fun and ridicule every religion I could. He was very sporting about it all and he left as a friend. Train came (it was the wrong one) and i had to get off at a different station.. This is how nice some Indians are though. On train I’d been speaking to a guy, just general stuff when I realized I wasn’t going to my station. He was also getting off the train at this station and took me to a very hectic rick shaw stand and arranged with a driver to take me home for just 5 roupes !! was ace!!

Made peace with chai man today. The guy who owns the stall next to chai man wanted me to have some chai so I tried to order two cups and he refused to serve me. He bought out one cup for his friend and none for me!!!! I was about to walk off when he bought out another cup for me he’d been hiding behind the counter :- ) was very funny.

That’s it for faridabad going to reply to everyone on facebook, pack and go to sleep soon. Early start hopefully. Will miss faridabad its starting to feel like home and I’ve made some really good friends, started to know some of the shop keepers that sort of thing, but its time to move on really, going to still work for FACE as I travel round

Extras
Well done to Shirley who got top marks for her first exam very very chuffed for her!!
My sister charlotte wants me to mention her name.. She’s got a show in the winter gardens (blackpool) Saturday
Checked bank balance today…..
Phoned family for catch up and to let them know I’m safe, tried to ring my grandma and kev. but no answers, spoke to my mum, Elliot and Shirley wanted to speak to my dad because he worries but he was at the cash and carry
Got an email that reminded me of something I had to forward on to someone, couldn’t help it just want them to know

can't sleep so got up to type this....... (its monday)

Still feeling ill…… when I’m this sort of ill at home I just want to lie on the couch or in bed watch tv, drink tea and mouch about. Can’t do that here as I don’t have a room or at least the room I do have is the main office so I can’t get much peace and quiet there. Feeling happier though, not much happened yesterday as manoj didn’t get out of hospital until late and then he didn’t feel to good so went home pretty early. Did some work on the website, went to the shops – good thing about being here is my spending has dropped considerably. I have no accommodation to pay for, manoj brings me a lot of food from his wife or now his mum too, although I like getting the street vendor stuff (its cheaper than chips). At the shop my biggest expenditure was on toilet roll which I need to blow my nose. Last night was gong to have an early night but they were having a pre wedding party next door so I went to that. Was kinda fun, live hindi music, people dancing , distinct lack of booze. The kids kept throwing flowers over me and everybody made me dance. As it was ending the groom and all his bachelor mates followed me up to the office to ‘hang out’. Was a bit strange. They were all talking hindi and I got the distinct impression they were talking about me. Being not to well I wasn’t really I the mood for ‘take the piss out of chris night’ and wasn’t feeling to comfortable. Got them all to leave by telling them manoj was coming back so they left but they invited me to come downstairs with them, so not being rude I did. Ended up going to the grooms ‘warehouse’ under the office which looked to me like some murders dungeon… they were still having a great time laughing at me and I made my excuses and left. It wasn’t all one way traffic though and I did have a good laugh with them but I really wasn’t in the mood. As I was leaving they bought out a bottle of whiskey they wanted me to drink with them but I really couldn’t face it. The wedding party bit was interesting although didn’t understand what was going on as best exemplified by the following. At the end two priests (who almost begged me to visit them in a stone temple?) came round giving fruit to everyone. They gave me 3 apples. As I like to take every opportunity I can to juggle I decided to practice with said apples. BIG MISTAKE. I dropped one straight away and the priests nearly cried. Apparently the fruit was a gift from god and I did a big foux paux by juggling them. I though it was hilarious but the look on the priest face told me it was not that funny.

Next day Manoj woke me up early. Still not feeling well I laid in bed for a long time. I had decided I was only going to get up to finish the website stuff for the arrival of website guy. Eventually manoj was ready to help me write some ‘copy’ and I got to work. Did that, had some chai, had another rest in bed and then the website guy arrived. Took him for chai and had a chat about everything that needed doing. Not making any major changes – in fact its still not going to be too good but should be a little less confusing and more user friendly. Manojs mum was doing the cleaning at the same time and she bough a child with her. This kid was putting headphone plugs in the electric sockets!!!! No body seamed to be bothered apart from me. Decided to keep her occupied by setting her English spelling lessons. She loved it and I taught her to spell all the numbers 1 -14 (couldn’t remember how to spell fifteen myself) only problem was my handwriting is terrible and she kept spelling 13 wrong as I’d wrote an r very badly but I couldn’t understand why she was having such problems spelling this number. Eventually she pointed out that what I’d taught her was wrong opps! After spending a long time moving 3 desks round the office for them to end up where they started me and manoj remember that we’d decided to have a peace march because of the Mumbai bombings!! (we forgot to tell anybody to come) quickly made some posters and went to the local market.

What fun. I’ve took loads of pictures that you’ll have to see but basically there were about 10 of us walking around getting everybody we could to hold these posters and take photos. This one little kid started helping us and he was hilarious. Just grabbing people and giving them the poster. Most people were really nice apart from the women who just wouldn’t talk to us or even stop. Very had to explain but the pictures will tell a thousand words. Manoj wants to start a movement. Also there was a place selling something that looked just like a chicken kebab so I had one. Very tasty.

I’m maybe a chicken – manoj put me on the back of his bike to go to the march, I’d been on it the day before and noticed there are no working lights. Now I don’t like going on the back of bikes anyway (something about putting my life in other peoples hands I think) but I did not like driving on bumpy, busy Indian roads without any lights and when we stopped I told him I was not getting on his bike again and would get a rickshaw back. In the end somebody else gave me a lift back. Sounds silly but I really didn’t feel safe.

Had a chat to manoj about the job as well, told him I don’t really want to be stuck in faridabad as I may never have another chance to see India again, and the job is not what I want to do and I could do the work from an internet café anywhere in the world. Explained that I’d come to Delhi to find out about the job and had just sort of started working. He was really cool. He’s said he really wants me to help with face, he said loads of stuff I can do which involves traveling around and he will pay my expenses. I told him I would sleep on it and come up with a plan that will keep us both happy, also said I don’t want the charity to pay my expenses as think that would be a bit cheeky but we’ll see what I end up doing. Going to have a good think about it tomorrow and hopefully everything will be ok. Not going to go anywhere until website has been improved though.

Went to bed early but couldn’t sleep so I’ve got up and writing this. Got a few message on face book that I’ll try to get to tomorrow but this computer is quite shit so it takes a while.

Went to chai shop twice today, first time website guy paid (5 roupes each!!) he wasn’t bothered though so who am I to tell him how to spend his money. Second time I was on my own and chai man motioned that I was going to pay 4 roupes. I acknowledged him by holding up 1 finger to say 1 cup of chai. He made me chai when I came time to pay I gave him 2 roupes for a joke (one of the other stall holders was in on it and though it was hilarious –it was) he started motioning that he was going to hit me, I stood my ground in a non threatening way then I laughed and put another one roupe on the table. Chai man laughed and I walked away… tomorrow I think he may spit in my chai…

Extras
Starting playing PES master league on PSP again, doing quite well
I dropped my brandy so the only alcohol I’ve got left is a tiny bit of fennie (drinking it now!)
The electrics in this office are shit, given myself to electric shocks and now I’m frightened to touch anything electrical
Congrates to cousin remy (I’m assuming you said yes:)
Everybody leave my cousin James alone he’s a good kid (James if your reading this, you don’t know everything )

i'm ill, i'm grump and i'm going to moan.

Lets get the job out of the way. So I’m living an working in this office in a place called faridabad (just outside dehli), I’m working for a charity called face India and my job title is program co-coordinator. The charity places volunteers from overseas in ‘work camps’ (that last 2-3 weeks) or long term volunteer positions (anything from 4 weeks to a year) they get the volunteers through the internet and educational partners around the globe (think they have two partners, Korean and American universities) The main man is called manoj kumar who is really nice. I’m not getting paid any money.

Started off by trying to find out exactly what the job is. Narrowed it down to 2 main points (after a drawn out conversation). Get volunteers for the projects and getting more projects for the volunteers to go to. FACE already has about 20 projects that aren’t being filled so I decided to start with the first part of the job (getting more volunteers). Looked at the website which is not very good and decided that first of all that it needs re-writing but as I’m not a website designer and I don’t have time I’m just going to do some tweeking. All the projects are in different formats, its not obvious what ‘we’ do. Links that don’t work. Lots of little things. So all I’ve been doing for the last 2 days (work wise) is sat in front of a computer re-writing and writing copy for the website. Not very exciting, but it needs doing. Still quite a bit to do but I need information from manoj who keeps saying he has it and will get it, but Manoj is in hospital since last night at the moment (more on this soon). The work isn’t really what I want to be doing as I want to be the person working on the projects not the person sending people to projects so I’m going to get the website in a more user friendly set up and write some adverts for them (if you think my prose are bad these guys cannot write English very well at all) after that I’m going to sit down and talk to manoj about what I want to do. There is no point me coming to India to sit in front of a computer not learning anything that I want to learn. Saying that manoj is really happy to have me here so couldn’t / wouldn’t just leave.

I’ve got a cold which is making me a bit grumpy and haven’t’ really left the office too much recently which I don’t like. Still had some fun. Didn’t realize how independent I like to be. Manoj keeps ‘suprising’ me by arranging for me to do different things, I don’t like this! In my mind I’ve made my own plans and its annoying me slightly (I am a bit grumpy!). I’ve met some of the local guys who are all at an engineering college and there going to take me out soon which will be good. Going to a wedding tomorrow of the next door neighbor, yesterday he had a pre wedding party which was good fun, only problem was that the kids all thought I was brilliant and would not leave me alone. In the end I had to go because I’d wound them up to the point where there mums were shouting at them (I assume telling them to calm down) and they were going Mental was very funny. Only problem now is that they keep coming up to the office and saying hello. Its ok though as it means I can practice my hindi (that’s a language) on them.

Manoj tried to take me to another wedding yesterday but I was Indianed out and really wasn’t feeling well. In the middle of the night manoj woke up (he stays at the office some night?s which i find a bit strange as he has a lovely wife and kid and doesn’t live that far away…told him I don’t mind being on my own (I really don’t) but he doesn’t listen.) any way … he woke up in the middle of he night being sick. So he went to hospital, I’ve not seen him since but his mum came to clean the office this morning and said he’s still in hospital hope he’s ok. Manoj thinks I’m ill because two evenings ago (I think) we had some chicken and I bought us both a beer and apparently drinking beer in winter (its Indian winter) is bad for you….. I don’t believe him.. had a good evening that night we sat and had an ‘adult’ conversation (not about sex.. about politics:) lots of Indians are very anti Muslim.

Oh I’ve bought equipment so I can make my own coffees in the office, I’ve also got some brandy left from the train so in the evenings I’m having delicious brandy coffees. Very nice. The reason I bought this stuff is because I’m in dispute with the chai (tea) man. He runs a stall round the corner and tries to charge me 5 roupes when chai cost 3 roupes, had a big argument and caused a big scene (again:-) and he charged me 3 roupes. The very next day he tried to charge me 4 roupes and I wasn’t having any of it. He apologized later and told me to come for chai when ever I want (it is good chai) he’s closed today because its Sunday.

What else has happened
Told Manoj I’m not going to go away with his school president to sell the school as I don’t want to (he was fine about that, didn’t want me to go)
Had some lovely messages from people (mike and nog nearly made me cry)
My dad’s been reading the Blog, Maybe this will inspire him to ‘logon’ and joing the world wide web!
My brother has been writing gayness on my wall (I’ll get you!)
Got a real taste for Samoas and this strange fruit they have over here

This blog probably sounds like I’m moaning. I am a little, I feel really ill. I’m in this office (don’t really have my own space) want to get on with some work but really can’t as I need other peoples input. Can’t really leave the office as I have the only key and people are coming in and out all day so can’t lock them out. Its not as bad as it sounds I just don’t have any one to moan at so I’m moaning on here.

Love you all chris

p.s James Smythe is going to put my blog on another website so I can make money from adverts, if you see James can you tell him to sort it out  also give him a cuddle and call him big bear ..

p.p.s don't be suprised if you see me 'online' as i probably am.

who would go to india to work??

Got the train which was fun, ended up sitting with a few different people. The most significant of which were two girls going all the way to dehli who I’d agreed to ‘look after’ (they looked after me and laughed at me A LOT ?) a german hari kristnia monk who’d lived in germany for 20 years and two indian guys who were nice. Got in trouble with both the indian guys, one of them I got in trouble with for asking the indian girls there age as aparently its rude…. He forgave me very quickly and the other indian guy got a little offended when I tried to guess his age and I said 32 and he was 25. this would have been ok except I didn’t believe him and thought he was winding me up!! He forgave me too although he was never the same after this moment. Other highlighs on the train include : brushing my teeth with the door open as we go through amazing countryside (didn’t see to much country side, but cleaning teeth and looking at it is cool) . being told by a police man that I wasn’t allowed into the engine room :- ( when I tried to get in. managing to get a coffe at 10 in the evening from a station and adding a healthy dose of brandy to it. Beating the monk at chess twice. Loads of fun stuff happened on the train. I love traveling (I don’t mean liike traveling I mean going places by transport – comes from a childhood spent in a car, driving up and down so often I guess) I loved the journey. Slept two nights on the train, read a good book. It’s called ‘surely your joking mr fennyman’ and it’s a true story about a physacist (better than it sounds – he likes topless bars;- ) I also made some head way on the history of india book which I can’t wait to finish.

Got to dehli a bit tired and smelly and before I got a hotel decided to see if I’d been contacted by the guy from face india (manoj). He hadn’t emailed me back so I called him (it turned out I had emailed him a blank email so he hadn’t bothered to email me back … opps). When I called him he told me to come to faridabad straight away and I did. Its only a 30 minute train journey away but it took me 3 and a half hours to get there as no bloodly person in the entire train station could tell me the right platform for the train!! (got a little angry) I got on the wrong train twice and was lugging my back pack every where, not a happy chappy. Got to faridabad and called manoj he turned up another hour later!!!!! Was chilled out by now though so it wasn’t a problem except every rickshaw driver was convinced that I would change my mind and need a rickshaw any minute so they were following me like a pack of dogs. Was funny. Manoj turned up and he is a great guy. Offered me a choice of accomodation (I’m currently residing in the face india offices on a pull out bed) and took me to his house for dinner. His wife cooked great food and we chatted. Went for a walk when I got back to the office and although I’d agreed to have a meeting with manoj at 10 oclock I fell asleep.

Unluckily for me I told him a little white lie to give him the impression that I was a grafter. I told him I’m use to waking up at 6 in the morning…. So this morning I got woken up a guess what time.. 6 in the fucking morning.. (my own fault:). Had a wash with cold water and got ready. Manoj also works at a school and invited me to go with him and I accepted (first we had another lovely meal at his house, cooked my his delectable wife). I though school was going to be really boring as it started quite slow and a little bit uncoumfortably. Firstly I was dressed like a complete scruff. No shave, flip flops, baggy trousers and my silly green jacket. Manoj got me to wear some of his shoes (that made me look even worse in my opinion) so I was feeling a little self consious before I’d even met the principle of the school, then the chariman, then the sectretary then half the teaching staff.. they were all lovely and I had some good chats with the staff. They let me go and speak to a couple of the classes. The first class were learning about the french revolution and the ideas of liberty espoused by it. I deceided I was an expert and told them every fact I knew about the revolution – the statue of liberty in new york was a gift from france, that france sepereated religion and the state to have a secular governement and I told them about how america use to have the same ideals untill in changed the countrys motto to include the line ‘in god we trust’ and I tried to get them to have a discusion on india secular politics with a little success. Was nice enough untill at the end I said ‘is there anything else you want to know’ and after a few rubbish general question one cheeky little imp asked me to sing a song!!!! I started to sing wonderwall by oasis but stopped after a couple of seconds (didn’t want to get arrested for abusing children :-0

Second class was different. Same sort of thing apart from they were learning economics so I tried to share my knowledge and find out what they new about the subject. Got interesting when one of the kids pointed to a big stick on the chair in front of me. Turns out the kids get beaten. I’m not a big fan of corporal punishment as I think theres always a better way without violence but I’m sure there are some people who would have benefited from the cane (Ria for one; ). I asked the kids if they liked the cane (duh .. they said no) so I told them to do something about it. They said that it wasn’t possible so I told them not to be so silly of course it was possible, I used the example of indians getting rid of england as their ruler and the more obvious example of the cane being baned in england. I was trying to inspire a revolution don’t know if it’ll work but I think the teacher got scared as he moved me on very quickly. After that I played basket ball with some of the kids and took part in shooting class as well (I’m a crack shot ) did other stuff to so was a good day. After school (which finishes at 2.00) went back to office so I could start planning some work as I’m still not 100% what I’m suppose to be doing but I have a good plan to find out. Bought some new cloths to make me smarter as well as coffeee making equipment so I can drink coffee and work. Ate some chilli corn for dinner which was nice and now I’m on the computer.

Oh one other think happened today which was brilliant. Snuck out of school for a fag (I’d already had one on the roof but didn’t want to risk that again) and walked to a village. All the villagers came out and were really amazed to see me. Eventually one of them offered me a cup of chai (tea) and I accepted. Was really good fun and all their family turned up. There must have been ten people who came to see me and though I was brilliant had a great time although they couldn’t speak any english and my knowledge of the hindi language now stands at an impressive two words (hello and move)

extras
Will be living in this office for a while now and there isn’t much to do during the night apart from work and sleep so will probably be online quite a bit.
Mumbai (a city in india) has just been bombed. I’m know where near it but I walked past the taj hotel (where hostages were taken)while I was there
the good thing about the bombings is that the english cricket team has decided to end there embarrasing tour of india
hope this job works out the way I want it to as it could be amazing

i don't like cricket oh noooooo

So went to Indian ‘nu metal’ concert. Was an experience, it turned out that it was a bit like a battle of the bands and that Sunday they had the ‘big bands’ playing (I was there Saturday). Wasn’t very busy but stayed for an hour listening to the music. One band was a bit ‘cock rock’ think nickle back (who I like) and the other was a bit like slipknot. In the end it started raining so I set of back home as it was quite far out. I was the only touristy person there. Was an experience to see all these Indian kids dressed like moshers and head banging just like people in England. Globalization is defo here to stay. After that I got back to majestic area and decided to watch the football as there wasn’t really much else to do. Walked round asking everybody where the football was showing and no body even knew what football was. What a pain. In the end a guy just grabbed me into his bar and I managed to explain that I wanted him to put star sports on the tv. Had a great time in the bar chatting to Indians making them roll ups and generally being a happy English man surrounded by crazy Indian people. Meet up with Reina (girl I met in goa) for the second half and we had a drink and a catch up. Lovely person, she’s going to meet her sponsored child on Wednesday which will be cool. Oh at some point (not sure when) in Bangalore it was raining and I watched Harry potter and the order of the phoenix (sad I know) and It was brilliant!

Next day was cricket day. Woke up singing 10cc’s hit song – I don’t like cricket oh nooooo… (prize for person who guesses the next lyric, answers on a postcard please) got to cricket ground very very early. Tried to find sky sports so I could be on tv but they were no where to be found. Meet 4 English guys all day !! Place was full on Indians. Ended up sitting with two of the English guys all day. Was a fun day but didn’t stay all day which was a shame. After the first break for the rain I was getting a sore bum (sat on a concrete step for 7 hours) and a little pissed of with the rain. When it rained again I assumed (wrongly) that that was going to be it for the day so I set of back to the hotel. Got back to hotel after a long journey by bus and foot in the pouring rain to find that the cricket was back on. We lost by the way. Quick note – was sat in front of these 3 Indian kids who were cricket mad. They made my day. Imagine 3 kids who are at least twice as cheeky as me giving you gentle abuse about England being crap at cricket. Really nice kids so quick on the piss take I couldn’t keep up. Any way went home had a wonder around then went to bed. Knackered as cricket day was a very long day. Atmosphere was electric, I took some videos but don’t think they do it justice.

Today I go to dehli. Think its only 34 hours and not 42 hours which is good. Need to buy supplies. I’m wearing the clothes I had on yesterday as there wet and need drying, think I may smell of damp so please feel sorry for whoever sits next to me. Was suppose to go to British trade consulate today but there having a training day (thanks for telling me woman at reception :(!)

Other bits and pieces, still love Bangalore but there isn’t much to do apart from drink and smoke and eat. Could go to a museum but don’t want to, met so many nice people its unbelievable only one Indian has been a bit ‘off’ with me and that was because I spilt water on his seat at the cricket and he sat in it :)

Confession – I did something I’m not proud of the other day and feel I must tell. Was walking down MG road and smelt a familiar smell, a smell from home, a smell from my childhood. I was drawn in I couldn’t resist, I tried to justify it by telling myself that I just wanted to see what it was like in India but its not true. I just wanted to be bad so I was. I ate a KFC!! it wasn’t very nice though. I know it was wrong but couldn’t help myself I will not be doing it again. For those that don’t know whats wrong with kfc here are a few of the things to thing about: animal rights issues: the local economy issues: workers rights issues

Extra’s

Thanks Shirley for chasing up driving license (I will call them at some point)
Will hopefully be using website www.couchsurfing.com to find places to stay where possible
India is quite expensive so I need to rein in spending
Starting to miss out some detail on the blog at moment, must be getting lazy

I've got a ticket for the cricket

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Got to Get a Guru

So I drank lots of rum at tipi with a nice bonfire and nice people. There were a few drummers and ‘flute’ players playing music and had a really good time. I ‘practiced’ my drumming (banged it) and ‘played’ a Tibetan prayer bowl (very eerie sound), funny moment when we were talking to the flute player about how nice it sounded and then he let us have a go on the flute (I was rubbish) he then tried to sell us his flute, turns out he’s a flute seller (you had to be there;).

Its quiet funny not having lots on English people around when you drink as the other nation’s don’t drink nearly as much as me/us. There was 4 English people (out of 30) at this bonfire and we each singularly had more to drink then everyone else put together. We weren’t drunken idiots but just drank a ‘normal’ amount and we should have drank more really seen as the rum was only 60 roupes (1 pound) a bottle. As a nation maybe we do drink more than other nations – although I don’t see it as a problem, the ‘foreigners’ all talked about hooligans an English people fighting. I was of course a great ambassador for my country managing to fall over only once (while doing traditional Nepalese dancing)!

Not sure what I did the next day, had a hangover got some lunch, went to other side, walked about a bit with mara, did some poi, meet israely guy (who I will mention again soon), spoke to my guru (Baba g - who tells me that bung lassi’s are nice and makes me chillum). Its hard if I don’t write this for a few days as you can forget what you’ve done if you don’t do very much.

The evening time though was a different matter. Don[‘t think I’ll ever forget it. Went for a walk with the Israeli guy (han I think he was called – but pronounced haannnnn with lots of spiting sound). Tried to get mara out of shops, told the taxi driver that keeps asking her for dinner that she use to be a man (his face was one of the funniest things I think I’ve ever seen), mara wasn’t too happy I don’t think. Any way we’re walking along and han says there’s a jewish ‘hostel’ that he’s going to have a look. We decided to come with him and it turns out today is alike a fast day in the jewish calendar as Saturday is the holy day where your suppose to do nothing. The place had about 10 people in and they gestured us to stay. Some prayers/songs were being sung and we sat there and listened. I wore a skull cap and listened. The music was really magical and the setting was really picturesque (said a little prayer for all you heathens out there:- p). Then more and more people came until the place was full and we all ate a big meal together and sang songs. There is loads more to this place but I really can’t do it justice, this may not sound like the most amazing time but I can assure you that to me (and mara) it was really beautiful and one of the most random and rewarding experiences I’ve had in India.

Next day I hear a strange voice outside. Its enka (I met her in vagatour), her and Laura have arrived in Hampi. They’ve already arranged a room in my hotel but I try to discreetly tell them not to stay here and stay at the one next door with the tipi. Being Austrian they don’t fathom what I’m trying to say to them and get the room next to mine. Me and Mare go in search of the waterfall today on the bikes. Get pushbikes and ride them as close as we can to waterfalls before we have to enter jungle. As we enter jungle this old man tells us to follow him and because he told me to follow him I did. After about 5 minutes of walking I thought I better ask him where we’re going as the signs saying no entry are starting to worry me. He tells me ‘no worries water fall this way’, I can’t see a water fall and me and mara are making each other worry that we’re going to get murdered. As we cross a river and headed towards some reeds we decided to stop, have a cigarette and take stock of the situation. As we’re waiting we see a harassed man (English) crossing river with 4 indian teenagers. He walks up to us and is visibly grateful to see us (and we him) he asks to stay with us and we heartily agree. Now feeling confident that we can take the old man (its now 3 on 1 – the Indian boys were soed away by old man) we carry on to the waterfalls, turns out he was a guide earning money. Because we didn’t arrange price before hand we had to negotiate after the fact. I felt bad for not trusting him so to assuage my guilt i tipped him extra 50 as well. Funny though, at the Jewish hostel, the rabbi/person was explaining a prayer/song and it was about fear and somebody saying

This world is just a bridge between two worlds and that you shouldn’t be afraid to cross the bridge. Same sentiment as the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

I wasn’t afraid but I was very very nervous, shouldn’t have been.

This was the most exciting part of the trip. The waterfalls were nice but not really waterfalls.

After that we went to mango tree where we met a journalist called Reshma who works for www.marwar.com. She was lovely but even more amazingly she’d not only heard of black pool but was there for the 100 anniversary of blackpool tower being built. Made my day!! Went back to hotel were my guru Baba G was. He’d been to hospit (town near hampi) to get some stuff to make the lassi’s. A Bungo Lassi is also called a ‘special lassi’. We sat and had a chat and then went for dinner with Laura, Elka and Mara. Before I left I told Baba G not to make the lassi’s as we probably won’t do then tonight. After meal (which was good – although I didn’t order anything and just ate everyone else’s) we went back to hotel where Baba G had made the lassi’s, so we drank them. Went to the tipi place and chilled out there. Had a great night and spent lots of time with great Israeli girl!

This morning it’s raining. First rain I’ve seen in India. Everything is wet… couldn’t face a cold shower this morning so I had my first hot bucket!! This is a hot bucket of water that you pour over yourself. I haven’t had a hot shower in maybe 2 weeks and this was great!!!! Not doing much today as it’s raining and you’ll get very wet, I’ve got a big chess game with Reishy (great Indian guy who owns tipi) later so that should be fun.

Extra’s
I’ve had a goatee shaved in to my face
I don’t like rain that much
I’ve been offered a volunteer/work with an organization in northern India that wants me to be a project co-coordinator and go all over India. Sounds too good to be true though. They give me a local wage and pay food and accommodation.
I’ve got myself a guru, who is cool; he’s no trouble and just smokes a lot of pot. He was going to come with us to the temples today and tell stories (his English is good) but its raining.

It’s my brother’s birthday!! Happy birthday Elliot xxx

i've been getting complaints about not writing enough detail in this blog (mitchel:-)! well tough, your just going to have to make do with these small snipets that i write ;-)

so i got stuck on this side of the river but luckily i got put up by a friend which was nice. next day moved hostels and came to 'this side of the river' which is much better. its costs 10 roupes to cross and is just more chilled out.

A bit about hampi, Hampi is amazing it is covered in temples - some nice, some shit. and the craziest rock formations that i have ever seen. if you come to india you have to see this. will try to put photo's up soon to prove i'm in india and not hiding in blackpool and also to show you what its like (although i doubt they do it justice)

so yesterday, we hired push bikes and went for a ride. saw a temple carved into the inside of a rock which was cool. the women gave us a red dot and expected some money off us (i made a quick exit). drove round a bit and found a great place for lunch (mango tree) and had a 65 roupe tali, was good. me and mara then rode the bikes the wrong way out of hampi and then back into hampi.. was nice, came back and had a little nap. the guys who run the hostel we are staying in and the one behind us are really really cool (cooler than cool keith!!) and they showed us this spot behind the hostel to watch the sun go down witch was good. when we came down we went to the other hostel and stayed there all night. i invented a new drink with the bottle on coconut fenni (like liqueur) that i'd bought in goa for 80 roupes. its ginger, lemon and honey tea with a liberal splash of fenni! very nice. stayed there for a while chatting to people, trying to play guitar and generally chilling went to bed about 11ish but couldn't sleep. was still awake when this guy tried to come into my room (turned out he'd tried everybody's room) i got up and shouted after him, but some guys who worked there didn't seem bothered so i wasn't too bothered although was a little weird.


next day woke up went to bank and my credit card worked !!!! yes feel rich again. spend 150 roupes (2 pounds) on a shirt to celebrate. we decided to hire mopeds - me and mara on one and anna (Irish girl - really lovely - taught her all about the moon :-). was really good fun, got lost, missed speed bumps.. then we got a flat tire. luckily we were dead near a shop that had a puncture repair kit (i for some reason forgot about puncture repair kits and assumed i'm be buying a new tyre)and they made us chai and fixed the puncture. so we set off again when only 10 minutes later we got another puncture. was slightly annoyed by now so i took the other bike and went to shout at bike shop owner. got him to agree to send somebody to fix this puncture which they did, although they asked me for money and i gave it him (i shouldn't have really). started riding the bikes again and me and mara decided ours wasn't safe so she got on with anna and i drove ours back very slowly to the man where we had a huge argument in the middle of the street. was really good fun. if finsihed with me trying to get the tire of the bike with a spanner. went for dinner, played cards with anna (who's just left for kerala) and now in Internet cafe. going to 'other hostel' for jam session tonight.

story i missed, while waiting for mechanic to fix bike me and mara went to this temple just up the road. arrived there and was assailed by 6 of the oldest toothless,most zombie like creatures I've ever seen, trying to get money out of us, was really really weird. like dawn of the dead. They just sort of moaned and put there hand out asking for money and trying to put red dots on our forehead. i wanted to tell all the westerners that went past to go up there just to freak them out but we didn't..


extras
had some spare time yesterday so surfed some people's facebook pages
check out the pictures of sean gill as a fresh faced college student - priceless
well done keith for missing flight - great stuff hope france was ace
and some great Halloween photos
also
thanks Shirley for doing driving license xx

in a very silly (but good) mood, drinking some rum tonight.

i've been ill, but i'm good and i'm in hampi (also i still don't like policemen)

So last time I said anything here I was going to have an early night….. well I did, read my book (history of India) which is growing on me and went to bed. Woke up early on Sunday and decided that I would file my wallet as missing at the police station so I could claim cost on the insurance before going to a big party. BLOODY POLICE again!!! Now this is a long story which I can’t be arsed writing and it makes me angry so the short story is they wouldn’t give me a report with out a bribe, which I wasn’t paying! Ended up almost running out of the police station saying I was getting some money of a friend. Any way enough about police as its so terrible. They are just like bandits, with all the power on there side and the people have very little right of recourse. Some people think its good that you can bribe the cops but I disagree. I like to think you can’t bribe the police in England and yet I’ve still not been arrested. I’ve had 3 run ins with the police in less than two weeks in goa. Shit! Annoyed me a bit :-( to make matters worse the party I was looking forward to didn’t happen. Spent most of day talking to American girl from seatle who had some great stories about what she’d be up to (a bit blue for this blog though - had me blushing!) Had a good evening, met up with some people. On way home though I felt hungry so stopped of for some veg noodles. Bad idea. Couldn’t finish the noodles and when I got home I puked everywhere, not nice, I blame the calamari masala I had for lunch. Puked most of the night and eventually got to sleep. Woke up in the morning and the hotel had managed to book me a coach ticket for that night. Nearly didn’t take it as was still ill but would have lost all my money so went anyway. (to Hampi by the way)

Took the night bus to hampi, was ok, slept next to this guy, oh just remembered it wasn’t ok at all. Went for a wee and broke the zipper on my pants and I wasn’t wearing any underwear. Had to sleep all night with my bag thingy in front of my crouch in case I popped out!!! Got to sleep in the end though. was a very bumpy ride. Shared a tuttut with irish guy and got to a nice hostel. Was running out of money and was a little worried as know where was my card working but I think I’ve sorted it out now so no problem. Met a girl in goa that I said I would meet in hampi (mara) saw her just before got on the coach (she was on different coach) and saw her again in hampi. Spent most of the day together with her and a lovely irish girl and we went to a place called can’t remember the name but its nickname is the monkey temple. OH MY SHIVA was amazing. Had to walk up nearly 1000 steps (probably) to get to the top of this hill where you can see the entire surround area that is covered in old ruins and amazing boulders. Really really cool. Got up there just as the sun was coming down and it I can’t describe how beautiful and brilliant it was. Was feeling a bit romantic as well (you would have too whoever you are). Was really good. Walked down starting speaking to some English people and tried to get 5 people in a tut tut. They weren’t having it then tried to get us to go 2 in one 2 in another and 1 person on there own we refused and they let us got in two (rubbish really) dropped girls back at there place then had to get boat to my place. I missed the last boat, so now I’m in the internet café writing this. Think I’m going to have to get a room on this side of the river tonight.

Hampi’s ace, glad I left goa as it is too much like a holiday (which I needed) and can’t wait to see more amazing things. Some of the indians are weird (no better word to describe)or maybe that’s just me and my ‘western’ view of the world. Who knows?

Extra’s
Thanks mum for pointing out correct spelling of beach
Krissy there is a farmer out there for you somewhere.... keep on cooking and they will come :-)
moff get well soon x

still love you all, but sorry to say not really missing anyone :-(

life is good in goa

So last message I said I was going to see if my wallet was there
(it wasn’t) and go to bed with a book (I didn’t) instead I went for a quiet pint and met a great Spanish guy called Francisco (spell check) and had an absolutely storming time, he lives in London and designs cloths and comes to india to get them made don’t know the company name or I’d give him a link. Had to be kicked out of the pub in the end. Got home and chatted to people in the hotel for a while then went to bed. They run websites called www.fsdaily.com (free software) and www.illiterarty.com (book reviews) Its amazing the amount of people I’ve met out here who work from a lap top and just take it round with them (great life I imagine)

Next day got up went to watch the fishing boats and had a another day on the beech not really much to report, just sat there really, finish another Jeffery archer book, had some dinner, chatted to oil workers. Went for another bike ride and ended up at a book shop so I bought another book (a history of India – may have made the wrong choice but only time will tell) Went to a really nice restaurant after that to watch the sun go down and start my book. Was on the hill overlooking the beaches and they had Moroccanie cushions everywhere, brilliant. Came back to tin tins and meet Rory (another Irish guy from cork, he was a great crack;-) then went to the nine bar again. Walked in there on my own and met this group of people, chatted to them, danced with them and had a few drink with them. Was good fun and we all went to this other place called primrose (where the Halloween party was) because it was close and still open. Was a really nice evening, saw Francisco the Spanish guy again and met a few more Irish guys (also from cork) was speaking to this one girl and told her I’d meet her in Hampi (going on Monday I think) and arranged to have a moped ‘date’ today with this other lady who was from Holland but lives in Australia. Went home, slept then woke up

Next day slept in a little as I was suppose to be meeting this girl at 11, then drove to the wrong spot, had a coffee in a café that I have to say was the most awful disgusting most foulest (if that’s a word) cup of coffee i have ever had the misfortune of drinking. Couldn’t drink it so I left it there and found where I was actually supposed to go. Found said lady, chatted to her friends for a bit and we were off! Heading towards arambol on the scooter (me driving, her on the back) and we got stopped by the police!!! They asked to see my license, which was in my wallet, which is long gone!! The guy wanted to ‘fine us 1200 roupes. I offered him 50. I ended up offering him 210 roupes and he accepted 200 roupes ?? Go figure. Police here are a nightmare, so corrupt; I wonder if they ever catch any real criminals? Anyway went to Arambol had some drinks. Met matt again (who gave me his email but it doesn’t work ;-( We decided to go searching for some lakes that were behind Arambol, didn’t find them but had a great drive past boats loading sand into trucks. Went into another temple, and then ended up driving through this tiny village that struck me as a ‘real Indian village’ no tourist shops (only one shop) and proper shacks. Was great. Ended up stopping at this amazing beech that only had 10 people on it and a couple of restaurants. It was called Querim beach and is defo worth a look. Anyway couldn’t drive much further as I’d used half the petrol and needed the other half to get back. Drove back to Ajuna to drop lady off ended up having a drink in the sea view bar which was good (taught a kid how to ganster shake – sort of anyway), drove back watched end of man u game (come on arsenal) had two dinners!!! and then came to internet café. Having a quiet one today as there is suppose to be a day time rave on the hill tomorrow which I fancy. I could add loads and loads more color to this entry but I’m tired so you’ll have to use your imagination

Extra bits
didn’t get any from date but you never know ;-)
Hampi should be fun, girl seams cool so hope she’s there, got to get there yet though as I haven’t bought a ticket
can't believe how easy it is to meet nice people, absolutely piece of piss!
Can somebody get me a new driving license?
Got message from someone today having a go… fuck it

Sleep tight

market, beer, wallets, books, more motorbikes .. this blogs got everything (well not everything)

So haven’t written anything for a few days and can’t think where to start as my memory is a bit rubbish. Ok so got back from my bike ride and tried to go to the old fort that overlooks the beeches but police men were there and wouldn’t let us up as it was going dark!! Just went out for dinner and after Christian suggested we watch a movie so me him and laura did that which was good (men in black 2 – was just the right sort of movie for a very hungover day) Laura fell asleep and then I went to bed. That night we’d decided to get up at 6 and watch the sun come up from the old fort. So next morning Laura knocked on my door at 6 in the morning and I shouted some obscenities at her but she was insistent that I come, luckily for me I’d fallen asleep in my clothes so I just got straight up and was ready to go (after cleaning my teeth obviously!!..) Was really worth it when we got up there as the sun was just appearing and the place looked spectacular (can’t really put it into words but magical) came back down and went to the hotel (which is still lovely) and had breakfast there. Had a little nap then we all decided to go to Arambol again. Phoned the Indian lads and they came and met us and met a random English guy called mat (he was cool) he started talking to me in the book shop and turns out we have a mutual dislike of Salmen Rushdies midnights children (not a good book in my opinion). Stayed on the beech all day surfing, swimming and having fun. Saw some Indians playing cricket so me and matt decided to show them how it’s done (think I hit the ball once before being stumped out!!!!) everybody (about 6 people) decided to have dinner in a restaurant on the beach but I didn’t fancy it and wanted a change. Ended up walking about 400 meters down the beach and bumping into the Irish guy (sean I think) that I’d met in Mumbai. Had a few beers with him chatted football politics and that sort of stuff, turns out he was a lawyer but didn’t really like it, nice guy! Met up with every body again and they were ready to go home. It had gone dark by now and I was a bit (understatement) pissed but Laura was driving. I decided I would turn the bike round but made a big mess of it and we had all the restaurant people watching, in the end one of them turned it round. If that wasn’t bad enough we still had to drive home with me giving directions… suffice to say we got really lost at least twice (probably more), thinking it was the right road then starting to have doubts and then being sure it’s the wrong way then finally saying something like ‘do you think this is the right way’ in the end we just kept asking people all the way and got home after about 1 hour 30 minutes, instead of 30 minutes. Was quite an adventure but glad when we got home as it was very dark and they don’t have many street lights. I needed a stiff drink after that and went to the mango bar because I’d never been there before and it was nice. Met 2 scousers and had a ball with them telling stories and having a few beers. We ended up getting the place to open the kitchen up again so we could have soup and noodles then we enjoyed the food so much we got them to open the kitchen again so we could have some more!! They went off with peter (south African) to find a party and I went home, 5 minutes later they had all come to our place and we sat outside chatting some more. Good times!!

Next day was ajuna market, a huge flea market selling all sorts of stuff. I bought some more trousers, a shirt and a beautiful chess set, just need to find someone to play with now!!! Market was cool went to beach there afterwards and I practiced my juggling with some pins?(don’t know if that’s what there called but they look like bowling pins) that some guy had. I’m getting better. Everybody else decided they wanted to go to vagator but I decided to stay around ajuna as it had a good feel to it. Was in this one café which was really cool, on the beech, families running around, sun shining and some really good trance music on (getting into my trance at the moment) after everyone had gone I went to a bar where a band were playing and started talking to an older Irish guy, he was cool, he’d been coming to goa for 20 years and loved it. Had really nice time getting slowly pissed, was suppose to meet everybody else at a nightclub at 10 so left to go to nightclub(about 11). Walked down the beech trying to find it, meet some nice randoms – a Russian who climbs buildings for fun (told him to climb blackpool tower) and his friends, a Canadian and a guy who owns a hostel. Guy who owns hostel phoned me a taxi and I went to club, got too club and they wanted loads of money off me to go in as I was alone. They wouldn’t let me check to see if my friends were there which was rude. Nearly went in with this Russian girl as her friends were going to go home but they came back and she went in with one of them, then I meet 2 English girls who escorted me into the place. Turns out entry was high anyway because it was free drinks once you were inside. I was already slightly drunk by now but decided to start drinking large gins. Not the best idea. Had a really good time in there, the girls were really cool and got on really well with them (can’t remember there names though – sorry !) had a good dance spoke loads of rubbish to nice people and then got a taxi home (was very drunk taxi driver charged me to much but couldn’t be bothered to argue. One small problem though was that I lost my wallet!!! No money in it but driving license and bank card. Had no money this morning and had to drive 30 minutes to go to a bank machine that would except my spare card, bit shit but shit happens (very profound if I do say so my self:) today Laura, elka and pete left but they’ve persuaded me to join them on a yoga ashram in December so that should be cool. May even see them in hampi.

Quiet day really today (hungover) went to beach, met an American girl who was nice, said I’d see her tonight but I’m knackered and want a quiet night, not really in mood for conversation), India girl came up to me today (one of the girls who sells stuff on the beach) she asked me to buy her a drink and I was feeling generous so I did. She sat and talked to me for about an hour. Some of the stuff she was saying made me very sad. You forget sometimes how lucky you are. This girl had basically been sold to somebody to work on the beach (not literally but the way she said it she sounded like a slave) and just worked all the time. Had no skills as such and not much hope that her lot in life was going to improve. Nice girl though. In the end she tried to sell me a shawl for far too much money, so I gave her half the money and told her to keep the shawl, maybe I was a bit of a sucker but was a sad strange story.

Just had fish curry now going to go to club and see if my wallet is there then I’m going to bed with a book

Extra bits
Found some places to volunteer but can’t work out dates as its trying to fit it all in while I’m going south with out rushing to much, may have to leave goa soon ;-(

Had to tell certain person on face book that there not my favorite person (sad but had to be done

p.s well done to Krissy for not killing anybody with pumpkin soup!!!